that can’t be good

any way to tell if it’s just an error with the garmin?

Do a max heart rate test

never has it gone over 201 before, no matter how hard I push it

Were you near power lines or similar? I’ve had mine go silly when near the overhead lines on the local railway.

Was it for a while or just a momentary blip? If the latter then it would appear to be a Garmin malfunction.

repeated Q. wot he^ said.

We’re you somewhere windy?

I’ve had similar, sustained high hear rates decendng down col du galibier which I put down to either being absolutely scared witless on the tight, precipitous hairpin bends or the wind.

I’m going with wind.

it was on an uphil section, only about a 20 second effort but I was pushing really hard

it rises consistently from the start of the effort to the end of the effort and then falls after this, it looks exactly what I’d expect to see just scaled up

scruff – it was a tad windy but nothing epic

just checked, there are some telephone lines at the very bottom but nothing else

Did you feel ok? Any symptoms at all?

If yes and no then I’d not really worry. It’s almost certainly a glitch. If it’s not then meh, you have a high HR. Pretty unlikely it’s suddenly jumped 15% though.

My friends freak out at my high heart rate: age 35, max seems to be around 195 … but it is what it is. Unless you have a heart condition keep pushing on until you can’t.

Did you feel ok? Any symptoms at all?

If yes and no then I’d not really worry. It’s almost certainly a glitch. If it’s not then meh, you have a high HR. Pretty unlikely it’s suddenly jumped 15% though.

at the time I had no clue, felt like I’d pushed myself to 200bpm like I have done many times before, only noticed it when I looked at the garmin summary at the end of the ride

feel pretty much normal now except for a small migraine came on, but I get those like once a year anyway

My friends freak out at my high heart rate: age 35, max seems to be around 195 … but it is what it is. Unless you have a heart condition keep pushing on until you can’t.

231 is a bit mental though

If you felt bad at the time or immediately after get checked out. If you felt grand then it’s probably an anomaly.

My resting heart rate is about 50, then rockets with any exercise, red lines at 205 – at which point I faint.

Almost certainly an error in the reading. Garmins are great, but they are not medical grade equipment.

I get some interesting readings when wearing a merino top. Also, I start to get some strange readings when the battery is reaching the end of it’s life. As others have said, power lines and wind can cause strange readings.

So long as you felt ok then I’d just carry on as normal and get whatever training software you use to ignore this max reading.

Almost certainly an error in the reading. Garmins are great, but they are not medical grade equipment.

Yup – I’d say the same.

I managed to sustain a heart rate of 250 for 25 minutes once*.

*I didn’t.

I can only dream of a 200+ heart rate. Those days are long gone. 176 is most I’ve had this year.??

My usual max is around 185 but shortly after eating some caffeinated energy sweets, I got a reading of 225. I could feel my heart racing and I felt unwell, so I don’t think it was a false reading.

I just sifted through my garmin activities and spotted a 229 on another ride (1 week ago in fact, don’t know how I missed it!), also uphill though the intensity was very different, a much longer hill, not a sprint like today

interestingly this time this one was 5 laps and the other 4 laps never went over 190

Thats 137% of my age related max when I started riding 5 years ago. I was 59.

It didn’t.

yeah I get what you guys are saying, I feel ok so I’m not super worried at this moment, but it will play on my mind that the readouts don’t show a spike as such, or a constant false reading, they show my heart rate rising and falling exactly where it should be, just 20% higher than expected on some tough efforts, no wind or power lines involved

is there a way to connect a second heart rate monitor to the garmin? this would be the best way of finding out if it’s an error or not

…, they show my heart rate rising and falling exactly where it should be, just 20% higher than expected on some tough efforts, …

Have you synced it to a computer lately? Maybe the battery in the chest strap is going?

Maybe the chest strap is on it’s way out / needs a wash.

I’ve never used one and know nothing about how the technology works so this is a total guess but, could the sensor bumping around on your chest (due to, say, sudden vigorous exercise) possibly generate phantom heartbeats in addition to real ones?

Have you synced it to a computer lately? Maybe the battery in the chest strap is going?

Maybe the chest strap is on it’s way out / needs a wash. it’s only 9 months old so I hope not

Are you wearing headphones attached to a phone and playing music? I managed something similar at 51 due to the headphone lead being against the heart rate strap during a ride.

it used to happen with my garmin 705 with certain cycling tops. I ended up buying a different HR and computer. The heart rate would settle if you ping the strap forward off the skin and back again.

Didnt feel bad when bpm was high. I’ve felt worse at max bpm