# What is this on the back of his saddle/seat post? Timing? Antenna? Camera?



## SNS1938 (Aug 9, 2013)




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## dcb (Jul 21, 2008)

I can't help you but I was wondering the same thing. I also noticed it on some of the Astana and AG2R bikes.


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

Wonder if that is the rear facing camera that some of the riders had for this video:
- https://youtu.be/TUJpcOgPhNs


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## SNS1938 (Aug 9, 2013)

4Crawler said:


> Wonder if that is the rear facing camera that some of the riders had for this video:
> - https://youtu.be/TUJpcOgPhNs


Yeah, I was thinking camera, but so odd that its at a 45 degree angle.


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## jfaas (Jan 31, 2014)

Oil slick device. The button to actuate is hidden under the bar tape.


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## TricrossRich (Mar 26, 2014)

It is a data transmitter... ASO the organizer of the TDF and the Dauphine want to bring more to the viewer of races on the telecast. Those pods are supposed to transmit data to be used during the telecast. They were testing them in the Dauphine, so no data as being shown on screen and i'm not sure what data will be shown. It'd be nice if we can see cadence, power, speed, etc.... hopefully the test worked out ok and we'll see what it brings to the Tour


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## crowaan (Aug 13, 2013)

Unfortunately I think teams and riders are still going to be really hesitant about sharing power data. Or at least some of them are.

I would love to see more data on the screen, gives a better sense of what sort of efforts the riders are actually doing.


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## dcb (Jul 21, 2008)

crowaan said:


> Unfortunately I think teams and riders are still going to be really hesitant about sharing power data. Or at least some of them are.
> 
> I would love to see more data on the screen, gives a better sense of what sort of efforts the riders are actually doing.


I think you're right but at least 3-4 teams seemed to be testing it out. I'd really like to see some of that data as well, but if we don't know what their actual limits are: max HR, FTP, weight etc... it may be kinda cool to look at but not mean that much to someone without that info. I still want to see it though!


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## Cartoscro (Sep 10, 2012)

We'll never see rider specific power numbers, as long as there is a live feed of the race.


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## TricrossRich (Mar 26, 2014)

crowaan said:


> Unfortunately I think teams and riders are still going to be really hesitant about sharing power data. Or at least some of them are.
> 
> I would love to see more data on the screen, gives a better sense of what sort of efforts the riders are actually doing.


I agree that riders/teams might be hesitant to share power... I was just guessing what might be shared. They talked about it on the telecast one of the first few days of the Dauphine, but didn't specific what data was going to be shared.


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## SNS1938 (Aug 9, 2013)

Thanks, if it's a trial, that explains why I only saw one (I'm sure there were others, I only watched the final sections of the stage).

I was actually thinking when watching someone in a breakaway that I'd like to know their speed. Sometimes recently we've seen the motorbikes speed, and it's pretty useful. If when there is a break, I can see that the rider is at 50kph and 180bpm, and the chase is 55kph and 185bpm, then that would add to the excitement ... will they be caught or not etc.

I do think that sometimes it'll show much earlier that a break won't make it too though, because either they're going way too hard for the distance to go, or perhaps that they've already given up, and are not trying to stay away (which without this info might be hard to notice if they've eased off a little).


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## lgvasquez (Jul 13, 2013)

It would be nice when viewing to have power output/ speed/ cadence like in Formula 1 ...


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## dnice (Jul 12, 2012)

so we will never see power or hr, but can we see speed, cadence and gradient? off the top of my head, i don't see obvious objections to those three data points.


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## den bakker (Nov 13, 2004)

dnice said:


> so we will never see power or hr, but can we see speed, cadence and gradient? off the top of my head, i don't see obvious objections to those three data points.


speed and gradient gives you a rather good guess on wattage on a climb. you can argue most gps units don't get the grade close enough in any case of course.


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## colnagoG60 (Jun 27, 2013)

Would be nice if bike computers could measure gradient based on an internal gyroscope/level, which could be zeroed by the user, given different mounting angles. My 510 is all over the place sometimes, and climbing totals can vary by 20%, for the same route, depending on time of year.


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## TricrossRich (Mar 26, 2014)

SNS1938 said:


> Thanks, if it's a trial, that explains why I only saw one (I'm sure there were others, I only watched the final sections of the stage).


It was actually on the majority of the rider's bikes.. not all, but a LOT.


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## coldash (May 7, 2012)

No doubt, a minority view but I don't want cycling to become like F1 (whose TV and circuit viewing figures are dropping rapidly). The technology might be interesting in F1 but no amount of displayed data on a TV screen can make up for it being terminally boring to watch (e.g. the Canadian GP). For me, the existing gradient and time gaps data is plenty (and for some, the availability of that via race radio to the DSs and other riders is too much). Cycling is a brutal, tactical and intriguing sport - not a console game like F1 is becoming (see Alonso's recent remarks).


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

coldash said:


> No doubt, a minority view but I don't want cycling to become like F1 (whose TV and circuit viewing figures are dropping rapidly). The technology might be interesting in F1 but no amount of displayed data on a TV screen can make up for it being terminally boring to watch (e.g. the Canadian GP). For me, the existing gradient and time gaps data is plenty (and for some, the availability of that via race radio to the DSs and other riders is too much). Cycling is a brutal, tactical and intriguing sport - not a console game like F1 is becoming (see Alonso's recent remarks).


And lots of race broadcasters already clog up the screen with garish graphics already. After seeing a rough wattage figure the first few times the gee wiz factor wears off. Given how deathly boring most ProTour racing is 95% of the time, I'd rather enjoy the camera views and learn something about the area...a bunch of telemetry won't make the breakaway being let go, the peloton softpedaling for 200km, and then reeling them back in at 10-30km to go any less boring.


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