Aim: The primary purpose of this study was to examine effects of a fan-induced airflow at standard room temperature (20-23°C) on 20-km cycling time trial performance. A secondary purpose was to investigate two fan speeds and whether a difference in performance existed with increased fan speed in intermediate duration indoor cycling tests.
Methods: Seven trained cyclists completed three 20-km cycling time trials under three conditions in a randomized crossover design. The 3 conditions were: 1) control (no fan), 2) low speed fan, and 3) high speed fan.
Results: A tendency for modest decreases in time to completion (TTC) were noted in the two experimental conditions compared to the control condition (-2.06% low speed fan; -3.29% high speed fan). There was also a tendency for small increases in power output during the experimental conditions, although neither time nor power output differences were statistically significant. No differences in mean heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were observed among the three conditions.
Conclusion: These results suggest a relationship between fan use and 20-km indoor cycling time trial performance, specifically TTC and mean power output, but larger samples are needed to provide adequate statistical power. Further investigation into the effects of fan use in standard testing environments is recommended. No additional benefit was observed from increased fan speeds. Differences in the experimental conditions on average resulted in non-significant 1.2% improvement.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pdx.edu/oai:pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu:open_access_etds-5553 |
| Date | 05 July 2018 |
| Creators | Bloom, Matthew |
| Publisher | PDXScholar |
| Source Sets | Portland State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Dissertations and Theses |
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