Mike Devaney - A Sense of Power

It would be overstating the point to suggest that British cyclists weren’t always successful. But, until the arrival of lottery funding, the number British riders who were winning at world class level were far fewer than we see today. For cycling though, the tipping point wasn’t actually lottery funding. It was the approach to training. Under the guidance of a sport scientist called Peter Keen, Chris Boardman won Gold in the men’s individual pursuit in the Barcelona Olympic Games. It wasn’t the victory itself that paved the way for future success of British cyclists, it was the scientific approach to training pioneered by Peter Keen that set a precedent. And pivotal to that training strategy was the use of a power meter.

Power meters enable a rider to quantify their effort, and since the breakthrough achievement by Boardman and Keen in the Barcelona Olympics, powermeters have been integral to the way the British Cycling went on to dominate the world of track cycling. On the road, powermeters are now commonplace on the bike of every single professional rider. Every single rider who has won the Tour de France since Bjarne Riis in 1996 was using a power meter for training and racing. It’s no exaggeration to say that, in terms of performance, powermeters have revolutionised cycling.

But here’s the rub. Power meters have been prohibitively expensive. A combination of development in technology and market forces has caused their price to drop, but for many riders who feel they cannot justify the hole in the bank account, a powermeters is off limits.

My guest on the podcast today is a power meter revolutionary. Mike Devaney is a co-founder of Avio, a tech company who have set out to help cyclists to ride faster by making good reliable power meters easily accessible.

To find out more about how RoadStarz can help you to achieve your cycling goals go to RoadStarz

For more information on the Power Sense power meter go to Avio Power Sense