Hills

[GrasB]

jimboalee, if I'm putting out 200w up hill & 200w down hill which requires the higher heart rate?

 

[jimboalee]

The strange thing is though, when I'm on the gym bike set to 350 Watts, spinning at 90 - 95 to maintain the power, my HR is >95% Max.

Then I slow the cadence down to 55 - 60 and stand up. My HR drops to 90% max and the job becomes an easier ordeal.

 

[jimboalee]

On a downward 7% gradient, the speed that requires a 200W output would be approx 40 mph. Spinning a 53/11 at 105 rpm should do the trick.

My HR at 200W on the gym bike is about 140 BPM. ( This is not directly relative, and subject to fitness levels. )

Having said this, I would imagine my HR would be higher if I was tearing down a mountain road, weaving round the curves watching out for coke cans in the road.

As I've mentioned, fear ( the realisation of a situation that could result in death, as in the Top Fuel driver ) plays a role.

 

[yumpy]

... My favourite descent is from the petrol station above the Lluc monastry. Every cyclist who's been to Mallorca will know this fabulous descent to Pollenca

Been there on holiday lots but never taken a bike down it, just a car and once a bit too fast in my irresponsible days. That road to Soller is stunning, going from hot dry land to alpine scenery.

I imagine if anyone wants to try hairy turns downhill on a bike the road down to Sa Calobra would be good when its quiet and the tour buses have gone - I lost count of the hairpins; take new set of brakes though. Could be dangerous as I remember seeing a wild animal warning sign that said 'Big Game' or something like that !

 

[jimboalee]

jimboalee, if I'm putting out 200w up hill & 200w down hill which requires the higher heart rate?

As for your question, they should, according to all the theory, require the same.

Riding down a hill, and you haven't said how steep, will produce a higher HR due to your brain's requirement to produce the necessary bravado to risk life riding a bike at 40 mph along a roadway with a 200 ft drop on one side.

There are bends in the roads descending some hills in the Peak District. If the roads were straight, I dare say I would spin-out in a straight line dash with 'normal' HR. But they are not straight and some require extreme concentration to keep the bike on the tarmac. In this 'real world' situation, HR will be above normal.

 

[yumpy]

Re: the walking up a hill with your bike or riding it up energy use, turns out that what I put earlier was wrong (walking more efficient than riding on account of bike friction losses).

Told by an engineer friend that the bike is more efficient because the force of the pedal dropping with one foot accelerates the other foot up. Bit like a gyroscope I think he said.

Whereas with walking, each foot has to accelerate upwards independently from a standing start with each footstep.

 

[GrasB]

As for your question, they should, according to all the theory, require the same.

Riding down a hill, and you haven't said how steep, will produce a higher HR due to your brain's requirement to produce the necessary bravado to risk life riding a bike at 40 mph along a roadway with a 200 ft drop on one side.

There are bends in the roads descending some hills in the Peak District. If the roads were straight, I dare say I would spin-out in a straight line dash with 'normal' HR. But they are not straight and some require extreme concentration to keep the bike on the tarmac. In this 'real world' situation, HR will be above normal.

Typically no more than 10% around here & due to the short nature of the 'hills', more pimples from the POV of someone in the lake district, very little in the way of technical descents. Quite often the ascent & descent will cover less than 1.5 miles, this means I can push very hard up the hill & still have enough go to continue pushing down the hill.

Now here's the interesting bit, on my Boardman hybrid, given my handle bar position that means I'm in a similar stance to what you'd expect on the hoods, I'll climb the steeper side of chapel hill (10% peak gradient) at no lower than 8mph on 42:27 that's just under 70ppm. From there as the climb transitions into the descent I'll go up the gears until I get to 42:16 at which point I'll hit the big ring & say in 54:16 all the way down, instantaneous maximum usually comes to around 42mph (or 155ppm give or take) at which point I'll gear up. Now doing this I'll always get maximum HR about 10s after I hit peak cadence.

 

[jimboalee]

Typically no more than 10% around here & due to the short nature of the 'hills', more pimples from the POV of someone in the lake district, very little in the way of technical descents. Quite often the ascent & descent will cover less than 1.5 miles, this means I can push very hard up the hill & still have enough go to continue pushing down the hill.

Now here's the interesting bit, on my Boardman hybrid, given my handle bar position that means I'm in a similar stance to what you'd expect on the hoods, I'll climb the steeper side of chapel hill (10% peak gradient) at no lower than 8mph on 42:27 that's just under 70ppm. From there as the climb transitions into the descent I'll go up the gears until I get to 42:16 at which point I'll hit the big ring & say in 54:16 all the way down, instantaneous maximum usually comes to around 42mph (or 155ppm give or take) at which point I'll gear up. Now doing this I'll always get maximum HR about 10s after I hit peak cadence.

155 parts per million of what? Unburned Hydrocarbons???

Methane gas emissions from rear end.

 

[Bill Gates]

Let me throw this theory into the conversation.-

Phosphocreatine muscle contraction does not require the heart to beat faster.

Anaerobic states of exercise do not require the heart to pump blood as much as aerobic exercises.

Therefore, when climbing hills at lower cadence in the anaerobic condition, heart rate is lower than spinning furiously downhill in the aerobic state.


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