Am I heartless? You might think so if you could see my Garmin screen while I\’m riding my road bike. Where\’s the heart rate reading?

A week or two ago I began to see bizarre heart rate readings as I rode. One day the screen said I was in HR Zone 0.9, and I knew very well that I was working harder than that. Another day, when I checked my data post-ride, it said my max HR had been in the 170s. NO WAY. If I\’d been working as hard as that, I probably would have been blacking out. Or worse.

I guess the sensor is wearing out. This will be at least the second time I\’ve needed to replace it. What a nuisance! Maybe I should work at getting more in tune to my RPE.

At any rate, I haven\’t worn the chest strap for several days. Why bother, when it isn\’t giving accurate readings? The battery in it was changed recently, so I don\’t think that\’s the problem.

It\’s true that I now can tell quite well when I\’m in my maximum HR range. That\’s when I\’m breathing very deep, fast, and hard; close to the point where I\’m sobbing from exertion if I try to keep it up more than a very short time.

Probably I need to do more work to get myself to that max HR, so I\’ll be better prepared for riding into a stiff headwind on Tour de Cure day. The catch is that my leg muscles are apt to give out before I can get there. In fact, they think I\’m completely heartless.