Week in Review–May 7th, 2017

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 30th, 2017
Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Southern California
Monday: Huge Spring Sale: 20% of all trainers, all power meters, and plenty more
Tuesday: Hands-on: Hammerhead’s new Karoo GPS Bike Computer
Thursday: Wind Tunnel Time: Is the Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT actually the fastest bike computer?

Don’t forget the big 20% off sale (trainers, power meters and more!)

In case you missed it earlier this week, it ends on Wednesday, and will likely be the last solid sale you’ll see on big ticket items till November, especially this diversity of trainers and power meters.  Here’s a list of the most interesting ones to me – remember, everything below is then 20% off those prices. Details in the post:

My Favorite VIP Sale Picks - Spring 2017

Item	Year Announced	Regular Price	Review/Related Post
4iiii Power Meters	2015	$399	DCR Post Here
bePRO Power Meters	2015	$824	DCR Post Here
Coros Linx Smart Helmet (what I use)	Late 2016	$199	DCR Post Here
Elite Drivo	Late 2016	$1,299	DCR Post Here
Elite Kura	Late 2016	$899	DCR Post Here
Elite Rampa	Late 2016	$649	DCR Post Here
CycleOps Hammer	Late 2016	$1,199	DCR Post Here
CycleOps Magnus	Late 2016	$599	DCR Post Here
Lezyne Super GPS Bike Computer	Mid-2016	$149	DCR Post Here
Oakley Radar Pace	Mid-2016	$475	No DCR Post Yet
Pioneer Power Meters	2015-2017	$499	DCR Post Here
Polar M460 GPS Bike Computer	April 2017	$329	DCR Post Here
Polar M600 GPS Android Wear Watch	Late 2016	$329	DCR Post Here
PowerTap C1 Power Meter	2015	$699	DCR Post Here
PowerTap P1 Power Meter Pedals	2015	$1,199	DCR Post Here
Quarq DZero Power Meters	Late 2016	$679	DCR Post Here
Suunto Sparies Series (Ultra/Sport/Wrist HR)	2016-2017	$399	DCR Post Here
Tacx Flux Smart	Late 2017	$899	DCR Post Here
Tacx NEO Smart 2017 Edition	Late 2016	$1,599	DCR Post Here
Tacx Bushido Smart	2014	$799	DCR Post Here
Tacx Vortex Smart	2014	$549	DCR Post Here
TomTom Spark3 with optical HR/Music	Late 2016	$249	DCR Post Here
Wahoo KICKR2	Late 2016	$1,199	DCR Post Here

Oh, and then there’s a bunch of other random sales going on too. Here’s the Garmin wearable-specific sales, which run through May 20th:

Garmin Vivofit Jr – Save $10 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Garmin Forerunner 35 – Save $30 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Garmin Vivofit 3 – Save $30 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Garmin Vivosmart HR+ (the one with GPS): Save $30 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Garmin Vivoactive HR (also with GPS): Save $50 – down to $199 – solid deal (Amazon/Clever Training)

Then there’s some Fitbit specific sales, which run through May 13th:

Fitbit Flex 2 – Save $40 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Fitbit Alta – Save $30 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Fitbit Alta HR – Save $20 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Fitbit Charge 2 – Save $20 (Amazon/Clever Training)
Fitbit Blaze – Save $50 (Amazon/Clever Training)

Then there’s some TomTom specific sales, which run through May 14th:

TomTom Spark 3 – $20 off (Amazon/Clever Training)
TomTom Spark 3 Music – $20 off (Amazon/Clever Training)
TomTom Spark 3 Cardio – $20 off (Amazon/Clever Training)
TomTom Spark 3 Cardio Music – $20 off (Amazon/Clever Training)
TomTom Adventurer – $50 off (Amazon/Clever Training)
TomTom Touch – $10 off (Amazon/Clever Training)

All of the above links help support the blog!

YouTube Videos I Published!

Here’s some YouTube goodness that I published this past week, don’t forget to subscribe!

 

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) Pricing your sports tech product as a startup: There’s few people better than Keith to talk about this, and everything he’s written in this post is worth reading (even if you’re just a consumer and want to understand why things cost the way they do).  Keith was a driving force behind the 4iiii power meter, after his DIY power meter project.

2) These mice run marathons without training: See, there’s hope for the rest of us. Albeit, with drugs. But that never stopped Tour de France winners…

3) Cycling Maven conquers Kickstarter, vlogging grand tours: In case you didn’t see this – pretty cool stuff to see them do so well on Kickstarter and now rocking some great videos already (daily vlogging the tour).  I haven’t historically watched Mark and Hannah’s stuff religiously, but have been hooked since they started their trip.  You can also check out their Kickstarter here, and an interview Shane Miller did with them here leading up to it.  Below is today’s VLOG from yesterday at the Giro (daily vlogs are typically posted the following day, since it incorporates the full previous day):

4) Ikea makes bikes…here’s how it rides: Go figure. But I agree – any place I can get meatballs and bikes in one stop is a winner in my book.

5) Strava Live Segments…for Zwift?!? I haven’t tried this yet myself (just landed a couple hours ago back home), but looks pretty intriguing.

6) How Leadout Trains Work: Putting this in the category of ‘the more you know’.

7) Sport Scientists take on the Nike Breaking-2 Hour Project: If you’re going to read one opinion…this is the one to read.

8) Summit Training Kickstarter: This training app aims to automate more of the coaching side of things with their training platform.

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

Garmin Fenix Chronos/Fenix 5/5S/5X BETA Firmware Versions: Some new features, mostly bug fixes.

Garmin Edge 820/820 Explore/1000 Firmware Update: Bike light support tweaks/improvements, some bug fixes.

Garmin Vivosmart 3 Firmware Update: Improvements in optical HR, rep counting, Move IQ, and a few others.

Garmin Vivoactive HR Firmware Update: Minor bug fix.

Garmin Forerunner 920XT Firmware Update: Bug fixes mostly.

Garmin Forerunner 230/235/630 BETA Firmware Update: Bug fixes mostly.

Polar M460 Firmware Updates: Mostly bug fixes

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Thanks for reading!

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