My practices and attitude are pretty much what Rick's are, however, no way could I ever be considered in the same league as he is. He's 'hard core'; people who don't ride just think I ride a lot. During a ride, I use a HRM for two specific purposes; 1) to see how 'hard' I'm riding, and 2) to see how much I'm slacking off. For me, when I see it at 155 bpm, I know that I'm pushing pretty hard and also know that I don't want to keep that up for too many miles, especially if I'm 30-40 miles away from home. And, when I see 110, I know I'm on a leisurely pleasure ride and am just 'coasting along' with minimal effort. When I see plus or minus 135, I know my heart is getting a modest workout and I strive to keep near that number. Not a screaming workout, but beneficial to the cardiovascular system at the same time. (Hypertension runs in the family tree, so I ride to help control that.) Right near the border between the 'fat burning' zone and the 'cardiovascular' zone.

When I ride with Jayna, the pulse doesn't get very high. She complains that she feels she's holding me back, but I tell her that I'll ride hard on other days and today, we are riding together.

I wear my HRM to see what my heart rate is at. I don't worry about zones. I just want to know if I'm pushing myself hard enough.

I start Stava, turn all the ringers off, throw the phone In my Camelbak and ride..

Back at the trail head I check out my ride...

Never used a monitor . . . if my heart quits beating, I quit riding (permanently)!

I also consider myself a recreational rider and have no intention of getting a heart monitor. I know my tendencies towards becoming obsessive about things, and I want to enjoy my daily rides. I do track my mileage and times, but that's it.