CrunchGear

While most of the CrouchGear staff can barely lift a pair of skis over their heads, some people actually get onto skis and ski around on flat surfaces for exercise and sport. This is called “cross-country skiing.” Whereas my favorite part of skiing is the mulled wine and languid bowel movements back at the chalet, these people have trainers who push them to be better and faster.

Enter this little project from TU Clausthal, a technical university, wired up two GPS-enabled accelerometers that transmit data back to a trainer’s terminal. The trainer can then watch the skier when he or she leaves the immediate area and give them advice and encouragement. It’s a prototype right now but as you can see trainers can sense which sticks are being used, speed, position, heart rate, and even oxygen usage. They attached it to me and it showed them I was dead.