I've recently been diagnosed with PSVT. Checked graphs for outdoor and indoor training rides last couple of years and found HR spikes every few rides. They might occur 1-3x per ride when they occurred. Interestingly, it was usually shortly after a hill or increased speed/cadence when HR should be lowering.

Had an accelerated cardio stress test on treadmill and it showed up shortly after recovery phase began. I never felt any physical symptoms when my HR moved up. I'm 57 and HR would go from 145-160 range up to 190-210 for about 30 seconds. 3 options explained - do nothing, medication, and ablation. I just started on a calcium channel blocker as I also have slightly high blood pressure. Waiting to see a cardiac specialist as well.

Apparently one way to stop this spike is to cough vigorously or strain.

Will be doing a 160 km ride followed by a 100km next day this weekend so we'll see what effect this has. Guess I'll focus more on my HR during recovery portions of my rides.

biker guy -- ABLATION. i had SVT episodes for several years because i wanted to avoid heart surgery, but my Physician's Assistant assured me it's safe. She was right. they never put me completetly "out" during the surgery. it was easy (from the patient's viewpoint). Recovery was one or two days. by the way, the best SVT surgeon in America is at the UPMC hospital in Pittsburgh (David Schwartzman).

Do you notice when your heart starts racing? If you do then you should try some of those vagal maneuvers. Did they show you how to do them? They really do help if you catch it early. You might have to stop and get off the bike to do them effectively. I taught myself how to stop the arrhythmias before I even knew what I was doing or what was wrong. Sometimes just changing positions helped too.

I've had PSVT symptoms for 30 years. It was only diagnosed 5 years ago because they couldn't catch my heart misbehaving to see what it was doing. The episodes got more frequent with age. I had an ablation done 4 years ago, (successful, yay!) After I started riding my bike again 5 years ago, the arrhythmias got to be more of a nuisance. It was harder to stop them doing vagal maneuvers when I had been exercising and I ended up having to lie down by the side of the bike path to try to stop them a few times. I guess I could've called the paramedics to come and give me a shot of adenosine and maybe I would've if it had gotten scary. My cardiologist had assured me that I wasn't in danger from them and I didn't need to go off to the hospital when I had an episode but that I should ask the paramedics for the trace of it and bring it to him later. You, of course, should do what your doctors advise. Also, always carry your cell phone when you ride.

Coughing vigorously while leaning forward (easy on a bike) or straining (like a bowel movement) are supposed to help. I've never noticed when HR started racing but I've now created a HR alarm when my rate rises close to this so I can watch it and try those vagal maneuvers. Whenever it's happened my cadence is usually around 100 rpm so that may be another variable for me to reduce.

I could almost always feel it when I started going into tachycardia. I had a hard time interrupting it during exercise. And if I didn't get a vagal maneuver to work early in the process it was a lot harder to stop it. Once a short circuit got established it would just go galloping on for a while. Maybe you'll have better luck stopping your episodes on the bike than I did. I didn't actually have many episodes while I was exercising though. It was more common for me to have them immediately after stopping exercise. Occasionally, when I would stop at a street crossing for traffic one would start up.

Be sure to maintain your electrolyte balance when riding, especially on long rides. Remember that electrolytes affect heart rhythm.

Also, a wearing a Road ID might be a good idea. Some people actually pass out from these fast rhythms. I never did, but YMMV.

You mean this is not normal********** I get these as well but they always seem pretty short lived. It is certainly a lot different that the Afib I've had in the past.

No, it's not normal

Really, the question is: what would Teddy Roosevelt have done? We don't need no stinkin' electrophysiologist.

I have a similar issue from the bottom up. I get a gazillion PVCs and am exhausted when I get them. The problem is that I don't know if the exhaustion causes the PVCs or vicey versey. If the PVCs are the cause I really should get an ablation but I'm skeered. It also requires endocardial mapping, and that's a bit sketchier than just zapping a rogue pathway.

He would have rubbed some dirt in it then shot a Cape Buffalo. Or a Spaniard.