Originally Posted by
ronsmithjunior
In the past I have ridden by heart rate, and it is not a very efficient way to measure your effort, even if conditions remain mostly the same. Your heart rate changes too slowly to truly show you what your effort is, and it can vary, depending on outside factors.
Power is the most accurate method to manage effort, but it can be an expensive setup. You get an immediate, and accurate, assessment of what you are doing. These days I don't even look at my heart rate anymore.
In an effort to not totally derail the topic, it is better to take it easy on the uphills, and then put more effort into the descent. The goal is to smooth out the effort as much as possible. Going hard on the uphill and then trying to recover on the descent ultimately counts against you. This is what you have to do when in a fast group ride, or racing, but not long distance stuff like we are talking about (unless you are trying to stay in touch with people who are simply riding faster than you are).
This past Saturday I did a 300k (PCH Randos, out of Malibu, CA). During the ride I rode within a fairly narrow power band (up hills and down), and finished the ride feeling fairly strong. Without the power meter I would have been going too hard on the climbs, burning up my legs.
This how I rode until I started riding with my present group, many of whom have been riding together seemingly forever. They taught me to go like stink on the climbs and take it easy on the descents. Once I got strong enough to hang with them on the climbs, I realized that it's a much faster and more efficient way to ride. Simple reason: Power output required is proportional to the cube of your speed. Physics 101. So it's much more efficient to climb hard, where speed is low, and just spin your legs comfortably on the descent. Your total kj will be lower to cover the same distance in the same time.
To say it in other words, when climbing the incremental decrease in total time is much greater with increases in power output, than on the descent, where the incremental decrease in total time with increased power output is much lower because wind resistance is proportional to the square of the speed.
I agree with how comfortable it is to run at constant power, but it's more efficient to lay in the draft of my buddies, who otherwise would be way up the road! This presupposes a certain amount of conditioning, but that's why we do intervals and other intense training, and practice going hard, recovering, and going hard again.
Many LD riders advocate coasting on all descents, and they may be right, but I find it just fine to keep a tight chain under about 35 mph. If I were doing RAAM, I would certainly coast!
It's true that HR does not give an accurate assessment of power. But RPE can fill in while HR changes to a steady state. HR does give an accurate assessment of the chemical pathways being utilized to produce the current forward motion. Much more accurate than power, which could care less where it comes from, hence the utility of a HRM on LD rides.