Empirical investigation of pedal power calculation techniques for track cycling performance measurement

Cycling is highly regarded as one of the important sports in international tournaments. The bicycle statistical information parameters can be used to improve and refine the cyclist training. Knowledge of the bicycle parameters, for instance pedal power, cadence and speed can improve the cyclists´ performance. Above all these parameters, the pedal power considered as the most important parameter to improve the athlete´s performance. There are two common methods for calculating the pedal power; the first is torque measurement method and the second is known as opposing force measurement method. In this paper, a comparison between these two methods based on the generated pedal power and speed of the track bicycle will be introduced. The comparison results show that the torque measurement method based on strain gauges is better than the opposing force measurement, for example the power exerted by cyclist to move the bicycle forward is 116watt in torque measurement method whereas it is 167watt for force measurement method at 30km/h. The advantage of torque measurement method is widely acknowledged, as can be seen from the commercial products available in the market, based on the literature study in this paper.