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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–April 3rd, 2016
Tuesday: A Weekend Skiing in Les Arcs
Wednesday: Trying Out The New NUT-R Wheel Action Cam Mount
Thursday: Garmin slashes Vector pricing & adds Shimano pedals, Edge 25/810/Varia Radar & PowerPod on Sale
Sports Tech Hot Deal Reminder (ends Apr 16th):
A bunch of stuff hit this week, but the gist of it is:
A) Garmin Vector2 now has a Shimano pedal compatibility upgrade kit you can get for $99.
B) Garmin Vector2’s price was also cut to $999USD (for Vector 2), and $599USD (for Vector 2S)
C) Garmin has on sale the Edge 25, Edge 810, Edge 810 Bundle, and Varia Radar (rear)
D) PowerPod (not a Garmin product) is also on sale, from $299 down to $249
Full details in my post covering it all here.
New YouTube Videos This Week!
A few of these were covered in existing posts, but some I uploaded after the fact:
Skiing with active tracking mode on DJI Phantom 4 (how it all works):
NUT-R Test Ride Around Paris
The DCR Podcast:
Here’s the low-down on what was covered this past week in the DCR podcast:
– Chatting about my upcoming trip to Sea Otter this week (big bike event)
– Which software/app to analyze heart rate data
– Whether or when Garmin will add multi-device activity tracking like Fitbit
– Competing in your first triathlon
– Most impactful sports tech device created in last 10-15 years
– How to fake-out Strava when weightlifting
– Some more people from the UK called
– Breadcrumbs and trails
– Troubleshooting trainer accuracy issues
– Zwift and trainer app thoughts
Actually…There were two podcasts in the last week, so definitely check out episode 39 as well (same link).
Wait – there’s more! This week we’re doing a special women’s-only caller episode, so let’s get some ladies’ questions in there. Or rather, questions from ladies. I suppose it could be about ladies too though, if you wanted.
Thanks for listening! Subscribing and rating in iTunes is much appreciated, and be sure to send in your questions via the voice mail widget at the bottom of the podcast page!
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) Swim…Bike…Cheat: While this story is well known within triathlon circles, it’s finally made it big time! Up to the New York Times for an impressively detailed piece on the Julie Miller cheating (course-cutting) scandal.
2) Strava’s doping problem: A very solid piece by Jim Gourley. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure why Strava pretends that they can’t remove KOM’s here. They’ve done that for all sorts of infractions (heck, even including certain bike equipment), or when they believe someone has cheated. They make that decision on a daily basis, over and over again. This is no different. As Jim noted, if people think Strava stops mattering, they’ll stop spending money on it.
3) More thoughts on the Shimano-VeloNews kerfuffle: Now I’d point out that I actually think when properly used, embargoes are good for the industry, media and consumers. However, that doesn’t contradict with spyshot/rumor type stories either (mainstream press manage this just fine). Time-based embargoes are valuable in reporting because it allows a publication to put together a more accurate piece, and usually a deeper more substantive piece (often with hands-on access to better form opinions). The alternative is simply re-transmitting press releases with no hands-on time. At which point, you’re effectively just a marketing arm.
4) Fitbit might have saved a guys life: Pretty impressive story, on so many levels. It would be interesting to know if this tidbit ever comes up on-record during likely upcoming deliberations in the class-action lawsuit around using a Fitbit as a medical device. (via Mario K.)
5) Frenchman plans SUP crossing of ocean: Put me down on this list of things I’d never desire to do.
6) Another power meter on the market on Kickstarter: This sorta looks like LIMITS and WatTeam had a baby. Price in USD is about $370. I have not tried it.
7) When you just want to look at pretty bicycling pictures: Love it when CyclingTips does their Road Tripping series. This time around Wellington.
8) Speeding tickets for mountain bikers: Yes, seriously.
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?
Basis Peak adds music control and other tidbits: Nice to see this continue to get updates.
Polar Loop/Loop 2 firmware update: Minor fixes and one additional notification message.
Garmin Fenix3/HR/Tactix Brava/Quatix 3 BETA firmware update: More new features/fixes/tweaks, including the ability to check out your EPO status. Woot!
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With that – thanks for reading!
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I wondered for a bit if you’d want to know about a few typos, but I decided to let you know anyway. I really don’t want to be “that guy”, however.
2) “They’ve do that for all sorts of infractions” and “if people thing Strava stops mattering”
6) “I have no tried it.”
Thanks for all of the content you provide. I am looking forward to Sea Otter announcements.
Thanks! You can also use the ‘contact’ option up above too. It all goes to the same place!
Cheers!
I’d be worried about the longevity of the cable coming straight out of the metal component, given that it has no extra protection (like you find on headphones, chargers, etc).
BTW, I am talking about the power meter 😉
With their design, you also don’t have any control over where on the “circle” the cable comes out after you have installed it to the crank.
Worst case, the cable will come out parallel to the crank arm, pointing away from the BB, making it extremely susceptible to damage while clipping in.
Yeah, totally agree on the wire connection point. Definitely would die quickly. Especially there, because it’s a super unprotected area against mis-clips/etc…
Wondering why they didnt place the connection inside the crank thread, make the cable a ribbon and m/f connector something like a 9 volt battery. Either that or a magnet connection like Air powercords.
Trying to think what that power meter baby would like, yikes!
Half vapourware half, erm cables and zip ties??
FWIW, Marin County did a similar speed limit enforcement during the late ’80s/early ’90s, including paved paths, fire roads, trails on Mt. Tam, etc. except using radar guns instead of LIDAR. Even the 15 mph limit hasn’t changed over the intervening years.
MTB Speed Limit: Are you sure it’s not an April Fool’s joke?
“…The ramped-up enforcement, which began April 1, is taking place …”
Given they came out on April 5th/6th, I doubt it. I thought same thing at first.
In most states, bikes are legally considered motor vehicles & subject to all the rights & responsibilities “except as to those provisions of this title which by their nature can have no application.” You can’t be cited for a seatbelt violation in your antique car that didn’t come with OEM seatbelts. Therefore, I wonder how enforceable speed limits are given that bikes don’t come with OEM speedometers?
Traditional cyclecomputers are user calibrated based upon wheel/tire size & pressure. Mine is currently useless as the battery is dead. With my Garmin (another optional, & not inexpensive piece of equipment), I may not have the speed displayed at any given time, depending upon what screen I’m on.
you might initially think recycled April Fools since there’s a lot just churning from the April 1 SF Gate story link to sfgate.com but there are a few articles from March 31 like this link to kron4.com
I looked at that F3 beta release and wondered if they’d been reading your blog, I have to say. Though the release notes make it sound as though they’ve found some watches aren’t syncing the EPO correctly and are adding this to support fixing that.
Thanks Ray – I found the article on Shimano-VeloNews kerfuffle very interesting.
Shimano was not very smart in threatening to remove adds… I would have threatened to not share any more
content in advance and letting other publications that respect NDA have access.
However, the fault is on the journalist. Of course if you ask around for people to confirm what you know already through a confidential agreement you will get someone to confirm it. It is not fair game or ethical – and for anyone to defend such behaviour makes no sense…
I agree with you – I like your inside early looks that you get to publish by respecting embargoes… It is understandable that companies want to manage who announces what and where and when. They dont control what you right though… Anyways was pissed at those pompous journalists. Or maybe I missed something 🙂
Well, to be clear – they are different things. Velonews wasn’t under an embargo/NDA for the items related to their story. They had done research, talked with people (aka sources), and found shots of it in the wild. This is all valid journalism. The didn’t break any rules/laws. Shimano may not like it because it breaks their marketing narrative/plans, but that’s not Velonews’s problem.
If however, Velonews had agreed to an embargo date and been provided information by Shimano under NDA, then yes, that’d be poor form. There are no doubt media outlets in this space that do that, be it breaking embargoes by days, or just a few hours (because it helps their search rankings). But VeloNews isn’t historically one of those.
Take for example my Stages dual power meter shots from yesterday at Paris-Roubaix. Is it wrong that I published photos of an unreleased product? I have no current embargo with Stages. And they were out in public with a dozen bikes passing hundreds of thousands of people with said tech. In my opinion – as long as I wasn’t under an embargo/NDA from Stages on something, I’m free to post whatever I’d like.
Your example of the Stages power meter is only similar in that it’s an unreleased product, otherwise it was out in the public domain for anyone to see and photograph. Being in the public domain beats any confidentiality / non-disclosure agreement and there are no issues whatsoever publishing your photos.
The Velonews one is grey in that it’s not as simple as them not having their own NDA/Embargo with Shimano, it’s whether they knew the source of their information had an NDA. I would say it’s more than likely they did.
Now let me preface this next comment with the reality that Shimano is not going to do anything now anyway because of the PR backlash but ordinarily it is not legal to induce confidential information from someone and then use that confidential information to your gain. Now Velonews say it’s journalism but fact is they gain revenue from publishing that story so they benefited financially from that information.
I don’t particularly like the way Velonews have made this public in respect to the facebook posts, and Shimano are naive in the way they went about trying to close the story down with threats.
Thanks for the additional context on Velonews. If they did not have an embargo / nda in place and did not know then it is all fair game – and what would be investigative journalism.
Same for you and stages – great example. If you dont have an NDA or an embargo and figured it out on your own. All the power to you – and we get the right information
I think you are an example for the industry – and for any other industry where there is such a strong tie between journalism and sales. Others are video games for examples.
Thanks for all the hard work
BTW Magellan was the first maker of a consumer gps: link to mashable.com
It’s Sea Otter Week!!! See you out at the Otter – my 18th year out there! 🙂
Regarding the question in latest DCR podcast for syncing strength workouts to Strava:
I measure them as well, but they get synced to Garmin Connect as “Running”, since FR15 doesn’t support other workout types. Then when I edit them, I change the type to “Strength workout”.
For syncing to Strava, I use copymysports.com service (because of the delay I’m able to change the workout type in time), which sets the workout type on Strava as “Workout” and this includes the HR graph.
Same works for football games, where I play indoor and only measure HR. On GC I change those activities to “Other” and copymysports transfers them to Strava as “Workout” with shown HR data.
I take all Strava KOMs with a grain of salt. I track my own performance to see how I am improving (most of the time) but many of the KOM times for some of the local segments are just ridiculous.