Interbike Day 2
The indoor segment of the Interbike trade show starts this morning. I'm going to rush out a few notes before I run over to the show myself to see what's new.
There was a press briefing last night and I've also had a few notes come across my desk on what companies are showing here at Interbike.
I'm eager to have my meeting with Pioneer at its Interbike booth because of what I just got in my email box. It's Pioneer's Expanded Sensor Network, with 26 sensors places about the bike that inform you of technical elements of your riding collected from different locations on the bike: seat post, bar stem, power meter. These metrics coach proper weight distribution, riding technique including ankling angle. This is going to be interesting, because this would seem to assume, as Greg Lemond assumed in his book, that there is one correct plantar angle. This is just a part of what Pioneer will be unveiling at the show.
Here's a new company, Aerobar Edge, just coming onto the market, saw them last night at the press shindig. It's a sensor that sits under an armrest, it can by synced to any workout file, telling you (or your coach) how often you're in (and out of) the aero position, and when that tends to happen. I see it as similar to a pet cam. Your coach can't be there watching you when he's gone, but he's got this device tell him (or her) if you're behaving. It would be interesting to correlate the quality of your bike position to the amount of time you're in the aero position.
BSX Insight is that Austin-based company that came out with the bloodless blood lactate analyzer. It's going to be interesting to see how that metric makes its way into our training. BSX is not sitting still on that one metric, however. It's got a new activity tracker that, to begin with, finally looks like something i might wear (the model with the leather band); but more to the point tracks hydration. How hydrated you are.
As with blood lactate, hydration is an intriguing metric but we still must ask the same question: How does this change behavior? I've now got devices now that track all kinds of biometrics but danged if I know what to do with many of them. What lags are the books that tell us what is actionable about these metrics. We're just about to publish our review of Jim Vance's new book on the use of power as a metric in running. We need more books like these.
For the first year in many (sniff, sniff) De Soto has passed the Interbike show by. But Emilio is as busy as ever and here's a rendering he sent me of the soon-to-be-released Riviera Flisuit and it's got a, well, fly. Discretely inserted. Now, yes, some of you guys don't need this and I can tell from the look on your face as you're in bellybutton-deep water what you're up to. And so can everyone else.
Plus, sometimes you need to go and you're on dry land. Or in the middle of a race. Hence the Flisuit.
