Shazam!

[notwal]

A couple of months ago my sit down RP was humming like a birds. Now after a month of hills it thumps along like a pile driver.
Well maybe not the best analogy but it was 65 or so. Now its 48 and dropping.

I was thinking the high RP was age related, that it was inevitable and unavoidable and like death, it had to be accepted with moral fortitude.
I thought I'd try a bit more exercise and maybe drop it a few beats so I got into the hills.
My lowest gear is only 48 inches so it doesn't take much of a hill to leave me gasping like a fish out of water.
I don't have a HRM but on a few occasions I was at the limit, in distress, not really coping, barely capable of turning the crank and struggling for life.
But with no sign of a heart attack I persevered.

This morning I was just sitting around in the shopping centre and idly measured my RP and that's where the Shazam comes in. 48!

Soon I will be fit as fk again and five years younger.

Hills - if they don't kill you they make you stronger.

[trailgumby]

You're becoming demented like me.

I've started enjoying hills - that's when I start catching people. Now I just have to work on my singletrack skills.

[foo on patrol]

Hills give you a challenge, and that's what life is about!

Foo

[Robdog]

Congratulations, first off
I thought that 60 was considered on the low side of normal for fit but no particularly athletic people and anything up to about 72 was normal. I've been mid-60's at the most for as long as I can remember (a few years now, considering my age a few years is probably close to all that's relevant) but when I was at my peak having cycled 2000k's in 3 months before bike dramas hamstrung my distance I think I measured 56 or 58 once which blew me away

[Myddraal]

I remember the time I measured my heart rate as soon as I woke up once. My sister was playing with the blood pressure machine, so I had a go: 38 bpm. I thought the machine must have been broken so I counted my self and got 39. That was when I was really fit though. Just sitting here now it's 49, it'll be good to get fit again if I have time with uni. I think anything under 60 is considered pretty good and up to about 70 healthy, though it depends whether you're male or female, since girls naturally have higher heart rates.

I love up hills too, I used to drop everyone when we got to them the few times we did riding for training. I'd just drop it back a few keep grinding away, while they'd all drop right back to 1st or 2nd. I'd get a good 5 minute break at the top by the time the last few would make it up. The trick is to just don't stop.