Singletracks Mountain Bike News

Chip Hawkins is the founder and chairman of the board at Wahoo Fitness (wahoofitness.com). The company’s stated mission is to “create innovative solutions to make hard fought goals attainable and lives better,” through products like smart trainers, bike computers, watches, and heart rate monitors. We ask Chip: Why did you start Wahoo Fitness? What were the limitations of existing fitness sensors at the time? Before smartphones and GPS units, were you big on tracking your own fitness data? What are the advantages of using a dedicated fitness head unit over the smartphone everyone is already carrying in their pockets? Why do we need another device? How important are accuracy and precision when it comes to fitness data tracking? Do you think the existing fitness software that’s available to athletes does a good job analyzing workout data? Are today’s algorithms helping riders make significant gains? Is tracking power output better suited to road training, or is it useful to look at it for trail rides