On The Road to Nowhere
Cyclors - On the Road to Nowhere
Not a job I would necessarily choose. Stuck, head down in an unbelievably fast yacht, pedalling like Chris Hoy for about 25 minutes at a time on a bike going absolutely nowhere.
This is the life of a cyclor, the large bloke with legs like hewn Kauri (a NZ tree) pedalling so that the hydraulics on the water borne monsters called AC75s can move the sails and foils to tack, gybe and fly around a course off Barcelona. One job, do it well. Pedal, with your head down, as fast as you can when required, recover quickly and then repeat over and over so the technological marvels that contest the Americas Cup can get across the finish line first.
The effort is breathtaking, literally. When strength and conditioning coaches train these boys and then observe their recovery their respiration is key. The ability to suck in air like the supercharger on a muscle car is extraordinary.
The recovery of these focussed athletes is the difference between winning and losing, glory or despair. At Footfalls we now produce the world’s first knitted respiration sensor. We do not place it on your wrist or finger we place it on the bit that moves – your chest. We measure directly, no interpretation, no guesswork just the movement of a chest heaving, sucking in air to help the muscles that power the boats.
The technology is invisible, indistinguishable from your clothing and it actually does what it says on the tin – we measure your breathing. We take the real time data and determine your recovery from previous efforts and show shore crew and coaches alike how those massive lungs are coping with the load.
This is the future of physiological monitoring. The clothes you wear to work, in this case cycling to nowhere are the sensors. They gather and record information from your apparel. No distracting wrist mounted digital devices, just the base layer keeping you warm.
Oh, and we forgot to mention, machine washable.
www.footfallsandheartbeats.com/applications
#AmericasCup #Respiration #Recovery
