That's good to know! Mine is about the same on hills and on the flat.

I've been working with my heart rate monitor using 5 different levels or zones and just like you when I come to a climb it zips up, and at one point I got really frustrated. I was meant to be doing long, mid level 2 rides to improve my endurance and the idea wasn't to let your heart rate get too high. I was fine on the flat but it would just shoot up on the hills.

So as you get fitter and stronger does your max heart rate level come down? I'm thinking if your heart is stronger it doesn't need to beat so many times to get the same amount of blood to flow round.

My max heart rate is still about 195 but over the course of this year I've noticed my recovery time has really improved and it starts to drop very much quicker than it used to.

Did they give you any suggestions about how often you should re- do you max heart rate test?