Being a cycling enthusiast means training almost every day of the week and pouring hundreds (when not thousands) of dollars to replace parts and get the best gear money can buy, all for the sake of getting that fraction of a second faster, or just to get your ride smoother, more comfortable and more enjoyable. As in many other sports and activities though, the devil is in the details, and having the right accessories at your disposal can greatly help you to achieve your performance goals.
The 5 best tech accessories for your cycling passion
Therefore, whether you are aiming to measure every single data of your performance or you just want to make your ride more engaging and social, these are the five unmissable accessories (either in the form of tech accessories or the more traditional training accessories) you will need to become a better cyclist:
- 1. Strava
- 2. Wireless earbuds
- 3. Training tools
- 4. Smart Trainers
- 5. Power Meter
1. Strava, the best app to challenge other cyclists
Strava is, and there is no denying, the most popular app for cyclists and outdoor sportsmen around. Despite not being in the realm of physical “accessories” (unless you do not consider as accessories the smartphones Strava run on), this app takes advantage of the geolocation feature embedded in our smartphones to accurately track your ride or run. Strava does not simply tracks distance and time, but based on your location it generates a heat map of your race. However, this is not the end to what Strava does. Other than recording your personal activity log, Strava makes it (if you want of course) social for the largest cycling community online. With more than 11 million workouts per week, you can log in, find the route people in your area just performed and see if you can beat their times (and brag publicly about it…).
In addition, if you want to improve your cycling techniques, you can join dedicated cycling groups tutored by professionals, with exclusive training programmes and routes you can perform both outdoor and with dedicated indoor equipment fully compatible with the application. Technogym, for example, has its own Technogym Cycling Club, where Technogym certified professionals will follow you mile after mile, making you a better and more trained cyclist.
2. Wireless earbuds, accessories to make your ride along your favourite soundtrack
Cycling for endless miles is a challenge for your body and mind. Wouldn’t it be nicer with your favourite music playing in the background? If your answer to this question is a firm “yes”, than the accessories you probably need are a pair of wireless earbuds. These accessories, especially when they are made for sports purposes, don’t get in the way of your helmet (which of course you have, don’t you?), stream music from your phone, but allow outdoor sounds to get in.
As a cherry on top, wireless earbuds allow you to change, pause and play your favourite tracks just by tapping one of them with your finger. The downside? The battery lasts 3-5 hours at a time. Don’t worry though: you can carry their docking station and charge them while you take a break and catch some breath.
3. Training Tools, bike accessories to train your core
Let’s step off the two wheels for a second. In order really improve your cycling game what you need is some healthy and efficient functional training. And the best way to do so is to focus on core training, which will make your cycling more stable, avoid any pain or injuries resulting from your activity and overall improve your technique to make every thrust stronger and with less energy required.
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Technogym offers a series of training accessories (the Mycycling tool), comprising of a hard foam roller, necessary to train the flexibility of the upper and lower body, a Water ball, especially useful to train core stability, and a Wellness ball, which can be used alone or in combination with the other accessories for tens of different exercises. As odd as it may sound, sometimes to be a better cyclist you need to step off the bike.
4. Smart trainer and indoor cycling accessories: Mycycling e Skillbike
Your cycling enthusiasm may be curbed by many factors, like a rainy day or the stress of daily life that leaves you no time to go out and have some two-wheeled fun. To overcome this problem, one of the best accessories you can purchase is an indoor Smart Trainer. Modern day Smart trainers are fully compatible with the majority of phone apps, to keep tracking your progress and let you have the same level of challenge from outdoor experiences.
Technogym’s Mycycling strikes the best compromise between the efficiency of an indoor bike and the feel of riding your own bike outdoor. The built in Road Effect System makes you feel the same inertia of road cycling, while the Pedal Printing Technology controls your pedal stroke, with visual input on Watt generated, circularity and pedalling symmetry. Mycycling is fully compatible with the most popular apps, like Strava and Zwift, but to fully enjoy the smart training experienced from this premium accessory, you need to download Mycycling dedicated app. Don’t worry about keeping your data on many apps at once, Mycycling will synchronize your performance on all of your other cycling apps.
If instead you want a fully-fledged indoor bike with the same sensation of an outdoor bike without the need to unlock your rear wheel every single time, then Skillbike is the choice for you. This premium bike is the only indoor bike with built-in shifts, allowing you to switch from power based training to hill climbing. Furthermore, the full connectivity with most cycling apps and the feature of real routes simulations will make you climb that mountain from the comfort of your own house. You literally have no more excuses to skip your cycling session now.
5. Power Meters, bike accessories to keep up to date with your pedalling
Finishing this list, let’s go outside with our bike once more. Knowing the kind of features offered by an indoor smart trainer, you might (understandably) want to have similar data transferred to your activity log also as you ride outdoor.
To get this kind of results one of the accessories you may need is a power meter, a small device (weighing a few hundred grams) to be installed into the bike that sends power based data – like cadence, pedal smoothness and torque effectiveness – onto your bike computer or phone apps. Power Meters usually have a long battery life, and their batteries are easy to replace. Despite still being pretty expensive, these accessories are slowly getting more available to nonprofessional cyclists, as well as an essential data tracking acccessory to be used in outdoor environments.
