Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Force at the Pedals

Trainers and rollers don't feel right.  

It's not enough to get average power right.  Many trainers get average power right.  But they don't feel right because the force at the pedals is wrong.  And without correct pedal force, muscle fiber recruitment patterns are wrong.  


The Pedal Force Simulator gets the pedal force right.


Force at the pedals is a function of the acceleration of the rider subject to forces from wind, gravity, and rolling resistance.  The Pedal Force Simulator's computer measures a rider's acceleration and sets the resistance to be consistent with rider mass and forces in the environment being modeled.  It does this 1000 times per second so it's correct at every instant.  This means that the muscle fiber recruitment is the same as riding outdoors.  It means one's indoor training is much more effective than on trainers or rollers.


Have you ever wondered why one can't stand up on a trainer like one does outdoors on a hill?   it's about force at the pedals.  One can stand on a Pedal Force Simulator because the pedal force is correct.  Sit or stand, the pedal force is always correct.


And the more specific the training the better the results.