Olympic cycling athletes have been given battery-powered 'hot pants' to keep their precious leg muscles warm between races.
The heated trousers have been developed by Loughborough University and are designed to enhance the performance of the likes of gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy and cycling siren Victoria Pendelton.
The university's research team said the Adipower muscle-warming pants offer a "real benefit to performance". British Cycling and Adidas have also helped to develop the clothing which has been compared in its function to Formula One tyre warmers.
PhD student Steve Faulkner, a member of the university's research team, said: "By keeping the cyclists' muscles warmer we found a substantial increase in sprinting power that would be of practical benefit to the Team GB cyclists."
After the track sprint cyclists finish their warm up, they put the trousers on over their racing clothes before they start racing. At Proviz we think its a great idea if its going to give the cyclists' muscles a little helping hand and ensure they are in peak condition before a race. Presumably the idea could work well for many sports...? Perhaps also an ingenius idea to keep the man on the street warm on his bike during those icy or snowy morning commutes in the Winter! Has anyone ever improvised to keep cosy on their bike?
