h a l f b a k e r yIf ever there was a time we needed a bowlologist, it's now.
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You go into the gym and hop on this exercise bike, then
enter your height, weight, and the type of bike you
normally ride (mountain, road, hybrid). Then you pick
the
course you want to ride today.
Using that information, the bike figures a decent
approximation of your rolling resistance
and your cross
section for wind resistance calculations. (The deluxe
model has sensors to determine if you're riding upright
or
in a tuck). It then automatically adjusts the pedal
resistance to match, running it up as you go faster or
start
climbing, so you get a reasonable approximation of a
real
ride.
This would primarily be of use to real cyclists who want
to
stay in some degree of training during the local off
season
or bad weather.
[link]
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I thought this would have something to do with periodic intelligent guerrilla warfare. |
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If you want to do this, then why not go all the way and have gym equipment with gigantic fans and sprinklers?. The gear could be adjusted for steady headwinds, intermittent cross winds, continuous downpours or just cooling sprinkles. |
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I know you're being facetious, but the wind from a
fan doesn't actually do anything unless you're
actually free to roll. If you put a real bike on a
treadmill, that's another story. |
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The programming for this wouldn't be that
difficult, rolling resistance is fairly standard based
on weight, and while the cross-section
calculations aren't exact, they'd be close enough.
Obviously you'd still need to be able to tweak it up
or down, but at least this way it would be a lot
harder to be lazy because the resistance "feels
wrong". |
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(title edited for clarity) |
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The real world often has hills in it, which automatically increase resistance to any bicycle rider. Why not imagine that "dumb" exercycle is simply set to represent some degree of hill-climb? |
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Well, your idea of course makes more sense than mine. |
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But I would go to the gym to ride my machine, and I'm afraid I wouldn't on yours ;-) |
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[Vernon] My concern is the other way, it's to easy
to
set the bike light, and either not realize it, or lie
to
yourself that it feels about right when you start
slacking off. Also, this way you could train for a
specific course or race if you wanted to, since the
resistance could reflect real world grades, for
instance. |
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Now that I think about it, it probably makes sense
for this to have a "shift" button, which of course
drops the resistance, but lowers your nominal
speed, and the course is programmed by distance.
A big portion of riding efficiently is maintaining
cadence over a range of conditions. |
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In the voice of Bones "He's dead, gym" referring to the propensity of Star Trek security officers to over-do the exercise in a futile attempt to avoid being the first person to be shot. |
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A truly smart resistance bicycle would recognise me, and set the resistance to zero, or feel the sharp end of a crowbar... |
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NB wonders at Borg exercise bike, presumably it just free-wheels, as resistance is futile. |
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