Fifty Plus (50+) - Great Ride but high HR

I finally took my bike with me and rode on a work road trip. Was a really nice ride, going south out of Billings MT for about 10 miles, while climbing about 900 feet, then returning on the same route. Temperature was 85 at the start and 79 when I finished. Dry and sunny, a gloriuos day! On the way to Billings, I ate at the Golden Arches place, about 2 hours before my ride. Where I would normally start a ride after pumping tires and all that with a HR of about 100-110. Today, shortly after eating I felt quite anxious, and jittery. When I got on the bile my HR was 140. I felt good during the ride, but my HR was through the roof. I have self tested my HR on big long hills at 194. today I hit 196. My LT is about 176, today it was in the mid 180's based on respiration rate. Finally at the end of the ride it started returning to normal, and as I write its less than 100 bpm, which is typical for sitting and typing.

What gives? the only time I have experienced anything like this is certain fish sticks really cause my heart to race. Perhapes is sulfites? Any thoughts/experiences?

Atrial Fibrillation?

Was your heart beat regular?

Very regular, I actually felt fairly strong and rode well, so it would seem that my heart was pumping full volume, just damn fast

I never ride without a HRM. I use a trainer in very controlled conditions to get a base line.
The base line on a CycleOpps FL2 is 195 to 115 RPM and 16.5 to 20.5 MPH with a HR of 115 to 130. This HR falls to 95 with 30 second rest.
Armed with this information I travel around the country and never get surprises yet. As others said, we can get sick. But assuming that is not the case, this system works.

I would be asking my doctor not BF. A 196 HR seems incredibly high, but I'm not a doctor. Starting of at 100, 110 seems much too high to me.

I finally took my bike with me and rode on a work road trip. Was a really nice ride, going south out of Billings MT for about 10 miles, while climbing about 900 feet, then returning on the same route. Temperature was 85 at the start and 79 when I finished. Dry and sunny, a gloriuos day! On the way to Billings, I ate at the Golden Arches place, about 2 hours before my ride. Where I would normally start a ride after pumping tires and all that with a HR of about 100-110. Today, shortly after eating I felt quite anxious, and jittery. When I got on the bile my HR was 140. I felt good during the ride, but my HR was through the roof. I have self tested my HR on big long hills at 194. today I hit 196. My LT is about 176, today it was in the mid 180's based on respiration rate. Finally at the end of the ride it started returning to normal, and as I write its less than 100 bpm, which is typical for sitting and typing.

What gives? the only time I have experienced anything like this is certain fish sticks really cause my heart to race. Perhapes is sulfites? Any thoughts/experiences?

My HR ranges high, too. It gets higher if I'm not in my geography. If I start out a ride on unknown terrain and don't pace myself as I do at home, I tend to overwork at teh beginning of a ride when I should be pacing myself low for 10-15 minutes. It's what usually works for me. After that I'm struggling to both travel and recover for the next 40 minutes or so -- not good.

Other things I've noticed to affect this sort of comfort/discomfort: salty food, stuff that's harder to digest (a big burger at a brew pub turned a 5-mile ride home last winter into a 1 hour ordeal!), too much liquid in my stomach (the beer didn't help). I could imagine if I was under the weather that morning, which elevates my HR in the first place, I'd be even worse, due to starting with impairment.

But this is just me.

I always use an HRM now to learn to manage the level of effort - I'm too impulsive to do in on a strictly subjective basis.

Road Fan

Hydration? Mine goes up when I'm not hydrating properly. It's amazing to watch it come down after a guzzle or two.

Fatigue does it for me too. If I haven't slept well in a couple of nights, my HR goes up and my speed goes down.

194 is my typical high HR, I just have a fast heart. Under the best of conditions training 250-300 miles per week in my late teenage years, my low HR was about 55 on waking. My high HR started before I even started riding, then got higher. I never ride w/o the HRM, so i am pretty used to what my HR should be at what exertion level. This was way strange, i will consult with my MD, but everything back to normal today, in fact had quite a strong ride, until it was interrupted by a lost dog that needed my help to get home, but that's another story.