News
Could this be the missing link?
Carlton Reid Nov 28 2006, 10:15am
In the ZenTriathlon podcast, cycle trainer Dr Allen Lim reveals that CycleOps of PowerTaps fame is working with Garmin to produce a GPS unit with an add-on power measurer. Lim is the trainer of 2006 Tour de France champion Floyd Landis. CycleOps is a sponsor of Landis.
Lim can be heard in this podcast. It features lots of in-depth info on cycling's new obsession with wattage output.
In episode 5 of the Spokesmen podcast, David Bernstein of the US - profiled in the current BikeBiz magazine - asked whether GPS devices "mean the end of the cyclocomputer?"
He thought not - until, that is, a bike GPS device shipped with a power meter as well as a cadence measurer and heart rate monitor.
The existing Garmin 305 features either a HRM or a cadence measurer in the pack. A Garmin 'power 405' would "rawk", said David Brower of the Trust But Verify blog. That's 'leet-speak' for 'rock' ie "v.v. good."
And on the CycleOps website, Dr Lim has an explanation of why the stage 17 victory by Floyd Landis in the 2006 Tour de France was not "super-human" or fuelled by testosterone but was well within typical power outputs of Landis and had a lot to do with tactical errors from the peleton and the fact Landis could take on board more water than the chasers.
Lim said: "What is very interesting about the [power] data from the climbs is that it shows that Floyd gained much of his time on the field not on the climbs but on the descents. He's well known as the most talented descender in the pro peleton, and he definitely put on a clinic on S17.
"Because of the direct and immediate feedback from the power meter, Floyd came to an immediate and extraordinarily important realization during his ride -- that every time he poured ice cold water on his body, his power output went up."
