Originally Posted by
whitemax
Thanks for the info on the cables.
OK, if anybody is interested....as I am 54 y/o, 185 lbs. with probable max heart rate of low 190's (last checked several years ago at 195) I was riding 53x19 for 30 min. at 88 rps. It typically took about 26 min. or so to cross into 160 bpm range. Today, after warming up the Fluid 2 to get max fluid resistance, I set out to ride 53x17 at 88 rpm. At only 3 min. 20 sec., I crossed over 160 bpms. At 5 min. I was at 168 bpm. It was getting to be quite painful and that's were I pussed out and backed off. As a recognized rationalization, the Frito scoops and dip started calling my name. I reckon I could have made it to 7 or 8 min. tops had I chosen to suffer on but again, it was getting hard.
CarpeDiem, if I might trouble you once more, could you try 53x12 at 57 rpms and see what kinds of numbers you get i.e. speed and power? I'd like to mash some and see what kind of approximate power I get and how long it takes my heartrate to go over 160 bpm. Thanks again for all your help!
I don't mind, esp since I'm planning on riding tonight.
However, as suggested above, my data may not correlate well with your trainer's actual resistance. The numbers are just numbers, and being artificially high can be really discouraging when you learn the reality. For example, before I had my power meter, I did some sprints with a powermeter-equipped friend. He told me excitedly that I must be hitting 1600-1800w in my sprints since he was hitting 1200 and I was just annihilating him. Then a brand new racer told me he was hitting 1550 on his new power tap. I finally got a powermeter, ripped out a few sprints, and I was incredibly disappointed to barely hit 1200w. Eventually, when I was a bit better on the bike and it was warmer out, I was hitting 1250-1400w and a couple times hit 1550. However my expectation was that I'd be in the 1800w range and that just never happened. I've won pretty competitive field sprints without breaking 1200w, and I won a race without breaking 900w (in the rain).
Likewise, after having my powermeter for a while, I went to a local gym with my sis-in-law. She wanted me to ride the stationary bikes with her and give her an idea of how real the numbers were as she'd been using them for a while and she was wondering how accurate they were (her friend is a top level triathlete in the area). On a typical training ride I average 150-170w and in races I might hit 200w avg but typically am so tired at that point I can't sprint. Yet on the exercise bike I was holding 400w for long periods of time and did almost 300w for something like 45 minutes. I told my sis-in-law that she should knock a good 30-40% off the numbers, minimum, to get a real wattage. She was really disappointed.
btw I'm 7 years younger, my max HR is realistically in the 180-185 range (I don't know but I haven't hit 187 in something like 10 years and I haven't broken 180 in at least 3-4 years), and 4 weeks ago I was virtually the same weight as you.