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Toot-Toot-Tuesday!

Goedendag everyone! Pronounced {Kgoud – in – daag}, and welcome back to another fun week of the DCR Newsletter. Did you like my little Dutch lesson? I’m currently into my first week of Dutch immersion classes, and obviously one of the first things you should learn is the simple greeting “good day”. I officially have one hour to pump out this newsletter, finish my Dutch homework, and get to class, so let’s GO!

Oh wait! Sorry, if you’re a new around here and this is your first newsletter, welcome. Now you should go do your homework too and can catch up with all of the Newsletter archives here.

Onwards!

Previously I had mentioned that Ray participated in a free online webinar/ interview series. It has now gone live and is available for you to have a listen for the next five days. Ray talks about everything from how to turn your blog into a career, to then balancing that career with life! I’m going to take a listen myself! You can too right here.

Since we have chatted last, Ray posted a bunch of posts, one being the verrrrrry talked about new “pricing model” by Strava. Whhhooooooeeeeee did that stir up the hornets’ nest! For some users this seemed to be a good change, but like all things involving change, people are going to want to talk about it! Sometimes I enjoy reading the comment section of blog posts more than the post itself! 

Next up is the official roll out of the Zwift Innsbruck Course. You might remember that Ray road this course in real life, while on his bromance RV trip with GP Lama. There is a YouTube video of that in here somewhere. Personally, I’m still waiting on the release of the NYC course, which will hopefully prompt Ray to make the argument “we havvvvve to go to NYC to ride the course”. And then, magically we could have a babysitter for 3-4 days so I can go too for a few days of food, shopping, and Broadway/Late Night Show recordings. You know...just theoretically. Cough.

Next, Xert did some cool stuff lately. I’m not totally up to speed on all the things this analysis platform is up to, but this caught my attention. In the most simplistic overview, Xert released the Segment Hunter Connect IQ App, that basically creates a wattage guide/target for you on how to beat your latest (or your frenemy's) latest PR on Strava. I think I have described that correctly. Maybe if that’s of any interest to you, you should check it out too!

Impressively, Ray has managed to continue his streak of 5 Random Things and Week in Review posts. I literally just lost 25 minutes to the Week in Review post, as I was clicking around reading about the crazy $550 Million raised by Peloton. That link then brought me to some YouTube celebrity with over 1.3 million subscribers…for dance cardio?!? I have to say I was eyebrow raised and attitudinal at first glance, but once four videos deep I was groovin’ in my seat! Hahaha #ImADork.

The 5 Random Things post, was also a good read. Of course Ray spilled the beans before me of my new bike! Woot woot!

I haven't ridden a road bike in like a decade. I know I know… “gasp”. But let me tell you: What a shift from riding my TT bike! I loved it!

The guys at our local bike shop got me all hooked up with this Isaac Graviton model. I didn’t go all fancy with a carbon frame; figured I hadn’t earned that one yet! None the less she sure is pretty, and rides like a dream! And no, I haven’t been paid to say that (and we paid for the bike too).

Ray even offered to pick up the kiddos today from daycare so I can get an evening ride in after work! I think he just likes seeing me in all that spandex! More on that subject next time.

Last but not least, YouTube. Are you a subscriber? If not, you’re really missing out on getting alerts when the newest video drops. The latest and greatest from that arena is the cool GoPro-integrated charging bank by UGreen. Ray does a quick video on how he keeps all his gadgets charged and semi-organized. Personally, I think the man needs more than a power bank to keep his batteries alive… as half the time I find them in the washing machine. Don’t worry, fully charged!

In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl

Well hey hey, thanks for wandering down here to below the fold! I can’t stay too long today as I am under a time crunch! Dutch homework to do AND then off to class!

So I have to rewind to last week’s newsletter and the infamous Uuni Pizza Oven! Man-o-man, did I stir the pot! I had so many emails (which I promise to respond to…. Soon!). I had husbands emailing like “oh, come on, let the man have his pizza oven!”, I had wives writing “OMG I live in the same situation!! Don’t cave”, and even kitchen fanatics like me, who try to uphold the philosophy of: “No one-use wonders in the kitchen”.

Basically if the object can only preform one task, it’s not a good purchase for an already crammed/storage lacking kitchen. But, a deal is a deal, and IFFFFF Ray ever gets to the end (cough, or beginning) of his to-do list, he can have the pizza oven. My (fake) apologizes to the one dear reader who had less than positive words for me regarding Ray and his “domestic duties”… you guys crack me up!

Next!

Big news. And this is the last thing because I really DO have to wrap my head around the conjugation of irregular verbs before 12:30! Since I have been fulfilling my duties “well” as DCR accountant, administrator, and newsletter publisher, I have FINALLY also graduated into video-editor intern! I have been really interested in, and excited to sink my teeth into video editing for some time now! More often than not Ray needs a hand with someone behind the camera, and then editing the videos take a lot of time. So, we are both hoping I can catch on quickly and sous chef with a lot of the video stuff going forward.

(Above: Me filming a behind the scenes video on the DCR Amsterrdam Cave set to go out to the paid DCR Supporters sometime tomorrow.)

With that, we decided that I need to come up with a few video ideas to produce and edit myself to get the hang of things. Also, I have been wanting to do something unique for my loyal Newsletter Readers (because you’re all awesome).

So I think it would go hand in hand if I created a Q&A video interview between Ray and myself, a 20 questions sort of setup. Which is where you come in: I need questions that you guys are actually interested in!

If you want to play along and help with my project, you can send an email my way (email button below, or just hit reply). You can ask anything and as many questions as you like. It will be Ray asking me the questions, so keep in mind tech questions will be answered to the best of my ability… but answers will likely be lame.

Thanks for reading!

~The Girl.

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