Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
You are never motionless ever. What of it?
The power won't be zero.
Track standing is
moving the bicycle back and forth a short distance. If you are track-standing against a steeper incline or a stiffer wind, you'll use more power.
Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
to balance a bike in a trackstand requires positive and negative power be applied to the pedals because it's an inverted pendulum and we have to constantly adjust our position so we don't fall over but we are comparing, what, 6 inches/second to 28mph? 6 inches/second is 0.34mph, which means we are talking about ~5W generated during this exercise (I'm assuming 400W to make the bike go 28mph in still air). Since we are standing still and if we can assume we are only applying positive pressure to the pedals (road bike, it's a little different for a track bike because you can apply negative torque), then this 5W spike is immediately followed by a -5W spike as we roll backwards to hold our position.
Well, you'd only need to apply positive power. The 28 mph wind is pushing you back (assuming you are track-standing into the wind).
Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
Holding your position will require force. Power is force multiplied by velocity (at the spot it is applied). If you are trackstanding, regardless of the wind, velocity at the wheel is zero, so power is zero.
That's
work. You can still get power consumption without movement (like a light bulb).