Maximum Heart rate is not an indicator of fitness. Maximum heart rate’s can vary by 10% between similar ability cyclists of the same age. A very rough guide to maximum heart rate’s is given by the formula 220-age. But, this is likely to be inaccurate by upto 15%. If you are serious about using heart rate % for training it is important not to use this formula.
The only way to find your maximum heart rate is to monitor your heart rate at your maximum effort level.
To ride at your absolute maximum requires a good level of base fitness. If you are new to cycling forget about finding your maximum; you can always find it later when you have got used to riding at high levels.
Because of the nature of this exercise, it is best done on a stationary indoor trainer, but it can be done outside on a quiet level. Because your effort levels will be at peak rates, it is important to have a good fan to prevent overheating.
Warm up for 15 minutes at a steady rate. Then every 2 minutes increase your workout by 10% when you get to roughly 85% of your heart rate, you can sprint fast out as fast as you can; you should be able to do this for about a minute. It is important to always try and increase the effort levels; when you feel there is absolutely no further that you can go this should be pretty close to your maximum. You can repeat the exercise 3 times to see whether another day can give a different maximum. Some days there may be reasons which prevent our maximum being reached.
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