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Happy Tuesday! We have one week left to May, and as per usual, my mind is blown on where the time has gone! I will say it is also a little bit silly how come Sunday night I look forward to Monday mornings! Firstly because I like my job, and I kinda like my boss. But secondly… sometimes on Monday’s, after I drop off the kiddos at daycare, I will sneak home and sleep for an extra 45 minutes or so. Don’t worry… Ray doesn’t read the newsletter. It’s our secret. But wait?!?! The kids are back in daycare??? Yeasssss that’s another story. The Netherlands is in a very slow and controlled roll out to re-opening things. The first thing they re-opened were the daycares and primary school levels to see how it goes. Next phase is in June for a very altered re-opening of elementary/middle schools, restaurants, and other public venues. Unfortunately, like most places, the bigger events that we were looking forward to for this summer and fall have been cancelled. Namely running races and (for Ray) a handful of triathlons. Maybe later we can figure out a winter race/fun run, we will see. Well, I know you’re here for the tech, so onwards I go! Let’s see what the man has been up to.
So a great post for those enjoying a long weekend is the Map Overlays of Varia Radar Data, With Vehicle Counts. There’s a lot of Ray-Geekery here folks, but it’s pretty cool all the same. It seems like there are still a few quirks to iron out on the developer side, but the concept and application of it all is super cool! I would like to think this will become the norm in features to help support future route planning for cyclist! Then we had the Week in Review. I do actually read these posts now, and it’s 100% for the “Stuff I Found Around the Interwebs” section. This is mainly of interest because I check to make sure Ray isn’t trolling me for something in there. Don’t put it past him. Also, he does seem to dig up some interesting stuff like the Dutch Man and his Man-Made Mountain.
Next up we have… Oh yes… a goodie! This is one of those classic posts where I tell all of you to either go fill up your coffee mug or wine glass now, or wait to read it until you have the time to really commit. Strava Cuts Off Leaderboard for Free Users, Reduces 3rd Party Apps for All, and More. I hope you understand that I’m in no way excited that this post hit the blog, I wish Strava could have come up with an alternate solution. I get it, they were between a rock and a hard place. Buuuuut I think maybe it could have been approached a little differently; especially the communication to the app developers. And since Strava’s decision has already been made, regardless of what you and I think, let’s go have a looksies at what the 600+ commenters have to say about it as well! Bottoms up!
Moving on. Ray gave a poke at Zwift’s New Boost Mode in Beta. You guys have all been reading the newsletter long enough to know that I got to that post’s 3rd paragraph and was in a deep sleep. Wattage, boosts, beta, Zwift racing… I was out. When I decided to just take the short cut and asked Ray for comment, he said, it was “interesting”, so I’ll leave you to make your own opinions on that one! Last but not least, we have a second Week in Review. You see, from when I started the newsletter (Friday) and when I finished it this morning, Ray snuck in another post. If nothing else, please go find the article about the 15 year old girl who just got recognized for some true grit! With that, we are at the end of tech catch up for this week. Next up we have Podcast updates and YouTube-y goodness. The FIT File with DC Rainmaker and GPLAMA: I’m starting to wonder if Ray and Shane had a bromance rift that the rest of us don’t know about? Shane, are we still friends? Please don’t hold Ray against me! I’m sorry for whatever he has done! I personally look forward to the next episode from the boys. Until then, you can check out the FIT File Page for the archived episodes! As always, for your streaming convenience, if you’re not at your computer you can pick your fancy of streaming platforms via iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify to tune in. YouTube The YouTube world is still kicking along. This week we have 5 new videos, and Ray has kept them all short and sweet for us, sub 14 minutes. Woot! Remember one of the nicest ways to give Ray some socially distant love is to click the like button on the videos or even subscribe to the channel. Either way, you can find it all here on the DC Rainmaker YouTube Channel. · Garmin Varia RTL515 & RVR315 Cycling Radar Review · Quick Tips: Garmin Launches Strava & Komoot Route Sync · Quick Tips: See Maps of Varia Radar Vehicle Data/ Speeds |
Then we had some news from 
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In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl Alrighty. We are done with the tech! But you might be wondering “did she say she started the newsletter on Friday and only finished it on Monday?”. Yes. See what happened was. I had a ton of work to do Friday morning, so I started the newsletter just after Lunch Friday. But thennnn after an hour (cough, or 2) Ray asked if I wanted to join him on a field trip to the beach for some drone wind testing. Seeming how I haven’t left the geological footprint / triangulation of my house - daycare - office in a mere 11 weeks now, the idea of getting in a carshare, driving through part of the countryside and arriving at the beach was akin to winning the lottery. Since a lot of you are DCR Supporters, spoiler alert, we did talk a lot about the drone testing adventures in the upcoming Quarantine Corner video. So I don’t want to double dip on those stories here. But we did have a lot of fun, it was cold and wet and windy… so the romantic idea of a “beach trip” quickly got squashed, as I was clearly asked to attend more as a person to carry stuff and work the cameras than as an opportunity to get a tan. That’s fair I guess. It is a job after all. Also, promptly after returning to the car and taking note of the mop on top of Ray's head, he was subjected to another at home haricut Friday night. Good news, we're still married! I will say, walking some distances on the sand in inappropriate shoes did not go well for me. Not only did I gain a few new blisters, but my calf was like “WHAT ARE WE DOING HERE?”. I guess I should have been more clear in my comments about my calf the last newsletter. It did actually “pop” while I was running, it’s hard to describe it any differently; like a giant zinger, pop, feeling. But, I did not actually tear my Achilles tendon, and I don’t have like a fruit-roll-up style calf muscle right now. I just have one really pissed off little calf. It needs some self-care, ice, stretching, frictions, and strengthening. So what am I doing about the calf and running? Well, the culprit is likely that I started a new running program. The methodology behind it is adapting a new running technique “Pose, Fall, Run”. In the long term, I think it will be the best thing for me and longevity of my old lady hips and knees. But currently, getting to that proficiency in running style is tough. So, I’ve completely backed off all of my mileage and am working 100% on muscle memory, running drills, and taking care of the calf. Let’s be honest… there isn’t any major races or anything coming up anytime soon. And since Strava just killed off half my friends, I’m not in a hurry to be blasting the next 10km PR. With that, I have a brand new THERAGUN Elite staring at me, begging to be unboxed. Photos first remember. So I have to get at that now, so I can better take care of the leg! As always, thanks so much for following along. Until next week! ~The Girl |
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