Speedometer for the Spinning bike

[JoJo]

Hello,

Does anyone know of a speedometer that can be attached to the Spinning bike's wheel? Our gym has the basic Spinner Pro's which don't have any computers attached to them.
I'd like to find some basic speedometer, I guess it'd have to be wireless, that would let me know how far we've gone (milage).

thanks,
-Joanna

[RichK]

Refer to the following thread for much discussion on the topic.

http://pedal-on.com/showthread.php?t=1161

My personal opinion: forget about "mileage" for indoor cycling. It really is meaningless. Use you heart rate monitor to measure exercise intensity or exertion level.
RichK

[SpinningInPrescott]

I agree with RichK...average heart rate is better predictor of work than mileage...we ride on Lemonds which had mileage, but I rarely look at it, but I pay attention top HR and average HR.

PS

[Cheeze]

Why?

In IDC each student visualizes how fast they are going.
Minutes = miles

Cheeze

[Funhog]

If you and I were both riding at 80 rpm for 30 minutes, the computer would say we rode 'X' miles, because it's based on # times the flywheel turns. (Note that the flywheel and the cadence, or rpm of the pedal cranks, are exactly the same on these bikes).

BUT, if you had more resistance than me, simulating a bigger gear, then if we were to compare it to an outdoor situation, you would go further than me, even though our cadences are the same.

See why the mileage isn't that important indoors? As Cheese says, it's more your intensity that counts.

However, my husband disagrees with me. He says it still is the circumference of the flywheel times the # of times it goes around. You still went that far. He's right, if you take cadence out of it.

If you ride outside, you kinda know how far you can go on a given terrain, say a flat road. Depending on the wind, I can go around 20-ish miles in an hour. But throw in some hills or wind and that changes things.

The best thing about the computers is not so much the distance, but the ability to utilize the cadence meter and to create some fun profiles around it.

[SpinBob]

I agree with everyone else, mileage is not important inside, but Jennifer makes a good point about using cadence in class. Most folk pedal too fast for their resistance level and in some cases, too slow. Having a way to track cadence inside is very to keep folk on track with the program.

BTW, Jennifer your husband right about the distance thing. If my wheel turns the same number of times as yours, we're ending up in the same place. Outside, if we were doing it with different gears, I think the difference would be speed, so the person using the bigger gear would just get there faster.

[Funhog]

I agree with everyone else, mileage is not important inside, but Jennifer makes a good point about using cadence in class. Most folk pedal too fast for their resistance level and in some cases, too slow. Having a way to track cadence inside is very to keep folk on track with the program.

BTW, Jennifer your husband right about the distance thing. If my wheel turns the same number of times as yours, we're ending up in the same place. Outside, if we were doing it with different gears, I think the difference would be speed, so the person using the bigger gear would just get there faster.

Exactly, so if you're measuring in "time" like one hour, then one person goes a further distance. My point is, cadence really has nothing to do with distance traveled outdoors, but that's how it's measured indoors. Nor does it really tell you anything about speed. So the two can't really be compared.

[alexkaboom]

I have come to realize that my students just want a "number".... that's it... no matter how much time I spend explaining that distant is irrelevant inside...

SO, I just tell them that we go about 20 miles in an hour, give or take 20%... depending on a myriad of factors... whether I'm close to reality or not, they smile, take it and don't ask again...

Alex

[bassocycle]

Anyway you slice it, feedback in terms of miles, cadence, HR, watts, etc... can be meaningful. Look at the multi-functional cyclometers for example.

[alexkaboom]

Anyway you slice it, feedback in terms of miles, cadence, HR, watts, etc... can be meaningful. Look at the multi-functional cyclometers for example.

Yes, absolutely. But not all feedback is created equal, so we must prioritize what statistics are more useful to the type of training we do... mileage is at the bottom of my priority list indoors, because it does not correlate with mileage outdoors in the same way... watts, HR parameters, etc are at the top of the list...

How far do we walk in a step class? That would be similar in Step to mileage in indoor cycling, but impractical in terms of using this information to improve our training...

Alex

[SpinBob]

...How far do we walk in a step class? That would be similar in Step to mileage in indoor cycling, but impractical in terms of using this information to improve our training...

Alex

You, my friend, are a frickin' genius! This is a great analogy, but maybe it should be how many flights of stairs.... Regardless, great response.