Cycling Heart Rate Zone Calculator

How to use the calculator

1. Choose a method. If you know nothing about your heart rate, start with % of max HR. If you know your resting heart rate, use Reserve. If you’ve done a threshold test, use Threshold (LTHR): it’s the most accurate.
2. Enter your age, plus your max heart rate if you’ve measured it. Leave it blank and we’ll estimate it with the Tanaka formula.
3. For the reserve method, add your resting heart rate: take it right after waking up, lying down, for one minute, several days in a row, and keep the lowest.
4. For the threshold method, enter your LTHR (how to measure it is below).

You’ll see your zones in beats per minute (bpm), a bar showing how they split and what each one is for. Save your max heart rate and age in My Bike and you won’t have to type them again.

How we calculate it

Estimated max heart rate: Tanaka

Max HR = 208 − 0.7 × age

It was proposed by Tanaka, Monahan and Seals (2001) from a meta-analysis of 351 studies covering 18,712 people, and confirmed in the lab with 514 more. It doesn’t depend on sex or fitness level.

The classic 220 − age formula doesn’t come from a study with that kind of backing: according to Tanaka, it underestimates max heart rate from age 40 on. The two agree at 40 and drift apart the further you are from that age:

The zones this formula gives for each age are in the heart rate zones by age chart. Even so, no formula is right for any one person: the typical error is about 11 beats either way. If your real max is 195 and the formula says 180, all your zones will be off. So if you’ve measured it, enter it.

Method 1: % of max heart rate

Five zones from 50 to 100% of your max heart rate, in 10-point steps, like the ones Polar uses:

Zone limit = max HR × percentage

Method 2: heart rate reserve (Karvonen)

Your reserve is the difference between your max and resting heart rates. Karvonen (1957) proposed applying the percentages to it:

Target HR = resting HR + percentage × (max HR − resting HR)

That way, two people with the same max heart rate but different fitness (one at 45 bpm resting, the other at 70) get different zones, which is what actually happens.

Method 3: lactate threshold (Friel)

Joe Friel defines seven cycling zones based on your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR): the average heart rate you hold in an all-out effort of about 30-60 minutes.

Example: a 40-year-old rider

Estimated max heart rate of 180 bpm, resting heart rate of 55 bpm and LTHR of 160 bpm.

With the threshold method, the same rider would have zone 2 between 130 and 142 bpm and zone 4 between 150 and 158 bpm. Notice how different the low zones come out depending on the method: with % of max heart rate, this rider’s “zone 2” starts at 108 bpm, which on a bike is barely more than a stroll.

How to measure your threshold heart rate (LTHR)

This is the cycling test Friel recommends:

1. Warm up well, 15-20 minutes.
2. Ride 30 minutes all out, alone, with no group or race, as if it were a time trial. Pace yourself: the usual mistake is starting too hard.
3. At 10 minutes, hit the lap button on your heart rate monitor.
4. Your LTHR is your average heart rate for the last 20 minutes.

If you train with a power meter, you can do the 20-minute FTP test and get both: the FTP and power zones calculator gives you your zones in watts as well.

How to measure your max heart rate on the bike

Only if you’re healthy and used to hard efforts:

1. Use a chest strap: wrist sensors fall short in very hard efforts.
2. Warm up for 15-20 minutes, building gradually.
3. Find a steady climb of about 3-5 minutes (or use a trainer) and ride it harder and harder, finishing the last minute flat out.
4. Your max heart rate is the highest number you see during that effort or right after. If it comes out higher when you repeat it another day, keep the higher one.

The end of a ramp FTP test works too: if you do it with a chest strap, note your heart rate in the last minute.

Heart rate and power: what each one tells you

Heart rate tells you how hard an effort is on your body; power tells you how much work you’re doing. Heat, fatigue, lack of sleep or caffeine change your heart rate even at the same watts. That’s why, if you have a power meter, the usual approach is to pace by watts and use heart rate as a warning light: if your heart rate is much higher than normal at the same watts, something’s off that day.

Common mistakes

• Mixing running and cycling zones. Heart rate is usually a bit lower on the bike. Use numbers measured while pedaling.
• Trusting heart rate in short intervals. Heart rate takes a minute or two to rise. For intervals under 3 minutes, go by feel or by power.
• Ignoring cardiac drift. On long rides in the heat, heart rate creeps up even if you don’t change pace. After two hours, it’s normal to be a few beats higher at the same speed.
• Using a wrist-based heart rate on the bike. With road vibration and a tight grip, optical sensors fail more often. A chest strap is far more reliable.

If you want to know how many calories you burn in each zone, use the cycling calories calculator.

These zones are for healthy people who train. If you have a heart condition, take medication that affects heart rate (such as beta blockers) or are starting hard exercise after a long break, check with your doctor first.

Updated October 19, 2026 ·Report an error on this page