GADGETS + TECH
THE TECH NINJA the lycra edition
Few of us can fail to be impressed by the massive achievements by Team GB during the most recent Olympic games this summer. One of the lovely side effects of such a great event, is that it will undoubtedly inspire both existing and new participants to many of the sports featured. Cycling now boasts a fan base of over 2 million, and sales of UK manufactured bikes have rocketed since the 2012 London Olympics. Right now, there are literally thousands of middle-aged men littering our roads and byways, clad in lycra. It ' s a terrifying thought, isn ' t it? BY LUKE YATES
To quote Family Guy, I ' m err... one of those guys now. I myself have ridden a bike since childhood, but took to cycling in a big way again last year after having injured myself running. Cycling is relatively a very low impact sport, and it not only helped me on the road to recovery, but I was reminded just how much fun it is whizzing about on two wheels. And the technology available to a lycra-clad middle-aged geek these days is pretty exciting too!
My concern for all those who have newly found fitness and happiness levels thanks to these two-wheeled mechanical marvels, is that, to quote Eddard Stark, winter is coming.
Next thing you know, the bike gets covered in dust in the garage, the bike owner regains those lost pounds and inability to run up and down stairs, and it all has to start from scratch come spring the next year. But this needn ' t be the case.
A turbo trainer can be as inexpensive or as pricey as you like, with the bottom end models providing basic functionality, whilst higher-ended trainers feature electronic sensors, simulated hills and other such coolness.
So, you ' ve got your turbo trainer. But that could get a bit boring after a bit on its own. What we need are some gadgets to make those winter training sessions a bit more... well, fun! And that ' s where my next Tech Ninja fave comes in...
WAHOO BLUE SC SPEED AND CADENCE SENSOR
Not only did I find ways to keep on my bike in those rainy, windy, cold months, but I actually managed to discover some extremely fun things to do whilst on the saddle, and increase my ever-growing supply of geeky gadgets! Here is a guide on what to do when the weather turns nasty, and a list of some of my fave bike-related tech:
TURBO TRAINER
The Wahoo Blue SC speed and cadence sensor is a fantastic little gizmo for allowing your bike to communicate with your mobile phone, tablet, computer, or even a GPS watch. Attached to your bike frame, and using a couple of magnets placed on the crank, a spoke and on the rear wheel, it very accurately measures both the speed you are travelling at, and the rate at which you’ re pedalling.
If you have dared to visit a gym in the last decade, you will have seen classes of people sitting on bikes with no wheels, sweating profusely and pedalling furiously to“ I ' m Sexy And I Know It”. Personally, I would rather look like Jabba The Hutt, but thankfully I have found a much beter alternative, in the turbo trainer.
Put simply, a turbo trainer is like a‘ rolling road’ for your bike. You secure your bike’ s rear axle to the trainer, and the back wheel rests on a spinning drum. As you pedal, the drum moves, spinning the wheel, providing realistic resistance, and giving you a good workout.
The SC is compatible with both iPhones and Android devices, and there is a very good free Wahoo app for it. But what really puts this little gadget into the realms of the most excellent, is that thanks to the inclusion of both Garmin ' s ANT + wireless system, and Bluetooth as well, the Wahoo Blue SC can work with a huge range of other devices and apps, giving plenty of scope for fun. Popular sports apps such as Strava and Garmin are also compatible with the SC, so you will be able to share all that lovely data with your sporty chums online.
Personally when I am out, I leave the SC on my bike and connect it to my Garmin GPS watch, giving me a whole bunch of extra functionality. But if the skies are dark and the roads are wet, I like to put the bike on my turbo trainer, hook it up via the SC to my computer and large telly, and connect to my very fave bike-related toy, a rather splendid app, called …
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