TW3

So that was the week that was. I've managed to get out and do three, two-hour session this week. One on fixed and two on gears. The latter two on a route going out towards Ayot St Lawrence (home of George Bernard Shaw) and working back home through Kimpton and the northern tip of Wheathampstead. One of these ventures was far wetter thant the other.

So, having set up my recently acquired CatEye HR monitor from Paul's shop which has an integral speed and cadence sensor.

What have I learnt?

Well my average HR increased over the span of the three rides, so I may be seeing an improvement in terms of how hard I can push myself "on average", i.e. maybe I'm getting fitter(?) - there are however other variables (weather, route, bike) coming in to play though, so it's bad science to blithely assume that that is the case.

What else?

Funnily enough, the steeper something is, the lower my cadence: the lower my speed: and the higher my pulse.


What else?

That when it's tipping it down with rain I couldn't read some of the smaller numbers on the watch. Which was a tad annoying.

It's just numbers...

I suspect I may not be pushing the boundaries of science any time soon but t is good though to get a feel for my pedalling style "in numbers" as I probably need to improve my cadence having been off the bike (competitively at least) for a few years.

The monitor is pretty easy to set up although I'm not convinced I've measured the tyre circumference too precisely, which I think is giving a slightly "low" speedo reading. I'm sure I was going faster...

The pulse meter and the cadence sensor can't really lie though. Having had a "proper" lab-conditions VO2 max test and lactate analysis done many years ago, I can attest that the HR readings on the sensor tally within a few percentage points of "actuality", i.e. anything over 172 bpm for me is generally in my red zone. That was always my experience in TTs where I tended to level off at around 172-174 bpm when going "under" the hour or in sustained efforts on the club's evening 10 sporting course.

As my mate Webby says, "It's just numbers" but I'm a data and numbers person so it amuses me and you never know, I may even work something out from the data, i.e. riding more makes you fitter.