Cycling Study: Heat won't slow you down if you don't think it is hot. Fake thermometers change race results.
In a recent European Journal of Applied Physiology study, British researchers asked a group of cyclists to perform three 30-minute time trials.
Not surprisingly, the cyclists covered about 5 per cent less distance under hot conditions (31.4 C) than under neutral conditions (21.8 C).
But in the third trial, which was also performed in the heat (31.6 C), the subjects were told that the room was only at 26 C, and the thermometer reading out their core temperature was altered to display 0.3 C lower than the actual reading.
The result: They cycled just as far as in the neutral trial.
“Slowing down in the heat could be a subconscious regulation to protect us from damage, such as heat stroke,” explains University of Bedfordshire researcher Paul Castle, the lead author of the study.
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