The Quest for the Perfect ExerGame

Early start this morning in order to keep a date for some exercise. The warm up was a conventional 2 mile run with a short sharp hill at the end with a few puddles to avoid along the way. The gym at Sunny, Cortland had just taken delivery of a couple of Virtual Reality (VR) Cycling bikes (Espresso) so I just had to give one a try out. Indeed it was rather a fitting warm up to the Games for Health 2009 conference as I was about to catch a plane to Boston later in the morning.

After adjusting the bike to fit my frame, it was time to choose a course. A 5 mile mountain climb was selected on which to challenge my (real) training partner.

Off we went. It took a short while to get used to the gear changes (one button press to go up a gear another to go down). As the course was a mountain climb it was important to anticipate the changes in gradient and adjust the gears accordingly. The graphical rendering of the road wasn’t perhaps as good as it could be therefore you had to keep an eye on the course profile in order to clearly see the gradient changes coming.

I managed to keep a steady 95-100 rpm going in order to maximize my efficiency. My power output averaged 200-210 W and my heart rate was between 150-160 bpm. Only when it got really steep did I my legs start to burn. Rarely was I aware of my breathing. I completed the course in 20 minutes and I can honestly say that the engaging and immersive nature (including the steering to avoid other races and the precipitous edge of the road) of the game meant that I was almost completely distracted from the stress that was being placed on my body.

Overall it was a great ExerGaming experience and one I look forward to repeating soon.