Originally Posted by Allerge99
I am 23, and yesterday I had a average HR of 183 for about a hour and a half of riding averaging 19.6 mph with a 25+ knot wind all afternoon. I was alone most of the time. I have seen my HR hit 215 before on my Polar HRM. I believe the 220-age=HR is a good standard for most people that aren't athletic. I teach spinning classes on my spare time or when it is raining outside and that is what we tell people when trying to determine their HR while in class. Most of the people in there only workout 2 or so times a week, so it is a good standard for them. For active athletes that use a HRM all of the time, knowing your own ranges will help you tremendously when trying to gauge your efforts.
Max HR has some to do with being athletic, but that's not all there is to it. There are also genetics involved in determining what the actual is. It's sort of like saying the average height of a male is 5'10". Some are shorter, some are taller. The formula is just to give you a starting point for the average. Actual testing or experience tells you the real zones you should train by.