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Testing, testing, 1-2-3

The Riding For Focus crew enjoyed another morning of unseasonably warm weather today. We began by taking a resting pulse rate before riding.  Most kids had no trouble finding the pulse at their carotid artery, but we showed them their radial pulse as well. Calculating heart rates is a great way to embed mental math into our riding sessions. Count your pulse for fifteen seconds, double the result and then double it again. That number is your heartbeats per minute (BPM). I asked kids to remember this number so we could compare it to another reading after riding for a bit. 

As we headed toward the dirt roads of Oak Grove Cemetery, the adults watched the kids ride and reminded them how to shift, what cadence to maintain, and how to start and stop while in control. The exit from the fields is a steep, unpaved dirt path, and many kids took on the challenge of this short climb successfully. I only heard a few cringe-worthy gear grindings as a couple of kids tried to shift in the middle of the climb.

Today's learning targets were:
  1. "I can use heart rate as an indicator of exercise intensity."
  2. "I can explain what the ideal training zone is, and I can calculate my training zone."
To get our hearts pumping a bit, I mapped out a short loop in the cemetery, probably around a tenth of a mile, and sent the kids off in shifts. I told the kids that as long as  they rode within their limits and maintained control, it was fine to  ride at whatever pace they chose. Some kids shot down the trail like thoroughbreds while others took a more leisurely pace. They were so pumped to finally get to just ride! Big smiles and some fast turns.








After two laps the kids stopped to take their pulses again. Whoa! Their results were radically different from the resting pulse they found earlier. I explained that their ideal training zone heart rate (not too fast, not too slow) was around 75% of their maximum heart rate (around 208 BPM for middle schoolers). We did 208 X 70% (easier than 75%) and came up with a target heart rate of around 146 BPM.

Kids also began filling out a daily tracking form online today, and one of the tasks is to record their resting heart rate. It will be interesting to see if these numbers change as we continue to ride for the next few weeks.

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