Heart rate monitors & cadence – where do I start?

Howdy folks, I just bought myself my first road bike and went out for a spin this morning! Fast fast fast!!!

Having ridden mtb fir donkeys years I’ve used a bike computer to track distance and speed, but never really used for training. Now that I’m more ample around the middle and generally looking to be lot healthier and take part in a few mtb marathons and sportives, I thought best sort myself out and train!

So from what I’ve read of training a heart rate monitor would be a good idea, and tracking cadence would be pretty beneficial too. only thing is not sure if I should spend my money on a basic heart rate monitor and basic wireless computer with cadence or just a heart rate monitor, or just cadence, or can these be combined, or do I really need these at all? Not sure where to start :o(

Any ideas, advice, comments would be a help! What do you folks do?

Cheers all!
Dan

Seeing as no one else has answered yet (ok it is a bit early) then if your objective is mainly weight loss and you were to get only one then it would be a heart rate monitor. It can be difficult to lose weight through exercise alone and the trick is not to ride too hard so that you can actually ride long enough to burn off calories, or at least that was what was suggested in the running book that I had. An HRM also helps you control what ‘sort’ of ride you are doing so you can switch between very intensive rides and rides designed to increase endurance.

Hopefully this will bump the thread and someone who understands more will pop up soon 🙂

Thanks leffeboy! much appreciated 😀

pulls up chair for this one

Espcially the HR zone stuff.

OP – I can help with your question but I am
just leaving for a ride – drop me an email and I will explain all later.

I find having all the data in front of me very entertaining whilst on the road bike. I got a power meter too.

But I think the key measurement is how long it takes to get around the same loop. If it’s less time then you’re improving. So really all you need is a watch, and a loop that’s interesting enough that you don’t mind doing it over and over again. Mine’s 35 miles though rolling countryside and I like watching how the seasons change it. And change me. And if I’m training for a sportive, well, two laps.

Enjoy !

Are you racing or do you just like number crunching? I looked into training with HRM and GPS, but in the end I just stuck with riding till it hurt then riding some more.

Start with good value hrm. Hard to beat polar 200 sd for value and everything you “really” need. Most of the bells and whistles are unnecessary IMHO. then buy separate cadence monitor as I think you will get less use on Mtb than on road bike. John L Parkers book on Hrm training is another no nonsense training guide.

Good luck with the training

If it’s less time then you’re improving.

or doing it in around the same time at a lower heart rate, its pretty well accepted now that you have to phase your riding to make improvements, purely riding against the clock each ride will at best slow your progress, understanding heart rates helps you understand your body. Although I am a big fan of riding without measurement as well for periods of time.

I would start off with something like a polar rs100 heart rate monitor, and possibly a separate cycle computer with cadence.

MSP, I agree – as a performance indicator. Not as a training method.

Of course, if the aim is to lose weight, don’t buy anything for the bike. A good set of kitchen scales and good bathroom scales are what you need. Keep decreasing what the first one says until the second one decreases…and if you’re keen on fat measurement, don’t bother with the fat scales, get some calipers.

if your goal is weight loss, do intervals rather than longer slower rides. For your goals, you just need a bike and a watch. Basic bike computer and/or something like endomondo on a smart phone?

i’ll throw in my 2p…

if you want to knock weight off and hugely improve your cycling both in terms of fitness and technique buy an indoor trainer (i rate the cycleops magneto), a polar cs200 (hrm and cadence) and some spinervals dvds.

the beauty of this is that on those cold nasty days when you can’t face heading out you can still get a good workout, and when its nice enough to ride out its a real pleasure.

But I think the key measurement is how long it takes to get around the same loop. If it’s less time then you’re improving. So really all you need is a watch

That only works if all other things are equal, the wind can have a massive affect on ride time.

Having just bought a garmin edge 500 I’m interested in this thread too. I’ll be using my 20 mile each way commute as my traing time so any tips on what heart rates to ride at etc would be great.

cheap computer with cadence and HRM in built dont exist your talking £100 +

I’ve been looking at one too and have come to conclusion that i will just get a cateye double strada for all the biking needs (turbo and road) and then continue using my cheap aldi crane sports HRM as a seperate unit.

Garmin edge 500 was £155 from halfords last week with hrm/cedence bundle, not sure what it costs now though.

Just found pedal on doing Cateye Double Wireless for only 52.99 quite a saving over everywhere else on web.

Hope it doesnt conflict with my cheapo £12 aldi HRM.

if your goal is weight loss, do intervals rather than longer slower rides.

Interesting. The stuff I had read some time ago was that for weight loss you wanted to be exercising for at least 50 mins at a moderate rate rather doing efforts that were too intense. I do trust iDave though so may have to check where I read it

Or just eat less

Wicked thanks for this. A

Agreed weight loss is my big target for 2012 (approx 20 lbs to lose) but I’m definitely trying to be more effective on the bike also. I’m not going to race as such this year but a few events would be cool to participate in.

I like the idea of using a basic HRM to track heart rate as performance indicator but like you say not as a sole method of training, thanks for the suggestion of RS100 just looking into it now.

Has anyone used the Suunto M2 at all?

Cheers again all

do you run for exercise as well? i do and i got a garmin forerunner 305 – old skool but accurate. i’ve got a bike mount, garmin cadence sensor and garmin hrm all using the ANT+ standard. costing around 90 quid all in.

the garmin can be programmed to flip between sports easily and i even used it for a whole standard triathlon. starting with it in my swim cap and switching to bike and wrist.

a lot of mates use them out kayaking, skiing and whatever else they do that moves under their own power.

it’s a good starting point – check dcrainmaker for good advice

The stuff I had read some time ago was that for weight loss you wanted to be exercising for at least 50 mins at a moderate rate

very interesting discussion on the two trains of thought in matt fitzerald’s book ‘racing weight’, his conclusion being, backed up by numerous papers, that in the long run for increasing overall performance its better to go slow. but i’m not an expert and its just one view that i read so i’m more than happy to be put right.

Huge subject. I’ll try and cover everything with a few salient points.

only thing is not sure if I should spend my money on a basic heart rate monitor and basic wireless computer with cadence or just a heart rate monitor, or just cadence, or can these be combined, or do I really need these at all? Not sure where to start :o(

They can all be combined and ideally should be (because otherwise your bars begin to look like a cockpit) but the price can begin to escalate. Somebody else mentioned the Polar CS200 – well there’s a cadence option too; the CS200cad. That would be my choice.

Question is, what are you going to do with all that information you’re now getting?

Cadence: road cadences tend to be in the range of 80-100rpm. This is typically a lot higher than mountain biking, so will take a bit of practice to get used to. With a higher cadence and lower force on the pedals, you’ll be able to go longer and further. As a side benefit, you’ll end up with a greater pedalling efficiency, which will have a cross-over impact to your mountain biking.

Set yourself goals: those marathons and sportives you’ve got your eye on – book your place now. Without goals, your ‘training’ will have little purpose and you’ll drift along doing a bit here, a bit there and opting for the sofa when you know you should be heading out.

Weight loss: huge area, but in short, this needs to be a combination of exercise and diet, with an emphasis on the latter. Keep a diary of everything you eat. Even if it’s for just a few days you’ll get a very good idea of what you’re eating and where you can cut calories.

HR-based training: again, huge area, but I’ll say this: all cycling plans are based on the concept of having a sound aerobic base, and you almost certainly don’t have one. Your training, initially at least, should be based on doing all your work in your aerobic zone (known as base training). Setting your HR zones is another big subject, so to shortcut that, I’ll suggest you just use the Maffetone/Allen method of 180 minus your age (http://www.markallenonline.com/maoArticles.aspx?AID=2) and stay below that level. Once you’re more experienced, you can start adjusting your aerobic threshold levels and working to more specific numbers, if you want.

Your primary aim in the initial phase is to improve your input:output ratio. Input is HR (which should be a constant) with output being speed and distance. As your training progresses, what you should find is that your ability to go further and faster improves at a given HR. http://www.joefrielsblog.com/2011/01/comparing-output-and-input.html

Oh, I should add that working primarily at this level improves your body’s ability to use fat as a fuel supply. Win-win 🙂

I will disagree with all the people that have told you to ‘just do intervals’. Intervals have their place in cycle training, but you need to be careful. Interval training is for honing your fitness, not building it. If you go from nothing to spanking yourself several times a week, you’ll very quickly burn out.

So anyway, that’s my advice FWIW. Keep your HR low, your cadence high and build your aerobic fitness.

Great advice up there, I,ve just started playing around with my garmin. Did some hr sessions, staying below 130 for me is really hard. Also tried a bit of cadence practise – mtb on road. How on earth people ride at 90 is beyond me, legs spinning so fast I got out of breathe, 65 seems to be my comfortable cadence. Lots to learn and practise.

Bomba that’s brilliant advice thanks – yes well spotted I have virtually no aerobic base lol thanks also for the links they’re mint! Just on CRC buyin computer with HR/cadence and since it’s raining cats and dogs gives me plenty time to read through all the steps on building up to events 😀

Oh well time to book up for CRC sportive and MTB marathon at Selkirk hehe

Cheers all
Dan