If anyone asks about Ditchling Beacon......

MattC59

it has a history..........
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/10362762.stm

Flasheart

Yep I heard on TV this morning. Very sad

I did see some VERY overweight people riding yesterday. I wasn't that surprised to hear that someone actually overdid it to be perfectly honest.

daviesee

Very sad.

Due to high blood pressure concerns I got a HR monitor.
Found out this weekend that when I have been pushing it up the hills I have in fact been overdoing it.

Be careful out there on so many levels......

cougie

If you get 30,000 people together - chances are pretty decent that someone could pop their clogs.

Davie - how does your HRM tell you what your blood pressure is ? All it tells you is your heart rate - and unless youve done a max heart rate test - you wont know what %age of your max you are working at.

daviesee

You are right that it doesn't help with blood pressure but knowing that I am working at 177bpm is something to be aware of.
Rest 48bpm, average cycling 136bpm. 177 pushing it, maybe too hard.

Bobbinogs

Very sad news for those involved, not just the poor chap and his family but the medics and the fellow riders at the time.

My worry is that the couch potatoes out there always point to this kind of thing as evidence that doing nothing is the safer option when, as Cougie says, if you put 30,000 people together for 6 hours then there is always the chance of something happening. When you add in all the other factors too (like medical history, training regime, life stress, etc.,) it probably isn't too surprising.

keef66

If you got 30,000 people together doing sudoku for 6 hours, it's going to involve a fatality or two.

Some of those feindishly difficult ones get my blood pressure dangerously high.

Lillywhite

cougie wrote:

If you get 30,000 people together - chances are pretty decent that someone could pop their clogs.

I agree. Unfortunately the media never report on the overweight couch potato who dies watching the telly whilst drinking a six pack and stuffing his face with junk food. :twisted:

bobtbuilder

daviesee wrote:

You are right that it doesn't help with blood pressure but knowing that I am working at 177bpm is something to be aware of.
Rest 48bpm, average cycling 136bpm. 177 pushing it, maybe too hard.

Do you know your max heart rate?

I can't think of a ride in the last 6 months where I didn't go above 185bpm at some point, including my daily commute, and I wouldn't consider that I was "pushing it".

daviesee

To be fair, I have only used calculators based on sex, age, weight and resting HR.
They all came in at 181-185 so there was some consistency.
Getting a proper check is something I am planning. Only had the monitor since Thursday.

Too many fit blokes in their mid 40's - 50's seem to fail that I think it should be considered.

nickwill

daviesee wrote:

To be fair, I have only used calculators based on sex, age, weight and resting HR.
They all came in at 181-185 so there was some consistency.
Getting a proper check is something I am planning. Only had the monitor since Thursday.

Too many fit blokes in their mid 40's - 50's seem to fail that I think it should be considered.

Those formulas are pretty unlikely to have any value! There have been numerous threads on here over the years. For example I am a pretty fit 52year old. The standard formula of 220-age would give me a max of 168. In fact my max is around the 190 mark.

daviesee

Nickwill wrote:

daviesee wrote:

To be fair, I have only used calculators based on sex, age, weight and resting HR.
They all came in at 181-185 so there was some consistency.
Getting a proper check is something I am planning. Only had the monitor since Thursday.

Too many fit blokes in their mid 40's - 50's seem to fail that I think it should be considered.

Those formulas are pretty unlikely to have any value! There have been numerous threads on here over the years. For example I am a pretty fit 52year old. The standard formula of 220-age would give me a max of 168. In fact my max is around the 190 mark.

Still a better value than going until your heart stops though wouldn't you agree?

I would rather have an over pessimistic monitor than an over optimistic ego.
Once I "know" what my figure is then I will be even better off.
And I do not race so operating at 100% holds little value for me.

nickwill

daviesee wrote:

Nickwill wrote:

daviesee wrote:

To be fair, I have only used calculators based on sex, age, weight and resting HR.
They all came in at 181-185 so there was some consistency.
Getting a proper check is something I am planning. Only had the monitor since Thursday.

Too many fit blokes in their mid 40's - 50's seem to fail that I think it should be considered.

Those formulas are pretty unlikely to have any value! There have been numerous threads on here over the years. For example I am a pretty fit 52year old. The standard formula of 220-age would give me a max of 168. In fact my max is around the 190 mark.

Still a better value than going until your heart stops though wouldn't you agree?

I would rather have an over pessimistic monitor than an over optimistic ego.
Once I "know" what my figure is then I will be even better off.
And I do not race so operating at 100% holds little value for me.

If I had worked on the 220- age formula when I started cycling, I would hardly have got out of the door before I was slowing down. It really is of little value.

freehub

That 220 - you age is rubbish.



Also, am I reading it right, some people are getting worried about pushing there HR? O_o

On some rides I probably average about 170+ and my max HR is so far 202.

I don't think I'm going to die from pushing hard.

sloboy

I think if you're concerned enough about your BP to want to moderate your effort, it might be worth getting some advice on how the two (BP and HR) are related.

As for the max heart rate point above, I'd suggest that's going to be a red herring. I don't know of any way to estimate max heart rate without pushing it to the absolute limit, and if you're concerned that the systolic pressure may go dangerously high at the same time, then I guess that's not something you'd be keen on doing.

daviesee

sloboy wrote:

I think if you're concerned enough about your BP to want to moderate your effort, it might be worth getting some advice on how the two (BP and HR) are related.

As for the max heart rate point above, I'd suggest that's going to be a red herring. I don't know of any way to estimate max heart rate without pushing it to the absolute limit, and if you're concerned that the systolic pressure may go dangerously high at the same time, then I guess that's not something you'd be keen on doing.

Precisely.

Which is why I am monitoring it and backing off.
Historical info: in November I had my pressure checked as routine and at rest during a normal stress free working day it was 192/146. Major shock as due to my cycling I thought I was going in to show off how fit I was :roll: Due to meds and diet i have it at 142/90.
Most may not have to be concerned but some do otherwise there would be no stories of people dropping while doing sport/excercise.

Do you know your blood pressure? I didn't.

sloboy

Well at 192, then I see your point completely. It is a bit of bugger when you're doing all the right things but your body still lets you down.

Actually, I do know my blood pressure, and it only got to 142 systolic in a pretty extreme white coat syndrome situation, so I wasn't too worried about that.

Our GP surgery offers annual BP (and I think cholesterol) checks for the over 40's, and although I'd hate to be classified as one of the "worried well" as I go into my 50's I'm thinking that I'd rather do simple checks (or even quite complex ones) to understand whether I should just carry on with gay abandon on whether there are sensible steps to take.

It doesn't really matter if dropping down dead on a ride is unlikely, I guess the point is that it might be down as your destiny unless you take avoiding action.

daviesee

Now you know where I was coming from, and I was trying to generalise not personalise, I will try and summarise. Too many isses in there I think

For the masses:-

If you have not had one, get a health check ASAP and take action if required.

Lets have a long enjoyable time out there on our bikes :P

While I am now aware, it is not getting me down. I did come in 152nd on the Caledonia Etape KoM. Quite proud of that I am 8)

craker

I thought that, for reasonably fit people, there is no reason not to get your heart going hard.

Is there any known correlation between heart attack victims and the % MHR they were pushing at the time?

clanton

Heart attacks can just happen, irrespective of fitness and what you're doing at the time. In fact statistically you're more likely to have a heart attack AFTER stress and or excercise than during and frequently in the early hours of the morning.

http://www.sport24.co.za/OtherSport/Cyc ... c-20100323

as an example, also look at Kim Kirchen who is currently in hospital following a heart attack.

cougie

I can think of a couple of work colleagues who had heart attacks - two of them just at home doing nothing strenuous and a third who was playing footy. So statistically speaking - you'd be safer off exercising ! ;-)