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Hoi Hoi! Hi everyone, and happy November! How is that possible? It’s November again already?!?! Now you might be wondering “what do I mean again”. Well, it feels just like yesterday that it was November 2017!! Which was when our littlest Maker, otherwise known on the blog as P2 was born, and I’m baffled by the idea that she turns one in less than two weeks! Also, as it might be more interesting to you, November is the big month for consumers! This is the month that all of the chaos of shopping, best deals, and shopping guides will be popping up everywhere you look! So if you’re a lofty blog reader, it might just behoove you to keep a closer eye on things over the next few weeks, or be sure to at least do a quick skim of the newsletter for updates as we get through this month! Ray has a lot planned! And as always, I like saying a big howdy to the newsletter newbies. If you are just joining us and have some free time on your hands this weekend, go ahead and catch up on the past newsletters here in the Newsletter archives. Or not, your choice! First and foremost! The much anticipated “2018 Smart Trainer Buyer Guide” was released this afternoon. If that’s more your flavor, I’m not insulted, go ahead and click the link. Bye-Bye!
Okay, so for those of you who stuck around. Starting us off is the Tech Tidbits Round Up Ray did last Friday. There was some info on the Polar Vantage shipping and the new COROS APEX watch. But what really struck a cord was the announcement and banter regarding the idea of removing power meters at the Tour de France, but continuing to allow race radios. Have I told you lately how much I enjoy reading the comment section? I love seeing everyone’s opinions and point of views on discussions like this! I’m not sure there is really a “right” answer, as it is in the eye of the beholder. But the comment one reader left regarding “the French eating onions for the month of August after another non-Frenchman wins yet again”, killed me! Everyone in the café I’m working in today turned around to look at the girl cackling in the corner. Thank you for that! If I get to have an opinion on this one, I would say that I think the whole coaching in the ear thing is ridiculous. These are professionals, big boys, and strategy should be talked about on their big beautiful charter buses before the race. Strategy, plan A, plan B, and “plan well...eff it”. Then the sport is really left up to the athletes to create the excitment, coaches did their job getting them to the start line.
If anyone here follows tennis you know that in grand slams players cannot be coached from the stands. Even Serena Williams was famously penalized this year for her coach basically ghost coaching to nobody up in the stands. She’s a grown woman, professional athlete, and needs to make her own adjustments accordingly during a match. But do you know what she does have? Pro tennis players have a MPH service screen. They can see how hard they are serving. Does that effect the game? No. Is it interesting? Yes. What about professional runners? They are allowed to use watches that give them their paces and distances. I would wage a bet that most don’t actually use them, as they have to gauge for themselves “what’s left in the tank”. But they certainly don’t have coaches cheering them on via ear pieces. They’ve talked strategy, who their competitors are, and what to do if specific runners drops the pack. So what’s the right answer? I don’t know, I know how I feel. But I would LOVE to grab a beer and have around table discussion on this one! Maybe an idea for the next “The Girl YouTube video”. I already know Ray will tell me this section was too long! So I have to move on!
Next up was the In-Depth Review of the Tacx Flux S. The highlights being that it is now a really competitively priced direct drive, smart trainer. For the rest of the goodness, you’ll have to go read for yourself! On Halloween Ray left a treat for the runners. See what I did there? In his latest Tech Tidbit Round Up he dropped the announcement that Garmin Forerunner 645 Music owners can now update the watch to get the Spotify function. Woot. As always people, music responsibly. As well, COROS also made a musically interesting announcement. The new SafeSound Smart Helmet. These guys offer speakers that don't block the sounds of your surroundings. I have never used such a technology, but I would be interested to give it a go once Ray is done with it. I’ll keep you posted.
Then we have the Tacx Neo 2 Smart Trainer Hands On. Everything was pretty solid with the Neo 2. Basically it’s the Neo 1 with future upgrade abilities. I’m semi familiar with the Tacx Neo 1 as it seems to be one of two most used by Ray when riding “for fun” (other being the Wahoo KICKR… Core?). My pinky toe has less awesome things to say about the base of the Neo, but hey, you can’t please everyone. While Ray has had too many trainers and trainer apps to conquer over the last few weeks, the 5 Random Things posts have been lacking. Don’t worry, I’ll tell you all about the Halloween party below! However, he did manage to crank out a Week in Review. Again, I think he writes these posts solely to justify his internet surfing when he could/should be doing other things around the house. To be fair, he did find a funny video with people trying to match the pace on a treadmill of the new marathon world record. As well, I personally think this article here is important. It’s linking to a page with a free code to LIME bike and scooter share to get you to the polls on November 6th! The American midterms are finally here, so without any political opinions, I simply just beg you to do some reading on your local area, and hit up the polls this year! For real. You even get a sticker for going! Finally, if reading is less your style and you want to see some Ray video goodness, here is your round up of DCR YouTube channel. If you want to be “in the know” for future new videos by Ray, be sure you check out the DC Rainmaker YouTube Channel and click subscribe! · Tacx Flux S Review: Unboxing, Set-up, Accuracy, Sound, and More · Tacx Neo 2 First Look: Unboxing, Tech Details, Frist Ride, Noise, and More That’s all for this week’s round up of Tech goodness. If you still have time, swing down past all of those pretty blog thumbnails and find out what new in the Maker house! |
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In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl Hey Hey, you made it! Thanks for joining me down here for yet another week of… interesting tidbits? So, since Ray has been slacking on 5 Random Things Posts, here’s a quick look into what we have been up to. We started the weekend off a little early with a fun and fancy lunch on Thursday. This was our second trip back to Restaurant de Kas, and is shaping up to be a favorite! The owners apparently bought the building as a semi-dilapidated green house from the city for 1€, with the promise of turning it into something beautiful. 17 years later they are still knocking out a great menu!
Then on Friday, amidst the Halloween Party preparations, my dad and I just HAD to take a break! And we talked Ray into one too. Off to our Friday regular watering hole, Amsterdam Foodhallen for some beers and tacos!
Followed up with a drive-by of the, still not finished, DCR Cave… WhompWhomp.
Saturday lunchtime equaled party time! With the dinner table full and the fridge blocked, we were prepared for the all the tiny hoomans to come through the doors! Sadly, I wasn’t using my brain at full capacity and didn’t ask any of the parents if I could use their kids pictures in the newsletter… so you have to settle for one of my kiddos trying to sneak a cupcake before the crowd arrived!
Sunday we bundled up the kiddos and took them out for a ramen lunch! It was stinkin’ delicious! Annnnd the eldest had her first go at chop sticks! Sadly… no photo evidence. We did snap a couple pics of very cold, tiny hoomans.
Last but not least we rounded things off with another DCR Supporter video of the cave construction project, which already went out to DCR Supporters.
That’s it for the longest newsletter ever written! Thanks for reading, |
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