The Tour de France is well under way, and chances if you’re like us, you are watching it from your couch. Wouldn’t you like to get in a ride while watching it? Sure there are rollers and trainers, and then there is the Pro-Form Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle, which is the next best thing to a trip to France. And you won’t have to stop on the side of the road should nature call.
The Pro-Form Le Tour de France Indoor Cycle lets users choose and even create real-world routes using Google Maps. If that was all it did we’d still think this was pretty darn cool, but oh it does so much more. This is no ordinary spin bike, and it utilizes Pro-Form’s iFit Live technology to simulate the grade and position of climbing stages. As the grade of the route increases, the bike titles forward or backward up to 20 percent! This is of course based on satellite image of a chosen area.
The device features 24 pre-mapped courses, so you can start your own personal Tour right off the bat, or create your own. Among the pre-mapped courses are routes over the Passage du Gois and of course Mount Alouettes in France.
The device even adds wind to the mix, where users can enter their specific height and weight and get the appropriate resistance. Sorry, actual wind isn’t sent into your face however, for that you’ll still need a fan, but frankly, the rest of this is so cool that we can accept that it can’t quite do everything. Still this bike, which is available now for $1,299 is truly the next best thing to riding in the actual Tour de France.
Pro-Form Official Website
[Via Engadget: Google Maps-powered training bike simulates Tour de France, refuses to speak English]