Monday, July 6, 2009

Why Does It Matter?

Why should pedaling correctly matter?

The more "sport specific" one's training, the better.

The PFS creates forces at the pedal that are a theoretically-sound simulation of outdoor pedaling forces, a much better simulation of real-world pedal forces than today's trainers.

Because it does, you can:
  • Climb out of the saddle and it feels like climbing out of the saddle should.
  • You can sprint out of the saddle.
  • You can do standing starts.
  • Your pedaling motion on flats is correct.
  • Your position on the bike changes with increased power the way it should.
Effective cycling is about pedaling the bike well. You know a trainer is wrong as soon as you get on it. Why use an ineffective device when you could use the right one?

4 comments:

  1. Tom, not too long ago, I profiled an individual on my blog who build a very interesting side to side trainer. He said it didn't cost him too much money and it gives a very realistic feeling of standing on the pedals and "climbing".

    Check out the link for the story : htp://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2008/11/training-deck-diy-indoor-trainer.html

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  2. One could setup a Pedal Force Simulator on a device that rolls from side to side.

    Enabling side to side motion increases realism. But if this is done on a typical trainer, one still can't climb out of the saddle since the pedals accelerate out from under the rider too quickly. The Pedal Force Simulator addresses the issue of realistic pedal acceleration.

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  3. Is this a complete stand alone unit, or a retrofit for something like an existing trainer or even a computrainer/taxc imagic type trainer?

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  4. The resistance unit is completely different and operates with a completely different principle of operation. It supplies a force at the pedals consistent with the pedal’s instantaneous acceleration. Such instantaneous power goes up and down within a pedal stroke as it should. In contrast other trainers provide an average power that stays the same throughout the pedal stroke.

    The stand in the prototype (as pictured) was adapted from a trainer that was at hand.

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