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Welcome to the The Weekly Ride by Cycling Fusion
Originally posted 2018-12-23 09:34:42.
NOTE: this was a previous review from 2013 that continues to remain accurate when applied to any of the magnetic friction Indoor Cycles available today.
Many Indoor Cycle manufacturers claim a connection with cycling outdoors:
100% Authentic – Spinning is authentic. It’s true to its cycling roots, yet refined to a simplicity that makes it the perfect program for any age or ability.
FreeMotion says; Drive System Mimics Outdoor Riding
The Schwinn® Authentic Cyclingâ„¢ Series is based on one simple principle: we believe that riding a bike indoors should feel as much like riding an outdoor bike as possible.
There are of course multiple similarities between riding indoors vs riding outdoors. Beyond the obvious differences, not needing to balance an indoor cycle for one, the claimed connection is that their Indoor Cycle feels like riding a bicycle outdoors.
But what does that mean? A feeling can be pretty subjective after all.
My review of the new Spinner® Blade Ion included a comment that I was a little disappointed that Star Trac continued with a friction resistance system, vs. the magnetic systems used by FreeMotion, Schwinn and Keiser.
I also teased you at the end of the post with:
Later that morning I also tried a little experiment that I’ve wanted to do for years…
What happens to your Power / Wattage when you accelerate from a set point, say; 100 watts @ 60 rpm to 90 rpm on friction based system, as compared to a magnetic system? Do they react the same way?
My apologies for the delay. I'm just getting to this today.
The ” little experiment” I conducted was something that I'd wanted to confirm/quantify for years, actually since I first started teaching on a Schwinn AC in 2010.
My early experiences riding/teaching with magnetic resistance, along with a discussion I had with Keiser's President Dennis Keiser, demonstrated to me that the amount of resistance created by the magnetic (Eddy Current) resistance system increased in lock step with a faster cadence / RPM. The faster you pedaled the harder (more force required) it was to turn the pedals.
Which is pretty much what you experience riding a bicycle outdoors, at speeds over 18mph. As you pedal faster (assuming you stay in the same gear) you and the bike move faster through the air. The faster you go, the more the resistance from the air pushes against you, making it harder and harder to turn the pedals.
There's a handy calculator to compute the amount of work it takes to overcome the resistance of the air here.
The difference in power needed to ride 25 mph vs 30 mph
So it takes apx. 300 watts to ride at 25 mph. To ride at 30 mph (just a 20% increase) you need to create over 60% more power. You can't make the power with additional leg speed – you're probably near your maximum efficient cadence already at 25 mph. To get to 30 mph you'll need to shift to a lower gear and push harder… A LOT HARDER!
Very different from the conventional friction system on an NXT – which (to me) feels like it gets easier to pedal, the faster I pedaled. In fact most of us can take what is a high level of load (at a slow cadence) and accelerate to the point where our legs spin-out and won't move any faster.
Side note: It's extremely rare to see someone riding with excessively high cadence on a magnetic resistance indoor cycle.
I've discussed this concept here in the past, but I couldn't prove or demonstrate it. I even went so far as contacting LOOK and Garmin to see if they would lend me a set of those new pedals with the built in power meter. They wouldn't and the crank arm from my FreeMotion doesn't fit on a NXT. It remained a mystery until now.
So while I was at the IHRSA convention, I finally had the chance to compare the new Blade Ion and the FreeMotion. With both cycles offering “measured power” I felt it would be a fair comparison; Magnetic vs Friction Resistance. Which best replicates riding outdoors?
Although I wasn't exactly “scientific” in my test protocol, nonetheless the results were very interesting.
Fun with graphs!
Here's what I did
My test was admittedly simple. After completing an early AM ride with Josh Taylor, I spent some time riding both the Spinner Blade Ion and FreeMotion S11.9. I began by establishing a steady 60 rpm cadence. Then I added resistance until the power meter showed 100 watts @ the 60 rpm. Then I accelerated to (and sustained) 90 rpm and took notes on what happened. I rode both cycles twice and the results were consistent. The blue Magnetic Watts line is more squiggly than the red Friction Watts line because I used the actual date set I downloaded directly from the FreeMotion's USB port.
I'd already tested the FreeMotion S11.9, so I knew that the 50% increase in cadence would result in a doubling of power. Perfectly consistent with my understanding of how Eddy Currents increase linearly with speed. A 50% increase in RPM = a 50% increase in resistance. Although math isn't my strong suit, it's easy to see how a 50% increase in Speed multiplied by a 50% increase in the amount of force required to turn the pedals = a 100% doubling in power/wattage. While not the same effect as what you'll find chasing down a breakaway at 27 mph, it is enough to force your students to work hard in a way that will help prepare them to hang with the “A” group.
The Spinner Blade Ion reflects the inherent weakness of using a friction pad with a heavy, perimeter weighted flywheel. The graph above clearly shows how the amount of resistance doesn't increase with additional speed – it actually goes down, validating what I had hoped to demonstrate. If it just stayed the same I should have observed 150 watts @ 90 rpm, I only saw 135 watts. So where did the other 15 watts disappear to? That's a math thing I'll leave to others smarter than me to answer. I will offer a guess that if I had continued on to 120 rpm, I would have seen a progressively lower increase in wattage vs what would be expected from a doubling of speed.
So what's this all mean?
Short answer – it's my opinion that magnetic resistance is superior in every way to a friction system. Besides being zero maintenance, the linear increase in resistance is much closer to what your participants will experience outdoors. Combined with the reduced inertia of the aluminum flywheel, magnetic cycles require more work to ride and force everyone to develop better pedaling technique. IMO the net results is that the members of your club or studio will (if they take advantage of it and you coach them properly) receive a more effective workout, that will translate to them becoming stronger outdoor cyclists.
So does that mean you wouldn't recomend the Spinner Blade Ion?
Not at all… it's an awesome cycle and that battery charger rocks. The purpose of this article was to demonstrate the differences so you can make an informed decision on your own. Besides, if you're a Spinning® studio, what other choice do you have?
P.S. If you're going to be at WSSC – I'd love for you to try and replicate my test on a Blade Ion for yourself. Then report back with what you find 🙂
Originally posted 2013-05-04 17:03:45.
Image from http://www.thesecretlifeofdee.com/
John, I'm still confused by this power stuff… where should I be riding? How many watts should I be seeing on my monitor, because I'm no where close to my body weight?
I get questions similar to this frequently from members. My answers has evolved over time:
But now I'm learning that throwing out watts = body weight (lean or actual) isn't as helpful as I intended. Sure for some it works. Those who are reasonably fit looking (read not overweight) and with a good fitness base. For others I've found I was asking them to work too hard, using a kind of formula that wasn't personalized for each individual. Which sounds is a lot like using the 220 – age for MAX HR 🙁
Now my preference is to conduct a short “Best Effort”, about a quarter of the way through class, to give everyone an understanding of a number they can work from. Not a true FTP or PTP, but it's been reasonably well accepted… but not by everyone.
Case in point: last Thursday after class I had the “how many watts should I be making?” discussion with a female member. She's a fit 50 year old and I would guess (I never ask) she weighs about 130lbs.
So I asked her what she normally sees during the “Best Effort” interval. “I average about 80 watts.” Which confused me… a lot actually. I would have guessed she could easily make more than 80 watts. I was stuck for an answer. Rather than guess at the reason, I started asking questions:
I didn't need to say anything more. The look on her face told me she understood exactly where her confusion was coming from. Her perception of working hard was at her Marathon level of intensity = 80 watts was exactly right, figuring an aerobic level of effort. I had been making the assumption that when I asked for hard, everyone would work at the level I perceive as “hard” – which for her was different.
She ended the conversation with; so when you ask us for our “Best Effort”, I should be working at my 5k level of effort?
Exactly, or maybe a 5k where you're chasing one of your faster friends 🙂
Originally posted 2018-06-22 07:00:33.
Gino introduces the Power Pedals research study
My last blog post was ended with this statement: “This blog represents the first in a series that will be exploring power and how we can make it more accessible, more understandable, more reliable, and more straight forward to teach with.”
To live up to those lofty goals, as an outdoor coach, an indoor instructor, and in general a man dedicated to getting the science right, the only place I can start from is one of credibility and truth. In other words, however I am going to try and lead someone to apply power and ultimately teach with it, it must be done with reliable and repeatable techniques. This is my only hope of also producing reliable and repeatable results in both indoor cycling instructors as well as our students.
The variability of how the same power levels feel on different bikes (specifically the Keiser m3 that we have used predominantly for the last 5 years) is something that has actually prevented us from doing lots of more engaging and/or fun training in groups. I don’t want to push someone to work hard only to have the fact that they chose a “hard bike” today instead of the easy one be what determines their ultimate success in any competitive or group activity.
I knew that until there was a way to objectively verify what power I was pushing on the m3 I could not know what the truth was, and so I waited for an way to implement this objective measurement. It finally was made possible when the Garmin Vector power pedals were released. This video is the initial launch of this research study.
Video Agenda
After an initial introduction as to why I took on this huge research project, I show the details as to how the Vector Power Pedals were fit on each bike and the nitty gritty steps on calibrating these pedals before I could begin testing the bike. This calibration method had to be done for each bike, and repeated each time I repeated the test.
This video also is the first in a series of video blogs that will allow you to take this journey with me as I discover what is possible and what is not in the pursuit of establishing real power levels of the Keiser m3.
Watch the first video blog.
Indoor Cycling Power Accuracy Research from Cycling Fusion on Vimeo.
Originally posted 2014-01-14 04:25:50.
This is cool! Professional cyclist Alex Howes taught a class at the Peloton Cycle studio in Manhattan. This article explains how Alex taught what was only his second Indoor Cycling class. My guess is that he doesn't have a IC cert – not that it matters.
The complete article is available to ICI/PRO Members Join ICI/PRO to unlock this today.Originally posted 2018-03-14 07:00:16.
Image from http://www.acefitness.org/prosource/71/
I just read a press release and accompanying article from the ACE – The American Console on Exercise PRO SOURCE magazine about their study to gauge the effectiveness of High Intensity Training (HIT).
Is Tabata All It's Cracked Up To Be?
“It seems like everything high-intensity is now called Tabata Training,” says John Porcari, Ph.D., head of the Clinical Exercise Physiology Program at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. “The original Tabata study was done on a bicycle, but people are now doing that 20-second/10-second format with resistance training, plyometrics, calisthenics…with almost anything.”
Because of all of this recent interest in Tabata-style workouts, the American Council on Exercise enlisted Porcari and his research team to gauge just how effective a Tabata-style workout really is.
THE BOTTOM LINE
“The great thing about Tabata is it’s a short workout–only 20 minutes–and it incorporates your total body, so it’s working every muscle group that you possibly can,” says Embert, referring specifically to the Tabata-style workout she designed.
You can download the article for printing here.
But what to do during the remainder of your 60 minute class?
There was a trainer at Life Time who told me years ago something I've never forgotten; First give them (your class) what they WANT… and then give them what they NEED.
The WANT he was referring to are very intense/anaerobic intervals. There's no secret sauce IMO at SoulCycle > they're just teaching very intense classes because they know that's what people WANT.
The NEED is for solid aerobic training. Not necessarily base building, but solid work below threshold HR / FTP.
There are a lot of serendipity going on here at ICI/PRO. A quick check back to our latest Audio PROfile is another – Bad A*s Intervals Audio Class PROfile from Schwinn Master Trainer Rachel Buschert Vaziralli could be a perfect work set you could add to an existing profile.
Instructor Kathy Palkaninec was a past winner of our profile contest and her profile follows a similar WANT & NEED format.
You may want to announce your intentions to crush them (WANT) during a 20 minute Tabata round that will start fifteen minutes into class. Don't worry about telling them what follows. Keep everyone focused on doing their best effort during the Tabatas.
Give everyone a full 5 minutes or more of complete recovery. It's during this time that I talk about the “Golden Hour” and how most of us have 90 minutes where we can really perform well, before fatigue really limits our performance. The Golden Hour doesn't begin for most of us until ~30 minutes in. At the end of the recovery we're only @ the 40 minute mark of a 60 minute class and I explain how we're only 10 minutes into our Golden Hour – just now ready to perform. It's here where you can coach them through a 10 or more minute sub-threshold effort (NEED) to conclude the class. Here's where you can put that stage button to work if you have one – encourage everyone to ramp up to a big number, Stage Button, now maintain it by keeping your instantaneous wattage at or above the average 🙂
Make sense?
Originally posted 2013-10-10 08:28:16.
F430 pic from Wikipedia – pretty, isn't it?
As a followup to Part 1, a question for you;
I have a friend, a very accomplished cyclist, who fancies himself a Ferrari. To look at Eddy you'd have to agree; he's long, lean and very sharp looking. But to ride with him may have you thinking more Peterbilt, than Ferrari. You see my friend is very strong and rides with a slow, powerful cadence. Many who ride with him remark; “the guy never shifts… he did the whole ride in one big gear.”
I'm finally continuing with this series, comparing the athletes in your class with the engine in their cars.
Let's explore the difference between small displacement > High RPM engines found in High Performance Sports cars and the large displacement > low RPM engines found in a Semi Tractor- Trailer or Lorie you see running down the highway. Then see if we can draw a a few correlations between them that would be interesting to the Gear Heads in your class… after all, if your class is anything like mine, you're beginning to see more men, now that it's getting cold outside.
The complete article is available to ICI/PRO Members Join ICI/PRO to unlock this today.
Originally posted 2012-10-02 10:00:00.
If you're teaching with power, there's a good chance you'll have a participant ask you this simple question; how many watts should I be making when I'm working at my threshold? Same goes for any new studio or one that is upgrading to indoor Cycles with power/watts. You will be asked for a number from many of your riders. The reason is pretty simple, many people naturally want to know how they compare.
There are two schools of thought on if, or how, you should answer this question:
They're adults = tell them the truth… they can handle it.
Have you ever had someone lie to or mislead you, under the pretense that they didn't want to hurt your feelings? Did it make you feel valued and respected? If you have experienced a situation where you weren't told the truth, did you feel you would have acted differently, if you had been given accurate information?
Imagine for a moment you're a personal trainer and your client asks you this question; what percentage of body fat should I have? A common question I'm sure. Is the correct response; “what is your body fat percentage now?” And then to positively affirm what ever answer they give? I don't think so… do you? There are established ranges for body fat %, published by credible fitness authorities like ACE. Here's their chart.
Let's see where you fall on this chart…
If your female client told you their body fat is 34% – would you smile and say; “that's great!” ? Of course not. You would probably suggest a diet and exercise program directed toward reducing their fat percentage down, with a goal to get into the average range. The person standing in front of you may not like hearing that they're obese, but don't they need to learn the truth so they can decide to do the work needed to change their body composition?
What about running a 5k? Or bowling for that matter? They both have metrics that define a reasonably achievable level of proficiency for an able-bodied person. Would it be wrong to suggest a goal time of 36 minutes (12 minute mile) for a 5K or 120 pin score in a bowling game?
Teaching with power for two years has me in the “give them something to work” with camp. And that something is a goal of one watt per pound of body weight*. I've asked multiple dozens of riders; “are you close to your body weight in watts?” Are they all there? No, but it's been very few. I'll bet if you were to privately poll your regulars, at the end of a 3-4 minute sustainable threshold effort, you would hear wattage #s around body weight.
At the end of the PST (Personal Spinning Threshold) assessment I did at WSSC, MI Janet Toussaint allowed me to ask the class this exact question. The majority agreed that their PST was at or above their body weight. Now a room full of fit Instructors may not be a representative sample, but it reaffirmed my experiences.
If you'd like to learn more about this concept – listen to this podcast where I first learned about it.
*I've heard other Instructors suggest using lean / goal body weight, which would reduce the number slightly. This calculator provided by ACE might be helpful.
Originally posted 2014-06-05 09:35:39.
Better late than never they say. It certainly applies to this season's Performance Cycle classes – now we're in full swing after some initial confusion that came from a sudden change on GFDH's.
We kicked off this past Sunday with an assessment to find the wattage numbers we will be using going forward. I like to use very simple terminology that minimises any mathematical computations.
The week before I described how we experimented with pinning down two numbers;
… Instead I base my Life Time Performance Cycle classes on two numbers; PTP (Personal Threshold Power) and JRAP (Just Riding Along Power — AKA > Base Watts > VT1 / First Ventilatory Threshold Power). From these two rider identified threshold wattages, we can construct three meaningful power Zones;
Today we added one more wattage number – their 20 minute FTP watts. As you can guess, riders should have a lower 20 min average than a 3-4 minute PTP / Best Effort and be above JRAP / Base Watts.
Adding the third point of reference helps you draw a straighter line. At least that's what my high school drafting teacher taught me. It's much easier to draw between two distant points, if you add one in the middle = it helps you understand if you're on the right path between the two known points!
The complete article is available to ICI/PRO Members Join ICI/PRO to unlock this today.Originally posted 2018-01-13 09:00:43.
Welcome to the The Weekly Ride by Cycling Fusion
No more hunting for new music or counting out cues to develop your ride profile. Here is your ready to ride profile for a fully choreographed ride, that can be displayed from your phone, or printed out onto cue cards for your class. This ride is timed out, down to the second, to make your life as easy as possible!
Originally posted 2018-05-09 08:10:21.
Matrix and the Indoor Cycling Group (ICG®) debuted their new IC7 Indoor Cycle with power at IHRSA last month. In many respects it's different from any group cycle on the market today. You could go so far as describing a number of their technical innovations as revolutionary – not to mention how everything is wrapped in a very good looking package.
Where do I even start?
There are so many innovations engineered into the IC7, it's difficult to know where to begin… So I'll list off a bunch of the cool features that I feel are important and IMO not just marketing hype. You can download an informative brochure for the IC7 here.
First the basics
The IC7 features a unique two-stage, belt driven drivetrain – a toothed belt so it retains the feel of a chain. Turning away from the friction pads and weighted flywheel on their previous models, the IC7 now spins an aluminum flywheel and utilizes magnetic resistance, controlled by a micro adjusting knob with 100 (yes you read the correctly) individual levels to choose from.
If Q-Factor is important to you, it now appears that the IC7 is now the narrowest on the market @ 155mm – three millimeters narrower than the claimed 158mm of the Blade Ion. Just for fun, I measured my VeloVie road bike, with its top of the line SRAM Red Groupo @ 149mm. FYI – Spring is here and our member's discount on a new VeloVie bicycle is waiting for you here.
Fitting the IC7 to various size riders is done with seat/handlebar gas strut assisted raise/lower and both have fore/aft adjustment. Settings are then fixed using over-center cam locks vs. threaded adjustment bolts. If you've been frustrated by the time it takes to screw/tighten down settings when setting up a rider, you'll love how quick and simple these are to use. The handlebars have a very refined/substantial/solid feel to them and include two water bottle holders. The assist from the gas struts (similar to what helps lift the hood or tailgate on your car) had me changing their height easily, even while in the riding position 🙂
In the quest to accommodate a wide variety of people, the handlebars extent outward as you raise them up (think Keiser M3) and they begin very low. I typically ride any IC with the bars all the way down and I needed to raise them to get comfortably setup on the IC7.
The power console (self-powered = no batteries) provides the expected rider metrics for watts, RPM, distance and HR if you're wearing a chest strap. And the unexpected – a resistance level indication and very cool LED lights that change colors based a participants‘ WattRate® (power) or heart rate and the training parameters set by the Coach By Color® training system. More on the console, the Coach By Color® system and how they get those lights to change correctly for each rider coming in a separate post.
One feature not included was a stage or lap button to measure intervals – but it will shortly. In a followup email from Bernd Pürschel – ICG's CEO and lead engineer, Bernd offered that they will be including this function in the near future.
Measured Power Using Optical Sensors
With multiple manufacturers offering power/watts, any comparative discussion between brands nearly always comes down to two simple questions;
The claimed accuracy of the IC7 is +/- 1% which to me is saying the wattage displayed is nearly perfect.
Is that possible?
I had a long conversation with Bernd to understand where his confidence about accuracy and consistency of power come from. I wanted to learn specifically how torque is measured and displayed on the IC7's console. You no doubt understand that power/watts is equal to the twisting force (torque) a rider applies to the pedals… multiplied by the speed (RPM) in which the power is applied. Measuring the RPM side is easy, you just count the number of revolutions. Measuring the torque is the hard (and expensive) part of any power meter; indoors or out.
The accuracy, Bernd explained, comes from the use of an Optical Torque Sensor that forms the intermediate shaft in the drive train shown here in this photo of an IC7 going through long-term reliability testing.
Pedals turn the large sprocket and the toothed belt turns the intermediate shaft that doubles as the optical torque sensor.
To measure torque, something needs to twist or deflect and then have a sensor in place to measure tiny amounts of twist or deflection. In the bicycle world, strain gauges installed in the; pedals, rear hub, bottom bracket or crankarms are used the measure deflection caused by the rider pushing the pedals, that is resisted by the tire's contact with the ground. The FreeMotion S11.9 uses a strain gauge attached to the left side crankarm and the Blade Ion uses a strain gauge in the arm the holds the brake pad in place.
Instead of using strain gauges to measure torque, the IC7 measures the amount of twist that occurs in the intermediate shaft, using light that passes through a series of little windows on either end of the intermediate shaft. I found this drawing that may help to show what's happening down there.
Measuring your awesome amount of torque using light 🙂
Here's a very simplistic explanation of how this works:
In its rested state, the little slots in the disks on either end of the shaft line up perfectly. Light shown (fig 150) from one end will pass easily between the slots and out the other side to a sensor (fig 160). Now imagine what would happen if you twisted the shaft – the slots are no longer lined up, right? Using fancy electronics it is possible to measure this twist with incredible precision by sensing changes in the amount of light passing from one site to the other.
Now if you know with certainty what amount of force twists the shaft “X” amount, you have the makings of a very accurate method of measuring torque. Bernd assured me that the intermediate shaft is build using very special (and expensive) German steel, which results the complete system having a margin of claimed error of just +/- 1%. It's important to note that ICG didn't invent using Optical Sensors to measure torque. They've been used for years in precision machines that require a very high degree of accuracy.
Here's a computer simulation showing details of the inner workings.
So how about bike to bike?
The fundamental problem I see on our classes where we've introduced power, is a lack of trust from both Instructors and riders in the wattage being displayed. Consistency between cycles is (to me) more important than if they're super accurate. I don't care what I see as my FTP wattage, as long as that level of effort feels the same regardless of which of the Indoor Cycles in our studio I choose to ride. Bernd feels they have that solved through a simple method of calibrating the 100 position resistance control with the magnet holder. It's beyond me to explain how it works in words – hopefully they'll create a video that shows the procedure.
Next up – Coach by Color® and how it will help communicate to you (the Instructor), that everyone has heard and understood your intensity cues.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Originally posted 2014-04-08 11:55:44.
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