Assessing Trajectories and Bike Handling Abilities in Road Cycling with Global Positioning System Data

Area of Science:

• Sports Science
• Biomechanics
• Engineering

Background:

• Bike handling skills are crucial for preventing crashes in road cycling.
• Despite its importance, bike handling remains under-explored in scientific research.
• Objective assessment tools for bike handling are lacking in training and racing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a methodology for assessing bike handling in road cycling.
• To estimate rider-bicycle roll angle and road-plane accelerations using only GPS data.
• To provide a cost-effective tool for objective bike handling evaluation.

Main Methods:

• Developed a mathematical model of the bike-rider system.
• Utilized an optimal control framework to follow GPS-generated trajectories.
• Estimated key variables (roll angle, accelerations) from GPS data.

Main Results:

• The developed methodology accurately estimated rider-bicycle roll angle and accelerations.
• Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) was 12° for roll angle and 0.1 g for accelerations.
• Good agreement was found between estimated variables and experimental data.

Conclusions:

• The proposed methodology enables objective assessment of bike handling using cost-effective GPS instrumentation.
• This tool can be applied during fast segments of road cycling training and racing.
• It offers a valuable method for improving rider performance and safety.