Originally Posted by Mark W

I do a combination of the strategies: I try to push very hard on hills during training rides, even going to my LT or slightly higher because this gets faster gains in fitness. On long rides (brevets and randonnees) I do work harder on hills than on the flats because of the time gains that you describe. I don't go up to my LT, though, because I get exhausted much more quickly and I don't bounce back as well. My LT is at about 155 bpm based on time-trialling. If I push the pace up to near that point on hills I end up with dead legs after a much shorter distance than if I limit my HR to about 140 (90%) or less. Overall this results in a faster ride since I can then avoid the death-march at the end of the long brevet.

My training strategy is different from my brevet ride strategy, in other words. Sometimes I have to remind myself of this, so I wear my HR monitor during shorter brevets and during the first day of longer brevets. After the first 24 hours it doesn't matter because my heart rate doesn't go up nearly as high anyway. If I were racing I wouldn't worry about the HR because if you come off the group you've lost anyway.

Mark W