Masud

With the Argus Cycle Tour around the corner and every avid cyclist frantically increasing their cadence to reach a fitness level that would possibly give them a chance of catching up to and getting a glimpse of the 7 time Tour De France winner, Lance Armstrong, it’s no surprise that SA roads will be dominated by cyclist during February and early March.

History of my interest in the sport:
The history doesn’t date far back, in fact I’ve only been cycling for about 3 months. However, in this short time I have endured more pain and celebrated more grandeur than I have with any other sport I’ve done before. How I got started - My brother-in-law had been cycling for about a decade already before he wed my sister. In his prime, he just about missed a sub 3 (below 3 hours) in the 1999 Argus Cycle Tour and had a consistent rate until 2001. His studies then demanded most of his time and it wasn’t until he completed his 13 years of studies mid last year that he decided to get back into cycling with a serious undertone of hitting the sub 3 marker. During his training with his brother, he tried to convince me to purchase a road bike and gear, and join them. I couldn’t justify spending R 15 000 on ‘two wheels and a metal frame’ as I put it. His brother then decided to purchase a full carbon fiber road bike and wanted to donate his Giant road bike, which was the same frame used by the ‘ONCE’ team in the Tour de France several years back. I was offered the bike, but reluctantly accepted it unless I compensated him monetarily. We ended up in a head to head until he suggested a rather unexpected solution to this fracas -  me composing a song for his wife as her birthday was coming up. I agreed and within the month I had written, composed, sung and produced a song which his wife loved and was overly chuffed with. I purchased the extra gear required for cycling and hit the road in December last year and henceforth begun the pain…and the glory.
Initially I would climb a tiny hill cursing the road ahead and yelling at the howling wind when I was confronted with it. In 3 months, I have come to love the hills and I sing in the wind. After a long struggle of reaching a level where the burning sensation in my legs have become pleasurable, I now have a greater respect for the road ahead. The road has become a conduit to my contentment. My day is not complete if I had not ridden my bike, and if I missed it during the day the pining need for it would drive me to cycle under a canvas of stars.

Bikes, gadgets and mobile phones:
The application of scientific principles to any sport has become crucial in an athlete’s performance.
For anyone who takes their sport seriously, nutrition, diet, sport technology and performance analysis are important factors to consider. How can technology be integrated into this sport I thought? I started looking for mobile applications and gadgets that can assist me.

Here’s a list of cool apps/gadgets and my ideas generated around them:
iPhone Apps:

The number of iPhone apps available were innumerable, from GPS trail import and export functions to gearing configurations.
Ideas generated around this:

• Use GPS to mark all cyclists on the road and their current trajectory.
• Cyclist can post danger warnings for any obstructions on the road.
• An SOS function for any cyclist who’s left stranded without a spare tube or levers – these stranded cyclists can view all nearby cyclists and request assistance and await a response. An ETA can be calculated using assisting cyclists average speed.

Lightlane:

This is a gadget designed to create a bicycle lane where there isn’t any. It projects a laser light on the ground to mimic a bike path. This is an excellent idea to improve safety on night rides.

ideas generated around this:

• Well this idea isn’t directly related to the above mentioned gadget. However, after reading about it it sparked off an idea. When in a peloton cyclist are inches away from each other and from a disaster. It would be cool to have a gadget that warns you if a cyclist is too close to your flanks or rear and if you are inches away from an accident. That way you can warn him/her to hold her line.

Possible ideas that may be realised in the near future:

• Augmented reality cycling glasses. Giving you all the data you need about you, your body’s energy requirements during a race, your opponents data and the environment in which you riding, in order to win a race.

In the end it’s about the man/woman on the bike that makes the difference. The courage to endure, the determination to not give up and the resolve to resist all pain. But to have cool gadgets won’t hurt any less

Be Smart! Ride hard! Livestrong!