Cycling Fitness / Training Advice

Heart issue or skin conduction issue? Does a wrist or finger sensor also fail for you?

It's got to be a skin conduction issue. I've tried electrode gels though. Who the fuck knows.

Do you have trouble with touchscreens? Have you ever seen your reflection in a mirror?

I do get sunburnt very easily, I think you might be onto something here

You should watch What We do in the Shadows for some tips
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/10127770/IT-guy-turns-accidental-film-star

Werewolves, not swearwolves

Just found this thread, seems to explain why I can't get any HRM to work

https://www.bikeforums.net/electronics-lighting-gadgets/611473-heart-rate-monitor-atrial-fib.html

I've got a finger HR sensor. Have you tried one of those? To be honest, unless you've been told to monitor HR, I'd not bother.

I've got a finger HR sensor. Have you tried one of those?

Not that easy to ride with one of those on. I've had enough, sacking it off. Anyone want a solid collection of straps and monitors?

Have you tried an optical one?

The Polar OH1+ that can go on the wrist or upper arm for example.

Or a watch like a Forerunner or Apple Watch?

Just tried my wife's Garmin one, which works with a bit of lag. Maybe I'll try and pick up a cheap OH1 if having something on my arm doesn't feel weird

Anyone want a solid collection of straps and monitors?

Interested - What have you got?

Monitors:

*Garmin HRM2
*Wahoo Tickr

Straps:

*Generic eBay one
*Wahoo Tickr
*Polar WearLink

The wahoo one isn’t an Ant+ to BT bridge is it?

Not sure what that means, but it's the standard Wahoo one that connects via Ant or Bluetooth. Have had no problems getting it to connect using a Suunto dongle, BT direct to phone, or any head unit - just can't get my heart to connect to it!

I'd be interested in the Wahoo Ticker unit and strap - How much?

£25? Does that seem fair?

Is there a phone app that I can use with my Garmin heart rate strap to monitor heart rate?

Depends on your phone, iPhones don’t have a built in ant+ chip

Dammit. It's iPhone I was after.

Wahoo do an iPhone Ant+ adapter, but it's for iPhone 4...So you're need a 30pin>lighting adapter as well, and even then I've no idea if it'll work 😆

Much cheaper to get a Bluetooth HRM

Any old stage recommendations to help with 2 hour session boredom?

Another month another +8w FTP (+11w 1min peak power ramp test). Pretty pleased with how things are going. I think I could have done a fraction more today as I was spinning out in the last minute. Sadly it’s not because of my massive watts but my limit screw stopped me getting into the 11t, and I think the resistance on my poor old turbo is fading (is that a thing??) so need to sort things out before my next test.

My “hard” sessions for the past couple of months have all been 2x20min which seem to be working but moving on to 8x4min for a couple of months now so we’ll see how that goes.

8x4?
No chance you can do 8x4 at a power rhats high enough to elicit vo2.

Better off starring with 4x4 and if you hold the power then doing more u till it drops.

Why not? I used to manage 8x4 at 115% when I was fit enough to do 2x20 at threshold.

It’s hard and you need to be mentally on the ball but it’s quite doable.

What I would say is that without a smart turbo in erg mode, it’s a challenge to keep your power steady at that point.