Stupid question - low HR going downhill...

pinkteapot

I've done a couple of rides with a HRM now. One thing I notice is just how much my HR drops back when I'm going downhill.

I try to keep pedalling as much as possible, but on sharp downhills I coast because (1) I'm spinning out in near-top gear and (2) more commonly, I'm a wuss and don't like going much above 25-30mph, depending on the road, so often end up gentle-braking the whole way down so I feel safe.

Do I just need to MTFU and pedal down even if I reach terrifying speed? Scaring myself would probably help keep the HR up anyway. :?

Asking because I hate the puffing and panting that comes with getting the HR back up to a higher level!

CiB

HR is directly proportional to effort; as there's little effort involved in going downhill HR will drop accordingly, surely?

I'd be more concerned about spinning out in top at 25-30mph tbh.

ETA - is this not an example of being a bit too bothered about numbers, or is it me missing something here?

diamonddog

^^This, spot on IMO

roger_merriman

Not quite sure that it's solvable, is it really a problem if your heart rate drops?

Very few people and places can you push it downhill, I keep up fine on a SS with other roadies down hill, it's a rare hill that you can hold 30mph plus for any time.

I'd spend time trying to flow beautifully downhill, on the whole roadies don't tend to inspire confidence downhills/round bends with their handling skills, admittedly I live near to Richmond Park and Surrey hills with various sportives etc.

dowtcha

Your heart beat will always drop when you are going down hill because you are not working as hard, with my gearing after about 34mph I just spin out. Enjoy the descent and take time to recover but keep total concentration . As your confidence grows you will be able to do a controlled descent. I have 2 nice downhills on my long spin, one is on a wide road with a good surface that is a pleasure to ride down. The second is a lot narrow and the surface not to good, I nearly always wuss out on the bends. The most important thing about a ride is getting home safely. Remember to check the condition of pads and cables on a regular basis.

Wirral_paul

As above really - you should be happy that it was dropping as you really want to be recovering from the efforts of going uphill beforehand. You wont gain much time by pushing hard downhill when often spinning out - and pushing yourself beyond your comfort limits just isnt worth it (you will gain speed through confidence in time).

pinkteapot

Thanks all. I know that people doing hard core HR training try to stick in certain HR zones for all/parts of their rides, and was confused by the fact that going downhill seems to screw that up. I'll ignore it if I'm just normal.

For context, I think my resting HR is around 65bpm (not tested it repeatedly and taken averages yet) and the max I've got it to on a hill is 195bpm (think it'll go a few bpm higher - I was gasping loudly but didn't feel like I was actually about to die!).

This morning I was trying to keep my HR at about 170bpm, and telling myself to stop slacking when it went lower. Strava claims that 170bpm is in zone 4 for me, so I'm not being sensible and doing lots of boring zone 2/3 training.

On downhills, it was dropping to about 130bpm within seconds.

It's quite fascinating watching the readout.

Re gearing, I'm on a hybrid. My cruising gear on the flat is now top cog at the front and middle one (of 9) at the back. Sometimes one more gear up at the back when I'm really in the zone! So I've only got a few more to go when going downhill. To be fair, I don't usually bother changing all the way to to the top. Normally just to 7 or occasionally 8 out of 9, then I get bored and just coast. So I'm not completely topping it out yet.

Have been wondering about changing the gear set on the back in the spring (when I've had the bike about a year), as I never use any of the lowest gears at all, but I'll be asking advice on here and in my LBS about that when the time comes. I figure that until I can cruise in the top gear, there's nothing to really worry about there.

Mikey23

And if it drops quickly it suggests you are fit. I pretty much coast downhill too at about 25 to 30 and feather the brakes. I prefer to get home safely without eating tarmac...

gubber12345

my HR is the same,drops off pretty quickly on the descents.i see that as a recovery and don't worry about it at all cos as soon as I hit the bottom it'll be back up again within 30 secs.

on the speed thing down the hills I usually wimp out about 40mph or so unless i'm on a really good surface(which isn't very often round here)

fully agree with mikey much rather get home safe that set a KOM using my arse,head,shoulders,back etc etc etc

ForumNewbie

pinkteapot wrote:

Have been wondering about changing the gear set on the back in the spring (when I've had the bike about a year), as I never use any of the lowest gears at all, but I'll be asking advice on here and in my LBS about that when the time comes. I figure that until I can cruise in the top gear, there's nothing to really worry about there.

I would say it's pretty hard to cruise in top gear, even on a hybrid. I find my HR dropping on most downhills as I'm not pedalling, or at least not as hard as normal, and breaking for bends etc. The only time I can really go flat out downhill and keep a high HR, is when on a long straight road with a gradual descent (i.e. just a bit more downhill than flat). In top gear on these roads I can usually get to 25/30 mph, but even then I'm pushing top gear without that high a cadence. I'm in my mid 50s, so I guess younger stronger riders able to do a higher cadence in top gear would be getting well over 30 mph on these sort of roads.

pinkteapot

I did get a comedy spike in my HR yesterday when I glanced over my shoulder and found a van right behind me that I hadn't heard come up on me. Bet he rolled his eyes as I actually jumped and so twitched out into the road a bit. :?

ManOfKent

pinkteapot wrote:

Thanks all. I know that people doing hard core HR training try to stick in certain HR zones for all/parts of their rides, and was confused by the fact that going downhill seems to screw that up. I'll ignore it if I'm just normal.

Stating the obvious... if staying in certain zones is essential to your training programme, it's easier to ride on flattish roads.

OverTheHillAt21

I prefer to not look at an hrm at all going downhill unless its a big long straight road with no traffic, potholes, squirrels waiting to cross etc. ;-) Mind you I have a wrist watch hrm not one built into a GPS or bike mounted device where it might be harder to ignore. Same goes for looking at how fast I'm going. Trouble is with an Edge 200 the update frequency is often too slow to pick up the peak speed you see displayed :-(

Initialised

Jump the squirels, manual or avoid the potholes and don't stop pushing the cranks until you hit a corner.

I find 50x11 spins out at above 55mph, I may need a 52T or higher big ring to hit 60mph down my favourite hill.

HR is for riding up hills on and on the flat, MPH peak and average is how you measure descents.