I have used ergometer bikes during the winter months for many years to optimize interval sessions and training load for my cyclists. Most ergometer bikes offer riders an excellent opportunity to pace themselves based on their power output. If you go to your local gym, you can try to maintain, for example, 250 watts for
Power Meter Training with Ergometer Bikes Read More »
Case Story: Peter Ettles, 3K Pursuit.Last year I received an email from Peter Ettles from Scotland asking me to help the World Track Championships. Peter had a 3K pursuit as his primary discipline, a scratch race, and a points race as secondary events. That email had the perfect timing because I, at the same time,
Bronze Medal at 3K Pursuit World Championships With Only 10 Hours Training Per Week Read More »
I like the concept of power meter training. It makes it possible for me to convert my knowledge about exercise physiology to the best possible training for my riders. Let me show you an example that demonstrates what I talk about. Gonzalo Vilaseca from Spain is an experienced rider riding quite seriously the last three
Case Story: VO2 Max Power Increased 59W In 12 Weeks Read More »
Cycling training should not be made more difficult than it already is. Consider how many cyclists who have won great races, championships and honour without knowing anything significant about cycling training principles, nutrition or training planning (not to mention heart rate monitors, power meters etc.) There are a lot athletes having success, because they have talent and do a lot of clever things without knowing it: They train hard, they rest and they eat proper amounts of food.
Thus, they make above 95% of their potential performance by doing these things right. Advanced training methods can only add a few watts to this, but in tough competitions these can be crucial. But for a beginning it can be valuable to read these articles to avoid the most common mistakes and understand the basic principles of high quality cycling training:
Basic Principles of Cycling Training
Optimize your cycling training with basic knowledge Read More »
APRIL FOOL: UCI has declared that power meters like SRM, PowerTap etc. will not be allowed in the Pro Tour next year. There also a couple of other implementations for next years’ Pro Tour that may surprise some of you. I will give you a short summary of the press release:
Why Power meters are no longer allowed:
Ӣ There are significant better results from riders using power meters which indicate that they have a huge advantage during the races than other riders. UCI wants to make everybody equal (at least their equipment status) to make a fair competition.
Ӣ UCI has chosen to avoid dictation of how riders should ride from e.g. power meters or radio communication. These steps should make riders using their instincts instead of just acting like a machine. UCI has already disallowed radio communication in the U23 Nations Cup this year and implements the same rule in the Pro Tour 2009.
The press release also indicates that 2009 may very likely be the last season with heart rate monitors, carbon wheels and disc wheels. Service cars leave the peloton from 2011 which should be time enough for riders to learn what to do when they have a flat tire. Seems like it is going to be old school cycling in the future…!
My comment:
I think this decision is a huge step backwards for pro cycling. Power meters have shown their relevancy in broad range of situations and made training even more sophisticated. UCI can’t disallow power meters in training situations which means that riders using power meters will still have a great advantage. UCI is obviously not aware that the biggest advantage of power meters are in training rides and post-race-analyses. During the races the bonus from having a power meter mounted is minimal (except time trials). But having data files from the races is a really helpful thing for analysis of performance.
I have started collection of names on people who dislike the mistake of UCI:
Support my campaign: Legalize SRM and PowerTap
If you want to support my campaign, please write your name here. I will send the full list of names to the President of UCI. 10408 riders have already shown their support in this way.
What do you think? Should power meters be disallowed next year?
SRM and PowerTap Are Not Allowed in the Pro Tour 2009 Read More »