E-paper – essentially a bendable display screen – has been making some news lately as the maturing technology begins to find its way into mainstream consumer products. While we’ve seen examples of the "paper" used in things like PDAs and portable display screens, a company called Minoura - better known for indoor trainers - is one of the first to work it into a cycling computer. Appropriately named FLEX, the computer wraps around a bike’s handle bar stem using nothing more than a back-strap to hold it in place. While this may look a bit strange, weight conscious riders will probably appreciate the FLEX’s light weight and negligible aerodynamic profile; and those that aren’t weight weenies, can bask in the FLEX’s coolness-factor. The entry level model, available in early summer for about $150, will include dual wireless transmitters that monitor both speed and cadence. Higher end models (planned for later this summer) will offer heart-rate (FLEX-HR), and a power meter (FLEX-HRS). Minoura says that buyers of the basic model will be able to upgrade their unit to the HR or HRS models in the future – though there’ no word on what it will cost at this time.

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Posted by David at 11:14 PM | Permalink

Sports telemetry is everywhere…heart-rate monitors, power meters, and even Nike sneakers. While it’s given athletes more insight than ever before into what’s going on internally, it rarely offers predictive insight, and to the best of our knowledge has not been able to make decisions that maximize the productivity of a group – say…a cycling team. In the coming year, Dr Martin Becker of the Fraunhofer Institute for Experimental Software Engineering IESE, hopes to change that with the introduction of a computer based system that will continuously monitor riders, and allow them to identify the early signs of fatigue by tracking a rider’s speed, cadence, heart-rate, and power-output. Changes in these parameters, like a rising pulse combined with slowing cadence, could signal rising lactic acid levels in a lead rider’s muscles. In such a situation, Dr. Becker says the system would move the lead rider to a less strenuous position in the pack until he had recovered. As planned the system will be able to track more than ten riders simultaneously, and adapt to changing conditions like a team that is divided into two groups – a situation that would require separate analysis for each pack. Dr. Becker says his system has already shown promising results with students in the lab, and that testing will move outdoors in the next several months. He also says the system is scheduled for some pro-rider testing some time early next year.

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Posted by David at 12:39 AM | Permalink