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Blog April 17, 2020

YIL: Zwift on Apple TV is not bulletproof

When I started Zwift’g I went with the Apple TV as the host platform because it was the cheapest way to get everything working well. I’ve been using it this way for quite a while now, and I’ve never had any problems that weren’t related to Zwift Companion flaking out on me, or the PSYCHOTIC* remote that comes with the Apple TV. That confidence was shattered yesterday when the app just crashed…

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Blog April 15, 2020

The hardest 27 mins, that felt like 5, I’ve ever ridden

I did my first Zwift race over lunch yesterday. It was surprisingly crushing, fun, and the time slipped by much faster than a similar style workout. Trying Zwift racing has been on my mind for a while, mostly because I miss the competitiveness of the group ride (stupid COVID!). But I’ve been avoiding it because I generally only have around an hour at lunch to bang out a workout, and the pull…

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Blog April 2, 2020

Abnormal high heart rate detected?

In general, I’m loving the Garmin Fenix 6, but there’s definitely some occasional weirdness going on with the optical heart rate sensor. Many new Garmin watches have a feature which can detect when the wearer has something funky going on with their heart rate when they’re sedentary. I turned it on, because why not? The default threshold is 100BPM, which seems reasonable for me personally, but it’s good that it’s configurable because…

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Blog March 30, 2020

Missing the rep

I thought it was just a fluke, but it turns out that it’s every, single, lifting workout where my Garmin watch gets the rep count totally, and completely, wrong. Today was a new low, with zero detected repetitions during my “leg/back day” strength workout. How can it be this bad? With some basic searching out of the way, it doesn’t look like I’m alone in this either. The general consensus is that…

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Blog March 26, 2020

Ride the risk

Processing risk is a really hard thing. We all need to determine what our tolerance is for risk, and what we get from riding, being outside, or moving for that matter. Anyone with stairs in their house is at risk for falling down them. If you have a pet, that risk goes up exponentially. Should we relegate ourselves to a single floor? Just stepping outside carries enormous risk. While there are coyotes…

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Blog Featured March 26, 2020

Hey Garmin, Fenix 6 Virtual Run activity needs some work

I feel a little bad complaining about a “found feature”, as in I didn’t buy the Fenix 6 because of Virtual Run support, and until it was there, didn’t even know it was coming. With that out of the way, it’s a neat thing, but WOW does it need some work. Multi-sport activity: Yesterday was leg/back day, with a 10 minute run to warm up before hitting the heavy. So in preparation,…

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Blog Featured March 25, 2020

A mildly dilated right atrium

It’s shallow, I know, but I always look forward to the yearly electrocardiogram (ECG). There’s always that moment when the nurse looks confused, pauses, and then asks if it’s normal for my resting heart rate (RHR) to be below 50BPM. FLEX! Everything was going to plan this year, except that for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, the ECG indicated left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). My doctor was largely unconcerned, mentioning something about how…

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Blog Featured March 24, 2020

All in on Garmin

Fitbit promised a unified view of me and my activities, but never delivered the detail or verifiability I was looking for. So I’m going to give Garmin a try. Why? Because I’m satisfied with my Edge 530, and I know they have the depth of devices, experience, and data that I want; at least on paper. While I’m not in love with the usability of their products, there’s no denying that they…

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Blog March 20, 2020

Garmin EDGE 530 Update

Whenever you get the first batch of anything; car, phone, watch, or bike computer, there’s always a bit of risk that it might not be quite “done”. Which was certainly the case for me with my Garmin EDGE 530, where the buttons were really hard to use. It finally got to the point where it was taking 5-6 HARD presses to get the back button to do anything, so I figured it…

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