Heart Rate and Cadence questions

[jitteringjr]

My old cyclocomp is toast so I bought a new once with cadence. I have counted my cadence in the past but I always did so on level ground where it was always 90-100. With the cadence computer, I noticed that although the 90-100 was correct for the level ground, I drop my cadence down to 70-80 when I go up the hills. Should I maintain the higher cadence up hills by shifting way down or should I keep doing what I have been doing for the last 2 years? Opions please.

I also bought a heart rate monitor and I am looking for a good free site to read up on heart rate monitor training. Specifically, what zone should I do recovery rides at? and what zone should I do intervals in? Is there a set %of max heart rate I should use?

 

[gw709]

I too started riding with a cadence meter and have found it makes sense to drop down & maintain a higher cadence (ala LA) it saves the legs for when you really need them, but does mean higher aerobic capacity is needed

 

[2LAP]

Try this for working out your HR zones...
http://www.abcc.freeserve.co.uk/hrcalc.html
The zones are the same as the British Cycling ones, so you could get more info off the coaching part of www.BritishCycling.org.uk They also have a training diary form that is based on these zones that you could download.

 

[jitteringjr]

Thanks for the link 2Lap. I must be doing my recovery too hard. My Zone 3 starts at 141BPM so for recovery that means I should be less than 141 but if I even approach my bike it seems my HR going above that even though my resting HR is around 50-53.

I'm joking a little bit, but yesterday's recovery ride was at ~155BPM and that was boring going so slow. It'll be hard for me to ride slower for extended periods of time while maintaining sanity.

My 1 hour HR is in the zone 4 as it should be but I do stay at the high end of the band.

 

[2LAP]

You need only keep recovery rides from 30 to 40 minutes on days that you are not going to ride.

 

[jitteringjr]

I think I'm just going to buy one of those cycling training bibles and start over from the ground up.