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Week in Review–July 17th, 2016

July 17, 2016 by |Blog|Comments (20)

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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–July 10th, 2016 (Don’t forget Fenix3 25% deal ends today, details in this post)
Wednesday: Hands-on with Garmin’s new Edge 820 with mapping
Friday: How I capture photos while openwater swimming (some great pics/tips from DCR readers added to comments since this post)
Saturday: European Readers: Clever Training Europe is here!

Almost back up to full speed this past week after settling into a bit of a routine with Le Bébé!

DCR Podcast!

Here’s a handful of the topics discussed in this past week’s podcast:

[Once Ben stops fluffing around on his bike with his RV in the mountains, we’ll record something new. Probably tonight.]

Listen to the full podcast here on the Podcast player, or just download the most recent one directly here.

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) Uber begins using bicycles in DC for food delivery: Makes complete sense, especially since in many cities bicycle delivered food driven by apps is already commonplace.

2) See.Sense goes on Crowd Cube for investors: See.Sense makes those cool connected bike lights I showed off last fall.  This is more than Kickstarter though, as in this case backers actually get legit equity.  Interesting stuff, and impressive in less than 2 days they’ve already raised 300K.

3) NBC (USA) outlines their online streaming plans for Rio: Which roughly amounts to everything is broadcast online live, except for the opening ceremonies, which is delayed by an hour.

4) Quarq acquires Kickstarter project: Interesting to see SRAM (which Quarq is a part of) going out and snatching up Kickstarter projects. You’ll remember Garmin did something similar two years ago with the Backtracker project, which ultimately became Varia Radar.

5) Get zapped every time a friend beats Strava segment: Well then, that’s pretty…umm…shocking. (via Ryan)

6) A look at GoPro’s 360° Camera? Perhaps…just perhaps. Though, this has quite a bit of backend support below the bike casing.  So it’s hard to say how that would be separated (some of that is for the live broadcasting system).  Of course, the stitching they show is still pretty rough.  If they can resolve the stitching through software, this solution blows away most other consumer options on the market in terms of quality.  But then again…this may not end up being a consumer solution.

7) I’ll be showing off something really cool on Tuesday evening: I can’t say more yet, but…if you’re on Zwift on Tuesday evening at 8:00PM Central European Time (2:00PM US Eastern) – I’ll be there.  Oh, and I’ll also be Periscoping it to be able to see it in action (so follow me on Twitter).

8) Brim Brothers and LIMITS push back power meter deliveries again: The last few days haven’t been terribly awesome for power meter companies trying to break into the market.

9) 11 Water Bottles in 30 Seconds: Not too shabby at all! (via Race Radio)

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 are 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?  Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin firmware updates.

Wahoo ELEMNT Firmware Update: Bug fixes.

Garmin Vivoactive Firmware Update: Bug fix with sleep detection.

Garmin Vivofit: Performance tweaks.

Garmin Vivosmart: Improvements and bug fixes.

Garmin Fenix3/Fenix3 HR/Tactix Bravo/Quatix 3 BETA firmware update: Adds support for non-native music app control, improves 24×7 data precision (F3HR), floors climbed and more.  F3HR download here.

Connect IQ 2 related firmware updates: These are updates for giving a new Connect IQ beta version for devs to work with.  Across numerous devices: Edge 1000, Edge 520, Forerunner 230, Forerunner 235, Forerunner 630, Forerunner 920XT

—

Thanks for reading all!

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20 Comments

  1. Josh
    July 17, 2016 at 8:29 am #1

    Ray, if zwift does end up successfully incorporating running, will you be able to help those of us ready for a treadmill upgrade find which models are compatible such that zwift would control speed incline and decline?

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      July 17, 2016 at 10:33 am #2

      It’s something I’d look at. Though, honestly I’d hope that Zwift (or whomever) – would just keep a list similar to what they do today for trainers.

      It’s especially messy though when you get to intl SKU’s, since they’ll give the same physical model 98 different country models and half the time it’ll be re-branded 28 additional times. 29 if it’s a high tide.

      Reply
    • Josh
      July 17, 2016 at 11:18 am #3

      Thanks, if you are in regular contact with them hopefully this has or will come up in discussion, I am definitely ready to move forward with a new purchase but with this new technology on the horizon which I’ve been waiting for for quite some time, a treadmill investment is definitely worth waiting on.

      Reply
  2. Chris Barber
    July 17, 2016 at 11:42 am #4

    Something to elevate front wheel on zwift on inclines would be intesresting (downhills may not be practical without some soft of platform) . Not sure how zwift transmits grade to trainer but imagine it’s possible to use similar to adjust.

    Reply
  3. Simon
    July 17, 2016 at 11:53 am #5

    The shockwiz is an interesting product. Are you planning to have a look at it Ray?

    Reply
  4. Eli
    July 17, 2016 at 3:20 pm #6

    I thought the more interesting part of the new firmware is the 630 is no the first garmin device with built in support for muscle oxygen sensors. No mention if the functionality will come to anything else though

    Reply
  5. Nigel P.
    July 17, 2016 at 3:41 pm #7

    What is NBC’s problem with the opening and closing ceremonies? I don’t want their schmaltzy, patronising rehash. I want them live. #showitlive

    Reply
  6. Kyle Polansky
    July 17, 2016 at 10:03 pm #8

    The GoPro video is really interesting. First part of the video (1:45ish) looks great. As you mentioned, the stitching needs work, the lens curvatures don’t line up, and they don’t appear to overlap, making you miss a little bit of the frame.

    However, at 4:00ish, the video looks terrible. Perhaps this is because of the live-stream aspect. Other than the quality, their seems to be a “fog-like” effect at the edges of the lens. Also interesting is that while the seems still don’t line up, they are a lot closer to lining up that on the first 360 shot in the video.

    Another interesting observation is that the bike seems to have 2 fairly long gooseneck mics sticking up behind the camera. However, these don’t appear in the “good resolution” shots. The poor quality shots never rotate that far back.

    Thinking they probably used different cameras, which wouldn’t be surprising. Hopefully the final version will have the resolution as we see towards the start of the video.

    Reply
  7. Michal
    July 18, 2016 at 3:19 am #9

    Hey Ray, when/if you gonna publish the Summer 2016 gadget recommendations? I suspect a lot of people are hovering their index fingers over “add to cart” buttons at the Clever Training – EU or classsic – store.

    Reply
  8. Andrew M
    July 18, 2016 at 8:57 am #10

    Is that one bottle for each consecutive Grand Tour Adam Hansen has done?

    Reply
  9. StephenB
    July 18, 2016 at 9:41 am #11

    Sorry… the following message was just posted in error to a week in June.

    Below is an email I received this morning from adidas. Essentially it seems to be saying that the adidas miCoach Pacer will soon be of no use because (as far as I know) there will be no way to read data from/on the device. I often used the Pacer to record heart/stride rate. I thought it was a good product which deserves to be supported.

    “As a result of technology evolution, miCoach Manager is being discontinued. What this means for you is that as of the middle of October, the miCoach Manager will be removed from the site and you will no longer be able to sync your Pacer and/or SPEED_CELL ANT+. The Pacer has been on the market for more than six years now, and production and development of the device was discontinued two years ago.

    For SPEED_CELL BTLE Mac users, you will still be able to sync your device via the multi-sport app, but no longer with your Mac via the miCoach Manager.

    Over time we will continue to evolve our products and services alongside new and emerging technologies.

    If you have questions regarding the Pacer, SPEED_CELL ANT+, SPEED_CELL BTLE or miCoach Manager, please reach out to miCoach Support. Thank you for your continued support and we hope that you understand our decision.

    Get more out of every workout by downloading our free Train and Run app at link to micoach.com.

    Best,
    Your miCoach Team”

    Reply
  10. Lee
    July 18, 2016 at 10:08 am #12

    After watching them handing water bottles, did any else think that’s probably not the safest way to do it? Yes I know they’ve been doing it like that for years, but there’s got to be a safer/easier way. The driver’s eyes were barely on the road once he started handing bottles over.

    Reply
    • Patrick
      July 18, 2016 at 11:04 am #13

      Water bottle vests do exist. I’m not sure why they don’t use them. Here’s an example of one in use at a Grand Tour. More info at link to pelotonmagazine.com.

      Reply
    • Lee
      July 18, 2016 at 11:36 am #14

      That vest is pretty cool.

      I was more thinking about the safety of having the driver actually hand the rider the bottle.

      Reply
    • Matt H
      July 21, 2016 at 2:22 pm #15

      I’m guessing it’s probably down to the additional weight that the water adds, roughly 1g per ml means 1kg/2.2lbs for 2 small bidons. Fine in training but racing is a different matter.

      Reply
  11. Veloreality
    July 19, 2016 at 6:23 am #16

    Not sure if it spoils a party (ZWift/Tacx Neo) part of your post but I think you are talking about a feature pretty much described here: link to tinyurl.com . Basically as Tacx Neo has motor, by introducing differently shaped noise to a motor control circuitry they were able to shake trainer/drivetrain in a way that resembles road patterns, like cobblestones, gravel, smooth etc.

    Funny thing about it I personally tried this “feature” when debugging firmware for our own trainer that has a motor as well. Firmware had a bug back then which introduced that exact cobblestone like vibrations. After enjoying it for a few seconds I personally found it highly disturbing but I guess some people might actually like it.

    One thing though – if transition comes out of blue (smooth to a cobbles for example) it might scare the living hell out of unsuspecting rider.

    Reply
  12. Ryan M.
    July 20, 2016 at 4:17 pm #17

    Ray,

    Just saw that the Whoop Strap is now being released for the public. Any chance they have contacted you about a review?

    link to whoop.com

    While not a typical tracker, the 100 samples per second for HRV looks very interesting.

    Reply
  13. Max
    August 1, 2016 at 4:12 am #18

    Hi Ray,

    I did not see any post or anything about the last firmware update of the Garmin 920XT and the fact that the watch is counting your steps during an activity now … My girlfriends is not using the watch daily (only for workouts) and she is getting some steps counts … Can you confirm the change on that?

    Have a nice day!

    Max.

    Reply
    • Ray Maker
      August 1, 2016 at 4:30 am #19

      It’s always counted steps during workouts (including cycling). Also always been a sore point.

      Reply
    • Max
      August 1, 2016 at 4:49 am #20

      Hi thanks for the quick head up!

      I had in my mind the statement saying ‘you need to wear another “steps tracker” during your activity for your steps being counted into your daily steps’ … Seems that Garmin Connect is presenting the steps in my news feed as ‘daily steps’ but counting them separately in the timeline.

      Bref, good to know – and strange for the cycling workouts!
      Keep going and good luck with The Peanut.

      Max.

      Reply