Science in Sport an' stuff

god1406

At the track Championships in Manchester yesterday there were some static 'watt bikes' hooked up to masses of equipment and plasma screens and crap so you could see your energy output.

What I found interesting was what the trainer person was telling me. The pedals on this bike could sense where your feet were putting pressure, and which leg was exerting the most force. For me, 56% of my effort was through my left leg and 44% through the other.

Also, there was a competition to see how much energy you could generate during a 6 second sprint. World champion Theo Boss (Netherlands rider) generated almost 2300 watts, and I managed a piddling 1560, which was more than some of the pro women

Apparently when Theo Boss was on, the machine stood absolutley still when he was off the seat sprinting, because all his energy was focussed on pedal-spinning, not throwing the bars side-to-side as I would usually do.

PLUS, when told to sprint, nobody could maintain their peak power output for more than one second, which I found interesting. If you have a sudden sprint-burst on a ride, then your max output falls after just one second! wow.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my findings with everyone. And I'm sure you will thoroughly appreciate it

Marjory Stewart BAxtor

that's really interesting, things i hadn't thought about before

god1406

it's not something I thought I would have any interest in at all...

Apparently some people can have up to 70% of their energy being put through just one leg!

weird.

cjw

That is interesting (really... not sarcastic). Be worth looking into a little more of the research... I like that kind of stuff.

cougie

A lot of the serious riders have kit like this on their training bike - gives you all sorts of information.

I guess its only any good if you act on that data though.

clarkson

thtas worht bearing in mind in future. really interesting. i always assumed each leg put out roughly the same amount of power. ho hum!

Travis_M

lots of people do one legged sessions on TT.
This not only helps with developing full circle pedaling, but also balance among other things as well.

I like this stuff, but it can make you really dorky and spend to much time looking at the research results rather than out on the bike (for me anyway )

Greg_m

Yes the PPO is an extremly usefull bank of information. Its directly related to the wingate but can be easilty replicated a number of times for better results.

Many people can improve their fitness by using this test every so often, you see loads of cyclists out on the roads wasting energy all over the place. But getting access to this kind of equipment is hard, although most colleges and schools have it nowerdays.

Travis_M

I have heard the Victoria Pendleton, can hold her PPO for 5 secs...