Originally Posted by
BengalCat
My max cycling is HR 168 at 74 years old. Zone five > 160. As I've aged my muscles have not kept pace with HR in terms of performance. I seldom push my HR to the zone levels adjusted for my younger age of the past. Your stats are fine as long as you feel good and recover normally. When you compare people of similar age and fitness there is a great variation in max HR, especially for older folks.
I am now in riding on a mixture of climbs and the flat like to see my HR zones at the end of the ride as the combination of zones 3,4, and 5 combined to exceed the total of zones 1 and 2.
On climbs, in moderate weather, I like to hold depending upon the grade along parts of Cat 3 Mandivilee 75-95 percent of max HR. I sometimes hit my max at the end but almost always at least 160. (The last half-mile really kicks up incrementally the last half mile.)
Thanks - "feeling good and recovering normally" are two good barometers, as I like to listen to what my body is telling me both during and after a ride. Fortunately, I am good on both points, so the goal will be to get more miles in each week and continue improving fitness.