How do you get your peak zone (85% max heart rate) while cycling? I've got a fit bit and can't get very far past cardio (135 beats per minute). Do you stand and mash, sit and spin or a combination of both. I even have hills on the way to work and it doesn't help. I also may need to go out on some longer rides to look at the data. I think I might be able to get it on the MTB course but haven't had the time. Just wanting to know if there is a way it can happen without running and if so what do I need to do?

Have you tried to determine what your max HR while cycling (running is different) is?

Do you have a heart rate monitor?

My cardiologist told me that at my age there is no advantage to training at over 140.He ask why I get it to 170 and I told him to get over the hill.He said ok but don't keep it there very long.

Whether on the saddle or off, pedal faster with greater effort in bigger gear.

No. The fit bit does give Some heart data, but it seems to track resting heart rate for the most part.

Before you can get into 85% of your max heart rate, you need to find out what your max HR is.

Get a good HRM, find a hill a couple km long, ride for a little while to warm up, then attack the hill.

I found my max HR the hard way: chased by a German Shepherd in the middle of a high-intensity interval.

An easier way is doing hills as recommended by Machka, or doing sprint intervals: sprint as hard as you can for 10 seconds, then soft-pedal for 20...Then keep repeating until you are ready to climb off the bike and curl up in a fetal position.

There are other ways to do it, of course, but these work for me.

For fitness and recreation, perceived exertion and tracking day to day with a fitbit or something is plenty.

If we're talking actual bike training, we're not in the ballpark yet.

It's age and genetically dependent. If you're deemed in fair enough health by a physician, then you acquire the max by doing something like a 2 minute hill sprint interval. All out, die at the top or before the top.

My max is in the low 190s and I'll hold 170's and finish the last 6min or so of a 20 min power test in the low 180s.

85% is steady state power output level, ie...cruising solo for a couple hours in mild discomfort (160bpm = 85% of 190).

I think sometimes early on in riding bikes, max HR and a HR you can comfortably hold is very trainable. Like in the first few months. After that, not so much. After that it's your tolerance for lactate and how quickly you can clear it. You won't be able to increase your max HR and your HR zones after a fair amount of training, just the physiology itself.

Interesting. My cardiologist says they're finding that really hammering on the heart from time to time is good for the heart. He's quite happy with me getting over 170 on my rides (I'm 65). I don't like keeping it above 170 for a long time (160-170 is fine with me), but he doesn't mind.

To put some detail into the recommendations of others, I find that I don't reach my maximum heart rate if I warm up for 15 minutes then hammer on a long hill; it takes a half hour or so of serious work (on a bike; running is different) for my heart to happily work its way to top bpm. If I throw a long hill in there after a half hour of hard work, my heart will find its peak bpm, or if I just keep working very hard on level ground, it'll find that peak bpm in an hour or so.

I'm 67.....ugh....and just took a run at my max heart rate last week. I'd been on the road for ~35 miles on a route that finished up with a gentle climb for the last two miles. At that point, I mashed a gearing combination that pushed me to my limits. My heart rate basically "stalled" at 153. I've done similar "tests" over the past few years and the results have been consistent.

Dean

Thanks to everyone. It looks like I need to take longer rides and find bigger hills. I hit 144 this morning and 147 this afternoon. It seems like it is usually near the end of a ride, regardless of where the hills are.

Using Strava can be a easy way to hit your max HR. On my usual weekend training route there is a 2km 3% avg segment relatively early in my ride. That segment is a pretty good way to hit max HR if I attack it with the intention of trying to get a new PR.

I think that you're asking how to get to that zone, rather than how to measure it. Although it's a good question, are you sure that you actually know what that "85% of max heart rate" really is.

I have found that 20 minute intervals at threshold, or trying to stay above threshold, would get my heart rate into that range especially as I got more fit for cycling.

I'm thinking I need to do some recreational riding. Obvously, trafic can cause problems with trying to get into the cardio zone. It also now seems like I can hit it easier spinning than mashing. Hopefully this weekend I can take a longer ride and play with it.

My average heart rates for bike rides are around 100-110 bpm. I rarely get over 150 bpm according to my Fitbit tracker. Tennis on the other hand... I max out at 172 bpm and average about 150 bpm.

How long have you been riding? Are you otherwise in shape from other activities? I can say when I started cycling, I was in excellent shape from running and started training on the bike to do my first triathlon. during the first year, my leg strength really lacked so far behind my cardio abilities that I rarely got into the higher cardio zones. That has changed now that I've stopped running and just do cycling for cardio for the most part. I have spent a couple hours at a time above my theoretical max heart rate for my age on the bike.

And if you are using a fitbit, I wouldn't bother getting a chest strap unless you want to be able to strap the watch to the bike and be able to see your data without flipping your wrist all the time. I have a garmin watch and it does a pretty good job of monitoring HR on the wrist especially for cycling where you aren't swinging your wrist a lot unlike running. I do have the chest strap though because I mount the watch to the handlebars so I can see the data easier. But when I leave the watch on the wrist, the HR seems pretty comparable on like workouts.

How old are you TX? If thats not too personal..

I turned 66 in July

First make sure you know (approximately) what your max HR is. Then ride hard. I can hit close to max HR on flats, but hills (and heat/humidity) do help get it up there.
IOW, sounds to me like you're not riding hard.

I agree with 124 Spider, although I hesitate to suggest you go against your cardiologist's recommendation.
Check out the book Fast After 50 by Joel Friel. I saw that book recommended here on BF some time ago and found it worth the read. In it he states (or at least one of the things I took from it) is that even as you get older into your 70s and later getting your HR up is good medicine. I push hard a lot when I ride and do other exercise and believe I am better for it.

I would ask the Cardio what he does for excercise.
If he is not a Cyclist, or at least a Runner, find one that is if that is an option.
You will get much different answers and better understanding of your concerns.

When I go to the Doctors for general stuff, I request to see one of the Physician Assistants. Other than being much cuter, she was a college level cyclist, and still rides 100+ a week.
So when I go in, she takes things seriously.

Heck, I have a hard time keeping it UNDER 160 on a bike. Flat ground or no, unless I'm really loafing along, I'll average about 160, max out in the low 180's. I'm 37, so the typical 220-age puts my theoretical max HR right at the same spot.

I have read that the optical sensors in stuff like the Fitbit isn't always the most accurate for exercise monitoring, so maybe switch to a chest strap?

I strongly suggest that you find out what your actual max HR is. I am 38 and in really good shape. Yet my max HR is only 174. Well below some of you old-timers . And I never reach that on the bike, rather while running. My typical peak riding HR is somewhere around 163 and this is typical. Normally max riding HR is lower than running HR max.

Regardless, everyone's max HR's are different and knowing your personal max and HR zones are invaluable to training properly. The last thing you want to do for your heart health is go out there every day and try to push your max.

A chest strap HR monitor is more accurate than wrist based. However, yeah, wrist based measurements work and work well. I use mine every day but for those days where I am looking to verify my VO2 max or HR max, I use the chest strap.

For the Garmin VO2 max calculation, they have you first warm up for a while ( I warm up mid-tempo for 15 good minutes ), then they stick you in your predefined zone 3 for 5 minutes, then zone 4 for 5min, then zone 5 for 5 and finally push you to anaerobic zone 6 until your HR no longer rises for a said amount of time. This test is painful. On a bike it would be much more difficult as you need to be guarantied an open path for that long and is also the reason I don't know my cycling max HR.

Wahoo Tickr and the free Wahoo fitness app allows you to see your HR on your phone while riding.