I’ve recently got round to setting up the HRM feature on my Garmin, and was surprised to see just how high my HR seemed to get whilst out riding. Going at what I thought was a hard-but-sustainable pace (on the flat), my HR was at about 90% of max. On any climbs, it hit the theoretical maximum and stayed there until a good bit after the climb had finished.
I’ve definitely been in better shape, but I have been keeping active.
Should I be aiming to avoid such high heart rates? I’m 39 in a few weeks. About 3 stone overweight. Obviously reducing my weight will have a big impact on the work my heart has got to do, but how do I get there if I need to just pootle along?