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Week in Review–March 6th, 2016

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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 and Facebook, 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 in the past week:

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

Sunday: Week in Review–February 28th, 2016
Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Rome
Thursday: Fitbit Blaze In-Depth Review

Guest on Marathon Training Academy Podcast!

I joined the Marathon Training Academy for their podcast focused on running, we chatted about all sorts of running and running gadget awesomeness.  Check it out!

(And preemptive answer…the DCR podcast will return this upcoming week, we’re recording tonight – so get those last minute questions 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) 5 Ways You Can Watch Pro Cycling without a TV: There ya have it – all the best secrets to getting your pro cycling fix, when you don’t have cable (or are in the wrong country).

2) GoPro buys video app makers for combined $105 Million: Well then, that’s some serious cash for video editing capabilities. A bit more about the acquisitions here.

3) SRAM Force 1 On A Triathlon Bike Review: This is interesting because they’re converting a triathlon/TT bike to using a single front chainring (sorta like a single-speed).  So you get rid of the whole front derailleur mess (while keeping the rear).

4) How to film a movie shot on Everest: I always find the behind the scenes pieces fascinating – especially regarding movies shot about outdoor sports.

5) Ski Jump + Bungee + Zip Line: For real folks. And yes, in France. Hmm…spring skiing weekend ski trip David? (via Gear Junkie)

6) PowerTap visited the DCR cave: Back a while ago they swung by for a run and to chat about various product stuff.  They also shot this short video tour of the DCR Cave after the run.

7) More art using GPS tracks: This time from Victoria, BC.  Always impressive, never gets old! (Thanks to Liz)

8) Playing baseball against felons in prison: Even if you’re not a baseball fan, I suspect you’ll find this a worthwhile read.

9) Nike’s (newest) running scandal – this time paying off corrupt officials in Kenya: I always wonder – when certain companies end up in the spotlight numerous times for shady stuff – what does all the undiscovered things look like?  Or, what company culture leads to these repeated issues?  For example, no matter how much you might dislike XYZ other company out there, it’s usually for some product-specific reason (bad customer service, poor product, annoying sales people, etc…).  Yet, it’s not usually because numerous levels of employees did things universally considered highly questionable.  No doubt, anytime you run such a massive company there will be bad apples that do stupid things – but there are also huge controls in place in large companies to prevent these sorts of things.

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?

Garmin Fenix3/Tactix Bravo/Quatix 3 BETA firmware update: Largely just bug fixes this time.

Garmin Vivosmart HR BETA firmware update: Adds screen lock, among numerous other performance tweaks.

GoPro releases new editing app for desktops: It’s a more simplified and easier to use version of their existing GoPro Studio app (it’s free).

Polar Flow & Strava Tweaks for V650: In short, ensure you’re on the the latest firmware there.  Tweaks impact paused time, and will be going to the other products soon.  Read link for full details.

TomTom Action Cam Android App Update: Gets support for adding data overlays.

Thanks for reading all!

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26 Comments

  1. Dave Lusty

    FYI the Quatix is actually the Quatix 3. Quatix was original Fenix hardware, weirdly there was no Quatix 2 though. This was the second time you’ve missed the 3 on the update section so I figured it might not actually be a typo after all :)

  2. Dan

    Running out of space in that cave – time for a yard sale!

  3. Scott Buchanan

    Point 9 in the “STUFF THAT I FOUND INTERESTING AROUND THE INTERWEBS” section…..

    I thought I was the only one! Haven’t bought a Nike product since the child labour scandal in the…. late 90’s??

  4. Tosin

    2) GoPro buys video app makers for combined for $105 Million:

    You have two “for”s in that line.

  5. betabug

    How about this for your Interwebs section:

    link to twitter.com

    Dimension Data, company not team, moving into sports tech after seeing cycling link to computerdealernews.com … “It was a sport devoid of technology”

    So apparently there was no technology in cycling so far, and we all simply didn’t notice :-) Did you know that our little pushbikes don’t have any sensors?

    • I don’t know what’s funnier. The article as written, or the quotes.

      For example:

      What is the difference between the average highest speed and average lowest speed?
      How many ways can you spell Tour de France?
      It was never possible to see the speed of a rider before? Amazing!

      Among others…

    • Marky Mark

      and the sloppy spelling of the football team…

      “the example of Leister City, a small club compared to the giants of the Premier League”

      I presume they actually mean “Leicester City”?….

    • Husain

      This article is gold!

  6. gingerneil

    Awesome news about the podcast… Good to hear Ben will at least be keeping yours going. :)

  7. David

    The bungee thing looks neat, just need to add a drone…

  8. ekutter

    For flatter races, makes total sense to go to a single chainring. I’d never get another mountain bike with a front derailleur after using SRAM XX1. But for road and triathlon riding, the gaps between gears makes more difference, especially for a hilly course. Lots of benefits of a single chainring but hadn’t thought about more aero as well.

    • Phil A

      A pro-triathlete that I know converted his triathlon bike last year into a single front ring, and loved it. He worked with the Bike mechanic and they did some calculations and found out that with only 1 front ring he could produce almost exactly the same range of power, because of it allowing better use of the rear cassette. He used it on a number of hilly courses, and had no issues. I guess there was a very minor change in how easy a gear he could have, but nothing that hindered performance, in fact overall he said his performance was much better.

  9. Ricardo Lucas

    Hi Ray,

    Regarding the firmware update, on Fenix 3, Garmin just added the Elevation Plot function – probably to “fight” the Suunto Vertical. I’ve been testing it and it seems quite interesting, it plots and tracks the ascent that you have done when on navigation mode. Oriented for trail running but kind of nice to have.

  10. Mayhem

    No mention at all about Rotor 2INpower yet? Must say I don’t quite understand Rotor’s development priorities here. As they already had a the dual-sided Power with strain-gauges in the crank arms I thought the INpower was primarily targeted at people who already had their regular cranks as a lower-cost solution, and from what I understand the 2INpower cannot be retro-fitted to old cranksets? Or was the Power so unreliable that they decided it’s be worthwhile to shift all resources to the INpower platform?

  11. MikeDozer

    And Epix again left without fixes :/

  12. Captain CHris

    That picture of you and the waterspout is crazy! I don’t think I have seen it before. Where was that taken?

  13. Philip K. Turney

    Good post Ray !
    I had read your Fitbit Blaze In-Depth Review, this is really full information review that I’ve read.
    Thank for that !

  14. Jude Ormston

    The Brownlees were using SRAM Force 1 at the London WTS last year – with Alistair winning:

    link to cyclingweekly.co.uk

  15. Eli

    New Powertap firmware:
    link to powertap.com

  16. David

    For next week’s list:
    link to cyclist.co.uk

    I found it pretty interesting.