Hi Everyone!
How’s everyone holding up? While the world is going through some crazy times right now, the Netherlands has been super fortunate in the last 10 days with the weather! And while a bit of sunshine might not sound like much to some people, it has meant ALL the sanity around these parts at the Maker house! I am well aware that some of you might be reading today to have a little escape from the world, so I’ll do my best and get going straight to the tech!
First up, I would be doing a disservice to not mention that the indoor cycling industry is currently going gang-busters on sales. Ray’s compiled the list for you here on the deals page. Not trying to be funny, but these companies (probably rightly) think the American cyclist will be stuck inside for a while to come and they want you using the latest and greatest bike tech. Honestly though, I can’t imagine there is going to be much supply left come early April; with the current world “slow down” lining up right at what is normally a quieter time for trainer production, smart trainer inventory might soon become as scarce as toilet paper. Just less hoardable.
Next up is the Tacx Handlebar Tablet Holder In-depth Review. Here, Ray attempted sacrificial practices on his iPad hanging off his handlebars in the forest. Note however: He did not clear this risky idea with his boss before the review. I’ll leave it at that so you can see for yourself on the post. Could be especially of interest to those who don’t have a dedicated indoor trainer area set up in their space with a TV and need to balance a tablet on something over the next few months of virtual riding!
Continuing with the theme of all things moving towards indoor training. Ray compiled a pretty comprehensive list of all and any Trainer App Special Events or Promos happening right now. While I know times are sort of inconvenient (to put it mildly), it is kind of neat to see what companies have been stepping it up in the “let’s get through this together” front. Virtual community rides and the like, kudos to them.
Then we heard the news that Zwift is taking further steps towards world domination. They pretty much wrote it in the sky back in November that they were entering the hardware market. This next move of laying off higher up management was in efforts to focus more on “developing new hardware”.
Strava officially hit a double bullseye with “super cool new feature”, meets, “worst possible timing”. Check out the new functionality of creating new outdoor routes on the fly. When all is right with the world again and I can ramp up my running mileage again, I’m looking forward to creating some new long runs with said feature! Woot!
And finally, we have a look into SRAM’s AXS website ditching the “beta” title. This website/ training platform is kinda a neat one. Basically their end goal isn’t to compete with Strava or TrainingPeaks, but to complement all of your training data with a round up on how you’re specifically using your bike. Are you shifting correctly and enough, did you ride with less than idea tire pressure, you get the point. This will be an interesting one in the future!
With that, we are at the end of tech catch up for this week. Next up we have Podcast updates and YouTube-y goodness.
The FIT File with DC Rainmaker and GPLAMA:
The boys are still practicing safe Pod Casting, keeping the shenanigans to FaceTime meetings and recording from many miles apart. The next episode is being recorded as this newsletter is sending out, and should be up here in the next day or so, so stay tuned!
Check out the FIT File Page for the latest episodes and to stay classy!
As always, for your streaming convenience, if you’re not at your computer you can pick your fancy of streaming platforms via iTunes, Google Play, or Spotify to tune in.
YouTube
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· Tacx Handlebar Tablet Holder: Test, Review… inside and outside
· Strava’s New Routing Feature: Is it better than a local?
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