Wattbikes are incredibly useful pieces of equipment. They are basically a very sophisticated spin bike, not to dissimilar to what you might find in your local gym. They are a static bike which you can use to either train on or go for a ride if the weather isn’t favourable. They feature an almost endless ability to be adjusted to fit anyone perfectly (especially if you have bike fit measurements) tie this with the extensive range of sensors and other points of measuring how fit/strong you are and they can be really invaluable. One of our partners, Matt Bottril, owns a runs a highly successful time trial based race team (https://www.mattbottrillperformancecoaching.com) knows a lot about Wattbikes and their benefits that they provide to athletes. We asked Matt to give us a little insight as to how they have helped him with this very successful cycling career.
But first, If your not huge on the cycling scene, Let me introduce to you, Matt Bottril…
“I have won over 80 National Championship medals and 500 races including competition records and have many more accolades to my name. I have focused the last year on developing MBPC and beginning to coach some of the world’s top athletes on a range of platforms. I have been on the racing scene for many years and my career highlights are achieving the following competition records: fastest time ever ridden in the UK 1:34:43 for 50 miles, 45:43 for 25 miles 2nd fastest ever 10 mile time 17:40 with over 500 race wins. I am well known for time trialling and a few will remember I used to road race. I’ve done everything from riding the world champs to riding stage races such as the Tour de Landkawi and I once took the yellow jersey off Mark Cavendish in the Girvan three day!”Britain’s sprinter Mark Cavendish crosses the finish line ahead of Peter Sagan of Slovakia, second left, and Germany’s sprinter Marcel Kittel, right, to win the first stage of the Tour de France cycling race over 188 kilometers (116.8 miles) with start in Mont-Saint-Michel and finish in Utah Beach, France, Saturday, July 2, 2016. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)
“I am husband to Kate, father to three – Isla and twins Ava and Luke, so understand the demands of fitting training around the commitments of work and family. In 2016 I transitioned from the world of Time Trialling into Triathlon and progressed to multiple Age group and Overall wins. This learning process, along with taking on board specialist Triathlon coaches has enabled MBPC to transform the cycling within many athletes in Triathlon. I’m now coaching some of the best Triathletes in the world, including the likes of Tim Don, Will Clarke, Rachel Joyce and Susie Cheetham. Matt Bottrill Performance Coaching is taking the Tri market by storm.”
“I was introduced to Wattbike after a visit to my bike sponsor Giant UK; I was talking to Product Manager and Training Manager Dave Ward about the current setup on my time trial bike and wanted to test three positions in a controlled environment to determine the best power position. I knew what was better from wind tunnel tunnel data in terms of aerodynamics but want to see if I could master the fine line between the best aerodynimic position and one that would help me to produce the most power. So that’s where I was introduced to Wattbike’s. We carried out a number of identical tests to find out the best position to maximise power to the pedals without compromising on my aerodynamic setup. Instantly I was amazed by the feel of riding the Wattbike which was matched by the range and quality of data as I went through each test. I didn’t take long for me to see that using a Wattbike would bring huge benefits to my training. I’ve been using my Wattbike for a couple of years now and I’m loving every ride. Initially I could see from the Wattbike’s pedalling technique analysis that my left leg was much weaker than my right so I’m working on this during each and every training session.”
We hold Wattbike sessions here at the clinic, You will have to book in for your introduction first so we can get you set up with all the right measurements to fit your body geometry and then we will run a few basic fitness tests to determine your training zones. If you would like to know more about these machines, please don’t hesitate to email us at info@functionjigsaw.co.uk and you can also enquire about booking your introduction.
