Sir Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar do battle on the Wattbikes at Skyride Glasgow

Filed under: General — Tags: , , , , — Steve Marshall @ 11:02 am

Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar showing true Scottish grit during racing

Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar showing true Scottish grit during racing

Sir Chris Hoy and Ross Edgar were the Scottish Olympic medal heroes encouraging the people of Glasgow to pick up their bikes and join them around the city streets on British Cycling’s Skyride Glasgow this Sunday 23 August.

With lots of activities on offer the Wattbikes took centre stage in the busy Skyride Active area in the middle of the scenic Glasgow Green. Hundreds of people came and raced the flying 200m race on the Wattbikes to give Sir Chris and Ross a record to beat. Despite some very gallant attempts in the over-40 and under-40 categories few got close to the two Olympians. Halfway through their packed day, the crowds amassed ten deep around the Wattbike arena as the two Scottish cyclists jumped onto the Wattbikes in their shorts and jeans with celebrity TV-presenter Gethin Jones.

After just a few minutes warm up and practice, the three men challenged each other to competing over the 200m flying lap course. With a fantastic display of power and efficiency, Chris Hoy took just 9.30 seconds to cross the finishing line in first place posting a new World Wattbike record in the process! Not only was it the quickest 200m yet seen on a Wattbike, but it was at a cycling efficiency of nearly 80%, which is extremely impressive for such a short sprint!

Ross Edgar and Gethin Jones were not far behind either, but it definitely looked like the 3-times Olympic-medal winner could take that time down a touch with his next performance.

Ross Edgar and Gethin Jenkins race in behind a distnictly unsatisfied Chris Hoy

Ross Edgar and Gethin Jenkins race in behind a distinctly unsatisfied Chris Hoy

The crowds duly kept the Wattbike team very busy throughout the whole day and they were a massive hit with families, and cyclists of all ages and abilities. Take a look at the Skyride Glasgow photo album as well as the Skyride website for all details. A big well done to everyone who took part, and made such an effort. We look forward to seeing you at Skyride Leicester and Skyride London!

A group of young cyclists follow in the Olympians pedal turns

A group of young cyclists follow in the Olympians pedal turns

BBC Radio 4 Audio Slide Show features the Wattbike

Filed under: General — Tags: , , , — Alex Skelton @ 10:29 am

An audio slide show featured on the BBC Radio 4 website takes a look at the lessons that can be learned from British Cycling – the most successful team at the World Championships and Olympic Games. During the slide show the BBC Interviewer Adam Shaw met with Sir Chris Hoy who explained how the British Cycling team of coaches, athletes and support staff all aim for excellence in everything that they do. Over the last eight years we have worked very closely with British Cycling in the development of the Wattbike and have been impressed at every stage with the professionalism and focus on what it is that they are trying to acheive. British Cycling talk about the ‘aggregation of marginal gains’, they try and think of everything, and once they have thought of it, improve it. We have been able to benefit from that philosophy as we returned to them time after time with their previous tick list of requirements completed only to be presented with a new list. It was in that environment that the Wattbike was born and continues to develop. We are currently working on a number of developments to the software that should be available for download shortly.

Towards the end of the Audio Slide show Sir Chris also takes the opportunity to put Adam through the peak power test on the Wattbike to give him an idea of what it takes to be an Olympic Sprint Cyclist. Adam produces 992 Watts, compared to over 2300 Watts that Chris is able to produce. That can be a target for 2009!

Listen to the full Audio Slide show at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7796000/7796283.stm