Heart rate monitors
 

Me and my co rider both try to use heart monitors but have always had a conflict with each other on the signals. It is discorncerting to find that you are just putting in enough effort to keep moving comfortably, but the monitor is registering way over your limit.
All that has now changed as I bought a polar monitor yesterday with its "Own Code" feature. For the first time we have been able to both confirm that the other rider is working as hard as you are, by calling out our own heart rates.
Incidentally, as I have said, I am using the new Polar monitor, and Stuart is using a Sigma. All I have to do now is find out what all the buttons do, or perhaps I won't bother as Just knowing my true heart rate today, had me worried enough. Any more details will only confuse me, or slow me down.

You could have also gotten the Timex digital. Digitals have significantly less crosstalk (nearly none), as long as you turn them on at least 6 feet away from each other.

Koffee

Koffee knows best.

Some people use "coded" monitors to avoid this type of interference.

Which Polar model did you get? My girlfriend and I use the Polar 720i which can be downloaded to a computer. You can then overlay the two graphs and see how your heartrates compare. It did show us that she was working very very hard on the climbs, but not so hard on the flats. Now we are trying to adjust both of our efforts to be more consistent. BTW, she has both monitors on her handle bar so she can keep an eye me!!

I got the cheapest coded one the M32. I may have been in I.T. till about 3 years ago, but all I want is the basic unit that does the job. Incidentally, The pilots HRM is not coded, and no interference either way.
It may be the New HRM working correctly, but with the extra fitness training I have done this year, I have noticed that my heart rate has dropped for a given amount of exercise by around 10 bpm. I can still get that extra 10 bpm and it is less tiring than it used to be, but the shock came on sunday when racing a FIT solo up a hill. The HR went way above my limit, and I could still push hard. The last time I saw that measurement must have been 10 years ago.

In over 200,000 miles of tandem riding, we have never used heart monitors.
When our hearts stop, we'll know we're dead!
Unless we'd have a medical condition that would warrant the use of a monitor, we are not planning to get monitors.

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

To each his own. I'm not looking down on some folks if they decide to use them to track their progress...

Koffee

I wear a monitor because of a condition I had 6 years ago, but I was using one before that. I mainly do the long endurance rides, and for that sort of riding you have to pace yourself. By using the monitor, I can keep up a pace for the whole of the ride, without going over the top of energy use. By setting my normal riding to between 140 and 150 bpm on a ride, I know I am not going to get to the stage where I will run out of energy and "Bonk". I will still go above the limit for short occasions to get over the tricky parts of the trails, but do set myself an age realated upper limit of 165.

The other usefull side of an HRM is to tell me how fit I am, or unfit. If I am working hard, breathing deeply and even struggling, but the Monitrr is registering say 140, then I know something is about to go wrong, or I have not warmed up correctly. See my Next posting on gutted to see what I mean.

HRM's are not for everyone, but if used properly, can be a usefull training aid-- Just like a cycle computer, which is completely unnecessary in my opinion as I know when I am going fast, But how many people have one of those fitted to the bike?

Totally agree that monitors are a good choice for good reasons.
However, we have not had a reason yet to use them.
Pedl on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

I originally set my HRM for the "formula-based" upper limit and blew through that climbing the short 8% grade out of our subdevelopment; 195 bpm is where my heart rate stalls and the norm for hard riding is between 175 and 189, despite having a resting heart rate below 50. We ride with a another team who frequent this list and -- even with some snow on the roof -- he's noted that his heart rate will register above 200 on super-strenuous climbs. Conversely, some of the hardcore riders in our group consider 165 to be their upper limit.

So, if nothing else, a HRM does provide good information about YOUR actual level of effort and is a good way to measure cardio fitness, assuming one of the reasons that you cycle is to maintain or improve your cardio health and cycling performance. Cycling computers are likewise useful as training tools in that they help you keep track of miles ridden, average speeds / time on course for training loops, as well as cadence if so desired. I've grown fond of the HAC4 if only because I can ride for a week then download the data at my leisure to see what I've accomplished, how it compares to previous weeks, and if I had any self discipline left about training, to develop new goals for the following week's rides. I can also see how many miles I've accumulated during each week, month, or year, along with the vertical feet gained, and the amount of time I've spent in the different cardio training zones, e.g., have I been getting in quality or junk miles?

So, like most things related to cycling, computers and HRMs aren't for everyone, anymore than clipless pedals, cycling shorts, certain types of frame materials, or any other particular piece of equipment, apparel, or accessory. Also, the more time you invest in learning how to use your equipment the more you'll be able to get out of it and, over time, you find like others that it's just no longer (or never was) needed to meet your cycling goals, that is assuming you have any other than to enjoy the experience.

Him: HAC4
Her: Polar S720i

I guess that could be considered nature's own heart monitor. :D

I don't use a heart monitor because I never get the kind of heart rate that could get anyone, including my very excitable heart doctor, excited. The last time I had a stress test, I kept going until the doctor got bored and decided to stop it. Now if they had a knee monitor........

Doc