Originally Posted by
dleccord
Hi guys. I ride my road bike mostly on flats and when I ride around 18-19mph (no head nor tailwind), my heart rate is around 173-179 bpm. Is this normal and how can I keep this down? Is this a symptom of lack in Zone 2 miles? I'm 26 years old and weigh 150lbs. Thanks
You have to start at the beginning and first establish your heart rate zones. From there you need to train to a specific zone in order to improve.
When starting out, you need to try and decouple your heart rate with your mph. The goal over time of course as you alluded is to develop a lower heart rate for a given speed. This will come with training. But it takes discipline to develop into a stronger cyclist versus no regiment and just picking up with your riding buddies. There is no shortcut to being strong. You need to spend many hours in zone 2 and 3 which won't seem like as much fun as up tempo rides when you are competing with your friends on the road.
I am going to attempt to train with heart rate this season with a bit more discipline and see how it goes. One thing you learn is cycling is largely aerobic. This is why you see so many different body types good at it...little skinny guys and girls can keep up with big muscled guys.
You mentioned riding along at 18-19 mph. I am over 2x's your age and was out on my ride yesterday when I was passed by a 50 year women...I guess her age in that range...she may have been younger...so I sped up and then I passed her to see what she had.
We rode for 5 miles at 22-23 mph. This girl could flat ride. Small and powerful and not young. She obviously has been riding for years.
If you go over to Slow twitch, many believe and I am in this camp....it takes years and not months to develop speed over long distance. If you train with discipline and then hook up with fast guys, you will likely be as fast as any on the road if you train with better discipline than your riding partners.
Good luck.
Heart rate zones and a good link below:
Zone 1 (60-65% of maximum heart rate): For long, easy rides, to improve the combustion and storage of fats.
Zone 2 (65-75% of MHR): The basic base training zone. Longish rides of medium stress.
Zone 3 (75-82% of MHR): For development of aerobic capacity and endurance with moderate volume at very controlled intensity.
Zone 4 (82-89% of MHR): For simulating pace when tapering for a race.
Zone 5 (89-94% of MHR): For raising anaerobic threshold. Good sessions for 10- and 25-mile time-trials.
Zone 6 (94-100% of MHR): For high-intensity interval training to increase maximum power and speed
Heart rate monitor training for cyclists - BikeRadar