Week in Review–May 6th, 2019

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 and Facebook, 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 in the Past Week:

Here’s all the goodness that ended up on the main page this past week:

Monday: 5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Tuesday: Garmin Forerunner 45/45S GPS Watch In-Depth Review
Tuesday: Garmin Forerunner 245 Music GPS Watch In-Depth Review
Tuesday: Garmin Forerunner 945 Multisport Watch In-Depth Review
Wednesday: Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM Cycling GPS In-Depth Review
Friday: IQ2 Power Meter Changes Direction: Backers Now Getting Pedals
Sunday: Sunday Tidbits: Polar’s new Vantage V Titan + Roadmap Updates, Suunto Updates, and Xert iOS App

Woah then…that was jam-packed!

Sports Tech Deals This Week:

A couple of new (and solid) deals this week:

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus – $150 off: Obviously, this is mostly timed to make you think about whether you want a FR945 or a Fenix 5 Plus (since now the Fenix 5 Plus is $100 below the cost of a FR945). I definitely do not expect a new Fenix variant anytime soon. [Full In-Depth Review Here]

Apple Watch Series 4 – $50 off: This is one of the first times we’ve seen a sale on the Apple Watch Series 4. While there have been plenty of Series 3 sales (often down to $199), the Series 4 has remained elusively full-priced. Apple typically announces new models in the September timeframe, so I don’t expect anything anytime soon.  [Full in-depth review here]

All of these help support the site as well – enjoy!

FIT File Podcast This Week:

Episode 72 of the podcast is up, on the show this week:

– New Garmin Forerunner 945/245/45 discussion
– New Wahoo ROAM Cycling GPS: Does it miss the mark?
– Garmin’s new Female Health Tracking Features
– Polar’s updates and new watch
– Suunto’s platform updates
– Xert iOS Product Release
– Samsung Fold debacle, kinda like sports tech
– IQ2 changes direction

Listen here, or four options for where to find the podcast:

A) iTunes: If you’ve got an Apple device, we’re there!
B) Google Play Music: Yup, we’re here too (and on Google Podcasts app)
C) Spotify: Of course we’re on Spotify now – you can even cache it on your wearable too!
D) RSS Feed: Follow along using the direct RSS feed

YouTube Videos This Past Week:

Here’s what hit the tubes over on the You of Tube, definitely don’t forget to subscribe there to get notified of videos the second they hit!

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 (and in this case, some of these are from the past two weeks…as my backlog is a bit longer):

1) Surfer retrieves his  Apple Watch 6 months after losing it in ocean: Still worked, and the original owner was found. While technically I understand how this story can certainly be real, a huge part of me is pretty skeptical of it.

2) Google Fit comes to Apple Watch & iOS: Now supports activity tracking on the other side of the fence.

3) Virginia Cyclist hit by police car, then ticketed: This story has gone viral a bit, and for good reason. While it seems the cyclist was in the wrong (crossing a street on a red crosswalk) – so was the police officer (by failing to avoid other objects in a cross-walk when turning right on red). I suspect this won’t be the last we hear of this story.

4) Trust vs Skepticism of Performances of East African Runners: Always good to read Sport Scientists bits on any topic, and this one is no different.

5) The Case for Wearing a Pro Team Kit: Exactly as the title implies.

6) A record year for bike lane usage in UK: A case of ‘if you build it, they will come’. (via Race Radio)

7) What’s really behind the spin bike backlash: An awesome piece by Eben that nails it for some of the issues I have with the often seen elitist attitude against Peloton/etc, most of it from the cycling community (that then drops 2-4x as much on their own gear/services). We shouldn’t be judging people for getting and staying fit. Even if they have to pay $250 for shipping.

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 are perfect, or Tweet it at me is even better) 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?  Oh – and if you want to get a head start on things, this page is a great resource for watching Garmin and a few other firmware updates.

(Note: For this week I went back and included major/notable updates for the past two weeks)

Garmin MARQ Athlete Firmware Beta: Some minor bug fixes.

Garmin Fenix 5 Plus Series Firmware Update: Pile of bug fixes

Hammerhead Karoo Firmware Update: Ability to download map countries/regions (versus small chunks), plus other updates and pile of fixes

Polar Vantage Series Firmware Update: Mostly GPS focused bug fixes, but also helps altitude on Vantage M

Suunto Spartan Series Firmware Update: Adds direction indicator when navigating route, other updates and fixes

Wahoo ELEMNT/BOLT Firmware Update: Pile of bug fixes, including one for SRM crankset based power meters.

Thanks all for reading, enjoy the week ahead!

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