View heart rate of other riders

General Discussion
1

Can someone let me know whether it’s possible to view other riders heart rates during a race….
I can see the power ratio which is useful but this doesn’t necessarily tell me how hard the other riders are working unless I know their max…

In the last few events I’ve used my BPM recovery as a rough guide on how well I’m likely to react to a surge from another rider in the group I’m in……I.e making decision as to whether to go into the ‘red’ to cover a move or (if BPM near max) to wait a little and cover move gradually because I don’t want to blow up…

Appreciate BPM is also only a rough guide too and very individual but if I could see how others riders BPM’s were riding/falling/level when in a group situation it would help make the decision whether to put on the power and attempt a break (if I saw other BPM’s were staying high or gradually falling)

In real life you can see whether other people around you are hurting….in Zwift it’s a lot harder…… I reckon the combo of power plus BPM would add to the overall experience - thoughts?

2

You can’t view it no. I’d also say it’s not really useful as a guide to others effort.

Heart rates vary massively dependant on age and fitness so you’d never rely on it. I top out at 167 but yet my older riding buddy can go towards 185.
When we are both at max I would be moving considerably quicker than him.

W/kg is more useful but again isn’t an exact science as the effort needed to hold 4w/kg varies between a 60kg rider and an 80kg rider.

3

Thanks Stuart - I agree with all your comments and know heart rates vary enormously so I wouldn’t be looking at the actual figs just the trend over time in a group as a gauge as to whether someone is relatively comfortable or is obviously holding on - I also think it would be useful to see if rivals are gradually falling which may indicate they’re pretty comfortable / recovering slightly rather than staying at same rate or increasing…just a little bit more info to help virtual decision making….
At the moment I tend to just rely on how quickly the others respond to a change in pace or uphill section….and that’s not foolproof cos you can deliberately not react as a tactic……
Thought it would be particularly handy on deciding whether to gradually wind up the pace a long way from home or (if i could see people were staying relatively high on BPM) deciding to wait for a sprint on the basis that they may already be on their max
Food for thought
Adam

4

I see exactly where you’re coming from, I’ve often been in the situation where I’m assessing those around me, how did they react on that little incline etc… Who’s more a climber than sprinter etc…

Alas we don’t have the option of looking into the eyes of someone to see if they’ve got it in them.

5

Yes. It could be expressed as heart icon with a color designating zone. They use it on tv with “time in the red zone” and other video games for sure. Why not here?

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6

A couple options, but of limited value.

  1. Zwiftpower Live view of an event shows HR. However, it’s not always working properly. Even if it is functioning, the updates are every 30s.

  2. Switch to fan view, assuming this works in an event. I’ve never tried it during a event. Obvious issues w/this are you lose your own view and not very convenient if you suffering.

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