What is your resting pulse rate? Mine is 80. I did have an over active thyroid but through treatment my thyroid levels are on the low side of normal now and the doctors are happy with that. My doctors have done all types of tests on me and have found nothing wrong. When I hear that Bush has a resting pulse rate of 46 and he's fifty odd years old, I get concerned when my resting pulse rate is 80.

I believe the average adult male has a resting heart rate of 70. Ten beats per minute more.... I woudn't sweat it that much.

Mine usually hovers around 60 or so, but I excersise regularly too.

PS I'm 38 years "young".

Mine's 42, but I maintain a stupid-high level of athletic conditioning. (I rode my bike 128 miles last weekend...)

- JimY

Last time I checked, mine was at 72 bpm.

And my sig above my avatar tells it all.

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car

Yeah, I remember in high school when I rode my bike an incredible amount of miles every week I was around 50 bpm. I guess some of it can be chalked up to genetics too.

I did a "century" ride just before my senior year of high school. I'd like to train enough this summer to do another one. People still get amazed at the concept of riding a bike for over 100 miles through the hilly Appalacian mountains! Guess they've just never spent that much time on a bike...

Currently: 70-ish. I'm not in nearly as good of shape going into this year as last. I too cycle alot and when I was doing the miles the year before last, it was 55-ish.

p.s. jcyuhn, what kind of bike do you ride? I've got a Colnago master X (steel) and Klein hardtail. I'm going to replace the klein (or upgrade the components) this year.

36.9 year old Sholin

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What else, '73 MB 280 SEL (Lt Blue)
Daily driver: '84 190D 2.2 5 spd.

I was told by the person doing my last " stress test" EKG that a better indicator of " whatever" was the amount of time after the exercise period ( laying down ) that it took your heart to go back to ' resting ' rate... mine was about one minute.... which they were pleased with... mine is typically about 65....I am 54...

Here are some interseting facts about pulse rate:

NORMAL PULSE RATE : Average Beats per Minute

The Unborn Child 140 to150

Newborn Infants 130 to140

During first year 110 to 130

During second year 96 to 115

During third year 86 to 105

7th to 14 year 76 to 90

14th to 21st year 76 to 85

21st to 60th year 70 to 75

After 60th year 67 to 80

INTERESTING FACTS :

Pulse rates rise normally during excitement, following physical exertion and during digestion.

The pulse rate is generally more rapid in females.

The pulse rate is also influenced by the breathing rate.

Caffeine increases the pulse rate.

Mendelsohn produced graphs showing maximum pulse rate for men and women before, during and after coitus: a maximum pulse rate of 150 was recorded. Boas and Goldschmidt recorded maximums of 146 in four consecutive orgasms in a woman. And Klumbies and Kleinsorge noted a maximum pulse rate of 142 in a man at orgasm.

In violent exercise boys have been known to reach a rate of 200; and young men running to a treadmill have reached 208.

During my aerobic excersise three or four times a week, I set the bike up to keep my heartrate at 145 bpm. I then ride for 45 minutes. Seems to work well for me, but I don't know how accurate the readings are on the bike handlebars.

I've got a motley old collection of bikes. The big milage this past weekend was ridden on a tandem with my wife. It's a five year old Co-Motion Copilot. Great bike. The frame is made with couplers which allow it to be broken down and packed into suitcases, which can then be checked as regular airline baggage. Great for touring. We each have Co-Motion copilot singles as well. A good, all around steel framed bike. Mine's built up with Shimano Ultegra triple and good hand built wheels. Nothing exotic, but a very nice riding bike. Last fall I flew out to the Grand Canyon with it, and rode from there up to Zion and Bryce, alternating cycling with hiking. The summer before I rode it on Pedal the Peaks - 575 miles and 38,000 feet of climbing in 8 days.

I'm rambling, aren't I? Anyways, I've also got a Merlin titanium road bike from the late 80s, an old Fisher mountain bike that I just use for commuting back & forth to the office, plus one or two more. The third bay of my garage is all bicycles.

- JimY

My resting rate is about 48-50 bpm. Under the most strain my largest (leg) muscles can muster, I can raise my rate to about 155bmp. I can sustain 145bpm for 90 minutes continously, but I'm exhausted at the end.

I do 9-10 hours of intense cardio-vascular work per week.

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John Shellenberg
1998 C230 "Black Betty" 240K

http://img31.exs.cx/img31/4050/tophat6.gif

Jim,

Yup, you've got it bad. I saw that Ritchey is now making a steel bike with couplers on it. That's something I'd really be interested in as my job has me travel alot. It's between a bike with couplers, a cyclocross bike, and a new mountain bike that I'm going to buy this year.

I think the key to lowering your heart rate is keeping your heart rate in your target zone during aerobic exercize for an extended time. My problem is that I get out there on the bike and want to get "sporty" and get my heart rate too high. Although this is good exercize and I get a workout that way, your resting heart rate is a reflection of how efficient your heart is in pumping blood. To be efficient, it needs to have thinner walls and be very pliable. Your heart, being a muscle, will thicken in repsonse to hard exertion and anerobic exercise. Being thicker and stronger, you are capable of higher heart rates for short periods of time, but thicker hearts are less efficient hearts. In the extreme, people that suffer from an enlarged heart have such inefficient hearts that it barely can pump enough blood for normal activity. In this condition, the heart is so inefficient and exerts so much effort at rest that the heart muscle walls keep getting thicker and thicker. Eventually there is no more room for actual blood, just heart muscle.

JMHO, I'm not medically trained or anything. If there are inaccuricies in my theories, just chock it up to more BS opinions on the internet.

Sholin

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What else, '73 MB 280 SEL (Lt Blue)
Daily driver: '84 190D 2.2 5 spd.

Hmmm.... just checked and it's 68. And I just had a cup of black coffee, and just checked the "pretty girls" thread for new posts, so I think that 68 is pretty good under the circumstances.

30's, no regular exercise.

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2002 C32 AMG

I would kill everyone in this room for a drop of sweet beer... -Homer