I was not in London for the Skyride, but my phone was buzzing all day – apparently the 9.30 seconds for a 200m that Sir Chis Hoy produced at the Glasgow round of the Skyride was not unbeatable. Infact Jason Kenny got close with a 9.31s, but Jamie Staff introduced a whole new level of power, with a max power in the 200m sprint of 2080Watts and a time of 8.96 seconds!
WOW
There is an interesting article in the Guardian today about the dangers of inaccurate exercise monitors. It sums up very succinctly our views on the importance of accurate monitoring of output on exercise equipment. Check out http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/sep/20/exercise-monitors-health-danger
Over the next couple of months we are going to many shows around the countrty. The two largest ones being Leisure Industry Week (LIW) at the NEC Birmingham from 22-24 September, and the Cycle Show at Earls Court, London on the 9-11 October.
We are going to have a large presence at both events, and at the Cycle Show there will be a 500m Sprint Challenge in association with Sports Tours International and Wattbike. There will be over a dozen Wattbikes for attendees to race and improve their technique on. Prizes will be on offer to competitors, and the race is a free-addition to the entry price to the show. To register your interest in the Cycle Show go to this link. It comes thoroughly recommended!!
In addition to this at the NEC for Leisure Industry Week we will be on the Wattbike stand and the British Cycling stand, so there will be plenty of opportunity to see us there. However, if you cannot make either of these events, please call us on 0115 945 5454 and we will point you to the nearest place or event to experience the power of the Wattbike.
Ben, Simon and Gary were down at the Mayor of London Skyride this weekend, the last of the 5 large Skyrides across the summer. The 15km route started on the Mall and took in Trafalgar Square, Victoria Embankment, St Paul’s Cathedral, the City and the Tower of London. The sun shone and cyclists arrived in their droves from all over the capital and beyond.
There were lots of celebrities and sportsmen who joined cycling-enthusiast Mayor Boris Johnson. One of the athletes to race on the Wattbikes was Olympic champion Jamie Staff and we got him to race over the same flying 200m distance Chris Hoy did in Glasgow. Jamie showed why he was a world-class sprinter by hitting over 2000W in the 200m race which he completed in an astounding 8.96s, beating the previous best seen by Chris Hoy of 9.30s. Lots od other families and individuals challenged the time and over 600 people competed across all ages.
The big question is though…..is 8.96s going to remain the 200m record for long?
Stage start at the Britannia Stadium
This week has been a very busy week! We have been at 2 of the stages of the Tour of Britain, the Mayor of London’s Skyride, and the ISAF Sailing World Cup Series.
Stoke-on-Trent
On Tuesday we joined the Tour of Britain riders and organisers for the start of the Stoke-on-Trent stage at the Britannia Stadium. The crowds grew for the start of the race, and Ben and I were there to show the crowds their cycling style and get them measured on our Peak Power board. We had lots of participants at the Britannia Stadium from local cycling clubs to hordes of school children enjoying one of their first tastes of competitive cycling.
Once under way, we moved into the Stoke City Centre to carry on the activities in the events area shared with bicycle-powered Scalextric cars, Extreme mountain-bikers and a collection of the weirdest and wackiest bikes we’ve ever seen. The crowds kept on coming and there was lots of good scores including a 1338W from Lyme CC’s Ian Crooks and a very impressive 1179W from 14 year old school boy Brad Simpson.
London – Final stage
On Saturday, we were on the track side about 200m away from the finish lane for the final stage of the Tour, a great spot to watch the tour riders sprint past at the indecent speeds of over 30 miles per hour. When not enthralled by the peleton screaming past we had around 300 cyclists doing races and testing their peak power. The sunny day brought out the competitive nature and lots of people came back for several goes and the top power of the day was in the 40+ category of 1653W.
For the last two days Wattbike have been with the RYA at the Sail for Gold Regatta offering sailors some insight into the Wattbike. Pete Cunningham (head physiologist of the RYA) has had a Wattbike at his base at Chichester university for a number of months and has been very impressed with them, and feels that they will benefit the testing and training of the athletes. This is especially good as some of the sailors, especially World RSX (Windsurfer) Champion Nick Dempsey does a lot of cycling for training and it would be beneficial to be able to train indoors, and also monitor his fitness on the bike.
After a trip through Australia earlier in the year and some serious work by our Australian and New Zealand distributors have caused a real buz around the Wattbike. In New Zealand alone, we have a world rowing champion (who beat the British pair into a silver medal I might add) who says:
“The Wattbike was a key tool in my 2009 World Championship campaign. Although I am predominantly a rower I have done a lot of cycling and found the Wattbike provides the closest experience to actually being out on the road. Setup is fully customisable and the whole machine is as simple or complex as your required need. The vast amount of interactive feedback provided by the display meant that I was able to easily monitor my training level and progress. The Wattbike was my chosen method of cross-training for when I needed a break from rowing on the water. I would recommend the Wattbike to anyone from beginner to elite cyclist and challenge you to have a crack at my World Best half hour distance.”
As if the rowers were not enough, there has been interest from all the big boys… like the North Island Academy of Sport and a little know rugby team the All Blacks!
As if that was not enough, Eddie is over in Brisbane for the ITU World Triathlon Championships with the guys from Wattbike Australia. We have already had a few tweets from people who are going to check out the Wattbikes, so if you are there don’t be shy, introduce yourself to Eddie and the guys.
We have had a good few mentions in the press and online recently, so I thought I might share some here. The online coverage can be found at:
http://www.tri247.com/article_5843_Wattbike+Time+Trial+debuts+at+Cycle+Show.html?region_id=&category=
http://ibikeride.com/wattbike-time-trial-debuts-at-cycle-show.html
http://www.lanzaroteinformation.com/content/wattbike-cycle-challenge
http://www.bikebiz.com/news/31087/Wattbike-set-to-make-Cycle-Show-debut
Unfortunately there is an error in the original Press Release, as the eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed Victoria Pendleton is not the Olympic Champion in the 500m – that award actually went to Anna Meares (Aus) who won the event the last time it was held in the Olympics in 2004. Appologies to Anna for upgrading Vicky P from 6th to 1st.
There has also been some coverage over the summer in Triathlon magazines, and Cycling mags, but I do not have electronic versions, but here is some coverage from
Health and Fitness Magazine (Click to view full version)
Last week I had one of those days, I wrote this on my iphone, but never thought to post it, so here it is…
Today is one of those days that makes this job really fun, actually getting paid to look around the largest bike show in Europe.
The show is in Friedrichafen, on the banks of the Bodensee, in Germany. We arrived in Zurich last night to a wall of summer air – 27 degrees is so much nicer than the 14 we left in England.
This morning we caught the morning shuttle to the event, passing through vinyards and small villages on the lakeside, bathed in late summer sunshine, the only slight thorn in an otherwise perfect morning was the stop with customs who made you feel like someone was about to lose something dear to them – like their life! In fact it was mostly just large amounts of money for anyone taking a bike across the border.
The show was very impressive, with a selection of really nice bikes on offer, and the usual display of crazy stuff, some cool, others just plain ridiculous.
I took a few photos whilst I was there, thought I would share them here:
Hmm the Livestrong Bike
The New Trek Madone
The best looking bike there!
I seem to have come back without two pictures that I should have taken, the Merida Oh 9 – 0.9 kilo hard tail mountain bike frame, and their new timetrial bike – both of which were sweet!
