Author: Selfloops

A cyclist spends a lot of time on a bike and the way he sits and pedals on the bike  is very important.

Having the right position and choosing a bike that suits the athlete have a big impact on performance. The position kept could be wrong, the saddle could be too high, the handlebar could be too far or the bike could just be too big or small.

For this reason there are several tools and applications to determine bike fit and an entire research area covers this topic that is biomechanics.

One of the tool used by pro cyclists is Retul. Another is Guru.

But there are other applications that provide bike fit information. Kinovea provides video analysis and it is a free open source application. An an iOS application, compatible with iPhones and iPads, is Bike Fast Fit

 

You are going to spend a lot of time sitting on a bike, better doing it correctly and comfortably. The tools exists and are also affordable.

At SelfLoops we like to be at the forefront of tech and fitness. We are going to support Stryd, the World’s First Wearable Power Meter for Running. We already have advanced metrics for runners. The Stryd sensors will bring additional data to people that care about performance and want to improve.
The project is now in Kickstarter, it has already reached its funding goal and is going to be delivered soon to its backers (we are one of them, of course). Go and get one.

we have just got our Scanadu Scout, looking forward to testing it out.

You can only improve what you measure!

We have just improved our bike power analysis with line graphs showing your Maximum Power Output (Watts/KG).
The Maximum Power Output is your Critical Power* divided by your weight. The weight normalizes the measure and you can compare your Maximum Power Output with other cyclists. In this new software update you can also set the time range over you want to analyze your Critical and Maximum Power Output.

*Critical Power or Mean Maximal Power, is the best average power you can maintain for a given amount of time. For example a CP5 of 500W means the rider was able to sustain an average of 500W for 5 seconds as its best performance in all his rides. A sprinter will have very high values for CP5.