Sports Tech Week in Review – Apr 14th, 2024

14 April 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 what to do with all of the coolness that people write, and while I share a lot of it on Twitter/X 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!

DCR Posts In The Past Week:

Here’s all the latest on the site:

Tuesday: Hiking Across Madeira: A 3-Day Trek (MIUT Variant)
Thursday: Tech Tidbits: Favero MX Pro Shipping, Polar Vantage V3 Update, Garmin Beta Update

As always, tick-tock goes the pendulum. Quiet week, busy week, quiet week, busy week…. (except September, which is just ALL THE BUSY!).

Stuff 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) You can now buy Zwift Click standalone: This is useful if you’ve got a Wahoo KICKR CORE, KICKR V6, or KICKR MOVE (others coming soon), and want to use virtual shifting instead. You don’t need the Zwift Cog for virtual shifting, instead, you’ll just leave your bike in a gear, and then use the Zwift Click buttons to shift instead.

2) The Bike Industry’s Sustainability Blind Spot: A good look at what happens when a major industry player (Specialized) doesn’t appear to be making right on wages owed to factory workers after one of their partners collapsed. This is the kind of coverage/stories that I appreciate Escape for.

3) Campagnolo announces very high-end power meter: This new unit, priced at $2,500, but claiming industry-norm accuracy of +/1%. The company touts a 16-gauge design, and talks a little bit about high-speed data (but skips on details). And, perhaps it’s accurate. But, I’ve heard every single claim in the book over the last 15 years, and frankly, they rarely hold up to either my or GPLAMA’s power meter testing protocols – especially new power meter designs. But as always, happy to test one, should it float by.

4) Christian Vande Verde Returns to Peloton: After a few years away, it’s good to see he’s back. His previous classes were always great. Highly structured, yet pro-cyclist interesting tidbits. He kicked off with two classes last weekend, and hoping he finds a regular cadence.

5) Running A Half Marathon in Picked up Can ‘Dress’: Paul has been coming to my DCR Open HousesXXX for years, and he does amazing work picking up trash on all his runs as a daily thing. He made this outfit totally from cans he picked up, including that crazy big Braveheart-style flag, and then ran a half marathon on the windy and rainy beaches of The Netherlands. Give him a watch for sure!



6) Nike’s New Team USA Kits: Oh my. How on earth does this sort of thing get past the gazillion layers of approval, on both the Nike side as well as the Team USA side, that would be required for such a high-profile event/kit? Baffling.

7) Monday is the Boston Marathon: Good luck to all those competing, here’s a quick link on how to watch the race live.

8) A swimming power meter? Huh, interesting stuff. Always enjoy Matt’s videos.

Thanks for reading!

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