Cochrane company 4iiii supplying parts to one of world's top cycling teams
Lightweight power meters help cyclists keep track of their energy output in gruelling races
One of the world's top professional cycling teams is hoping to maintain its winning record in 2016 with the help of an Alberta company.
Cochrane-based 4iiii Innovations was selected to supply dual-sided power meters for Team Etixx-Quick-Step — devices which record and display how much energy a rider is using.
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The nine-gram meters are mounted on a bike's crank, rather than the more typical placement on a drive chain or back wheel. It's something 4iiii's development officer Victoria Brilz thinks will give the cycling squad an advantage.
"They are still very accurate but they don't account for the losses that happen in your bike along the way to get that energy back to the back wheel," she says of other devices.
"Whereas our power meter is right at your feet, on each foot, so we can get specific information that I think the team will really find useful."
More and more racers are replacing their heart monitors with power meters because they get more accurate feedback on their exertion as they move through a course.
The meter was developed specifically for the Etixx-Quick-Step team, but Brilz says the company is working on a model for the public.