How Can I Find My Max Heart Rate?

Question: How can I accurately determine my maximum heart rate on the bike? Do you have a simple workout/text I can do? — Jerzy L.

Coach Fred Matheny Replies: First, get a physician’s approval so you’re sure you can go to max without health risks. Then do the following test on a trainer so you don’t have to worry about traffic.

Warm up thoroughly.

Start riding in an easy gear. Maintain a 90 cadence and progressively increase the gear every 2-3 minutes until you’re working as hard as possible but can’t hold 90 rpm any longer.

Then get out of the saddle and sprint like you’re going for a world championship!

The highest heart rate you record at the end of this maximum effort will be very close to your absolute max.