Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Introduction. Measuring the energetic demands of habitual commuter cyclists is essential to create more accurate methods for measuring active commuting so as to be able to objectively determine the impact that cycle commuting can have on population health.

Heart rate (HR) can be used as an indicator of aerobic processes while commuter cycling as long as the relationship between oxygen uptake (VO₂) and HR is established in laboratory conditions. However in the field, environmental aspects might introduce effects of stress that change the relationship. Thus measurements need also to be performed in the field in order to explore the HR-VO₂ relationship between the two conditions.

Methods. Metabolic measurements were performed in the laboratory as well as in the field using 20 habitual commuter cyclists (10 males and 10 females) aged 44 ± 3 yrs. A validated stationary as well as a portable metabolic system was used (Rosdahl et al. 2010; 2016; Salier-Eriksson et al. 2012). A comparison was made between the laboratory and field conditions of the HR-VO₂ relationship.

Results and Discussion. Based on the average heart rate, the measured oxygen uptake was about 2.5 % lower (n.s.) than the expected levels based on the steady state HR-VO₂ relationships in the laboratory. Thus, the results indicate that the HR-VO₂ relationships in the field were comparable to those measured in the laboratory on a group level. However, relatively large individual differences were found.

References

Rosdahl, H., Gullstrand, L., Salier Eriksson, J., Johansson, P. & Schantz, P. 2010. Evaluation of the Oxycon Mobile metabolic system against the Douglas bag method. Eur J Appl Physiol 109 (2):159-71.

Rosdahl, H., Salier Eriksson, J. & Schantz, P. 2016. Validation of data collected with mobile metabolic measurement systems over time during active commuting. Proceedings of the 21^st Annual Congress of The European College of Sport Sciences, Vienna, Austria, 6-8 July (Abstract).  

Salier Eriksson, J., Rosdahl, H. & Schantz, P. 2012. Validity of the Oxycon Mobile metabolic system under field measuring conditions. Eur J Appl Physiol, 112 (1): 345-355.