Week in Review–February 25th, 2012

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, Facebook, and Google Plus, 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 this past week:
Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page of DCRainmaker.com this week:

Saturday: Week in Review- February 19th, 2012
Monday: Lions, Tigers and (more) Gadgets…oh my!
Tuesday: George Washington Birthday 10K 2012 Race Report
Wednesday: Bontrager ANT+ Bike Speed/Cadence Sensor that requires no zipties or tools!
Thursday: DIY: How I made a trainer bike computer/iPad/phone stand for $30
Friday: Sneak peek at FINIS Hydrotracker GPS, FR910XT Firmware Updates…and just a nice evening run

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) A look inside a professional sports drug testing program: Completely. Awesome. Article. A must read.  Really interesting look at what it’s like from the athletes point of view to enter in their location, life plans and availability for drug testing. Great piece.

2) Ironman Kona on live network TV this year? Perhaps, if discussions being held hold up, we might finally see a legit network TV broadcast covering the event life.  Also see this about increasing live TV coverage for Lance-populated events.  Regardless of how you feel about Lance, this is good for triathlon as a sport.

3) From competitive triathlete and runner to Coma: Fascinating read from Frayed Laces as she profiles a Washington DC area  triathlete who was hit by a car and put into a coma…and the subsequent journey back into triathlon.

4) How the Dutch got their cycle paths: This may seem like a bit of a bore at first thought – but it’s actually really interesting.  Some interesting lessons in there for other countries in there as well. (via Seattle Transit Blog)

5) Magnetically powered bike light on Kickstarter: This bike light requires no batteries, and instead works on generating power via magnets and your wheels.  Though, given it’s price, it’s a bit hard for me to justify.

6) Epson announced GPS running watch, doesn’t print: Yes, Epson. And apparently, it will be the lightest GPS running watch on earth.  However, dates aren’t really defined yet (beyond ‘this year for Japan’) – so the road ahead is long.  But the more competition the merrier.

7) Bean bags in your helmet soon?  Perhaps.  An interesting twist in what may be some evolving of the helmet in the near future.  Cool stuff.

8) A generation of cycling storytellers: An interesting look at how pro cycling has evolved from the standpoint of pro cyclists and the stories they tell.  Things to ponder…

9) Team Garmin Spain training camp video: A bit of an overview of the team composition, thoughts around next year, etc… good stuff.  Anyone got links to others from other teams for the upcoming year?

Team Training Camp – Garmin Winter Training from Garmin EMEA on Vimeo.

10) Going from severely overweight to competitive cyclist: An awesome series of guest posts, posted to Fat Cyclist this week outlining the journey of one man.  Really good stuff.

11) Jasper Blake retirement post: Rather, ‘retirement’ autobiography.  Either way, really interesting.  I’d highly encourage you to read it.  My bet is that after you read the first paragraph, you’ll spend the time to read the whole enchilada.

12) Crashing into a mountain at 120MPH – Part II: Last week I mentioned this would be on TV this week, and after it was, it found its way onto the Interwebs.  Crazy GoPro footage from a very lucky wingman!

13) Maryland High School Girls Swim Team loses state title after shaving: For real. Interesting story, but even more interesting was actually that the Coach ended up posting deep in the comments thread of that piece.  To save you the digging – go read the article, then come back and read her note (below).

“To set the record straight a swimmer from another team reported to her coach that my swimmer had shaved her armpits. I ran to my swimmer said “Why were you shaving, you could be disqualified!?” She asked, ‘Why?’ Right then I was sick with the realization that I had forgotten to tell my entire 40 person swim teams not to shave before, during, or after onsite at a swim meet. Instead of disqualifying my swimmer, I did not because I felt that I had done a huge disservice to her and the team by not informing them of the rule. I reported myself after the end of the meet to the Athletic Directors . So by throwing a life-ring to my swimmer, I sank my ship. Lesson learned by my team and me. Follow the rules to the letter and the outcome will be far better. Unfortunately, the press release didn’t go out until over a week after the violation, so what has been listed as retroactive was actually done prior to regions so this became bigger news than it should have been. I apologized to all of my team, parents, and administrators. And I am sorry to my swimming community as this is a sport I love to coach and teach.” – Sincerely, Coach Winans

14) Presidential Bicycles: In honor of Presidents Day that was celebrated here in the US this past Monday, an interesting post on the bicycles of US Presidents.

Have a great weekend all, and thanks for reading!

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