What are recovery rides?

[Iankatz]

What is the proper heart rate to maintain on such a ride? Whenever I ride my HR is at the 160-170bpm range is this good? I ride about 150 miles a week, but am I hurting myself doing this?

 

[Fat Hack]

What is the proper heart rate to maintain on such a ride? Whenever I ride my HR is at the 160-170bpm range is this good? I ride about 150 miles a week, but am I hurting myself doing this?

I far as I can remember, recovery rides should be less that 60% of your max.

The rides are normally less than 2 hrs, and I think the theory is that the blood flow stimulated by the activity is supposed to aid recovery better than doing nothing at all.

 

[in.10.city]

RR's should be at 60 - 85% of your maximum steady state heart rate depending on your experience and fitness level and they should typically be 30 - 120 minutes. They should not be intense enough to produce a training response. They should be both physically AND mentally EASY. You should be going painfully slow for most of them.