Road biker with a new MTB. Age 63. On road, routinely ride 30-40 miles with 2000 feet of climbs, but at a max incline of 4 to 5 percent. Swim three days a week, walk a bunch, paddle hard 6 months a year. Right now about 10 lbs over weight in the gut, although my upper body is muscular big from swimming/padding.

On road climbs HR is at about 80 percent, but breathing is fine. Been riding a two mile climb on mtb once a week, incline 25 to 35 percent all the way. Heart is 162 to 165 once I get going. Out of breath but I can sustain the climb for the whole way, usually about 30 minutes (like I said it is steep). My max HR is apparently 165. Have done this four times, and it is getting easier, in small increments. Is it safe to red line the heart for this long? I anticipate that I will eventually do this and stay in a lower HR zone. Other than heavy breathing, no abnormal shortness of breath or any type of chest pain. Used to have treadmill test at work until I retired at 55, always normal.

Is my ticker going to explode, or just get fitter? The first time I did it, I couldn’t figure out why my heart wouldn’t go over 99, until I realized that was percent of max, not actual heart rate (DOH!).