Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Speed Question
Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.
I ride mainly railtrails. I start on 2.5 mi paved then it turns to packed gravel for 18 mi. When it turns back to pavement I kick it up a gear and go from 13 AVS to 18 AVS My question is am I getting the same basic workout at 18 in a higher gear on pavement as 13 on gravel. My heartrate monitor broke and I am waiting for the replacement to come in. Also wondered if going from 700c38 to 700c28 will make much difference on gravel.
Velo Dog
07-12-07, 08:19 PM
Jeez, how did people ride before they had heartrate monitors?
I don't use a monitor for cycling (I do occasionally for running), but I unless you're training for the Tour, I can't think of a reason you couldn't go by perceived exertion, certainly for a few weeks. You know what it feels like when you're going hard and when you're dogging it, so judge by that.
I ride my road bikes on gravel quite a bit, because we have a lot of gravel roads around here, and coincidentally I have 37mm Paselas on one, 28mm Paselas on the other. With the larger tires at 75 psi, my Atlantis cruises comfortably and securely almost anywhere I want to drive it. With the 28s at 100psi, the Rambouillet is squirrely, dodgy, bouncy and sometimes scary. If you do a lot of dirt/gravel, I'd stay with bigger tires.
flip18436572
07-13-07, 11:00 AM
Jeez, how did people ride before they had heartrate monitors?
I don't use a monitor for cycling (I do occasionally for running), but I unless you're training for the Tour, I can't think of a reason you couldn't go by perceived exertion, certainly for a few weeks. You know what it feels like when you're going hard and when you're dogging it, so judge by that.
I thought that was the case also, but I can say that is just not true, at least for me. There were times that I thought I was really putting a lot of work into my elliptical work out, but I was not losing weight. I had worn my HRM for months and knew where my HR was or should have been. I put my HRM back on after many months of not and noticed that my HR was a lot lower than I felt.
I now where my HRM to the gym, whether I am running, walking, lifting, elliptical, etc... I just don't wear it swimming. I also take it with me on the bike. Sometimes I can be going with a 90+ cadence and my HR is around 110 and a few minutes earlier is was at 120+ with the same cadence and I still felt the same.