Originally Posted by brigadon
The puzzling result from this afternoon's first trial is that riding as hard as I could I couldn't push the heart rate above 128 bpm which is a long way from my theoretical maximum of 174 bpm. Now, I wonder, does this indicate that I'm exceptionally weak, exceptionally unfit, or the opposite....that I'm pretty fit for my 72 years? Or does it mean something else?
It probably means your MHR calculation is wrong. The normal MHR calculation is 220-age so your theoretical MHR would be 148. Taking this into account your figures are probably about right (although I'm no expert and only comment based on what I've read about HR training).
cheers
/kak