New study looks into skill levels of expert and novice cyclists

A research paper was published last week which looks into how skill levels differ between novice and expert cyclists. The research paper entitled “On the Skill of Balancing While Riding a Bicycle” was written by Stephen M. Cain, James A. Ashton-Miller and Noel C. Perkins.

As part of the research, they tested a total of 14 subjects (4 females, 10 males; age = 26.4 ± 6.0 years, body mass = 71.1 ± 12.8 kg; mean ± standard deviation). Seven subjects were classified as “cyclists” and seven subjects as “non-cyclists.”

All cyclists identified themselves as skilled cyclists, went on regular training rides, belonged to a cycling club or team, competed several times per year, and had used rollers for training indoors.

The non-cyclists knew how to ride a bicycle but did so only occasionally for recreation or transportation and did not identify themselves as skilled cyclists.

Each subject rode an instrumented bicycle on training rollers at speeds ranging from 1 to 7 m/s. Steer angle and rate, steer torque, bicycle speed, and bicycle roll angle and rate were measured and steering power calculated.

A force platform beneath the roller assembly measured the net force and moment that the bicycle, rider and rollers exerted on the floor, enabling calculations of the lateral positions of the system centres of mass and pressure. Balance performance was quantified by cross-correlating the lateral positions of the centres of mass and pressure

Amongst their conclusions are that while balance performance is similar between cyclists and non-cyclists at low speeds, it is substantially less for non-cyclists at higher speeds.

Skilled riders use significantly smaller steering control input, exhibit less steering variation and less rider lean angle variation than novice riders. While riders exhibit similar balance performance at the slowest speed, at higher speeds skilled riders achieve superior balance performance by employing more rider lean control and less steer control compared to novice riders.

You can read the full paper here.