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.
I was on the IMTalk podcast this week and spent about 30 minutes talking all about sports technology. From budget watches to power meters, and everything in between. Plus really important stuff like your questions about my favorite cupcake flavor. Fun time. You can pickup the podcast here.
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) My uncle, skiing (mostly) blind at 90-years old: One of my closest uncles made the newspaper in a ski town a couple weeks ago. Read through for his full story from the local paper. Fun stuff.
4)A way to upload from Garmin Edge to phone?Perhaps, just perhaps. This little USB stick of sorts connects to your Garmin device and uploads things to your phone via Bluetooth. However, it’s unclear if it’ll specifically work with the Edge units. It’s also a wee bit pricey. (via GPSTracklog)
5) Hardest 400m race in the world? This crazy 400m race goes up a ski jump. Kinda nuts. I like how the slow-motion footage really isn’t any faster than the normal-speed footage. (Via commenter in last weeks post)
6)I guess mountain bike jump photos don’t look so exciting now: You remember last year’s crazy Russian’s balancing off the edge of things videos. Now, we have an entire photographic genre dedicated to it. Really, the link is full of photos that are absolute nuts.
7) The Power Meter 411: This is a bit of an epicenter for understanding power meters and training with power meters…and being free. And I suppose, more importantly, being logically organized and something most folks can actually understand. Strangely, I hadn’t seen this landing page before. Good stuff.
8) Because watching downhill urban mountain biking never gets old: Somehow, I think this is one of the fastest courses I’ve seen. Still utterly nuts. (via Engadget). As a side note, I was curious after watching a Belgium Soap Box Derby video following that if there was a calendar for all the crazy Red Bull events…sure enough, there is. Here. You can filter by locale/sport/etc… Doesn’t look like too much on the awesome/crazy side in France in the near future though.
12) Wahoo does RFLKT promotion for Pebble folks: If you’re (like me) and still waiting on your Pebble watch, you can prove it to Wahoo and they’ll give you a discount. For those curious about my RFLKT review, I’ll be doing it once there’s some 3rd party apps out there.
13) WADA finally puts together mobile app for athletes: This app will allow athletes to update their current location, which is required for those in the pool for drug testing. Regrettably it won’t be available to the fall. (Thanks to Robert)
Crowd Funded Projects of Athletic Note:
This is a bit of a new section. Most of this content used to be found within the main section, but I figured I’d just call it out up here and make it easy to find. I regularly sift through Kickstarter and Indiegogo (plus a few others on occasion) looking for sports projects.
Here’s the athletic projects of note that are new:
Fiber Optic Athletic Gear: I guess this pretty much just makes my little blinky light for running look downright antiquated and invisible.
Sports Technology Software/Firmware Updates This Week:
Each week I quickly highlight some of the new firmware, app, software and website service updates that I see go out. If you’re a sports technology company and release an update – shoot me a quick note (just one liners is perfect, or Tweet it at me) and I’ll make mention of it here. If I don’t know about it, I won’t be able to post about it. Sound good?
Site/Firmware Updates:
TrainerRoad 1.5.0 Beta Out: Along with it, the new workout creator, ability to transmit your VirtualPower as ANT+ to devices that support it, and more. They told me to expect ANT+ support for the KICKR next (developers now have the API from Wahoo).
Jawbone Releases Android Up App: If you’re one of the valiant few that picked up an Up and it still works – you’ve now got an Android app.
Garmin ANT+ Agent Update: The release notes says it was updated a month ago, but oddly enough, it just showed up on my computer…so…FYI.
Sport Tracks Online: Adds support for connecting to Garmin devices for direct upload (i.e. FR305)
There were no updates that came across my Android Phone this week (for the range of apps I have installed).
Windows Phone App updates this week:
There were no updates that came across my Windows Phone this week (for the range of apps I have installed).
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Thanks for reading!
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Regarding the hardest 400m run… Ski jump is located in Planica, Slovenia, and it is actually a ski flying hill :-) In winter, ski jumpers fly up to 239m (hill record). There is only one larger hill in the world, and it is in Vikersund, Norway. World record there is 246m :-)
The winner in Planica last year was Ahmet Arslan from Turkey, one of the best mountain runners in the world..
As this hill is located less than 20k from my home, i can assure you that it is very STEEP!
I’m getting cramps in my calves just by watching that 400m run. I bet that all of those people participating are of the “I always take the stairs”-types ;-)
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
All I could think of when looking at that light vest was “So… Daft Punk is getting into athletic gear now?”.
Regarding the hardest 400m run… Ski jump is located in Planica, Slovenia, and it is actually a ski flying hill :-) In winter, ski jumpers fly up to 239m (hill record). There is only one larger hill in the world, and it is in Vikersund, Norway. World record there is 246m :-)
The winner in Planica last year was Ahmet Arslan from Turkey, one of the best mountain runners in the world..
As this hill is located less than 20k from my home, i can assure you that it is very STEEP!
I’m getting cramps in my calves just by watching that 400m run. I bet that all of those people participating are of the “I always take the stairs”-types ;-)
Using rftct with cyclemeter .. Pretty neat