Week in Review – May 26th, 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:

Sunday: Week in Review–May 19th, 2012
Monday: A busy weekend running, riding and testing–including the Magellan Switch and Switch UP
Tuesday: Visiting with the folks at Recon Instruments
Wednesday: A quick pile of odds and ends
Thursday: Garmin releases Edge 500 update, adds TSS/NP/IF & more
Friday: A Paris night run from Notre Dame

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) UCI bans live-data tracking for cycling races: A serious bummer coming in the professional cycling world that will likely end various Live Tour trackers for the big races this summer (i.e. Tour de France).  Hopefully this will get changed, but I doubt it (short term).  I agree with much of what Ken (the author of that post) says.  Further, I’d think this may also put a solid dent into various companies plans looking to further integrate standard cycling head units with cell-technology (aka merging a Garmin GTU with an Edge 800, just speculating).

2) Top 20 ‘Must-Do’ Triathlons: A quick list from Men’s Health of the Top 20 races in the US to do.  I’d agree with a fair chunk of these (though not all), but there’s a ton of one-of-a-kind races in there.

3) Sweet Olympic Ad: Following on a previous Proctor and Gamble add, this poster-image from Paralympic Canada is pretty awesome (click for full size).

4) I’m apparently featured in a nifty video with Chris Lieto: Ok, featured might be a bit strong – but I’m there! I didn’t know about this until a reader sent it in.  Good times!

Me in a video!

5) Boise 70.3 Race Course In Detail: For those of you doing Ironman Boise 70.3 this year, this post from pro triathlete Trish is worth the read.  I did it last year and agree with everything she noted.

6) Top Ironman Pro Athlete plans to walk marathon in upcoming Ironman race to prove point: Some interesting news from down under, check out this Slowtwitch thread for a ton more on it.

7) Things to consider with kids racing triathlons: A reader sent this in, which may be a good primer for those parents who have kids looking into doing triathlon races.  Much of it may be common sense, but if you’re new to the sport, it’s a worthwhile read.

8) Inspirational video of 13-year old buy doing triathlon with friend: This is a bit older, but the first time I’ve seen it.  It shows the story of a 13-year old who completed a triathlon, taking his friend with cerebral palsy along for the ride.  Impressive.  (Thanks Jacob for sending in!)

Inspirational triathlon video

9) 30 reasons to bike: In case you needed more excuses for getting out there this weekend and working off the cupcakes, here’s a (at times funny) list of reasons to start pedaling (Thanks Ken for sending in)

10) A bit of an update on the swimming HR monitor display system: I shared info about this back in the fall, and here’s an update on where it stands.  Ultimately, I think these products are just showing the initial stages of what will become far more advanced down the line.  Using LED’s is similar to what 4iiii’s does above water, but ultimately, I suspect we’ll see products move towards actual displays ala Recon, Google Glasses, etc…

11) Laserspoke Power Meter thoughts: A few of you have asked about what I think of the Laserspoke power meter system that ended up on a Kickstarter-ish site recently.  Some of you may know this isn’t actually the first time we’ve heard of this company, and I doubt it will be the last.  I highly doubt they’ll hit $85K in funding (since they’re only at $700 now), but it’s interesting.  I should also point out that using spokes as an avenue for power meters is something others in the industry have looked at.  But as others have found, bridging the gap from lab to a durable product is incredibly difficult.  Looking at the list of tasks yet to be accomplished on the site above, I’m not convinced they are far enough in the design stage to really be effective in a Kickstarer-like scheme.  Just my two cents.

Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:

I’ve been trying something new where I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website updates that I see go out, each week. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners) and I’ll make mention of it here. Sound good?

MapMyRun and MapMyRide receive updates: Mostly a graphical/user interface overhaul, but a few new features and bug fixes as well.

With that – hope everyone had a great weekend! Thanks for reading!

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