Right about to use a HRM for the first time everwhilst cycling. I believeI have to find my max and I know where to go to find that.
Also there's a general rule of thumb regarding max forage isn't there?
What else do I need to know.

And bio rythyms…I always feel good this time of year people always comment about how well I'm going. However come June I feel weaker and slower. It happens too often to ignore.

Ta.

221-age is the generic MHR formula, wildly innacurate though. Go and ride up a long, steep hill flat out until you can't really see properly and you feel like you're gonna be sick. That's about your MHR!

Biorhythms are over very short periods of time, monthly cycles, if you feel good 'at this time of year' then crap later on it's nowt to do with biorhythms!

im with nick , more likely not organising training correctly and peaking too soon , starting intervals too soon , not enough base , too much training for cross season.

if you can borrow a turbo trainer it might be "safer" and easier to MAX out on that

Hmmmm.

HR monitors are a vaguely scientific way of putting a number to percieved extertion.

Biorythms? Bollocks, basically.

oh – and someone to egg you on / scream at you will help too!

Swissair used to schedule their pilots by biorhythms, they may be bollocks, but there's a fair bit of reasoning behind them.

Got a turbo will try both.

trail_rat I'm going to start racing much earlier this year. I come out of cross and carry on riding, but there must be some lag between March and June. As I've mentioned in many other posts I'm not a contender and can probably race all year without burning out.
I am really guilty of ignoring sound scientific advice and I need to change my attitude, strictly train train train and go a bit faster race day!

…and therein lies your problem….

The racing all year without burning out is very suggestive of someone who trains well but then doesn't capitalise on that training.

In any roadrace, say of about 40 people, there are maybe 10 who could win if everything goes perfectly.

Of those 10, there are maybe 5 who are serious contenders, and maybe only 2 or 3 who are actually going to win.

Everyone else is just making up the numbers…

The secret is to learn how to sprint. 9 out of 10 UK roadraces are won in sprints, and if you can't sprint, you aren't going to win.

UK roadracing is essentially negative in terms of tactics; people will waste energy chasing you down rather than use energy getting across to you and riding to the finish. You can use this to your advantage by learning how to sprint and how to win from sprinting.

Stop training to be a diesel, stop being a bunch engine, and race smarter; the crucial laps are the last two, that's when you have to be most aware, most on top of your game, most able to play that 'chess on wheels' thing.

Otherwise, as above, you just make up the field…

That's fair comment, I am to happy to do a respectfull race and the only times I've ever been in the points it's been more by accident and good fortune. That's why I'm hoping to find my legs earlier this year and 'race' later.
I'm alsobeing highly selective about the races/courses I enter.

I don't race anymore, I haven't got the enthusiasm for the long grim miles and the self denial, but I spent years being OK, being in the bunch, being one of the field. I raced with a couple of guys who did half the training I did, who got dropped on every training ride, who put on loads of weight over winter, and who always got in the top three in every race we did!

They were just smarter than me, they could sit in and die a thousand deaths in a race, but were bloody good at sprinting…

If you are keen to race, I think you owe it to yourself to win a few, and the way to win is either be so much fitter than the rest so you can ride away, or learn, teach yourself, spend at least two hours of your training each week learning how and when to sprint.

Towards the end of my racing I got to the stage of being fit enough to always be there at the end, and by sprinting well, I managed to get up there…

Oooh oooh, top tip from a mate who ended up riding semi-pro in France; he said English riders always ride the last mile or two slow because they are getting near home, whereas he always chose an imaginary finish line at the end of a longer stretch of road and battered himself to do a sprint to finish…

Hmmm, I still feel the need….

I guess I'll have to leave my brain in. Anyway in three weeks time I'll know.
Cheers.

Do it 😆

I'll be in the Vets and the races are pretty short. I tried returning to it in 2008 but went on the Crit circuits and got hammered, still had the knowledge though.
Then got hurt in 2009 and didn't have anything to race with.
So going back to open road. And choosing the races that the finer racers don't like but I do i.e dirty muddy country lanes with grotty surfaces.

it is interesting though

all your years of being a diesel will only help

I have gone from diesel to train smart over the last 8 months or so – what a difference …

How would an airline schedule their pilots according to their own specific biorhythms?
Different airports have slots in which airlines can land and take off. Right across the globe.
There's no point in getting all your passengers to LHR if there is no landing authorisation or services at the other end- say 3am!
Best mate's a BA captain, Long Haul 747, and whilst they can bid monthly according to seniority for flights they'd prefer, he flys where he's told and at what time his airline wants his passengers to arrive at their destination – and hang his beauty sleep!

I dunno.
I've always thought id like to try again, but I did so much training, spent so many hours just riding a bike, that I don't know if I could again…

It's so hard to ride now, knowing how fit I was….

Maybe some dreams are best left as dreams…..

Mind you some of those circuits might have been resurfaced since the 70s 😐