At a meetup in Barcelona this week, USA Cycling sports technologist Melissa McKeveny talked about how technology is impacting the sport of cycling, and what she feels the future holds. The event was run by global sports consulting firm N3XT Sports in collaboration with SportTechie.
Based in Colorado Springs, USA Cycling has a membership of more than 60,000. Team USA has decades of cycling success. At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, Kristin Armstrong defended her time trial title for the second time, Connor Fields won gold in the men’s BMX, and the U.S. took silver in the women’s team pursuit on the track. This year, Chloe Dygert picked up the women’s individual pursuit world record at the World Championships in March, and Ashton Lambie took the men’s record at the Pan American Championships in August. The next big goal is Tokyo 2020.
Cycling is perhaps one of the sports with the most technological potential. “Technology in cycling has a tremendous and direct impact into performance,” McKeveny said.
The use of new materials and designs in the construction of equipment such as bikes and helmets can significantly impact both the ergonomics of movement and the aerodynamics of each rider. And USA Cycling has seen the direct improvements in performance of different innovations through tracking physiological and biomechanical metrics.
That data can also be used not just to study equipment changes, but also to help coach and athlete optimize performance. “The access of real-time information and analytics for real-time feedback is driving a competitive edge to the riders,” McKeveny explained. The live collection, analysis, and visualization of information has directly improved the quality of insights that can be given to riders over the last few years, better informing training and racing decisions.
But the biggest coming impact of technology on cycling, according to McKeveny might be making lab-grade analysis available outside of dedicated performance facilities. Aerodynamics is a key performance indicator in most cycling disciplines, from road cycling to track cycling or mountain biking. But testing and optimizing aerodynamics requires professional riders to use a wind tunnel. She predicted that on the future maybe meaningful aerodynamic metrics could be obtain outside on the road.
“Decentralizing lab measurements such as coefficient of drag into personalized portable technology could be the next big thing in cycling,” McKeveny said.