Sports Technology News and Reviews

Strava’s Chipotle Burrito Challenge Ends With Insanity

I’ve been hard at work on a whole slate of new things popping up over the rather near term. Until then, we have burritos. A lot of them. That’s because 6 questionably lucky individuals have won themselves a year’s supply … Read More Here

COROS Firmware Update Adds Running Form Test & Wellness Metrics

COROS has announced a new firmware update that’s being rolled out in public beta, with a target of early February for production release. The watches being updated are: – COROS Vertex 1 & Vertex 2 – COROS APEX 2, APEX … Read More Here

25 Wahoo KICKR RUN Questions Answered

 After yesterday’s announcement by Wahoo of the KICKR RUN, there were a boatload of questions I hadn’t covered in my first-run post/video (check that out here). Some of them were minor spec things (like deck height), while others were … Read More Here

The FIT File Podcast is Back!

 Yup, you heard that right – the FIT File Podcast is back, and this time with video too! As always, we’ll be digesting the week’s sports tech news with a bit more debate, and geekery nuance than we might … Read More Here

Wahoo KICKR RUN Treadmill: First Run Thoughts!

As a general rule of thumb, I avoid running on treadmills as much as humanly possible. I save the dreadmill for only the most miserable of sideways almost-freezing rain windy of winter nights. Usually, I make a point of going … Read More Here

Apple to Sell Apple Watch Ultra 2 & Series 9 Tomorrow without Blood Oxygen Feature

On Wednesday, Apple lost its most recent appeal, which had sought to delay the import and sales ban of the Apple Watch Series 9 & Apple Watch Ultra 2 watches. Apple had won a different appeal back a few weeks … Read More Here

Samsung Announces Galaxy Ring: Everything You Need to Know

Samsung has just announced their Samsung Galaxy Ring, and with it, provided approximately zero details, except a pretty picture. But sometimes, a pretty picture speaks quite a bit. To set the stage, literally, they had just finished talking about a … Read More Here

Here’s Why Peak Zwift Is Always a Tuesday

It might seem ‘odd’ to declare a Peak Zwift concurrent user high watermark only two weeks into the year, but that’s actually the way it generally works. With the exception of COVID lockdown-induced Zwift moments, the company has virtually always … Read More Here

Running Track Measurements: A Brief Rabbit Hole

Last week I posted about the update to Garmin’s wearables that now includes a database of running tracks for their running track mode, in addition to the pre-existing ‘learned’ track mode where it learns the running track you have without … Read More Here

Week in Review – Jan 14th, 2024

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 … Read More Here

Garmin’s 2024 Q1 Wearables Beta Update: Huge New Features!

 This is the first time I’ve written one of these quarterly posts where I can actually put “Wearables” in the title, rather than specifically ‘Fenix’ or ‘Forerunner’ or ‘Epix’. That’s because Garmin is actually close enough now that all … Read More Here

Garmin Connect App Revamp: Complete Walk-Through

 Earlier this week Garmin announced the beginnings of a revamp of the Garmin Connect Mobile app – something that many people have been eager for…for many many years. As part of this revamp, they’ve also opened it up to … Read More Here

Apple Watch Ultra 2 vs Garmin Epix Pro: The NYC Test Gauntlet

It’s that time again – for another New York City GPS accuracy test. Just like the annual Christmas Tree by cargo bike tradition, so is the NYC GPS accuracy test posts. Albeit, this time I’ve got an interesting double-date test. … Read More Here

Polar Announces Deep Platform Integration With New Sennheiser Earbuds

Polar has just announced a super interesting new product. Or rather, Sennheiser has just announced a new product and Polar is a key part of it. This is the first non-Polar product to fully integrate into the Polar ecosystem, including … Read More Here

Garmin Lily 2 In-Depth Review

 Garmin has just announced the Lily 2 smartwatch, which continues to be aimed at being a minimalist fitness and health smartwatch that contains most of the behind-the-scenes wellness tracking features of the rest of Garmin’s watches, but without as … Read More Here

Garmin HRM-FIT In-Depth Review: Best Women’s Heart Rate Monitor?

 Garmin’s newest heart rate strap is one designed specifically for women, which essentially takes the features of Garmin’s high-end HRM-PRO Plus, but molds it into a strap that snaps onto your existing sports bra. The design aims to increase … Read More Here

Week in Review – Jan 8th, 2024

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 … Read More Here

How Strava Accidentally Got Their Annual Report Stats Wrong

Welcome to 2024, and the year’s first legit DC Rainmaker Sports Tech Rabbit Hole. Every year Strava publishes their year in review stats, both in individual athlete form (more recently), but many years of total global and regional user-compiled stats. … Read More Here

A Strava Race Is Getting Spicy for Free Burritos

While digging around through press releases for a different post, I stumbled upon an announcement for a new Chipotle and Strava promotion running the month of January. While this press release had a lot of hand-waving feel-good New Year’s resolution … Read More Here

Peloton Adds Automated Power Zone ERG Mode: Hands-On

Peloton has launched automation for power zone workouts, allowing the Peloton Bike+ (that’s the fancier of the two models) to automatically adjust resistance according to the power zones specified by the instructor. Previously, the Bike+ would only change resistance levels … Read More Here

Getting the Christmas Tree Home via Bike: 2023 Edition

After crossing through the decade barrier last year, we’ve moved onto the 11th year of getting the Christmas Tree by bike. With Christmas itself nearly over, it was high time for me to finish this post. Obviously, this happened a … Read More Here

Xert’s New Forecast AI Let’s You Pick Future Max Power

As we slide into the quiet period around the holidays and end of year, companies are doing their best to finish off projects. And one such project that Xert has launched into beta is their Forecast AI tool. Essentially, the … Read More Here

Wahoo Fitness CEO On Future Wahoo Products, Past Mistakes

 Last week while visiting Wahoo Fitness, I sat down with the founder and current co-CEO of the company, Chip Hawkins, for a wide-ranging interview discussing everything from past Wahoo initiatives (and failures), to the status of current products, as … Read More Here

DC Rainmaker Open House 2023 Recap!

Two weekends ago we held the 8th annual DC Rainmaker Cave Open House, where a couple hundred people descended upon the DCR Cave for an evening of sports tech geekery. As usual, they could explore the entire DCR Cave/Studio, and … Read More Here

Apple Watch and TrainingPeaks Integration: How-to Guide

 It’s been more than 6 months since Apple and TrainingPeaks announced plans for integration back at WWDC, and it’s finally here. In some ways, it’s kinda funny. From an end-user perspective, this actually isn’t some mind-bending new fancy feature. … Read More Here