Here’s what I’ve been up to the last 5 days, with just a mere single photo per company or function. For the companies, you’ll see more detailed ‘Behind the Scenes’ type posts in the coming weeks as I dig out from the 31.3 gigabytes of photos taken.
Monday: Austin, TX
First up was some quality time at the pool with the Vivoactive getting final product shots:
Then, I met up with the folks from Flo Sports. They do broadcasting of various endurance sports events, including the Beer Mile World Championships.
Finally, I rounded things out with catching up with the Director of Software for SRM, where we went for a ride with the SRM PC8:
Day 1, successfully in the books!
Tuesday: Austin, TX
I started the morning with The Real Starky, of TRS Triathlon, where we recorded the first podcast episodes of the DCR/TRS Triathlon series. Awesomeness ensued from all your questions, be sure you get in questions for the next episodes here. You’ll see the first episode posted Monday morning!
Next, I headed over to MapMyFitness/UnderArmour to talk with them for the afternoon on a wide variety of subjects:
Finally, I boarded an early evening plane for the four hour flight to San Francisco:
Back on the West Coast – woot!
Wednesday: San Francisco
First up was catching up with the people behind the Barfly (of Tate Labs), getting a look at all sorts of upcoming goodness. Of course, for that you’ll have to wait till Sea Otter next week…
Then I headed over to Strava headquarters, where I met with numerous teams to discuss numerous items they’re working on.
This ultimately ending in a run with a large group of Strava employees.
Finally, it was time to board two flights, taking me to Rapid City, South Dakota and then onwards via car to Spearfish, SD.
Notable: Spearfish is very much not San Francisco.
Thursday: Spearfish, SD
I’d spend until mid-afternoon with the fine folks of Quarq (part of SRAM) getting an understanding of their facilities and operations. This will ultimately be probably the most in-depth behind the scenes I’ve done to date.
Mid-late afternoon I’d head off to the airport for two more flights – bouncing through Minneapolis on the way to New York City:
It snowed in Minneapolis upon landing. And in NYC, my airplane decided landing gear was optional upon arrival. So a bit of delay in landing.
Friday: NYC
It was over to FOX NYC Studios to go on the air to show a number of sports technology gadgets. I’ve been on the air with them in the past, and always enjoy getting to chat about sports tech products with them.
I’ll post the whole segment and some behind the scenes tidbits tomorrow.
On my walk back from the studio to the hotel, I passed by the Apple Store, to drop in on the Apple Watch craziness. Yes, I’ll be doing a fitness-focused review. But I don’t have a specific timeframe yet determined. That’s pretty much in Apple’s camp (I have been chatting with that team).
Then, I met up with the guys from Ashton Instruments about their upcoming power meter. This included some time in Central Park, and then 35 stories up on the roof of the hotel.
Finally, to cap off the day that never ends, I headed over to JFK airport to catch my 9:30PM turned 10:30PM flight home.
I’d land late morning back in Paris…where strangely my schedule actually somehow got busier for the weekend. Go figure. But more on that on Monday.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks as I put together many of the ‘Behind the scenes’ posts that you see from the companies I visited this past week.
Thanks for reading!
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No words can do justice for what you do.
Well done dude! I’ll be knackered if i had to do that, id rather do an IM 🙂
Numquam est qui ubique est.
I was wondering if you’ve been talking to Apple. I suspected they wouldn’t be interested in one of your brutally honest reviews.
No one benefits from sugar-coated reviews. Disappointed customers rarely return, so there’s really no incentive for a company to solicit subjective reviews.
Did you write the review on the flight on the way back? By my reckoning you’ve only just landed in Paris (it’s 10.30am London time!)
Amazing how you manage to fit so much in as well as training Ray! Keep up the good work.
Peter
I put it together over the course of the week and hit publish before I took off. But yup, just landed and left the airport (in record time – 10 mins from pulling up at gate to being in Uber!).
Very interested in strava devices.
There a subject or analysis on your list?
congratulations from blog zitaSport
Ray, what do you think of the potential of the Apple watch? We all know that the battery is a problem for longer activities but shouldn’t it be cool with upcoming apps?
You must have at least one twin brother, because that’s not human and a completely, totally, absolutely impossible schedule for a normal human being 🙂
Good luck in the Paris marathon 😉
And Paris – Roubaix…
I always found it funny that the Paris Marathon and Roubaix are on the same morning each year. Additionally, that Paris-Roubaix doesn’t even start in Paris, but rather 80km away. :-/
So apple watch supports continues heart rate monitor , if so that would be a big hit for android wear devices , even charge hr
Finger on the brake on the shot from 35th floor?
Can never be too careful…
Ray great use and subtle plug for the scosche rhythm. That’s pretty close to where I wear mine every time I go biking…great product
Indeed, I’m glad to have wrapped up the Fenix3 review where I needed to wear the HRM-RUN for various Running Dynamics stats (most of the time). Love being back with the Rhythm+.
Looking forward to the Quarq behind-the-scenes report.
Hi Ray,
any comments about the new Phantom3 from you? I think the price is very competitive. No need to buy an Inspire.:-)
Indeed, a very solid looking unit. I’ll probably buy one. 🙂
I will probably buy one too. But only after you and if you are satisfied.:)
Did you see 3DR’s new offering today? Hmm…also tempting. Though, I’ve kinda been burned by their poor software in the past, so a bit less excited there having some history. But in theory it looks great. Love the cable-cam idea, brilliant.
The Verge had a good piece on it, though the footage they shot was in 20MPH winds, so it looked rough. That’s one area I’ve seen comparing the 3DR to DJI offerings, the DJI units just do so much better in windy conditions.
Thanks for the hint Ray. Yes, the Solo seems to be a nice competitor to the Phantom. If it all really works as advertised. They invested 85 million dollar and need success. The price is also ok.
What I like about the Phantom 3 is the lightbridge. I think a really stable system based on LTE technology and one of the best, if not the best system for FPV. And the camera without the fisheye effect is also a big plus for me. Hopefully the Phantom 3 is nearly as stable as the Inspire. This I find really fascinating. Like a crane in the sky. Unbelievable. But at the moment there are not enough videos to judge this seriously. Minus is perhaps the missing of programmable waypoints. But I normally don’t need it. And perhaps it comes later.
PS: My neighbours were in Paris last weekend, but unfortunately I forgot to send them to the CupCakery:-(
Any details on the PC8 you can share? Like does it actually exist?
It exists. In theory they’re to start shipping soon. It’s a very crisp display, no doubt about it.
Looking forward to hearing what MapMyFitness has going on.
Have SRM made an announcement on a release date and availability for the PC8 yet???
They said 1st week of April, but it sounds like it’s now the end of April. Volumes will be low – only about 50 units a week for the near-term.
That BB based PM by Ashton Instruments looks promising. At what stage of development are they currently?
Check back at 12:01AM US Eastern Time (Tuesday) for everything you ever wanted to know about it. 🙂
Looking forward to it, Ray! 🙂
Looks to me like Strava has a bunch of devices in Strava orange. I’d like to get devices with custom colors.
Is it true there is no WiFi or bluetooth capability on the PC8?
Current info is that the PC8 has wifi and BT hardware and they will bring it online in software with a later update.
Hmm thats interesting.
And 50 a week turn over! Im hoping my pre order might see me with one next month.
Crazy schedule, but you get to check out & do some cool stuff!
Hi Ray,
Any plans to do a write up on your visit to Quarq? Thanks.
Yup, I’m going to try and get it out this week.
Thanks Ray. I just got my first power meter, a Quarq Red 22. I love it. I would like to see (and I’m sure many others would too) what it takes to make one of these gems. Thanks again.