Diving into the Data: Interview with Ulrich Schoberer, Inventor of the Power Meter

In doing so he kick-started a whole new age of cycling. He set up a company, SRM, which has since refined and developed the power meter, exporting products all over the world for use by elite and budding amateur cyclists alike.  Now, the power meter is an integral part of the sport, and Ulrich Schoberer ’s SRM power meters are in use at the UCI Track Champions League, recording a huge array of data points as the world’s top cyclists battle it out for glory. 

We caught up with Ulrich to reflect on his pivotal invention, how cycling has evolved, and what future he sees for the sport and its technology. 

What inspired you to start making power meters? 

When I was young, I raced on the weekend, and I was really focused on making the training better. I came to the conclusion that you have to measure your performance, because the stronger you are, normally, the better you are. On the bicycle, it's measured in watts. Watts is how hard you push on the pedals and how quick you push the pedals: it's the product of a force multiplied with speed. You can increase your power by pedalling faster or by pedalling harder.  

On a bicycle, you have different points where you can measure this: the pedals, the crank, the crank spindle. Then it goes to a piece where left and right are combined, called the spider, the piece between the cranks and the chain ring. This is the first part on the bike where we have all forces together. I thought the best spot is to measure in the spider, because it's a safe place – when you crash, the pedals always hit the ground first, they and the cranks are damaged quickly, but the spider is not.  

What was the reaction to your invention? 

When I started this in 1986, almost 40 years ago, I studied medical engineering. During my study and racing on the weekend, I improved this product. At that time, everyone was saying, “Who needs a bike computer? This is the last thing that a cyclist needs.”  

One time I did a race, then I hit a pothole and the computer fell off. I stopped, collected all the electronic pieces on the road and put it back in my jersey. The others were saying, “Why do you need a bike computer? It looks like a Game Boy.” I said, "you will see".

Now, everyone has a Game Boy on the handlebar, and they get bigger now. I think it took ten years of work to convince people that it’s good to have a computer on the bike to make the training better, or maybe even longer! At the time, they were laughing – now, everyone has a computer on his bike.

How did you turn people’s scepticism about the power meter into enthusiasm for it?  

Some good cyclists were interested in what I was doing. One of them was Greg LeMond, who at that time had won the Tour de France two or three times. He was a very innovative cyclist, he was interested in aerodynamics. He used [the power meter] in the Tour de France and in the Giro d'Italia. Another cyclist that was really focused on training and training quality was the Danish cyclist Bjarne Riis.  

Now training is much more scientific than it was 30 years ago, and the power meter is what everything is based on. If you look at [Tadej] Pogačar and see how much he can produce, he's probably the strongest, if you bring it down to watts per kilogram, and this is how it's defined. You need a good device, and this is why everyone now has a power meter on their bike. 

Who did you work with in the early years of the power meter? 

I got in touch with the German Federation for the track. I spent time at the velodrome in Büttgen to measure power and to work on aerodynamics, mainly with the team pursuit team. I got invited to East Germany, they were interested in the 100-kilometer team time trial. I think the first UCI [Track] World Championship [where the power meter was used] was in Lyon, the year Greg LeMond became UCI Road World Champion in Chambéry [in 1989]. Then the first World Championship when East and West Germany were together was in Stuttgart [in 1991], and there, I think they won everything, almost every competition on the track.  

A professor at the University at Udine, working with the Soviet Union on a space station, invited me to make a device that they could put in the space station to measure the decrease in performance when you have no gravity. We built a device, and while in Udine I worked with Italian coaches, one working with Claudio Chiapucci, and they helped me spread the power meter. Then later the US Federation was also interested, under Chris Carmichael, and the British Federation. I spent a lot of time in Manchester, setting up the systems there. I also worked closely with Peter Keen, coach of Chris Boardman. His project at that time was to create a new hour record. So he used the power meter and aerodynamics scientifically to make Boardman as fast as possible with the lowest air resistance. 

I got a patent, and I was the only one making the power meter. When you look back, maybe 15 years ago, I think I had 160 cyclists using my product in the Tour de France. Almost every team had my computer and my power meter on. Now there are probably 20 companies that make power meters, and maybe the same number of companies making bike computers – but not all are good! Most of them I would call a power estimator, not really a power meter, but you have some good products on the market too.  

My approach to making a power meter is to make it the best and the most precise tool, a tool for a cyclist to increase his performance and increase the quality of his training. We also make power meters for sailing ships – we were really involved in the Americas Cup. 

How is the power meter used in the UCI Track Champions League?  

We have two models [of track power meters], one made for the Shimano Octalink BB, and our Origin, for nearly all other BB types. They measure power on both the left and right sides with a 144mm BCD for the chain ring. Normally they use shorter cranks – I think the sprinters normally use 165mm.  

On the bike is a device that is able to send the data from the bike to a server, that then can display the data for the public live. We have a power meter, a heart rate monitor and a speed sensor, and they send the data with ANT+ or Bluetooth to a device on the bike, where it collects, then it gets sent wirelessly to a server, and from there you can pull it up and make a live stream on TV. 

Are there negative aspects to focusing so much on technology and power data?  

I think you cannot reduce a cyclist only to the data he produces. I think you need to be there and see him, to see the whole person, and not only reduce him to watts per kilogram. You have to see the whole person; you have to look at everything.  

I remember a long time ago when [Mark] Cavendish was supposed to get signed by Team Telekom or T Mobile, they did an ergometer test, and the guy responsible for the test said, “Oh, he's not good enough. He will never, ever make it to the finish. He's not good.” But then the other coach said, “You look only at his watts per kilogram, but you have to see how economically he's riding, his peak power, how clever he is, and all these other things.” He got hired, and he has now won the most Tour de France stages.  

It’s easier if you are there as a person, not only looking later at the data screen, but now we have a lot of coaches coaching remotely. Now, a cyclist gets a training plan, and they follow this plan like a slave. In the past there was more individual choice on what to do. When I worked with Greg LeMond, they were in charge of their own performance. The personality of the cyclist is less than it was 15 or 20 years ago. When you look back at Bjarne, I know he had a very strong personality, or Eddy Merckx. I see a difference now.  

How do you balance the upsides and downsides of using technology in cycling?  

Sport is still entertaining: it should be fun. I know a lot of cyclists that become slaves to the sport. They get addicted to cycling, they don't have a normal life, they measure everything they eat with a scale – for some of them it’s not fun. There are cyclists, where if you remove the bike computer, they cannot train.  

I remember the UCI World Championship in Chambéry, when Greg LeMond became UCI World Champion. He told me after every lap, he wanted to quit. He felt terrible, not in good shape. But in the end, he was UCI World Champion. And then he said, “Uli, sometimes your feeling does not tell you the truth. Sometimes at the start of a race I have super legs, and then at the first climb, you're dropped. In other races, you feel like shit, and then you win”. So it's not easy to say, always listen to your body, and it tells you the truth. Sometimes it's good to look at the numbers, but I would say you should not really get addicted and be the slave of your bike computer. It's a balance of everything. 

How has the world of cycling changed in your lifetime? 

Now teams are really focused on data. When I started, there was a doctor-coach, so one person was responsible for fitness. Now it’s separated: you have a coach, a doctor, a nutritionist, a sports director, several people. When I started, more or less, they all trained individually, with maybe one training camp a year, but normally they went to the race, did the race and went home. Now I think [Visma-Lease a Bike] are already in Spain for training, and then their next training camp will be at altitude.  

A problem now is you have so many crashes in road races – I can’t remember in the past, like in [Miguel] Indurain’s time, when he ever crashed, almost never. Now you see even the best guys at least once, twice, maybe five times a year, on the deck, because I think racing is too aggressive.  

I spoke with some guys, and they say that, with the disc brakes, when you're behind a guy and touch wheels, you have no time to react because they are so strong. In the past with the rim brake, when you had a descent in the rain, you had to start braking 300 metres before the turn to be able to brake. The bikes are faster, the brakes are stronger and maybe the tires have less traction.  

How do you think it will develop in the future? 

I think the spread between the good teams and not so good teams will get much bigger, because to do this in a perfect way, you need a lot of money, you need to pay a lot of people, and you need to hire the best cyclists. Teams that cannot do this will collapse because they cannot get this money together. Now, you have maybe four or five strong teams, UAE, Red Bull, [Visma-Lease a Bike], then maybe INEOS, [Soudal] Quick-Step. That's it, more or less four teams with an extraordinarily high budget and then you have the other teams. Good teams get all the good cyclists, and they are in control. 

Do you think expensive technology like power meters makes cycling inaccessible to those who can’t afford all this tech? 

In the past, cyclists bought a power meter for their own, and some pros used it for ten years. So for the time you use it, it’s not expensive. If you take care of it, you can use it for a long time, and put in new chainrings, a new crank around it. It’s not a device you have to replace every year, it’s a tool.  

How do you see the future of bike technology evolving? 

I think maybe the power meter will stay as it is, but you will add more data. At the start it was power and heart rate. Then, the time, how long you train [for]. Then it's the power, the cadence, maybe the outside conditions, like temperature, rain, altitude. Later you can add, what is your lactate? What is your blood pressure, what is your blood sugar level, how much are you sweating? What is the body temperature? So you will have not only power, heart rate, speed and cadence, you will have maybe 10 or 15 data [points]. Maybe even the bike computer will record, what is the tire pressure, what is the pressure in your suspension, what is the wind speed? I don't know if it's too much [data] – like in a Formula 1 car! 

Do you still race? 

I raced a lot when I was young, but now I don't need this – I'm a hobby cyclist! I prefer to go alone and off-road, normally on a cyclo-cross bike in the woods. I have a power meter on every bike and every day I try to do a two-hour bike ride and test all the latest products. 

What projects are you working on now, outside of SRM?  

We work closely with Q36.5 on sensors for jerseys, helmets, and pedals. We’re also working on a new bike computer, the PC9, that can collect data from multiple sensors, which should be launched next year. I still work with the British Federation, the US Federation, the Australian Federation, to develop new parts, make other cranks, and make power meters better.  

New power meters can store the data inside, and you can pair the power meter with a heart rate monitor and a speed sensor. After a race you can download a really high data volume, with 200 data [points] per second – you can see how your pedal stroke is, all these things, with more precise data. But this is for high performance coaches and athletes, not for guys who race on the weekends!  

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