The 102nd running of the longest sporting event in the world, the Tour de France, begins Saturday. The race first took place in 1903, and it has continued every year since, except during WWI and WWII.
In the 112 years since that first race, the technology utilized by the riders has changed dramatically.
Today, the racers ride bikes with frames made of advanced carbon fiber. They have a total of 22 gears to help climb mountains and sprint to the finish line, and they can communicate with their team managers over race radios. Miniature GPS-powered cycling computers are used to track speed, cadence, calories burned and, of course, distance.
All this technology is meant to give the elite riders a winning edge, but as with auto racing, the machine -- in this case, the bicycle -- is just part of the story. It is the rider who has to have the skills and determination to reach the finish line, but cycling technology has taken the race in directions that early riders would hardly recognize.
The Evolution of Bicycle Technology
When the first tour started outside Paris in 1903, the racers used heavy steel frame bicycles that had just a single gear. Bulky toe clips -- which helped hold the riders' feet on the pedals -- were the cutting-edge technology of the day.
A decade later, the brakes were refined and gears were added, yet riders still had to stop often and even dismount the bicycle to change gears! It wasn't until 1937 that the derailleur was introduced, which allowed riders to shift gears while pedaling.
Steel was the de facto material for most bicycle components until the 1980s, when companies such as Italy's Colnago began to seek alternatives that were lighter and more durable.
However, it wasn't until the 1990s that aluminum, titanium and carbon fiber made an appearance. Carbon fiber won out, and 1998 was the last year that a non-carbon fiber bike was ridden in the Tour de France.
In the early days, riders would head out and not be seen except at various checkpoints along the race route. Communication with the riders was introduced in the 1990s, when Motorola sponsored a pro cycling team. Now, every rider is allowed to wear a race radio that allows for real-time communication with a team director.
The use of race radios has drawn some criticism, however, on the grounds that it allows those in the lead to get too much information on the state of the peloton -- the pack of riders racing behind them.
The Modern Frame
Perhaps the biggest advancement in cycling technology has been in the materials. To many, a bicycle is essentially a frame with wheels, a seat and other parts attached to it. At its simplest, this is fairly accurate. The frame has widely improved over the years, though, and today's carbon fiber is leaps and bounds better than the carbon fiber that first appeared almost two decades ago.
"There is something to be said" for the type of carbon fiber in use today, according to Dan Cavallari, who writes for the bicycling racing trade magazine VeloNews. Today's carbon fiber frames are different from those used as recently as five years ago, he pointed out.
"Everything is [aerodynamic], as opposed to just looking like steel tubes that we saw 10 years ago," Cavallari told TechNewsWorld.
Each year, the carbon fiber improves in new ways, but its greatest benefit may be in the weight it saves, while also providing a better ride for the Tour de France racers -- who spend upwards of five hours a day on the bike for nearly a month!
"Carbon fiber was initially explored as a material for bike frames due to its extreme low weight," said Andrew James, BMC road product manager. "As experience grew, however, we've begun to realize its true benefits lie in customization. Not only can we achieve low weight, but we can tune for compliance, stiffness, vibration absorption and aerodynamics."
Many of the world's carbon fiber bicycles are made in China, which has become the leading producer of carbon fiber, but BMC continues to design and build its frames in-house at its Impec Advanced R&D Lab in Grenchen, Switzerland.
The company's unique designs likely contributed to Cadel Evans' 2011 Tour de France win, and this year American-born BMC Racing Team rider Tejay van Garderen has his eyes on the podium as he rides the company's latest bicycle.
Just as van Garderen has spent countless hours training, the makers of his bicycle have spent countless hours perfecting its design.
"Our ACE (advanced composites engineering) technology allows us to iteratively produce thousands of virtual prototypes -- 34,000 in fact, in the case of the Teammachine SLR01 (pictured above), which will be raced in the Tour -- optimizing tube shapes, cross sections and carbon fiber layups," James told TechNewsWorld. "We are then able to quickly and produce rideable frames to test out new innovations."
Shifting Gears
With the advent of the derailleur, a bike's gears could be changed by the use of a simple lever, which originally was mounted on the frame's down tube. This was an improvement over prior systems, which required that riders stop and reach down to the wheel's hub to change gears, but the frame-mounted lever still required riders to take their hands off the handlebars and brakes -- not to be recommended on a fast descent in the Alps!
In the early 1990s, Shimano introduced its STI (Shimano Total Integration) system, which combined the braking and gear-shifting controls in the same component. That allowed riders to shift gears without having to remove either hand from the bars, which has made cycling safer -- not just for the pros, but for amateur cycling enthusiasts as well.
The technology further has been enhanced by the introduction of electronic shifting, which provides smoother and more accurate changing of the gears. The downside is that there is one more thing that can go wrong during the race. For this reason, the electrical systems have not been fully embraced by all the riders. However, should the electrical system fail or the battery die, there is a manual override.
Tracking Progress
Radio communication is just one game-changer for the race. Old analog speedometers have given way to digital cycling computers, and the advent of GPS has allowed riders to cut the cord while tracking speed, distance, elevation, and even calories burned.
At this year's Tour de France, Team Cannondale-Garmin's racers will utilize the Edge 520, the first GPS bike computer with Strava Live Segments. It is the first GPS bike computer that allows users to upload segments from Strava, an online fitness-monitoring service, and allow riders at all levels to compete for virtual titles such as King or Queen of the Mountain.
"The Edge 520 taps into cyclists' competitive edge and offers them the latest in innovative training tools," Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of worldwide sales, told TechNews.
The mini-cycling computer offers a high-resolution color display, and it is GPS- and GLONASS-compatible.
It features advanced analysis capabilities that include time in training zone and functional threshold power, and it is compatible with indoor trainers. It also offers riders at home the ability to share their workout readings via social media.
Aside from tracking progress during training and during a race, which is crucial, there is one other metric that is important at the competitive level: power output. This data helps racers train better and can quantify effort during a ride. It helps racers determine the number of calories they may need to consume throughout an event so as not to "run out of fuel," so to speak.
"Power is a true quantification of the work they do while pedaling their bike," said Matt Pacocha, spokesperson for Stages Cycling, a developer of cycling power meter technology.
"It's best used in tandem with other metrics, like heart rate, in order to give a full picture of a rider's effort and efficiency," Pachocha told TechNews.
The power meter, which is a Bluetooth-enabled device that mounts to the crank arm above the pedal, sends data to a rider's cycling computer or mobile phone. It can be used in training leading up to a big race, helping riders understand their potential.
"Savvy coaches will build training workouts that are based on known weaknesses or even strengths from their race data," added Pachocha. "Then, once the workout is developed, the rider can use their power meter to precisely follow their coach's instructions: This is called 'prescription training.'"
The Winning Edge
At the end of the day, it is the rider who has to do the pedaling for 21 days and more than 2,000 miles.
It's true that "technology is changing the race," as VeloNews' Cavallari pointed out.
Still, "no matter what you throw on the bicycle, the rider is the engine, and he has to be the strongest and fastest one out there," he added. "Technology doesn't change this fact. The winner is the guy who trained for years to get where he is, and all the technology in the world won't make enough of a difference.
