Heart rate and blood lactate during official female motorcycling competitions

The aim of this study was to investigate the physiological load of free practices (F), qualifying sessions (Q), and official races (R) of motorcycling competitions. Twenty-six female riders (age: 30.8 +/- 6.1 yrs) participated in this study. Anthropometric and strength evaluations were performed. Subject's heart rate (HR) was continuously recorded during three periods (5-minute Pre, Ride, and 5-minute Post) of the F, Q, and R phases of competitions. Blood lactate concentrations (La) were determined at rest and after riding. Riders had 56.5 +/- 6.7 kg of body mass, 164 +/- 4 cm of height, 21.6 +/- 4.4 % of body fat, and a BMI of 20.9 +/- 2.3 kg . (m (2)) (-1). Significant handgrip differences were found between the preferred (307 +/- 32 n) and non-preferred (281 +/- 47 N) limbs. During riding, frequency of occurrence of HR >or= 90 % HR (max) was 67 % in F, 74 % in Q, and 83 % in R. La after ridings (4.8 +/- 2.6 mmol . l (-1)) was two-folds (p < 0.05) the basal values (2.2 +/- 0.5 mmol . l (-1)), independently from the competition phases. The present HR and La data show that female road race motorcycling imposes a very intensive physical strain to the riders who need to control their motorbikes while performing frequent accelerations and decelerations.