There is no comparison between the Wattbike and any other static bike

Posted by Matt Moran on Feb 16, 2012

When you're 6 feet and 7 inches tall it's not that easy to find fitness equipment that can handle the sheer size of your body and with an inside leg measurement of 37 inches, Steve Bainbridge has found just a solution to help him train for triathlons in the Wattbike.

Steve is a former rugby union player, representing both the British and Irish Lions in their 1983 tour to New Zealand and England at the 1987 Rugby World Cup.  After he retired from rugby he took up the challenge of indoor rowing at the age of 50 and after just 5 months training finished second in his age group at the world championships in Boston.

Having pretty much conquered the indoor rowing challenge he turned his attention to triathlon and, in his words, "...appreciated that I must hone my cycling fitness to be competitive at 106kg in triathlon! My first step towards increased cycling efficiency and fitness was to start using the Wattbike."

We asked Steve what his initial experiences were with his Wattbike, he told us: "First step was to be physiologically tested and gain an understanding of the Wattbike's immense capabilities. I got in touch with Eddie Fletcher an exercise physiologist and Wattbike guru.  Second step, I now have a training plan that will ensure that I maximise my sessions by tapping into the Wattbike's potential."

"I quickly learned that there is no comparison between the regular turbo trainer I bought and the Wattbike, in fact there is no comparison between the Wattbike and any other static bike that I had been on before!  If you're looking for performance improvement in the shortest period of time for me there is no comparison – the Wattbike wins hands down."

We get some very funny looks when we ask people why they love the Wattbike so much, mainly becuase it's hard to talk about something which provides such intensity (and often pain) during workouts - we'd defnitely get some very different answers if we asked people for their thoughts mid-session, most of which would never make the blog!

Steve was as enthusiastic as most about telling us why he chooses to train on a Wattbike: "Where do I start?  Comfort! I can get it to fit my body! That may seem like an obvious statement but at 6 feet 7 inches tall with a 37inch inside leg it's not easy."

"The vast array of data that is available either as you are riding, displayed on the monitor, or as I have it, up on a large 50" plasma, is immense. In fact, there is more data than you will ever use at one time but you can select a personalised display which for me was: Duration, Heart Rate, Cadence, Watts and average Watts.  You also have the ability to design your own personalised sessions and save them for future use."

"It even allows you to become a more efficient cyclist by analysing and graphically displaying each pedal stroke allowing you to develop a more efficient and powerful pedalling technique."

Steve, not unusually, prefers to ride outdoors - a dislike of indoor training in our experience is often due to poor equipment, poor setup and a lack of performance data to make indoor training efficient and importantly, effective.  Ask almost any of the team here at Wattbike HQ and they'll tell you that their number one reason for training on a Wattbike is to be able to enjoy riding out on the road even more, whether that be for competiing in a triathlon, a sportive, other sports such as rowing or just riding for general fitness.

Steve told us: "I don’t really like training on a static bike indoors, I would rather be outdoors but what the Wattbike allows you to do is get the maximum effect in the shortest period of time. If I have a threshold session to do at certain duration and at certain wattage I want to ensure that I am cycling at that wattage. I don’t want to dilute my efforts by riding at the wrong intensity. The Wattbike is deadly accurate every time you get on it, nothing is left to chance."

"I believe enjoyment is an essential part of any training program.  Because of its accuracy and smoothness you can deliver highly focussed, intense sessions in a short space of time knowing that when you repeat the session, you are performing with the same parameters thus allowing you to feel the buzz associated with tracking performance improvement.  This performance improvement is achieved by having your bum on the saddle for the shortest period of time."

Given that Steve is an ex-pro rugby player, we're not suprised that he can't resist the competitive element on the Wattbike, he's posted his times on our Wattbike Ranking leaderboard - if you haven't posted your best times up there then get them up today!  Steve said: "There's also an online community where you can test yourself against others, be it a max wattage age group test (1698watts top of age group rankings but a long way off my 2000+ watts when I was playing – see still competitive!) or a 200m sprint. It gets the competitive juices flowing!"

Thanks so much to Steve for sharing his Wattbike story with us, what really comes through are three things, 1) At 6' 7", the Wattbike works for Steve and can be setup for pretty much any body type; 2) if you're going to train indoors it simply has to be effective and efficient, for this you need the quality data produced by the Wattbike; and 3) Competition is for everybody, get your times uploaded to Wattbike Ranking, this will give you some motivation to track your improvements and measure yourself against others.