U.S. triathletes are resorting to motion-capture analysis provided by Retül to gain an edge on their bikes at the Beijing Olympics, according to .
“The motion-capture analysis gives our coaches crucial data on how to avoid injury as our athletes are training,” said Scott Schnitzspahn, the performance director for USAT, “and also how we can modify their bikes to cut crucial minutes when racing without sacrificing stamina in their runs.”
Motion-capture analysis has come a long way since first employed in film and software animation and is now employed in a variety of industrial uses, including injury prevention in assembly lines, noted Retüls Co-Founder Franko Vatterott. For cyclists, it allows for dynamic 3-D analysis of a fitting — which can affect everything from saddle and handlebar positions, the amount of travel in their strokes, the position of their feet on the pedals and especially their wind resistance — while ramping up the RPMs on a stationary trainer.
“Were all huge triathlon fans around here, and we're honored USAT will use our 3-D technology to optimize the U.S. athletes in Beijing for superior performance,” Vatterott said. “But we also believe the Retül system provides a common dynamic fit language that will ultimately be used to further the science of fitting a bicycle to the human body and therefore help manufacturers make better bikes.”
In February, Retüls expert fitter Todd Carver visited USAT offices at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs to provide the first few bike fits for a few of the Olympic hopefuls, including Andy Potts, Hunter Kemper and Sarah Haskins. The coaches and staff of USAT quickly decided the portable technology was needed by the program for both training and races, a technology that is also considered mission critical by another Retül client, Slipstream Chipotle, the U.S. Team competing in this year's Tour de France.
Both Potts and Haskins have since turned in winning performances at the March 29 Ford Ironman 70.3 California (Oceanside) and the March 16 Miami International Triathlon in Miami, Fla., respectively.
The triathletes were both able to increase their time advantages during the bike legs of the race, though Potts expressed dismay he had not been “reeled in” during the ride.
Retül's new portable bike fit system — the 45-inch by 16-inch case could go into an airline's checked baggage — is also commonly used by elite cyclists to test positions while riding their bikes in wind tunnels.
“It is our goal to continue to take advanced technology, make it easy to use and apply it to endurance sports where it can quickly and effectively increase athlete performance,” said Retül Founder and Inventor Cliff Simms. “There is so much we can do, and we are excited at what we have been able to do so far.”
The system is similar to that used for motion capture for motion pictures or video games, but employs a harness of eight LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) instead of reflective markers. The LEDs are placed in key body movement locations for bike riders and tracked by three infra-red cameras resulting in three-dimensional measurements accurate to fractions of a millimeter.
“It's really an incredible evolution, of sorts, in terms of technology,” said Allen Lim, Ph.D., the sports physiologist for the Slipstream Pro Cycling team, about the Retül technology and software. “This is like a stock broker going from a ticker tape to the Internet.”
Retül technology offers 3-D Cycling Gait Analysis using motion capture technology originally designed for the surgical navigation industry.
