René Wildhaber's LITPro System - EWS Round 6, Whistler

Trek's René Wildhaber has a bit of a rep for geeking out when it comes to tech. ''I like to work on the bike, to get the right setup,'' he explained when we last talked to him about his new 29'' wheeled Slash earlier this year in Italy. ''I always try to ride different bikes and find out the possibilities on those bikes,'' he said. Wildhaber is using a new tool to gather information, with the Swiss racer trying the motocross-focused LITPro system that, according to the California-based company, uses proprietary HD-GPSTM technology to tell the rider where he or she could improve in regards to line choices, consistency, and other variables.


The LITPro transponder attached to the top of Wildhaber's helmet.


Motocross and Supercross racers Ryan Dungey and Ken Roczen, among others, have been seen with the LITPro transponder on their helmets while training and practicing at events, and it's the repeated lap type of racing that the system was designed for. It has the ability to display a motocross track in high-definition on an iPhone and iPad, and then can show the racer's line choice right on the screen, as well as lap and segments times down to 1/20th of a second accuracy, allow Dungey or Roczen to figure out exactly what lines work best for them.

The LITPro's most interesting feature might be its ability to let racer's ''ghost'' themselves on the track. In other words, Dungey could do a handful of laps and then play them all at the same time, in high-definition, overlayed on top of each other in order to see where and why he might be losing time.


René used the LITPro system to compare his Slash and Remedy.


Pretty neat stuff, and while enduro racing and motocross are vastly different sports, Wildhaber is testing the LITPro device at the Whistler EWS to see if there are any advantages. It was actually an engineer at Trek who first acquired the system, and it was at the company's headquarters in Waterloo, Wisconsin, where they learned how it works and if it could be beneficial to a mountain bike racer. Wildhaber saw the LITPro setup in Trek's Race Shop, the off-limits area where team bikes are assembled, and decided right then and there that he needed to give it a try.


We've seen data acquisition being used on the World Cup downhill circuit for many, many years now, but LITPro is basically a data acquisition system for the entire ride rather than just the bike. And given that these relatively long enduro races can be won or lost by a handful of seconds, I wouldn't be surprised to see more racers practicing with LITPro transponders on their helmets in the future.

An earlier version of this article stated that René chose to race on the Remedy, which isn't correct. René has chosen the Slash for the Whistler EWS event.

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Reviews and Tech Trek Enduro World Series