Do you want to ride faster AND cut down on training time?This exciting new e-book will showcase how you can develop your own individual training program, so you can pedal away from the peloton and stay clear of the chasing pack. Time Effective Cycling Training will help you ride harder and faster by doing less
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There are some basic rules you should know when you start to use a heart rate monitor. First of all it is important to know that your heart rate is affected by several internal and external parameters. It takes months (if not years) to get enough experience to understand how the heart rate reacts.
Heart rate monitors work best for pacing at aerobic cycling, since there is a slightly delay on the pulse frequency. If you accelerate the bike to a new steady state pace, you will reach the steady state pulse a few minutes later. That is really important to know, and I guess that is why many riders push too hard in the beginning of intervals, because they are trying to get their heart rate up in the target zones. That is a big mistake that could easily be avoided if these riders used a power meter.
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I have always been fascinated by trackstanding. Standing completely still on a bike looks so cool. This skill is often used of track sprinters when they are trying to stay behind their opponent in the tactical part of the sprint. It looks difficult, but actually it is possible to learn how to make a good trackstand with some practice. Normally I post advice about the physical training, but today’s post is dedicated for technical skills.
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If we take a look at long distance running, I will have to introduce you to a legendary coach: Arthur Lydiard. He invented the term ”˜jogging’ and got famous for his strategies to achieve peak performance in long distance running events. When the runners started to run longer distances, they got more efficient and achieved a better endurance. LSD (Long Slow Distance) improves your peripheral adaptations, which means increased capillary density, more myoglobin, more mitochondrias, better use of free fatty acids as fuel and larger glycogen stores. Also there are probably some neural adaptations that make running more efficient. Training at slow speeds has only very little effect on VO2 maximum.
Read the full article about Long Slow Distance Training
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Cyclists apply forces to bike pedals in order to overcome the forces resisting forward motion (hill climbs, wind resistance, rolling resistance, acceleration, etc.) Traditional power meters like SRM, Powertap and Ergomo measure the forces applied by the cyclist (direct measuring). The new iBike Pro is the first power meter that measures the resistive forces working against the cyclist (indirect measuring). The principle is that forces applied by the cyclist is exactly the same as the forces from wind resistance, rolling resistance and gravity. Thus, if you know these factors you can calculate the forces applied by the cyclist. The iBike Pro measure both wind speed, hill gradient and bike speed.
Body position does not affect power output
As you can guess, there are several variables that can possible affect the measuring. One of the biggest problems in my opinion is that the power output will not change if you change body position. That means that data from the rides will reflect the average power output rather than the actual power output.
iBike Pro website FAQ about the body position problem:
“Most riders stay in the same position about 90% of the time or more, so the percentage of the total ride where there is a wattage difference won’t be great. The iBike Pro assumes that the athlete remains in the same riding position, so changes in riding position will not be reflected by changes in the iBike’s wattage readings.”
My opinion about iBike Pro (haven’t tried it yet…)
I think it is a interesting concept, but it is very difficult for me to understand why they measure power indirectly. That doesn’t make sense to me. I am not sure that this product can be used to seious wattage training, but I would really like to try one to see how it performs. There are some good things that could make iBike Pro to a competitor for the other power metres: It weights only 60g and costs 399$, which is nothing compared to the more expensive and heavier products on the market.
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