Your Heart At 200 MPH

BBC recently posted an article examining how the heart reacts at 200 MPH on a motorcycle. Three very different riders were fitted with a heart strap and wireless sensor to measure their heart rate as they hit top speeds of 208 mph on closed public roads.

The riders were 'the Champion' Alastair Seeley, 33, 'the Novice' Gareth Keys, 22, and 'the Veteran' Jeremy McWilliams, 49.

The Champion, Alastair Seeley, had the lowest heart rate, with an average beats per minute (bpm) of 134. The Novice, Gareth Keys, had an average heart rate of 185 bpm and the Veteran, Jeremy McWilliams, was somewhere in between, with an average heart rate of 164 bpm.

This POV video of a Ninja ZX-6R 636 on The Isle of Man is enough to get your heart racing.

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The fascinating thing about the results of this BBC road test, is that the heart rate is speeding because of the heart's sympathetic 'fight or flight' response, which is what the body does under stress. The brain releases adrenaline, the heart rate rises, blood flow increases and fatty acids and glucose are released into the bloodstream for energy.

The contrasting reaction of the heart is known as the parasympathetic 'rest and digest'. This is when we are relaxed and the heart rate slows down.

The fact that three riders with different levels of experience had drastically different heart rates while riding the same roads at the same speeds says a few things - A major characteristic of a good road racer is the ability to stay cool under stress. This may seem obvious, but the interesting thing is, anyone who rides a bike is essentially putting themselves in "stressful" situations deliberately in order face them head on and stay calm.

Anyone who can stay cool, calm and collected travelling at 200 MPH on a motorcycle has mastered a remarkable skill - a very acute ability to essentially turn stress into a thrill by relaxing under pressure.

This can literally enrich one's enjoyment of life.

To quote Hunter S. Thompson - "Some people will tell you that slow is good - but I'm here to tell you that fast is better. I've always believed this, in spite of the trouble it's caused me. Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba…"

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