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/X 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!
DCR Posts In The Past Week:
Here’s all the latest on the site:
Sunday: Week in Review – May 19th, 2024
Monday: How My Garmin Endurance Score Skyrocketed In One Boring Ride
Wednesday: Hammerhead Sends Out 7-Year ‘Old Karoo’ instead of ‘New Karoo’
Spring Sports Tech Deals:
There’s a slate of new sports tech deals, primarily from Garmin, but also a few other companies jumping in on the almost summer-themed sales. Some of these end May 27th.
| Product | Sale Price | Amazon | Other site | Sale Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | AmazFit T-Rex 3 - $55 off | $224 | Amazon | ||
 | Apple Watch Series 10 - $70 off $399/$499 (cellular) | $359 | Amazon | ||
 | Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium - $70 off | $729 | Amazon | ||
 | Elite Riser - $250 off! | $749 | Amazon | This appears to basically just be an Uncle Amazon sale, but hey, if you've got an Elite trainer and wanted Rizer, this is a super good deal for US folks! | |
 | Garmin Edge 1050 - $100 off! | $599 | Amazon | REI | ⚡This is the first time we've seen teh Edge 1050 on sale, since being announced last June (2024). It continues to be the most full featured bike comptuer on the market, and both reviews and consumers seem to be pretty happy with it. It's the unit I use if not testing anything else. |
 | Garmin Edge 540 - $100 off | $249 | Amazon | REI | ⚡At $249, it's pretty much impossible to beat this deal in terms of bike computers. There's no competitive option that beats it on features/battery/etc at this price, or frankly anywhere near it. Sure, it doesn't have a touchscreen, but it's not as bad as it used to be (I did a stint on it this winter for a week or so, and was fine). |
 | Garmin Edge 840 - $100 off | $349 | Amazon | REI | This is Garmin's main mid-range cycling GPS, it's what my wife uses and she's perfectly happy with it. |
 | Garmin Enduro 3: $100 off $899 | $799 | Amazon | REI | This is the biggest sale we've seen on this to date. As noted above, the Enduro 3 is simply the Fenix 8 with a MIP/Solar display (but without the scuba or voice calling features). It gets all the Fenix 8 features and updates otherwise. |
 | Garmin Fenix 8 Series - $200 Off! $999-$1,199 | $799 | Amazon | REI | ⚡The Fenix 8 is now down to $799 for the 42/47mm AMOLED editions, and from $899 for the Solar/MIP editions. This is the first big sale, outside of a short $70 discount back in January by Uncle Amazon. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 265 Series - $100 off! $449 | $349 | Amazon | REI | This is actually the biggest discount the Forerunner 265 has seen since launch. Obviously the FR570 (successor to FR265) just came out this week, though with relatively modest updates. |
 | Garmin Forerunner 965 - $100 off $599 | $499 | Amazon | REI | This is the lowest price to date on this watch, bringing it down to a very strong $499. This unit includes maps and is more or less a plastic Fenix 7 Pro. The FR970 just came out this week, adding ECG functionality and a few other software features...but at $250 more! |
 | Garmin Varia Radar (RTL515) - $50 off | $149 | Amazon | REI | This is Garmin's standalone radar+taillight option, and $149 is pretty much the standard sale-price. |
 | Garmin Venu 3/3S - $100 off | $349 | Amazon | REI | |
 | Garmin inReach 2 Mini Satellite Communicator (2-way) - $100 off | $299 | Amazon | REI | ⚡ This is my defacto satellite communicator when out of coverage area, and I've used it on a number of major treks over the past two years when well outside of cellular service, both in a 24x7 tracking mode for friends and family, but also there in case of emergency. Would strongly recommend for anyone doing anything in the wilderness. |
 | Garmin inReach Messenger Plus - $100 off! | $399 | Amazon | REI | This came out last fall, and is the first time this has been discounted. The key difference with the new Plus model is that it adds the ability to send photos and voice messenges via satellite. I've used it a bit, and it's pretty cool because it makes it a lot faster to just say something rather than type it out, but the $499 price seemed excessive. $399 makes it slightly more palatable. |
 | GoPro Hero 13 Black Bundle (extra battery/SD card/floaty) - $100 off! | $379 | Amazon | ⚡ This is a very solid deal. It's a Hero 13 Black on discount, but then an extra battery tossed in, then an SD card, and then a floaty. | |
 | Suunto Race - $70 off! $449/$549 | $379 | Amazon | ||
 | Suunto Vertical - $130 off! | $499 | Amazon | ||
 | Wahoo BOLT V2 - $30 off $279 | $249 | Amazon |
Stuff 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 Crazy Cycling Race Motor Doping Story: Except, this doesn’t end there. It continues with the athlete running to a getaway car, having an accomplice drive, and then the race director ending up on the hood of the car. Not kidding.
2) Samsung Galaxy Ring Rumors Heat Up: Naturally, it’s expected this will have a subscription fee to it. No surprise there, though, I’d argue that Samsung and other major companies could better compete with just a one-time hardware cost. After all, this would undoubtedly require a Samsung phone – helping to tighten that ecosystem.
3) Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 also looks square-ish: But more importantly – more buttons! This continues the general trend we’re seeing from wearable companies the last couple years of bringing back the buttons. Finally, big tech realizing what everyone else has for years: Buttons are best.
4) Zwift Labs Features Announced: A whole burrito-bowl full of them, from group FTP tests to coached audio workouts, and more. As always, not all of these things will live. Some might die.
5) Tube vs Tubeless Gauntlet Test: I had put this on in the background initially, and was pleasantly surprised by it. This video reminded me much more of the old days of GTN, where there was less polish and more ‘buds out back with beer seeing what happens’. Except they also visited the hardware store and got sharp objects. Give it a watch, it’s funny and useful.
6) Converting bike to rail bike: I’ve seen a few bike/cart/rail conversions on YouTube over the years, but this is actually one of the first I remember that can be portaged easily. Most of them are beastly setups, or not super flexible. Also of note, I appreciate that this very small YouTube channel can randomly surface in my ‘Recommendations’ feed, for something that was legit interesting. Again, kinda reminded me of the GTN video above in a way.
7) Nearly 400 athletes DNF at Morro Bay 70.3: I’m sure you’ve probably seen some of the videos of the swim situation on Twitter/TikTok/etc this week. It’s insane. In short it sounds like a sand bar or something changed recently, which in turn caused a weird current situation that got exponentially worse with each successive wave – to the point even reasonably good/strong swimmers simply couldn’t make forward progress. Some normally 30-min swimmers were coming out of the water in 90 mins. Kudos to Ironman though for at least quickly offering all those who DNF’d to a free entry at another race.
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With that – thanks for reading!
Hey Ray – looks like you have the wrong link for #7; the text “Nearly 400 athletes DNF at Morro Bay 70.3” links to the rail bike video.
That would have seriously sucked – I’m a ~50 minute swimmer in a 70.3, and I probably would have just pulled out when I realised I was going backwards. The strongest current I’ve ever swum in was at the start of the swim for Ironman NZ, when they started near the yacht club; I could feel/see that I was making slow progress against it at the start (because the water was moving towards the Waikato River exit at the north-eastern end of the lake), but it quickly died off as I got further away from the river. The thought of having to fight against a stronger current towards the tail end of the swim… yikes.
Doh – thanks! Correct link updated, and here: link to triathlonmagazine.ca
OK – Sunday GMBN made a video worth watching :-) – stripping a remote control from an RC, using the motors and some circuitboards, some batteries and wham you get remote controlled and remote actuated brakes on an MTB. Not quite FPV, but the first step. – it was actually hilarious. – They still got it even though it feels like a big TV-station sometimes. (well technically they are of course) – So who is up for being the person on the bike in a downhill race with remotely controlled brakes and fpv googles from the top/bottom of the course?