Quote:
Originally Posted by
rsbob View Post
when I hammer 8% grades my heart rate goes way up to the 170-180 range and after two plus minutes start gasping for more air. So how do you moderate the attack versus not getting enough air? Or is it just me?
Originally Posted by
terrymorse
Seems like you're going too hard to sustain, since you've gone anaerobic.
Can you try easing into the climb, ramping up the effort until you're just at the point that you start breathing heavily, then backing off a little?
Yeah, really easy to go anaerobic on steeper pitches...
one thing I might add - many riders, if they know a steep uphill is ahead, tend to slow down enough to get their heart rate down ... if you do that too early, the oxgenation of the blood falls also, and then the extreme of the pitch causes a major jump in heart rate - to load the blood with O2 again. But it doesn;t catch up quick enough to bring the blood O2 to the level needed, so you go anaerobic...
I was reminded this morning... Our Sunday ride is a combo of rolling and ALWAYS a load of some of the tastier tough climbs in our area. Group usually breaks up into 2 or 3 smaller groups.
Today I told myself to ride the 2nd group rather than trying to hold the wheels of Group 1 (and eventually get shelled... LOL!). The ride went up to one of the nastier climbs, 1 1/2 mi with stair step pitches of 9 to 12 % with 5-6% in between to 'recover'...
So riding in Group 2 had the pace very mellow - 18-19 mph for the miles leading up, instead of 23-24... My HR was low also for those lead-up miles (110-118). The 1st pitch is 12%... We hit that and by the time we were at the crest of the pitch, I went to 185 HR ! Crazy ! I hadn't been that high in 5 yrs. AND, I was very anaerobic and legs about 2x normal size. The rest of the climb, which had another 4 pitches of 8 to 11% and remaining at 6%, was brutal.
Normally, when I'm hanging on to Group 1, I'm at 135-almost 140 at the start of the climb/pitch, and never go over 165, and recover well before the next pitch...
Don't 'Baby' into climbs - on the approach keep the heart pumping and into your High Zone 2, low Zone 3 - you'll climb Moe Beta.. maybe not Pantani style, but still better...
Ride On
Yuri (definitely NOT Pantani...)