Week in Review–March 2nd, 2013

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.

Saturday: Week in Review–February 23rd, 2013
Monday: Tacx Genius Trainer In-Depth Review
Thursday Morning: The Great DC Rainmaker 2013 Survey Results!
Thursday Afternoon: You Win–You Choose DC Rainmaker Giveaway!

Woot! Check it out!

Here’s a few places I was highlighted this week:

Triathlon Magazine Online Gear-Tech Section: They noted that if you’re looking for gear reviews, there’s only one place to go.  And no, it’s not K-Mart. (Thanks to all who sent in!)

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) A really well done Washington Post piece on Joe Dombrowski: Who’s Joe?  He’s a cycling phenom from Virginia that’s joined the pro ranks this year on Team Sky.  Oh, and he’s 21.  And, I took a photo of him last April.  Thus, giving me two connections to him.  Oh, and the story is unlike any other Washington Post piece you’ve ever seen (layout-wise).

2) One of the best coaches in triathlon shares his thoughts: A good piece from Joe Filliol, who’s been head coach at both Triathlon Canada and British Triathlon.  (via Simon W)

3) Armband monitors muscles, adds device control, makes you look like The Terminator: Give it a few years and it’ll be interesting to see what applications this ends up having in sport and fitness.

4) Screenings for Singletrack High: Screenings have started for this movie about a high-school cycling league.  The trainer looks pretty cool, see below. (Via BikeHugger)

 

5) Triathlon Magazine: Are you a tri dork? A worthy read, and the resultant might not be what you think…

6) An interesting mention of Quarq and their use of CRM software: For the Quarq geeks/CRM geeks – a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ on what Quarq uses to manage inventory and customers.  Quarq section starts at 5:49. (Sent in from Kurt R.)

7) A 300-foot rope swing (no, NOT zipline): I would try and explain this, but it would go something like…holy crap they’re jumping off the edge of a canyon, swinging over a lot of really painful hard rock…and holy crap.  Or, just watch the video.

8) Want the latest sports (semi-sports tech) news in a second?  A reader sent in this new site.  A bit of a consolidator, but it has an interesting blend of items.  I just stashed it into my RSS feed into case I missed something.

9) ANT+ adds encryption, increases speed: The folks behind the technology that’s in virtually every sports technology device on the market (except Polar) have added encryption functionality, speed improvements, and battery life improvements.  The encryption side primarily comes from requirements in both healthcare (which uses quite a bit of ANT+), as well as interest from Pro Cycling teams (and other pro teams).  Though, at present, none of these improvements are supported in devices available today.

10) Why weight is so important in cycling: A look at weight and (primarily) pro cycling.  Interesting perspective to help explain why the riders are as slim as they are.

11) No more yellow chalkboard motorcycle ladies?  Apparently not.  Shame.  (Side note: It’s little known that some of those woman are actually really dang good top cyclists themselves).

12) Taylor Swift Bikes Paris: A couple of scenes of Taylor cycling around my local digs.  Kinda neat to see all the places nearby.

Crowd Funded Projects of Athletic Note:

This is a bit of a new section that I’ve been toying with adding.  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.

Here’s the projects of note that are new:

Hydrosleeve: This tiny little waterbottle (7oz) on your upper arm may be useful for some folks.  Personally, I either need no water (short 40-minute run), or a lot of it (long run), so it doesn’t really fit my bill.

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) 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?

Garmin Adds Basecamp mobile updates: Looks like a small pile of updates related to being able to transfer your activities online via the app.

Elite Cycling adds new beta version, asks for testers: Click on the link to see how to sign-up for the beta version if you have an Elite Trainer.

iPhone/iPad App Updates this week:

Android App Updates this week:

Note: I just installed a slew of apps this week to monitor, so it’s plausible some apps slipped by with updates before I installed all my apps.

Windows Phone App Updates this week:

I saw no updates come in for apps that I monitor (read: Apps that I myself install and/or use).

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Thanks for reading all!

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