Accuracy of calories burned while biking

[nscrbug]

The only other thing I can think of is your cycling position, can it be moving the chest strap away from contacting with your flesh? I can't wear a chest strap on the spin bike at the gym because some of the positions interfere with the chest strap, and maybe it is the same for you on your bike.

Regarding the low heart rate, the people I know with low heart rates during cardio exercise are on heart medications. I also chatted with a female cyclist a few years ago, who had transtioned to the bike from long distance running, and she couldn't get her heart rate anywhere near her max rate on the bike, but I am sure her average rate was over 120. So if you are not on heart meds, maybe you are super fit from another sport and the bike is too easy for you, or perhaps you need to do more miles of steep climbing?

Yesterday I biked an event metric. I looked at the Garmin data of a training group friend who did the metric too. When climbing the nasty hill, his heart rate was around 180; my heart rate was around 140, and that is a huge difference, though my max is only 165-170. But when I looked at the other data, his cadence was 80 and my cadence was 60, his speed up the steep hill was 8 mph and my speed was only 6 mph. He was able to push harder because he is a male or more fit, and got a higher heart rate due to more exertion. On the other hand, at the top of the hill was this one male cyclist who was younger than everyone in my group, and he was off his bike gulping in air like a landed fish, looking like climbing that hill just about killed him.

If your heart rate remains low when climbing real steep grades and you are exerting yourself fully, then my suggestion is see your doctor and make sure you are heart healthy. If your heart is fine, then guess you shouldn't worry about it.

I did a steep but short climb on my ride this morning. I was monitoring my HR throughout the climb...my HR peaked at 131 (which also happens to be my max HR for this ride), and this is a very challenging hill for me. I have to ride in my absolute lowest gear...my speed up this hill is about 7mph, if that, so cadence is sure to be low as well. As for the possibility of my strap being moved while riding...I think it's unlikely. I generally have to "peel" the thing off me when I'm done, so it pretty much stays put once I put it on.

ETA - not on any heart meds