So I’m attempting to go all in this year and learn to be a road cyclist - a lot of which involves training in heart rate zones. I’m having a heck of a time trying to keep in an easy Zone 2 pace simply because the gearing feels so tall but obviously it’s a case of rider not the ride.

I’ve discovered riding almost exclusively in the 52 ring actually works pretty well and every time I drop down to the 42 it feels like I have lost a lot of momentum - I usually end up walking shortly after downshifting. I’m also using 6 gears in the rear so I’m feeling pretty limited.

I was hoping those of you familiar with riding vintage / classic bikes might have some tips for a newbie to the sport? I usually end up riding at 150-155 bpm for my 60-90minute rides so far and it doesn’t feel bad I just can’t seem to ride anywhere near 130 bpm.

I know the numbers matter.
Can't help you with that.

Don't ride the data.
My only suggestion, and it may work for me and not you:
1. Leave the HR monitor at home.
2. Leave the cadence sensor at home.
3. Leave the speedo or cyclo at home.

For six weeks, ride a lot, vary the terrain if you can, and work on being smooth.
Generally, when you drop from 52 to 42, you can drop a cog in the back and it's less jarring. Sometimes two cogs in the back.
Simply work on what tells your legs "thumbs up" or "thumbs down."
Once you get accustomed to riding more by instinct/feel, re-introduce the data.
Start with the cadence, then the HR. You may need to adjust your zones.

Forget the speed. Doesn't really matter, unless you are asked to maintain a speed.
Introduce that once you have a grip on your consistency and limits.

interesting question!

In the days when 42 and 52 tooth chainrings were standard, people did monitor cadence, but I don't recall any heart rate monitors or discussions of zones. Developing an ability to pedal smoothly at a cadence somewhere around 80 or 90 rpm is a useful skill.
Riding by "feel" will take time, but these basic skills are useful and important.

Steve in Peoria

What freewheel/cassette are you riding? We all raced and trained on 52 (53) - 42 back in the day and used small closely spaced freewheels. (Rarely more than 24 teeth. But - we never tracked heart rate. (Oh, sometimes I'd put my hand over my heart at the top of hills and multiply 6 seconds of beats by 10. I only did that when going very hard and tried to see if I could get over 200 - simply as incentive to go really hard, not as a training monitor.)

The bikes and gearing of the old days don't work with the modern constant RPM and HR thinking. The 52-42s and narrow FWs much more so than the earlier fix gears but still basically incompatible. Getting over the routine hills on the famous "Allis Loop" of Boston with a constant HR on the bikes John Allis rode? If you'd suggested that to him, he'd have laughed in your face.

Now, I spent nearly all of my time outside of races, downhills and speedwork on the small chainring. Hundreds of hours every summer on the 42-14,15 and 17. Hill? The 19 and stand. Rainy day? The fix gear with its 17 or late summer, 16.

79pmooney Its a 14/24 on the rear I believe. Thats good to know about training methodology and adapting it to modern technology, it makes sense - of course! At the moment I'm riding 3 days a week and bumping up to 4 next week, 5 by august etc. Thanks for the insight!

steelbikeguy I think its a combination of learning through YouTube etc and my line of work which is very data heavy. When I was a runner prior to tearing my PCL I was capturing every bit of data possible which I found really helpful in pushing myself - at one point I was running a 1 1/2 miles under 10 minutes at 200 lbs - not so much anymore!

bamboobike4 You're likely onto something, just get comfortable before worrying about the rest of it.

I used to run, but that was 40 years ago. No sort of data available, other than the elapsed time. The best I ever did was 3 miles in 19 minutes, and I'd like to think that I was paying attention to how my body felt. To be in shape and running gracefully was a wonderful thing! The same applies to bike riding, imho. Maybe not for folks who are entering competitions, but as a person getting into the activity, this is the time to develop the basic skills and just *enjoy* it!

If possible, maybe find someone to ride with who can help with developing the skills? I had friends who taught me how to ride in pacelines, how to set up cleats on shoes (back when they were nailed on), how to do some maintenance, etc. Lots of little details that are easier to learn from a friend than from the web.

Steve in Peoria

Yes, as pmooney notes, the range of sprockets on your rear hub is a crucial factor in your quest to become a more efficient road rider. With a 52/42 combination up front, you should strongly consider having a shop install a new freewheel or cassette (depending on what your bike requires) with a large sprocket of at least 28 teeth---larger if your rear derailleur can handle it.

Starting at the beginning of this road season, I, too, have been striving to keep my heart rate in the plus-or-minus 130 bpm range for at least 75 percent of my rides. The wider the gear range available, the easier maintaining that heart rate level becomes. After several months of those Zone 2-dominated rides, I find that I'm doing considerably higher speeds in that zone, as well as in higher zones.

Old man digressions:

---Not all of us! Starting in 1964, I spent years training and racing on a track bike, with a 51/19 chainring/sprocket combination (approximately 72 gear inches) while everyone else in my local bike club rode their road bikes. Back then, the Amateur Bicycle League of America (ABLA) specified that both freewheel and fixed-gear bikes were OK for road racing, as long as the bike had at least one working brake. Fixed-gear bikes were not excluded from road races until sometime in the 1970s.

John Allis! I remember the guys from Boston --- Allis, Leighton Chen, Tom Officer, etc. ---showing up at West Rock in New Haven for the New England Road Racing Championship in 1965 and dominating the event. Awe-inspiring. Then as now, the best riders tended to do the most mileage in training. (Mark Cavendish, the British rider who is arguably among the most successful road and track sprinters in the history of the sport, once said that, when he asked his first national-team-level coach for a training program, the coach said, "Just ride 16 hours a week. For the first few months, that's all you need to do.")

The only difference is that people can now ride according to heart rate and power and meticulously track their improvement throughout the season.

I still do the majority of my miles, including throughout notoriously hilly northern Baltimore County, on a modern fixed-gear bike, with a 48/18 setup (about 71 inches). I keep telling myself that at almost 71 years of age, I should be worrying about preserving my knees, but I just love my track bike too much.

It sounds like you need practice riding in smaller gears, no matter what. Learn to spin a higher cadence smoothly. You'll have to allow yourself to go slower if you want to do Zone 1/Zone 2 training.

I'm not a big gear rider, so my first order of business would be to get a 14-28 6-speed freewheel and a new chain.

spin to win !

there are some problems here first and foremost you have to post a pic of the bike.....drive side visible....ok that is the only problem

but tell us the bike year and model, and what components you have

is it 120 or 126mm

I am of the group that think going to a 14x28 is a great idea

I don't track heart rate or RPMs or watts on my rides other than indoors on the Wahoo trainer. But I do know that getting your heart rate consistently down for a particular amount of effort will take a good deal of miles on the bike, i.e., getting in shape, optimizing as well as you can your fitness, cardio, etc. As others have said, just getting out and riding as much as you can for now is best. I find that riding multiple days in a row, usually three but more if I have the time, gets me in the best shape (which I mostly gauge from not getting out of breath on climbs). Those don't all have to be big effort days but the repetition is key.

Also key is for target heart rate is what your resting BPM might be. And that seems to really vary among cyclists, whether in great physical shape or not.

That's an interesting point I didn't think of, my resting BPM is around 47-50 and today after a large climb I peaked at 184 ... wonder if that makes following a 'zone' more or less challenging.

This "zone 2" description, I have no idea what that really means.

My Dr. was more interested in recovery time, how long to get back to a resting heart rate.
Forget all what was posted, go see your Dr. maybe a sports oriented one, get a work up and know.

There was a bike shop owner around here 15 years ago, was riding in the hills above Malibu.
Heart failed. game over at 56.

Mid-1980s Gardin TNT Frame at 63cm
700x23 Continental Grand Sport Race
126mm at the rear
Upon further review, I'm actually using a 14x28 on the rear.
Biopace 52/42
Shimano 170mm crank, A350 FD and RD
Diacompe 505 brakes.

Sorry about image sizes - not sure how to shrink them yet.





Nothing fancy by any stretch.

Yikes, I'll make an appointment

thanks like the bike and problem corrected.

I would ride in the small ring and focus on doing decent spinning. go into the big ring on downhills and with the wind behind you for now


Personally I like having my HR available, but don't worry about stages. I try to keep it in a range. (for me that is 130-150) also if it is super hot I keep it at 130 or under to avoid over doing it (this is me using this info as an example and not saying anything I do is super scientific)

Seeing as you're using it mostly as a bailout and walking some hills, i'd try to find a 39t inner ring for the crank. Give you a better/lower hill gear. Imo it doesn't have to be biopace.

sweet bike btw
i like the blue tape

50/39, 12-23 is where it’s at.

If your knees are intact!

I do a lot of "training" riding on vintage bikes, usually with heart rate, but sometimes with a power meter. You're going to have a much easier time following modern training methods targeting particular "zones" if you have more modern gearing. More speeds helps, but if you're riding hills, it's even more important to have a lower gear. It depends on your fitness, the hills around you, etc., but if you're regularly having to stand up and slowly mash your pedals up a hill, it's very tough to maintain a given zone. Putting a 39 small ring on your crank could make a big difference. I'm usually on a 34/50.

52 to 42 is a big drop compared to stepping up one cog in the back in a 14-24 FW. This probably is what you interpret as "losing momentum." To avoid the big jump, try shifting into the 42 chainring first then immeadiately go to the next smallest cog. You can use the same hand to work both shifters to make it happen quickly.

My vintage bikes have 52/42 and a 13/24. I would avoid the hills when you need to keep your heart rate down but keep riding and you will be able to keep it low by slowing down on the hills with your current set up (unless they are really steep). If you change anything before you reach 1000miles, get longer cranks—175mm or maybe longer. Taller cyclists will know a good length. AND with those cranks get round rings.