Upon the conclusion of my Las Vegas trip last month, I took a 40 minute flight over to Long Beach, California (greater LA area) to visit the folks at ERO Sports.  I’ve long followed the Alphamantis work around aerodynamics, and have seen early closed-door prototypes over the past few years.  So I was looking forward to checking it all out in a production capacity.

The testing would occur at the VELO Sports Center track, which is an indoor velodrome normally used by track cyclists.  The velodrome was originally outdoor during the 1984 Olympics, and lasted until 2003, when it was demolished and re-built as an indoor structure.

We had blocked off about 5 hours of time at the track for just our use.  Interestingly, afterwards some of the local kids cycling teams were out training on it:

The goal of the Alphamantis system is to be able to determine aerodynamic drag in a dynamic environment.  In other words, while you’re riding your bike and going somewhere – rather than just being put on a trainer in a wind tunnel.  This post focuses on how they’re doing that indoors in the track.  Down the road they’ll be moving that to outdoors as well (including all the complexities that comes with measuring wind and wind direction in real-time).

While the system is built and designed by a company called Alphamantis (based in Montreal, Canada) – the operators of that platform is a company called ERO Sports, which is based in Carson, California.  The technology behind Alphamantis was largely locked down to the Canadian cycling teams until the completion of the 2012 Olympics in London.  Since the Olympics, that’s been expanded and and is now being used by national teams, the world’s top pro cycling teams, and individual pro athletes in sports like triathlon.

I should point out this isn’t a ‘Review’ of their services.  I didn’t experience that, the focus as you’ll see wasn’t actually on me as an athlete.  Instead, I was trying to understand how it technically works – and then some fun scenarios and tests around it.  Because of my travel schedule, I was unable to join the rest of the media folks that were there a few weeks prior during a day of presentations/testing – so during a trip I had nearby, I arranged time with them to get an inside look at how things work.  But a review of their services/offerings this is not.

Pre-testing:

Prior to getting on the track you’ll need to come prepared with whatever you’d use in training and racing.  This is probably a logical time to point out that you should really train on the same equipment that you race with.  I know this sounds obvious, but I often hear folks that train on entirely different bikes than they race with.  Of course, I don’t think anyone expects you to train with an aero-helmet though.

In my case, I brought with me my bike (triathlon), as well as my trisuit and aero-helmet.  And of course all the normal stuff like cycling shoes, bike computers, etc… Ultimately, you want this to be exactly like what you’d show up on race day with.  So if you’re taking a Bento Box on race day – then yes, take that too.  As you’ll see, all those things really do matter.

At any rate, you’re going to show up to the Velo Sports Center, which houses the aforementioned velodrome in Carson, California – just a few miles away from the Long Beach airport (which is a few more miles away from LAX).  The Velo Sports Center sits within the Home Depot Center grounds.

Here’s the outside of the building:

Once you arrive, you’ll check-in at the front desk to sign some waivers.  Roughly they translate to “if you crash, it’s your problem”.  Ok, noted.

From there you’ll head over to get fit on your bike.  While most serious athletes coming into a facility like this would probably have been fit before, the ERO team does want to briefly take a look at things.  In my case, they did it purely to demonstrate the technology – though we did end up re-rising my saddle and aerobars up to where they should have been the last time I was fit (ironically, it ended up almost spot-on where it was configured a long while ago before things slowly slid out of compliance).

The fit process includes adding a bunch of stickers to you, which the sensor system (that bar on the tripod below) reads and understands.

These sensors are then reflected on a TV screen showing a wireframe model of your position on the bike.  At the same time, that system is recording the exact distances/angles.

This can then be combined with the Retül fit bike, which enables them to slowly tweak your position on a bike that doesn’t require you to get off the bike to feel the difference.  So he’s able to simply adjust the bike in real-time and I can feel the differences between positions.

In my case, since I was mostly focused on understanding the track portion for this post, we only spent a few minutes here in this area.  Additionally, in my case we did the change in seat height after my runs on the track (just for those Slowtwitch folks who might want to say my seat is too low…which it was.)

Testing on the Track:

This is probably as good a time as any to point out that I’ve never been on a velodrome track before.  I was relatively confident that I’d not only crash, but would manage to do so just walking across the track.

Everything is setup inside the track down near the starting line area.  In this case, their setup includes computers to monitor the sensors in realtime, timing systems to monitor exactly when you complete each lap, and an Alphamantis Bridge that transmits and repeats your ANT+ sensor data in realtime from your bike to the computers  via WiFi– no matter where you are in the velodrome.

At a high level, the system is designed to produce an aerodynamic drag value based on the known (very precise) distance around the track in conjunction with your bike transmitting data from an ANT+ speed sensor and ANT+ power meter.  By understanding how much power is required to go a given speed on a specific surface without any wind, they’re able to determine the drag.  Obviously, more drag is bad.  Less drag is good.  This drag value is measured in CdA, which is the  aerodynamic drag area.  Less is better.

In order to start things off, they’ll precisely measure out your wheel circumference, which is used by the ANT+ sensor and corresponding computers to measure speed.  It’s critical this is absolutely perfect – hence why they measure it out with a tape measure.

Note that if you don’t have an ANT+ speed/cadence sensor on your bike, they have spares.  It was interesting to see how frequent they are parsing the data.  For example, during travel my speed sensor had gotten bumped out of alignment.  As a result, when we did the first warm-up set, you can see how many false-positives it was getting (Green), and even the speed-only sensor (another ANT+ sensor on my bike) was having some troubles.  Yet, the PowerTap speed was very constant (no dependency on having the magnet aligned right).  Even more interesting is that my Garmin head unit thought the world was perfectly fine as far as readings go.  Only the more detailed real-time reporting surfaced it as seen below.

Next is then pairing your ANT+ power meter to their system.  Their system can pickup multiple power meters at once (which was actually interesting in my case since I had a few), though they focus on just using a single power meter normally.  Note that like the ANT+ speed sensor, they can loan units here as well.  I’ll talk more about the power meter aspect a bit later.

With those things all setup and paired, it’s time to get out and ride.  In my case since I’d never ridden on the track before, they gave a few hints.  This essentially boiled down to ‘don’t go slow on curves’, and ‘don’t stop’.  If both of those rules were respected, I’d in theory not crash.

Thankfully a bunch of smart guys and theories worked out.  I started off just riding around the very bottom, not even so much on the curves, and then over the course of a few laps I got more and more comfortable until I was up a bit on the wall.  For the purposes of all of the testing here, they want you as close as possible to the thin dark blue line near the bottom.

Fear not, you don’t have any reason to go up high.

Now, they actually want you to track that line as close as possible.  But even if you don’t, it’s alright, they’re able to see that variation since they know your exact speed throughout each loop – and then further reconcile that with data each time you trip the sensor at the completion of each loop around the track.  In fact, if you look at my lap by lap summary information, you  can see the slight variations in the distance I went as I’d wander a few inches here and there on the line.

They noted that anywhere within about a foot or so is more than sufficient for accuracy.

Now that I got comfortable going round and round, it was time to calibrate my power meter.  We tested against all three power meters I had on my bike, but for most tests we used the PowerTap, since (as I explain later), it’s the closest power value to the equations being used.

The calibration of the power meter is done every single test set, always after about 2 full laps (to clarify, technically this is just a zero offset, not a full-stop calibration).  As I enter that third loop they’ll give me the signal to calibrate.  In my case I just simply coast along the backstretch and they’ll confirm they received the calibration notification via the ANT+ repeater.

The actual test data then is gathered after the completion of that loop.

The reason for the constant calibrations is because the power data is so critical to getting accurate numbers.  And drift can occur for any number of reasons – though primarily environmental (temperature shifts).

Now onto the actual testing.

Each test set involves about 10 loops.  The reason for this is to attempt to determine the actual patterns.  As you’ll see, tiny changes to your position or bike can make a substantial and visible difference.  Thus if you just did a single loop, you might have numerous false positives.

First we started off with a baseline – this would be used to compare any future changes to equipment or position.  Because it can actually be fairly hard to hear in there, for each loop they’ll tell you how many loops left via hand signals.

Then, after the baseline we moved into testing different setups and configurations.  For example, some of them were person-specific that involved no equipment shifts.  In this case, it was just shrugging my shoulders (relaxing them).  In many triathletes, this will result in an immediate and notable gain in aerodynamic efficiency.

In my case…not so much.  While there was some almost perceptible gains, one could see over the course of that 10-loop test set that I slowly unconsciously shifted back to normal – mostly because it didn’t feel natural.  However, if you look at the below chart, you’ll see one of their regular athletes that was able to very clearly show this.

Look at the bottom right chart, and then notice about 60% of the way across it the red line dips down.  That dip is the slight change in shoulder position.

And in fact, that’s a really interesting point here.  As they noted numerous times, just because you can put someone in a given position – doesn’t mean that person can ride that position for 5+ hours (as in an iron-distance race).  A 40K time-trialist has very different needs than someone who’s going to run after it.  Or run a marathon after it.  Or eat during the race.  All impact position and whether or not an athlete can hold that position.

Some of it, of course, is adaptation on the part of the athlete, and some of it is finding other ways to gain those efficiencies.

From there the afternoon progressed as a series of tests – I did some 25 miles of loops around the Velodrome.  That may not sound like a lot in the scheme of an outside ride, but that’s actually a lot of loops (over 100).

Perhaps the most interesting revelation here is just how person-specific aerodynamics are – far more than I would have thought.  Going into this, I would have thought that Helmet A vs Helmet B is a simple case of ‘Helmet A is more aerodynamic than Helmet B”.  When in reality, it’s far more based on the positioning of that helmet on a given person.  Thus as they’ve seen (and showed me) – on one person Helmet A is faster, while on another, Helmet B is faster.  And that applies to many more things than just helmets – from full bikes to tiny details such as hand placement.

As we looked at positions, they brought out a few riders that have significant experience riding on the track – and that can more easily demonstrate some of the changes and impacts to aerodynamic position.  Everything from shifting one’s position on the aerobars, to just how one grips the bars themselves.  Or shrugging shoulders.  Or changes in aero helmets or regular helmets.

Post-Testing Results:

While basic ‘better or worse’ information is given in real-time while at the track, there’s additional information that’s handed over a few days later.  This information includes the lap-by-lap detailed numbers of each test set that was done.  It also includes summary information.  I’ll walk through examples of the files, and then explain my thoughts.

The whole PDF file includes many different pages of information.  But it starts off with a summary page.  Again do keep in mind that in my case, we weren’t aiming for making me faster – the goal was simply to allow me to understand the technology and test a few other random things.  As a baseline number, .2935 is actually pretty high.  They suspect that cleaning up the cabling (brake/gearing) towards the front end of my bike would go a long way towards reducing that number.

Once we get beyond the summary information, we get much of the same in a more graphical layout:

Then comes the more detailed information for each wattage level that’s calculated.  The tests are listed along the bottom.

I then get information about each test run within the set, all part of the booklet.  The test runs can then be tied to a specific scenario (i.e. with aero bottle, without, etc…).

Ultimately though, you’re going to likely make most of the time saving changes immediately on the track, rather than looking too much at the reports later on.  Further, for most riders, the reports would help them to quantify the time savings made that day as they progressed through different iterations.  The weekend I was there it was scheduled that a top triathlete was going to ride the next day.  Unfortunately things got rescheduled, as it would have been interesting to see that progression over the course of the day from a numbers standpoint.

Now, the challenge here is that this information isn’t terribly ‘portable’.  Meaning, it really is all about you.  And even more specifically, you on that specific bike.  I attempted to explain this during my review of the Profile Design Aero HC.

While on the surface it may seem that you could take this information and compare your aerodynamic your significant other (if he/she raced), in reality that’s actually somewhat difficult.  Variables such as the power meter used can impact the final numbers.  In fact, we tested this a bit using the three different power meters on my bike.  Each resulted in different numbers – due to the fact that all three measured power in different locations.  Further, that testing is based on the accuracy of that particular unit on your bike.  This is one of the reasons why they re-calibrate each test set, to mitigate against drift.  So even comparing a test from this week to one four months from now might be difficult with just a given power meter, let alone two different power units on two different bikes.

To mitigate this they are looking at potentially just providing power meters that they own for the testing – rather than using each persons own power meter.  Of course, that introduces significant logistical complexities.

They have found some patterns (both in general, as well as even in my session), Andy from Alphamantis noted that:

“Between the PowerTap and Quarq, the PowerTap is closer to physics, whereas the Quarq is closer to physiology. This is due to being closer to the the wheel due to loss of drive train/etc, and thus closer to what we’re measuring.”

Now, don’t mis-read this statement.  This isn’t saying the PowerTap is more accurate (actually, it’s almost saying the opposite). What they are explaining is that because they are ultimately measuring your data based on the track surface, the PowerTap is physically closer to the track from an output standpoint.  Versus the Quarq power output stream needs to take into account drive train loss – which could be variable (but the Quarq is closer to your actual human output).  And while it’s a very tiny variable, for this scenario, that variable can make a difference.  Below is a visualization of that data as it hits the system.  As you can see, the differences there can and would have an impact on the results.  As long as you stick to one of them though, you’d have a consistent baseline from which to work from for that specific day.

(Note: This is showing a given set, thus the drop you see below the 50s marker is the calibration occurring)

All that said, for same-day testing, all of that is mostly nullified through the calibrations.  Hence the reason so many top pro cycling teams and individual pro cyclists/triathletes are using it in blocked off time periods.  They aren’t as much trying to compare it to data from months ago, but rather making tweaks that can be immediately applied.

Random Tidbits:

Going into the testing, I had cobbled together some thoughts on fun things to test while there.  What I found though is that the day becomes a little bit of a case of ‘Riddle me this’.  Meaning, you can stand around as a bunch of data geeks and ponder: “Riddle me this: Is it faster to have the GoPro on the bars, or mounted just above the wheel?” or “Riddle me this: Is it faster to use this water bottle, or that water bottle?”.  Ultimately, each one of these exercises takes a fair bit of time to get the baseline established (10 laps), then the test for each (10 laps per test).  But that’s sorta what makes it so fun.

I could have sat there for days pondering ‘Riddle me this’ type questions with this group of folks.  The inner-data geek I suppose.

Of course, the challenge with that is then taking one of those tests and validating it on other riders.  That’s where all of a sudden a test suite that you could have knocked out in 20-30 minutes becomes something that could take hours with a small army of testers.

In any case, using the limited people I had handy, we did play around with a few scenarios for fun.  For example, a GoPro.  What impact does a GoPro have on aerodynamics?  We did a test with one of the riders there where we placed a GoPro on a road bike.

First up, was the baseline.  The way the average works is the set high (red) and low (green) CdA values are thrown out (excludes lap #1 as always), and then everything else is averaged:

Then, the GoPro up above the bars:

And then finally, the GoPro below the bars:

Results:

Baseline: .3279
Above Bars: .3305
Below Bars: .3262

It comes out virtually a wash.  In fact, technically it was slightly faster below the bars than baseline – which likely can be explained by the road bike position being slightly more dynamic than the time trial position.  In any case, you can see there’s very little impact to CdA here from the GoPro.  This sorta surprised us both.

Looking at the triathlon bike, we did some tests there as well.  I placed it below the aerobars.  In fact, the impact was less than the impact of the aerobottle system.

Ultimately I think it would be an absolute blast to sit there and test all sorts of interesting things.  And then potentially to go to a wind tunnel and test the same things.  Understand how the different testing methodologies (and results) differ, and what that means to consumers.

Summary

As a data geek, I found the time at the track fascinating.  As a triathlete, I found it eye-opening to see what an impact aerodynamics may have.  But even more importantly, to understand that just because something saves time doesn’t mean it’s viable – especially for long-course athletes going 5+ hours on a bike in time-trial position.  Though at $800 for a session (including fit), it’s a pricey option for age group athletes.  Thus I suspect you’d likely only see front of the pack AG’ers in there – of course along with professional athletes.

I think that the indoor track testing is an incredible tool to start to understand how to literally get free speed – even with no equipment changes, and do so in an environment where you’re actually riding.  The next step will be extending that outdoors to controlled locations (such as Formula 1 style tracks which can be ridden without interference), to take into account aspects such as wind at various angles.

Is this better than a wind tunnel?  It’s not a simple yes or no question.  It’s probably better when a rider is involved, because it can be fit to actually riding.  Whereas when a simple piece of equipment is tested – then using a wind tunnel makes more sense.  But of course, as you’ve probably come to realize – one starts to seriously question the usefulness of generic wind tunnel test data using the marketing of much of the equipment we buy, especially given how obviously individual the results may be from person to person.

As always, if you have any questions – feel free to drop them below.  Thanks for reading!

The Garmin Edge series of cycling computers is roughly split into two categories: Those that have a mapping function, and those that don’t.  Mapping in this case means that the units also have routable navigation – just like your car GPS does.  Whereas the cycling GPS units without mapping may be able to follow a breadcrumb trail, but can’t route you on actual streets or provide visual maps.  They’re more like an Etch-a-Sketch than a phone with useful maps.

The challenge though with the higher end mapping units (Garmin Edge 705/Edge 800/Edge 810) is that as expensive as they are, they don’t actually include any maps.  Well, ok, I’ll be fair. They technically do include what’s known as a ‘basemap’.  However said basemap believes there are (for example) only three streets in New York City, and two in Paris.  Obviously with such completely useless maps, you’re not going to be able to navigate very far – or very accurately.

So instead you need to purchase more detailed maps, typically at a cost of $70-$110 per region/area.  The definition of a region varies – both in size as well as the type of map.  No matter the case, you’re spending more money on top of what you already spent.

Now there’s always been a free mapping option, but it hasn’t been until semi-recently that the process of getting these maps has been made really easy.  I outlined this within the Edge 810 review, but I wanted to call it out and make it more accessible – especially to all those owners of Edge 705/800/810 units (also useful if you want to add maps for a region other than you’ve already bought).  Additionally, I’ve simplified those instructions some.

So here’s step-by-step instructions for how to get the free Openstreet maps onto your Garmin Edge device.

Requirements:

Despite how long all these screenshotted steps may look, the whole process is actually really quick and super easy.  It’s just that I was probably overly thorough in the screenshots.

Active time: 5-8 minutes
’Baking’ Time: A number of hours
Device: Garmin Edge 705, 800, 810
Storage: A $12 Micro-SD card to put the maps on

The step-by-step pieces only take a few minutes.  There’s a tiny bit of work to get the maps requested, which then puts you into a queue where your map request is processed and ultimately a link e-mailed to you a few hours later.  Thus the ‘baking’ time.  Then there’s a few more minutes to copy the maps to your expansion card.  Of course, there’s no reason you need to sit there and watch paint dry.  Just like you wouldn’t sit and watch dough rise.

You can get any side of Micro-SD card.  I’ve tested all three Edge units using a variety of cards from 4GB to high capacity 32GB cards.  I had no issues there with the latest firmware on any of them.  Most of the maps you’ll create are less than 1GB in size, so a 16GB card is more than sufficient.

Note that these steps require the Garmin Edge 705, 800, or 810.  All three of these units have mapping capabilities.  This won’t work on the Garmin Edge 200, 500, or 510.  Those units don’t support the mapping function.  Nor will it work on any other 3rd party units.  Sorry!

Part I: Downloading the maps

This entire post is ‘made possible by’ OpenStreet maps, which are free community driven maps.  Openstreet maps have become in many areas just as good as maps from traditional providers.  And best of all, they’re free.  The below site simply does all the hard-work that you used to have to do manually a few years ago if you wanted to use OpenStreet maps.  Now, it’s literally as easy as 1.2.3.

First up, going to the site.  Which, will bring you here:

(Note: There are a few other free sites out there, but none offer as simple an interface, nor as widespread a geographic mapset to download)

You’ll want to then choose ‘Routable Bicycle’ as the map type.

Choose Routable Bicycle:

Now you’ll select which maps you want.  Because highly detailed maps like these can be somewhat large, you’ll likely need to pickup a cheap Micro-SD card.  Some smaller maps may fit directly on your Edge device, but only if you’re talking a fairly small area.  For me, I like to load up maps for anywhere nearby I might ride.

In any case, you’ll start by choosing your continent, then country.  In some areas (such as the US and Canada), you’ll also choose the state/province.

In my case, I went ahead and selected North America, then United States, then Washington State.  You’ll see how the map then will zoom in and show me the ‘tiles’ that represent Washington State.  Tiles are ways that the entire world can be broken down into consumable map chunks.  Tiles don’t usually map directly to states, but rather to large swaths of land – ideally designed to keep tile sizes somewhat consistent.

You can see below that it’s highlighted all tiles that ‘cover’ Washington State.

Now, if you plan to venture outside your selected area – or if you want to choose a smaller area, simply enable ‘Manual tile selection’, which allows you to just pick and choose exactly which areas you need.

For my trip to Seattle, I did just this.  I narrowed it down to just the local area that I was likely to ride in.  This would reduce my download time, as well as my transfer times later on to my device.  But, if you plan to have the maps around for a while on your device, choose a larger set so you always have coverage.

Once that’s done you’ll go ahead and enter in your e-mail address to build the map.  I’ll explain this in a second.

The service works by generating the maps for you based on your specifications.  This means it takes a bit of time, sorta like putting in an order at a restaurant.  To do this it places you into a queue, and your e-mail address is simply used to notify you when your maps are ready.

You’ll get an e-mail a couple seconds later with a link that you can go to and check the status of your map creation:

The delay may range from a few minutes to a few hours.  No worries, when it’s done it’ll send you another e-mail and you can go pickup your files then:

With that, click on the link to be taken to download the maps.  Once there, you’ll see you have a few options.  The only one we’re going to pay attention to is the one ending with ‘gmapsupp.zip’.  This is essentially a self-contained map file ready to drop right onto your Garmin.

With that, download the file someplace handy (like your desktop or downloads folder), and we’ll come back to it in a second.

I should point out that there’s a ‘Donate’ button on that site (I have no affiliation with it, nor do I even know them or ever contacted them).  Obviously, good karma dictates that if you find their (free/community hosted) service valuable, sending a couple bucks their way is probably wise – especially given how much money you’re saving.

Part II: Installing the maps

Next comes the easy part.  The file you downloaded is a standard Zip file, which means the actual map file is inside it.  Just like a package from FedEx.  So you’ll go ahead and open up the Zip file to access the map file inside (gmapsupp.img).

Now take your Micro-SD card and insert it into your computer via the Micro-SD card adapter that likely came with it, or stick it into the Edge unit and plug that into your computer and access it via that way.

When you do so you’ll now have a blank card ready to dump some files on…err, a single file.  First you’ll create a directory on it called GARMIN .

Then, simply copy/move the gmapsupp.img file right inside the GARMIN directory on your Micro-SD card.

And just like that, you’re done.  Well, do remember to put the Micro-SD card in the slot if you haven’t done so yet.

Ok, now we’re done – for real this time.

Part III: Enabling and using the maps

When you first turn on the Edge for the first time with the new maps, it’ll inventory the maps and then make them available to you.  Depending on how big a mapset you created, this may take a few seconds – or a few minutes.  Don’t worry, just let it complete.

Once that’s done, the map should be ready to use.  In the unlikely event your new mapset isn’t enabled, you can do so manually.  It’s pretty quick and easy.

Here’s how to manually enable the map layer (again, only if for some reason it’s not enabled), on each of the units out there today (side note: fiets simply means ‘bike’ in Dutch – thus OpenBikeMap):

Edge 705: Menu > Settings > Map > Next to “Openfietsmap Lite” select the checkbox under ‘Show’

Edge 800: Menu > Wrench Icon > System > Map > Map Information/Select Map > Select “Openfietsmap Lite” and choose Enable

Edge 810: Wrench Icon > Activity Profiles > Your activity profile name > Navigation > Map > Map Information/Select Map > Select “Openfietsmap Lite” and choose Enable

Once you’ve got the maps enabled (if that didn’t happen), then you’re ready to use them.

It should be noted that these maps are fully routable, and also include plenty of POI’s (Points of Interest).

To demonstrate this, you can see how I can search for various nearby eateries and find results:

And then you’ll see how it provides routable directions on streets or even paths in this case.  For each step along the way it’ll provide ‘Turn left on Maple Street’ type directions:

You can of course always enter in a specific address or other destination, and it’ll route to that.  And if you simply have created a course online (you can do that free on Garmin Connect and transfer it to your Edge), then it’ll provide the map information for that course as it routes.

With that, you’re ready to roll (quite literally).  Go forth and enjoy!

As always, thanks for reading!

When I booked this particular flight combination a few weeks ago, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the 5 hour layover.  Additionally, I had mentally thought the flight left at noon, rather than 10AM – meaning that I thought I’d have enough time to swim prior to heading to the airport in Paris.  Unfortunately, neither were true.

But then I had an epiphany!  Why not just do my Sunday swim workout in San Francisco?  It would certainly beat sitting in the airport for five hours, and would provide a bit of fresh air after 11 hours of flying that first leg.  Thus, a plan was hatched!

Thankfully, my flight was not only on-time but actually ahead of schedule.  We descended into San Francisco on a beautiful sunny day (seen above).  Good thing I didn’t fly out Saturday instead, as that flight was delayed some 4+ hours.

Once I landed while we made our way to the gate (in the US, you’re allowed to use your phone then) I pulled open the SwimRadar app and figured out my options for the closest pool:

I skimmed the list for outdoor pools and noticed a 50m one was near the top of the list.  A quick check of the site showed they were open for lap swimming.  Perfect!

With just carry-on baggage and Global Entry, I was through customs in about 2-3 minutes.  If you travel internationally semi-frequently, Global Entry is your greatest friend.  Otherwise, the lines looked at least 45+ minutes long with all the flights from Asia arriving at the same time as ours.

From there I headed up to the Airtran system to get a rental car.

I decided for rental car over taxi because more than likely the rental car was going to be cheaper.  With the discounted rate I had it was under $20, I can’t imagine a taxi both ways would be that cheap – even if only a few miles away.  Further, I then had a safe place to store my backpack and roll aboard, and a bit of freedom for grabbing food afterwards. The only downside of course was that San Francisco’s airport’s off-site car rental facility is amongst the most time-intensive operations in the US.  Quick it is not.  But, I had a fair bit of time.

The drive was only three miles away, though I think I probably drove half of that just getting out of the rental car facility.  I soon arrived at Burlingame High School, which is where the Burlingame Aquatics Center sits.

I should point out that this high school appeared to have a pretty sweet setup.  Both field-turf for a dedicated soccer & football field, as well as a separate track (with another football field) and tennis courts off to the side – all looking brand new:

I headed on in towards the Aquatic Center’s front door to pay:

Once inside, I was pretty much in paradise:

Let me summarize the ways this was awesome (and different than my usual swims):

1) I would have my own lane…oh glorious lane!
2) It was 50 meters long, and setup long course
3) The water was crystal clear
4) I wasn’t sharing my lane with the usual 10-20 other people
5) No-one was backstroking down my lane with four pieces of swim equipment at the speed of a one-legged turtle
6) I was outdoors
7) It was sunny
8) People were friendly

This pool alone may have us move to Burlingame someday.

With that, I picked out my lane and setup my water bottle (DC this was not).  Funny, my water bottle was actually from the plane, and thus, from France.

From there I set the watch for a 50m pool and got ready to swim:

Now to swim! Back and forth I went.  My workout was a descending workout, with the following structure:

1600m
800m
400m
200m
100m
50m
Cool-down

I would increase the intensity as I descended from set to set.  Thus, the first set was more or less a warm-up.  And the final sets were at a pretty hard intensity.

It’s funny – while it’s rather nice swimming in a 50m long pool (and actually having the lanes setup that way), it’s also the slowest I’ll be.  I’m fastest of course in a 25y short-course pool, simply because of the walls and turns.  I generally have a fairly quick turn (for a non-competitive swimmer anyway), so the fact that I do half as many turns means I’m a bit slower than I would be on a short-course pool.  And of course, with a meter pool over a yard pool, your times will be approximately 10% longer (i.e. comparing 500m to 500y).

On the bright side, with having the lane to myself it meant that I wasn’t having to dodge and weave past another dozen plus people.  Nor did I have a small welcoming committee at the end of each lane blocking any turns off the wall (no way to do that in my usual pool in France):

And they had all the pool toys you could need in big bins – complimentary!

The pool had three different depths over the length of it, a shallow depth of perhaps 1m (3ft) deep, then one about 7-8ft deep, and then one much deeper for diving.   There was also a small shallow pool off to the side for kits, though no kids were present.

And I still can’t get past how clear the water was.  This would make a perfect pool for doing all my underwater product review shots – both because it’s fairly empty (I don’t like having people around when doing shoots), and because of the water clarity.  And being outdoor I’d get great light, versus some of the indoor pools make it really tough to get good shots.  Oh, and for a preemptive question/answer, all the near/under-water shots in this post were taken with this small camera, though normally for product review shots I use a full underwater DSLR setup.

From a swimmers standpoint they also had both a digital timer clock as well as a traditional swim-clock setup at one end of the pool, which wound up actually right at the end of my lane.  There are no clocks setup in the pool I normally swim in (time, timer, or otherwise).

The whole workout took about an hour all-in, including a 2-minutes rest in between sets.

After I was done swimming, I rinsed off using the outdoor showers, and then relaxed a bit on one of the deck chairs.  I did this mostly because I lacked a towel in my bag, so about 5 minutes of air-drying in the sun worked perfectly!

From there it was back out to the car, ready to head back to the airport.

I made a quick swing by Starbucks to grab some food, since I hadn’t eaten since somewhere over Utah a number of hours earlier.  The little ‘downtown’ area of Burlingame is actually rather cute.  Had I had more time I probably would have eaten somewhere local.

Instead, I went with ‘my usual’ – a turkey-bacon breakfast sandwich and a Mocha-Lite Frappuccino  – both fairly low calorie options.  Interestingly some portion of this Starbucks is now branded like a French bakery (La Boulange de Burlingame).  I assure you, looking at the options in the Starbucks cabinet, no self-respecting French (or French-transplant) would consider them of Boulangerie status.  Actually, even for a Starbucks they looked pretty rough.  My understanding though is the facility next door was the full-on bakery, though I didn’t check it out.

On the flip side, no French bakery has turkey-bacon sandwiches or Mocha-Lite Frappuccino’s, so I’ll consider it a wash.

A few minutes later I dropped off my rental car.  A Mustang as it happened to be (look, I just take what they give me, though I generally prefer the absolute smallest possible car).

And then back onto the Airtran to the airport:

About 2 hours later I was boarding my flight up to Seattle:

And shortly thereafter that, I was passing back past the Golden Gate Bridge towards 35,000 feet and more airtime.

With that I kickoff a week in Seattle for meetings.  Hopefully I’ll manage to get some of the same weather I had last time I was there.  Though at present it’s not looking terribly likely.  Win some, lose some.

Thanks for reading, and have a great week ahead!

The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, this is a better forum for sending it on to y’all. Most times these different streams don’t overlap, so be on the lookout at all these places for good stuff!

So with that, let’s get into the action!

DCRainmaker.com posts this past week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this week.

Sunday: Week in Review–May 12th, 2013
Monday: Versailles Triathlon 2013 Race Report
Tuesday: Hitcase Pro iPhone Underwater/Bike/Sports Case Review
Wednesday: Testing out the Pebble watch with new RunKeeper app integration
Thursday Morning: A look at Wahoo KICKR support on Windows via ANT, and what the rest of the industry is doing
Thursday Evening: A London Runaround
Friday: Incredible deals: Garmin FR910XT for $299, FR310XT for $169, Edge 800 for $229, Ambit for $349

Woot, check it out!

I was highlighted this week in The Guardian – which is one of the major UK news organizations.  Here’s the full link to all their thoughts.

Stuff that I found interesting around the interwebs:

Here’s a not-so-small smattering of all the random things that I stumbled on while doing my civic duty to find the end of the Internet:

1) 5,000 runners told they didn’t run marathon, after directional error: Mid-way through a race all but a single person incorrectly ran the race – effectively meaning everyone else was short about 260 meters. (Via EverymanTri)

2) Recon Heads Up Display for Triathletes (and others) announced: Really cool to see this come to fruition, looking forward to getting some hands on time shortly.

3) A look at the 1924 Paris Olympics…in 2013:  A neat look at one of the Olympic stadiums nearly 90 years later.  And here’s some more recent photos of various Olympic venues rotting away. (Thanks to Woody for sending in!)

4) Think you travel a lot or know places well? Try out this highly addicting Google Earth game where you try and pin-point the location just purely based on Streetview.  You get five rounds to increase your score. Incredibly addicting.

5) Quantified Self Europe Conference Round-up: Here’s all the presentations (videos) from the European Quantified Self conference that recently occurred.

6) A series: 8 Weeks of Simulated Altitude Training: An interesting look at a facility that can simulate not just recovery at altitude, but the actual training at 10,000ft.

7) Specialized opens up in-house wind tunnel:  Interesting stuff.  Though, I view this more as a marketing/PR benefit than one that’s purely technical (obviously there’s still benefits there too).  It allows for arguments such as “We’re the only company to have an in-house wind tunnel”.  That said, would love to get some testing time in there.  Another article with other photos here.

8) The bat-mo-bike?  Well, something like that.  Worth the read through.

9) Wanna go run in North Korea?  Well, here’s apparently your chance. Or rather, was your chance.  Fat Cyclist had a fun post recently about their bike tours too.

10) How they take photos of waterproof cell phones underwater: This behind the scenes post reminds me quite a bit of when I took photos of the Xperia Active ANT+ enabled & waterproof cell phone back a while ago.  Or, how I take underwater photos for all my reviews.

11) Washington DC Bans Water Bottles on Pool Decks: All assortment of entertainment here in this post.  Goes completely full circle. Worth the read through.

12) Android affirms support for Bluetooth 4.0 sensors: While some may see this as a good thing – in reality, this announcement is actually bad.  And it’s not bad because of the announcement itself, but because they’re basically saying it’s going to be months until it happens.  Right now the only way apps and devices get Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth Smart) support on Android is when a given app developer puts/cobbles together a custom solution for it.  Nothing standardized.  The hope was back at CES (January) that they’d announce operability and integration into the OS within weeks.  Now they’re saying months to ‘later this year’ depending on who you ask.  Really a big bummer – and a huge disappointment for those hoping to see support for things like the Wahoo KICKR, heart rate/power/speed/cadence/etc sensors and others via Bluetooth Smart on Android.  I bet we don’t see anything now until September at best.

Crowd Funded Projects of Athletic Note:

This is a bit of a new section. Most of this content used to be found within the main section, but I figured I’d just call it out up here and make it easy to find. I regularly sift through Kickstarter and Indiegogo (plus a few others on occasion) looking for sports projects. Note that as always with crowd funded projects, assume the project will be late and will under-deliver on features. Thus far, on the numerous products I’ve helped ‘fund’ (except a leather bike handle), that’s been the case.

Pocket-integrated sports bras: These sports bras include an integrated front pocket which allows storage of all sorts of things from phones to keys to iPods.  Or just a pile of gels. Their product is out there already, their goal with the Kickstarter campaign is to bring manufacturing to the US.

Plume – Recoiling Mudguard: Plume is a recoiling mudguard for your bike. It’s designed to extend when in use, and then recoil back up when not in use.

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners is perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good?

Site/Firmware Updates:

FitBit adds Samsung S4 Support: More Android phones added to their Bluetooth Smart sync list.

4iiii’s sending out updated Viiiiva’s: I don’t have a link for this, but all registered users were sent an e-mail. If you didn’t receive one, hit up 4iiii’s support to see if a new strap needs to be sent out (free).

Trainer Road Adds Wahoo KICKR ANT+ support (TR 2.1.0):  I covered this fairly well earlier in the week.

PerfPro gets single-USB stick for KICKR: Also covered earlier in the week in detail in my Thursday post.

Bluetooth SIG adds location and navigation device profile: They’ve been on a bit of a run lately with new profiles. Good to see. (via Niclas G.)

iPhone/iPad App updates this week:

Ok, so my iPad found these two iPad apps were updated from the week before:

Android App Updates this week:

Windows Phone App updates this week:

(There were no Windows Phone updates for sports apps that I have this week)

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Thanks for reading!

Let me just put this out up front: This is without question the most significant sports technology gadget sale I’ve seen since starting the blog some 5-6 years ago.  No Thanksgiving Black Friday, Christmas, or Festivus deals even comes close to this.

Let’s dive right into it, and then I’ll give some analysis and recommendations:

Garmin FR910XT: $299 without HR strap, $337 with HR strap (originally $399/$449) – Until May 27th.  Also, you can get down to $249 with a $50 mail-in rebate from Garmin where you send your old Garmin in to ‘Girls on the Run’ (a non-profit). Details at end of post.

Garmin FR310XT: $169 without HR strap, $199 with HR strap (originally $195/$234) – Starts MONDAY! Until May 26th

Garmin Edge 800: $229 without HR strap, including $100 mail-in rebate (Originally $449)

Garmin Edge 800 Bundle: $379 with HR strap, Speed/Cadence Sensor, City Maps, including $100 mail-in rebate (Originally $649)

Suunto Ambit1 (original Ambit): $348 without HR strap, with HR strap $373 (Originally $500/550) – Until May 31st

Also of note, but honestly a bit less exciting are two other deals:

Saris Bones 3 Bike Rack for Car Trunk:  $127 (originally $143)
Saris Axis Steel 2 Bike Rack for Car Hitch:  $159 (originally $179)

I haven’t reviewed or ever touched those two racks, but they came along in the sale bundle, so I figured I’d at least mention them. [Update: These prices were updated due to an error.]

Phew…ok…with that out of the way, let’s talk about what’s going on, and what to do.

Why things are on sale

First up is the Suunto original Ambit (hiking/running watch). This is the easiest of the bunch. With the new Suunto Ambit2 and Ambit2S out, Suunto has removed the pricing restrictions on these products until May 31st.  Allowing companies to price them as they see fit during this time period.  That one is straight-forward given the new Ambit2/2S.

Next is the Garmin Edge 800 cycling unit.  Like the original Ambit, it too was replaced back in January with the newer Garmin Edge 810 unit.  In this case Garmin has removed the minimum advertised price restrictions for the Edge 800, causing the price to drop.  In conjunction with that, they’re also offering an $100 rebate for another 13 days.  It’s like a perfect storm for a massive drop down to effectively $229.

Then we’ve got the Garmin FR310XT multisport/triathlon watch.  This isn’t a huge discount off of the previous price of $195, but it’s the lowest the watch has ever been (and the lowest it ever was until last week when it hit $195).  Obviously with the Garmin FR910XT replacing it over a year ago, it’s not the newest kid on the block.  This is a short-term sale until only May 26th.

Finally, we’ve got the Garmin FR910XT multisport/triathlon watch.  This is a short term sale – and quite frankly what I view as the biggest.  There’s no clarity on why the deep short-term discount, but I have to suspect it’s due to the Ambit2/2S release, alongside with the Tom-Tom release pending this summer – both adding pressure on Garmin and the desire from them to likely ‘lock-in’ any customers on the fence.

Which device to get and why

Let’s get the easiest out of the way first – the Ambit.  While this is a ‘good’ deal, it’s far from a great deal.  It’s only $50 cheaper than what I believe is the maximum reasonable market price for the device.  Meaning, I don’t see how this device can attract any buyers above $400 anyway, given competitive pressure from the Garmin Fenix.  Further, given Suunto’s declaration of limited future support for the device, it’s sorta headed into the retirement home.  There’s no two ways about it unfortunately.

Then we’ve got the Edge 800.  This is an AWESOME deal if you’re looking for mapping.  As I said in my Edge 810 review, Garmin has not made for a compelling reason to justify the price difference between the Edge 810 and the Edge 800.  The feature set of ‘new’ things on the Edge 810 is just too small to make sense.  A graphical user interface overhaul a new product does not make.  Until they increase the phone connected features and open up 3rd party support to sites like Strava, I remain in the camp that the Edge 810 is overpriced and unimpressive.  Thus, at $229, the Edge 800 is a  steal.  Especially if you download the free Openstreet maps for it – saving you the cost of buying Garmin’s map service (for the how-to on that, see my Edge 810 review section on it, but it applies to the Edge 800 as well).

Next is the Garmin FR310XT and FR910XT and trying to decide which one to get.  If you’re a runner, and don’t do the swim/bike thing, then the FR310XT is the obvious choice.  The only thing you’d get out of the FR910XT is a tiny bit bigger battery and a barometric altimeter.  Both of those tend to only be applicable to ultra runners (trail runners in the mountains more specifically).  Beyond that, basically the same watch for runners.

Now, for triathletes/swimmers/cyclists – there’s big differences.  Let’s start with those that swim/run.  In this case, the FR910XT is definitely the better bet.  The FR310XT doesn’t do indoor swimming, but does keep track of distance outdoor swimming.  Though, unlike the FR910XT, the 310XT can’t measure stroke outdoors.  So here the clear winner is the FR910XT for swim tracking.

For cyclists, it comes down to two features: Advanced power meter metrics and the barometric altimeter.  The FR910XT supports the TrainingPeaks power meter metrics of TSS/NP/IF, as well as the left/right power balance features that some newer power meters have.  If you don’t have a power meter, or don’t plan a near-term purchase, then go with the FR310XT.  If you have a power meter, stay with the FR910XT.  Then we’ve got the barometric altimeter.  For cyclists in the mountains, this can be valuable.  However, for Florida-folks, don’t bother.  Further, even for mountain folks the elevation data will get corrected afterwards in most online services anyway – so it’s really only if you’re truly using it in realtime that you’d want the barometric altimeter.

Finally – for triathletes just starting out.  For you, save your cash and go with the FR310XT for now.  There’s simply no other triathlon watch anywhere near that price point, let alone one better than that (other than the FR910XT).  The closest non-Garmin competitor to the FR310XT is the Magellan Switch/Switch-Up, just over $250.

Oh, and I should point out – there’s no FR910XT replacement coming this triathlon season. Simply not going to happen, it’s far too late for any announcements for the season, and I assure you, I don’t have one in testing either.  Remember the FR910XT really only hit the market in widespread quantities last March-April 2012 (despite being announced in October 2011).  A typical Garmin product cycle is a minimum of 2 years.

That all make sense?

If not, no worries, post questions below and I’ll be happy to try and get everyone all straightened up.  For in-depth technical questions, I recommend you check out the product reviews (and subsequent comments on each one).  Also, there’s the product comparison tool, which has every unit in it.  And finally, my general GPS recommendations post from a few months ago (still relevant)

Garmin FR910XT: $299 without HR strap, $337 with HR strap [Product Review] – And save another $50 with the mail-in rebate for older Garmin Forerunner users.
Garmin FR310XT: $169 without HR strap, $199 with HR strap [Product Review] (310XT sale starts Monday!)
Garmin Edge 800: $229 without HR strap, including $100 mail-in rebate [Product Review]
Garmin Edge 800 Bundle: $379 with HR strap, Speed/Cadence Sensor, City Maps, including $100 mail-in rebate [Product Review]
Suunto Ambit1 (original Ambit): $348 without HR strap, with HR strap $373  [Product Review]

If you use the Clever Training links above (which I have a partnership with), then you’ll help support the site.  It is somewhat important that you use those links, otherwise it doesn’t exactly support the site as I don’t get credit for it.

Also note that everything above qualifies for free US shipping with Clever Training.  Though, it doesn’t qualify for the usual DCRainmaker Clever Training discount of 10% off your cart via coupon code DCR10XBK because they are deep-sale items (but any accessories you buy do get discounted).  Oh, and the Edge 800 rebate PDF form is here.  And the $50 Garmin Forerunner rebate is here.

Thanks for your support of the site, I appreciate it!  And have a great weekend!

After finishing up a day of meetings a little after 6PM, I zipped back to the hotel via two different trains in the London Underground (subway system).  While light was slowly fading, I was able to make record time in changing into my running stuff and heading back out the door again.  Thankfully, it was all of 100 yards from the door of the hotel to the entrance to the park.

Welcome to The Green Park:

Upon my arrival I found plenty of folks out doing various fitness things on the grassy areas.  From boxing to running to sprints to core exercises, lots of folks keeping busy.

I meanwhile started here on my relatively short 40 minute run.  I figured I’d run around the perimeter of the park first.

All of about 3-4 minutes later I found myself at a giant traffic circle in front of Buckingham Palace.  Thankfully, those storm clouds were headed away from me (and it only briefly sprinkled on me as I was walking from the hotel to start of run):

To my right, would be the famous Buckingham Palace, complete with the guards standing out front:

And even more tourists at the gate gazing inside.  Perhaps all hoping for a brief glimpse of the Queen, should she be inside.

I left the Queen and all her men behind and rounded the corner down a road called ‘Birdcage Walk’.  This is only interesting in the fact that it’s where The Girl and I spent a fair bit of time during the London Olympics this past summer watching the women’s marathon.  In fact, this very spot below was where we stood.  It’s crazy to look at those photos then compared to now.

I continued down the road and then made a brief dip through the edges of St. James Park.  This run was becoming a bit of a ‘park to park to park’ run.

After leaving St. James Park behind I was only a few hundred meters away from probably the most famous cluster of sights in London.  Starting off with St. Margaret’s Church:

(Sorry for the fuzzie’s, mid-run and dusk ends up like that sometimes)

Which is part of Westminster Abbey.  That being the place where Kate and Will got hitched just over two years ago.

As I continue around the traffic circle, we’ve got the most famous sight of all – Big Ben:

Behind him you can see the London Eye wheel sticking up:

As I ran under the shadow of him I quickly ended up down along the River Thames, across from the London Eye:

While running along I saw what would be the probably the 1,328th cyclist that afternoon.  These ones on the city’s bike-sharing program’s bikes.  But, beyond that (as you can see in the photo), there were just tons of cyclists.  Easily putting Paris to shame, where I see what I thought was tons of cyclists there.

I decided to go ahead and cross over the river:

From there I worked my way back down to the other side past a bit of some sort of event going on near the Eye.

Of course, while running past that area I saw one of the famous red telephone booths.  Albeit this one with legs, and arms.  I’d watch out for those ones – nothing good comes of a telephone booth that can run after and tackle you.

Given my options of bridges to cross back over, I picked Westminster Bridge and wandered back across towards Westminster Abbey:

From there I made a bee-line across St. James Park again, this time swinging past the pelicans.  They’re on the rocks out in the water, and those buggers are really rather big!

Definitely would not want to have an angry pelican after me.

Back across in front of Buckingham Palace I went:

And then up alongside Green Park again.  As was the case all night, massive numbers of running groups out.  You don’t really see much of that in Paris on a normal weekday.  There are some weekend-type clubs you see, but nothing approaching the sheer volume of people and organized groups I saw here.

Next it was past Wellington Arch and over towards Hyde’s Park.  This is where the men’s and women’s triathlon zipped through during the middle of the bike course.

A short bit later I found myself running along the Serpentine.  It’s a little pond (mini-lake I suppose).  Where I was running was exactly where the triathlon run portion was held.

And the swim, was held here in the waters in front of it:

In fact, just across the other side of this photo (on the other side of the pond) was where I sat and stood watching both the men’s and women’s triathlon last August.  Here’s my spectator report for the Men’s Triathlon, and here’s the Women’s Triathlon.  I got a lot of really fun photos in there.  It’s kinda neat to look back through them.

With my visit to those grounds complete, I worked my way back towards the hotel.  Obviously, a self-shot was in order:

As I made my way back to the hotel in those last few minutes I got the final two shots needed to properly finish off the post (since apparently neither the Queen nor Kate was going to make an appearance).

First, no London Runaround would be complete unless I had a red double-decker bus in there.  And since there was this old-school red buggy in front of the buses in the background, it was like two for the price of one!

And lastly of course there’s the legit red telephone booth.  In front of the Hard Rock Café no less.

With that, I stopped at the below wall, just next door to the hotel.  Seemed fitting if you asked me!

Here’s my total route picture, or the link if you want to poke around at it and zoom in/out.

With that, I’m already back on the high-speed train home to Paris – it was just a quick trip for some meetings.  Fear not, I’ll be back again!  As always, thanks for reading!

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Oh, P.S. – For those interested in all my London Olympic 2012 photo-filled posts from last summer, here they are:

My Spectator Report: London 2012 Olympics – Women’s Triathlon

My Spectator Report: London 2012 Olympics–Women’s Marathon

My Spectator Report: London 2012 Olympics – Men’s Triathlon

London 2012 Olympics odds, ends, and fun leftovers

And if you still have more time to burn, start here with my previous Olympics posts…

Enjoy!