The weather ...

[europa]

Planning as I was to go for a long, therapeutic ride this arvo, it's just started raining complete with thunder, lightening and hysterical woofing from my dog. Complaining here isn't as therapeutic, but while my fingers are typing, they aren't tightening around that ruddy dog's neck

Richard

the temperature's well into the thirties and we're having thunderstorms - must be summer

[gururug]

The rain god told me they are going to disappear

[heavymetal]

That's no excuse. Didn't you know that all good touring bikes can withstand lightning strikes.

However your PC might not

[gdl_gdl]

That's no excuse. Didn't you know that all good touring bikes can withstand lightning strikes.

Can you put this to the test? There's a few storms due over the weekend in Perth.

(I only checked this as the rellies depart for the UK on Sunday morning).

Call it an experiment on behalf of the bicyles.net.au community!

Maybe we should put it to the vote? How do you set up those polls???

Cheers,

Gary

[europa]

Maybe we should put it to the vote? How do you set up those polls???

No poll needed, we just send Kev out into the worst electrical storm we can find. Of course, if he comes back, we'll have to put up with him telling us about it, but there's always the chance he won't

Richard

[heavymetal]

Maybe we should put it to the vote? How do you set up those polls???

No poll needed, we just send Kev out into the worst electrical storm we can find. Of course, if he comes back, we'll have to put up with him telling us about it, but there's always the chance he won't

Richard

I've been there and done that Have been caught in lightning storms in Tasmania. While the bike and rider can usually get missed by the lightning, the wind has a habit of blowing the bike away.

[pugsly]

I walked in the door about an hour ago - my wife commented that I looked like someone had thrown a bucket of water in my face - the sweat was literally dripping off. I'd just been to the LBS on the way home from work, got a new cycle computer do-hickey that does cadence - yay! and some panniers as the bagpack on the commutes is giving me the irrits - and they'd be handy for the occasional trip up to the shops.

Anyhoo, in the 30C heat - which isn't really that hot unless you're an Bibendum wannabe like myself - I was watching my cadence - seems my 'natural' candence is mid 70s to low 80s and I glanced down at my HRM - it was reading 189 so I slowed things down a bit and took it a bit easier on the way home. Once I got home I walked around for a good 10mins before it dropped under 120. It only seems to be like this in the heat - does temperature affect you the same way?

[moosterbounce]

Lightning doesn't worry me - not that much metal on my bike

My HR is higher in summer on hard rides - probably because your body is working harder to keep you cool. Girls can get differing HR due to hormonal changes too. I do the five minute "zone test" on the Polar F11 before I exercise because it can make a real difference.

Moo...

[MJF]

I glanced down at my HRM - it was reading 189

Geez - I just about fall off my bike (AT) 170, and I can tell when I've hit 160 without looking. You need to be more careful Pugsly!! My FS1 has an audible alarm feature, you should check your HRM for the same and set it at a safe level...

[LuckyPierre]

Thunder and lightening over Canberra's southern suburbs, thunder and lightening on the crit circuit at Stromlo! Well, the odd groan and flash of the eyes, anyway. The E grade bunch are a bit tougher than F Troop, that's for sure. They must have remembered me shouting at them to hurry up last week (they blocked my final lap, then moved away a bit and I almost caught them again in my final sprint), because the hammer was down from the first lap - a bit of a let up over the middle third of the race then back on the 'go' pedal again! I hung on to the back at the beginning, handled the middle third OK (even took a turn on the front) but got left when they got serious. I finished as what you'd probably call 'the first of the stragglers', so now I know what I have to do to bridge the gap.
During the post-mortem (aren't they fun) I found out that we'd had a D grade rider who'd missed his race because of a flat amongst us - he was the one responsible for the early pace. The easier middle third was because he got told to pull his head in, then the last bit was the E graders ganging up on him! He came fifth, so I feel vindicated because my 'fellow riders' proved a point.
Crit racing is fun, even when it kills you!

[mikesbytes]

Take it easy pugsley, leave TDF until 2009

Have a nice day
training log

[pugsly]

I glanced down at my HRM - it was reading 189

Geez - I just about fall off my bike (AT) 170, and I can tell when I've hit 160 without looking. You need to be more careful Pugsly!! My FS1 has an audible alarm feature, you should check your HRM for the same and set it at a safe level...

That's the thing - when I'm cycling along in the mornings to work - my HR is sitting around 155-160, and usually peaks at 180 up hills. I've seen it hit 200 on a few ocassions when playing squash. My resting HR is about 80.

If I were to try and keep my heartrate below 170 when riding, I'd have to dismount and shuffle up hills - which would make for a very long ride.

[pugsly]

Take it easy pugsley, leave TDF until 2009

Oui. Je conviens.

Having said that, I am taking it fairly easy. I'm certainly not getting up on the pedals and pushing hard. Argh, it's so frustrating waiting for my body to catch up to where my brain says it should be.

[MJF]

My wife was telling me that on Biggest Loser last night they were having some extreme exercise sessions trying to get the HR up to 180. Maybe set the alarm (AT) 180, and try and stay in aerobic... I've dropped to 6kph in full granny gear up a steep hill to try and stay below 165. Hills suck for us big guys - I can outrun most other commuters on the flat, but as soon as I get to a hill, the HR shoots up. The extra kg's take a lot of energy to lift.

Boring fact for the day - today is my first 'recovery day', normally I just hammer through the week. The goal today was to keep the HR below 130, and only do the 9.6k commute. I did the trip in 23:09 (AT) 24.91kph, with HR average (AT) 127. The last time I did this particular route was on the 7'th Feb, when it took me 22:43 at 25.49kph - but the Avg HR was 147. Still air this morning, so maybe there was a big headwind last time...

[pugsly]

My wife was telling me that on Biggest Loser last night they were having some extreme exercise sessions trying to get the HR up to 180. Maybe set the alarm (AT) 180, and try and stay in aerobic... I've dropped to 6kph in full granny gear up a steep hill to try and stay below 165. Hills suck for us big guys - I can outrun most other commuters on the flat, but as soon as I get to a hill, the HR shoots up. The extra kg's take a lot of energy to lift.

Generally speaking it only peaks at 180 when I'm spinning up a longish (you know the ones - more than a few metres ) hill. So that's cool. As for getting my HR above 180 - that's easy for me. To give you an example of what my HR is like. I did a session in the gym this morning.
Walking at 5km/h on a treadmill - no incline - 120bpm
at 6km/h - it's 145 - that's just walking quickly!

Boring fact for the day - today is my first 'recovery day', normally I just hammer through the week. The goal today was to keep the HR below 130, and only do the 9.6k commute. I did the trip in 23:09 (AT) 24.91kph, with HR average (AT) 127. The last time I did this particular route was on the 7'th Feb, when it took me 22:43 at 25.49kph - but the Avg HR was 147. Still air this morning, so maybe there was a big headwind last time...

Good work MJF!

Wow. I'm nowhere near that. I consider 120-130 to be my 'cool off' range - that is, when I'm down to that I can stop moving and sit down.

I've checked that the HRM is near accurate (finger on neck test) and it's pretty right on. I don't know whether to be concerned or not. I don't *feel* like I'm overdoing it - I'm not out of breath, and generally the only thing slowing me down is my quads burning. hmmmm

[europa]

I can control my hr in rolling country, but stick any sort of hill in front of me and it goes up. I regularly fight hills in the 170s (yes, in bottom gear for the biggies). Usually I wimp out before it gets into the 180s, just stop and gasp like blazes for a couple of minutes. It doesn't take long for the hr to drop back below 140 when I set off again, but it's back in the 170s real quick and I push on until I wimp out, etc

As I'm getting fitter, I'm finding my hr is more responsive, particularly in being able to pull it back down. I've rejigged my training levels for my observed max of 185 (as opposed to 170 from 'the forumula' - obviously inaccurate if you read the first para ... which is all Tuco read of course) and they now make a lot more sense compared to what I've observed on the bike.

But big steep hills? Hah. It's a case of 'find yourself in bottom gear in a sickenly short time then struggle until it's not fun anymore'. At least I can now keep the cadence up around 90 but man is it hard work.

Richard

[pospete]

yes i hate it when the old ticker is about to blow up, still Hopefully the time will come when I'll be fitter. Even with 24 speed some times theres just not a low enough gear to move the bulk!

[tuco]

I've had some success in lowering my heart rate.

Resting, well watching TV which I seldom do, well really its not resting because the ads are so damn annoying and the shows just as bad, anyway, my heart hit 54 yesterday afternoon while sitting down watching a bit of the news while I was waiting for my kids to get ready for a hill climb (on foot)

It was about 67 driving to the hill climb and, this surprised me, only 102 while walking down a steep rocky walking track.

Not surprisingly it was up around 150 on the way up but it was a very steep track.

Cycling up steep hills it hits mid 170s but I've noticed whatever it gets up to, it drops back quite quickly which I believe is a good sign.

Pugsly, I'm surprised spinning puts your heart rate up.
I'd suggest getting your cadence up to 90. It'll help in the long run.