March 30, 2017
New study could radically improve the way cyclists train
Reinier Paauwe, a participant in the cycling study, races in the Tour De Bowness in Calgary in 2016.
Masa Higuchi
Eager for the next phase, ready to dedicate himself wholly, the youngster could not wait. Soon he would get his hands on the blueprint for the yellow jersey, those scientifically grounded steps to cycling glory.
Imagine his disappointment. There was no such thing. No hard data to serve as a personal guideline.
What I discovered in university was that sport science didnt have all the answers I was looking for, recalls Louis Passfield, at the time, a cycling enthusiast in Eastbourne, England. I thought Id study sport science, read some textbooks, get a spreadsheet out and start to do all the calculations that were necessary to plot the training.
But I found that sport science hadnt evolved to that level we could do that.
Passfield took personally the deficiency. An academic career was born.
My standard opening line to a talk is, I went into sport science because I wanted to work out how to win the Tour de France, says Passfield, chuckling. Training works if people train, they get fitter but in terms of trying to optimize that process, we know very little indeed.
Now, 30 years later maybe we are in a better position to tackle that. Thats whats exciting about this.
Radically improving the way cyclists train
Passfield on a year-long study leave from the University of Kent has teamed up with 91做厙輦⑹ kinesiology professor Juan Murias and masters student Calaine Inglis for a ground-breaking project that could radically improve the way cyclists train.
For the study, 12 local racers provided fitness baselines by undergoing gold-standard testing. At regular intervals during their season, theyll return to the Human Performance Lab at the Faculty of Kinesiology to update their physiological profiles.
Its really neat that we can get them at these different time points, says Inglis, and try to understand better how things are changing in relation to their training.
Critically, between visits to the campus, all of their riding is monitored by power meters. These devices provided by 4iiii Innovations Inc., of Cochrane, and attached to the bikes provide mountains of information about the riders work rates.
The tools now are perfect for that, Victoria Brilz, chief business development officer, says of the 4iiii power meters, which measure crank bend, crank torque, and axial force. This technology has the capability to take (scientists) where their studies are going to go in the future.
These instruments will generate, according to Passfield, literally millions of data points.
Technology provides personalized on-the-spot feedback
Taking into account minute fluctuations, researchers can then determine precisely what influences each individuals performance.
One tantalizing possibility is developing a program that produces personalized on-the-spot feedback. In other words, real-time guidance specific work-rate adjustments during rides.
Imagine pedalling and receiving customized input through ear buds or on helmet visors to maximize your workout, no matter its duration. This actually becomes your on-board coach, says Passfield.
Which means amateur cyclists, without the luxury of daily contact with experts, could confidently throw themselves into regimens tailored specifically for them.
Not that these advances make coaches redundant. In fact, for those in charge of the sports elite and already burdened with across-the-board issues such as nutrition and motivation and scheduling this would serve as a worthwhile tool.
A dashboard of extra information, says Passfield, who, for 30 years, has been associated with British Cycling. Coaches might have stuff in a spreadsheet, but its based on their experience and their intuition. Its not based on carefully derived calculations where theyre implementing the findings straight out of the lab.
Thats where the computing power and the science really comes in.
Meanwhile, cutting-edge data compilation continues as Reinier Paauwe, captain of Peloton Racing, and the rest of the research subjects keep pushing their pedals.
A thing thats rewarding for me, says Paauwe, is being part of a local program thats doing the kind of testing Ill read about in textbooks in a few years.