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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [J7] [ In reply to ]
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When was Mark Allen on here??? Approx year??? Damn, hate that I missed him here on ST.

Agree 1,000,000% that guys like Allen, Lessing, etc, deserve the utmost respect!!!


"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
i want to know what you WANT.

A different job so I can return to California or Arizona.
A training partner database would be nice.
I like the idea of a very robust race database and schedule, and a “where are they now” series .
The ability to like or up/down vote a post is great.

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [MattyK] [ In reply to ]
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MattyK wrote:

I'd love to see more DIY tech, even if it's just small/aggregated articles. 3D printed bits or personalised mods , maintenance tips for free speed (lubes/waxes) etc. DIY nutrition. Someone's story on achieving their goals, or tweaking their bike from average to better. I guess the overarching thought is about making tri accessible, not an elitist equipment war. Nice bikes are nice to look at, but it's not going to help me.



This is a big part of my "lane" with the stuff I publish on the front page. A lot of them are a few years old by now (I had a several year period that I didn't do any articles), but most are still relevant. Here's my repository:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...i?LinkOwner=gkopecky

Here are a few that I picked out:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...brake_tips_4313.html
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...eur_How-To_3775.html
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...der_How-To_3007.html
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [DanCT] [ In reply to ]
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DanCT wrote:
Articles:

- Trustworthy Tri equipment reviews. Bikes, bike bits and pieces etc. DC Rainmaker has electronics covered, but no one does the rest (no one I trust)

Dan

I'm honestly curious: What about our current front-page reviews makes them seem untrustworthy? I'm not bought by any company/product that I've reviewed (and it's not uncommon that I'm featuring stuff that I've bought myself in the exact manner that any other consumer buys it). If anything, I think I've gotten a reputation for perhaps being too honest, as there are most certainly companies out there that don't call me back or ask for reviews any longer. You could say that we don't post them frequently enough, but thorough reviews take a lot of time. The other more recent X factor is that some brands are really trying to do all of their marketing directly via social media, who can "review" their own stuff on their own blog, or re-post photos and testimonials from their ambassadors. It's a strange world out there in (almost) 2019.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Content wise: You running in more shoes. Your Bondi 6 review solidified my decision to buy that shoe.

More tech stuff.

Recovery stuff.

A how to use Training Peaks thing. Can you tell them to clean up their interface so that it looks sleek and gives more metrics?

More coverage of the Age-Grade Scene? U16, U18, U20. More coverage of the College/U23 Scene. I thought that poll was interesting...but I'm not sure USAT should be investing in someone who is 30 or older when that Olympics hits, invest in young talent and keep the pipeline flowing.

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Hi Slowman, first of all thanks for this site which is excellent both in term of information (main forum) and fun (lavender room).
Only improvement for me would be to have from time to time comprehensive article about the science fueling and nutrition.
Thanks again.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
...what I am talking about is interviewing people that many readers can relate to. They can't really relate to Sam Gyde biking 4:30 (and I know Sam personally)....give us the gal from the same town as Sam who is a single nurse raising a 7 year old who is trying to figure it out.

Hey Dev! You want an interview with Cai I guess!
All the best for the new year!
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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50+ athlete's forum :>
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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- I love reading race reports in the forum. Think this goes somewhat in the mentioned direction to cover more the average/relatable middle-pack triathlete than the ex-fortune 100 executive with highschool track background turning to tri and smashing the KQ (not saying those are not interesting but... maybe for some a far-reach?).

Incentive for more race-reports, take advantage of the great bandwidth of people you got on ST. Maybe an extra category/blog for the reports to be posted. Simple race-report: 1 slowcoin. Got some pictures? 3 slowcoins. Full training-log included? Thats 5 slowcoins! Got 30 slowcoins? Sweet, here is a free month of trainingplattform XYZ or whatever.
=> more relatable, diverse and visible content straight from the community, might even bring some more visibilty to the ambitious AGs for sponsors?!

- What stood out to me on the frontpage this year: bike-shootouts (Speedmax CF, P2, IA, ...) + the insight into tri-bars which helped greatly and led to a buying decision within days. Mooooooaaar!

- The forum is huge in terms of knowledge/knowledge exchange and what makes me a daily visitor.
Facelift to move the forum on 2019 usability standards. I think TrainerRoad chose a nice platform, allthough it is a bit too mobile-ish for my taste.

- I'm patiently waiting for the articles/profiles on the outside-of-north-america Bikefitters ;)
Last edited by: BummTschack: Dec 28, 18 2:56
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [gregk] [ In reply to ]
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Yes, I saw that, thanks. That was the article I was concerned about in post 36.

I'm not saying I disagree with the article, I'm concerned with the trend. As long as I can get good 650C tires I'm good for about 8 years. Maybe something will happen by then.

My point is that if the bike companies want everyone to go to 700C wheels, make a bike that will work for small people like Trek did with the Superfly. Hopefully people like you and Dan can put that idea in the manufactures ears.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [gregk] [ In reply to ]
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gregk wrote:
DanCT wrote:
Articles:

- Trustworthy Tri equipment reviews. Bikes, bike bits and pieces etc. DC Rainmaker has electronics covered, but no one does the rest (no one I trust)

Dan

I'm honestly curious: What about our current front-page reviews makes them seem untrustworthy? I'm not bought by any company/product that I've reviewed (and it's not uncommon that I'm featuring stuff that I've bought myself in the exact manner that any other consumer buys it). If anything, I think I've gotten a reputation for perhaps being too honest, as there are most certainly companies out there that don't call me back or ask for reviews any longer. You could say that we don't post them frequently enough, but thorough reviews take a lot of time. The other more recent X factor is that some brands are really trying to do all of their marketing directly via social media, who can "review" their own stuff on their own blog, or re-post photos and testimonials from their ambassadors. It's a strange world out there in (almost) 2019.

I don’t doubt the honesty of the current reviews. I’m looking for more comprehensive reviews. Reviewing a bike? Have you lived with it for 6 months and done a couple of races on it? Same for bars, etc. I appreciate that limits what could be reviewed (or review team needs expanding etc) but that would be my ask. The reviews are more like ‘first looks’ than user reviews.

Dan
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [devashish_paul] [ In reply to ]
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devashish_paul wrote:
I'd lilke to see more profiles of "regular age grouper". Seriously, I don't want to read articles about almost pro guys who are basically slow pros (most of them can't swim, so they don't go pro)....lots of pros have equally demanding work and professional lives. I'd really like to read more about real world age grouper struggles. The person with 5 kids who qualifies for Kona 5 years in a row and runs in an investment bank is less interesting than the story about the 2:40 Olympic athlete who go in the sport 2 years ago and is struggling with how to fit everything in for her first Ironman and is wondering if she should keep pushing through or just ask WTC for a refund....what I am talking about is interviewing people that many readers can relate to. They can't really relate to Sam Gyde biking 4:30 (and I know Sam personally)....give us the gal from the same town as Sam who is a single nurse raising a 7 year old who is trying to figure it out.

For me the same sort of thing applies to the bike features - I remember one that was roughly along the lines of "Bob wanted a fast bike, so he went and bought a P5-6, then added an Alpha X and 808 NSWs". Those exact products might be wrong, but the gist is the same - it's not that interesting to read about a bunch of expensive off-the-shelf parts used in the obvious way. It would be much more interesting to hear about Jane going to a great fitter, buying a B16 from eBay, and then putting it together with a bar (picked to match her fit!), and old Zipps with a cover... and then riding it to smash her old PR at IMLou. Or details on one of the heavily-modified P4s around here. I'd be much more inclined to read that sort of thing than "someone wrote a bunch of large checks for the obvious products if you have those means". Taking nothing away from the people with those means, but the articles would be more interesting I'd rather read about hard decisions and careful analysis than obviously-fast top-end parts.

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that speed, for lack of a better word, is good. Speed is right, Speed works. Speed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [JesseR] [ In reply to ]
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As a general need, not ST specific, I need funds for a properly fitting bike. I need to be able to focus better at work. Pretty sure the latter would solve the former.


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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [SBRinSD] [ In reply to ]
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Running -> Barry P or Desert Dudes Full Ass Challenge (or whatever it’s called)

---
You forgot Captain Canada






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:
nada? you guys all good?

The ability to post a pic or video onto Slowtwitch directly from my phone.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Can we get a sub dedicated to Lionel Sanders? Ya know, in addition to the one we already have.






Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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A few random ideas.

1. How to get kids involved in the sport in a healthy way.
2. How to teach them different biking skills etc. I think you had a descending article many years ago for adults. More of that and some dedicated to our younger generations. Ages 3 up?
3. How to race on a budget.
4. Bike set up for gravel and cyclocross. I showed up at my first cross race this year w/ 45psi in the tubeless tires. I was lucky to run into a friend that helped me out on that. By the end of the season I was running 20psi in the mud. Who knew?

Thanks for the great work covering tri for many years.

Ed Alyanak


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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [trail] [ In reply to ]
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trail wrote:
Maybe not in your swim lane, but I think there's a space out there for athlete-friendly cloud storage of training data. A training data vault. There's an increasing proliferation of sites that use or generate data. Strava, Zwift, TrainingPeaks, Xert, Rouvy, RideWith GPS, Sufferfest, et al. None of them are perfect in terms of data storage. Strava won't let you bulk download your data in a way that includes your power data, etc. So if you quit Strava and didn't set up alternative storage, then that data is lost forever (unless you want to download each ride one at a time when you quit - which sucks) And if you want to set things up so that one site is your central storage - say TrainingPeaks - then you're stuck with that service and it makes it a little harder to switch from that service if some new hotness comes along.

I think there's a space for a site that stores data in an athlete-friendly way. And by athlete-friendly I mean no attempt to "lock" you in by setting up barriers (Strava), very clear privacy rights and usage rights (no selling to 3rd parties without consent), and very clear to hook up to all these new digital services that either use or generate data. And of course free ability to bulk download *all* of your data.

This site would make no attempt to be a calendar, do analysis, etc. It just stores your data and provides all those other services (with athlete permission) the ability to read your data, add to your data, or both.

The business model would be something like free storage for manual upload, and maybe $2/month (or something) for each connected service. Or whatever pricing structure works to pay the Amazon Web Services storage fee, etc.

The aggregate data could also be useful (with consent). You could look at it and discover - hey - there's a lot of gravel riding going on in this city the past year, and sell that to advertisers or race producers to target that area.

Maybe all those services would like this anyway. They could get out of the data storage business and focus on making cool 3D worlds, etc. Or maybe they'd hate it becomes it does strip them of some power, and hands it back to the athlete.

well isn't that interesting as hell. i'll talk to eric about this. and jordan. i agree with you that one aggregator of data is needed, because data is getting generated by all your devices. but i would've thought that strava was the clearinghouse, was that place. you're saying it isn't that place? that strava is a throughway, but not the archiver. is that what you're saying?

Dan Empfield
aka Slowman
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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I think of sports as a Culture (from a normative standpoint), in that it is a coupling of shared beliefs and practices from different areas that contribute to the whole. In saying that, I think it would be cool to see some articles written with regard to developmental programs or youth programs. I'm thinking from the perspective of the coaches on what drew them to coach, what made them want to coach kids or youth, the challenges or differences of coaching kids vs adults, how important they think it is towards the sport, does it work as like a grooming practice to develop athletes for the future and how do you positively expose the young athlete in terms of practices and competition to set them on that path. Then highlight some groups around the country that are doing a particularly good job and give some areas more exposure.

I think there are pockets where people "flock" or inadvertently draw more people into the sport (why is this, whats going on, what are the similarities/differences) and do these areas produce a higher caliber athelete because of the culture or traditions they grew up in. We can all think of examples in running, as well as other sports, so what does this look like in triathlon - from start to end?

Use this link to save $5 off your USAT membership renewal:
https://membership.usatriathlon.org/...A2-BAD7-6137B629D9B7
Last edited by: AlyraD: Dec 28, 18 6:26
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [jaretj] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj wrote:
Yes, I saw that, thanks. That was the article I was concerned about in post 36.

I'm not saying I disagree with the article, I'm concerned with the trend. As long as I can get good 650C tires I'm good for about 8 years. Maybe something will happen by then.

My point is that if the bike companies want everyone to go to 700C wheels, make a bike that will work for small people like Trek did with the Superfly. Hopefully people like you and Dan can put that idea in the manufactures ears.

I'm concerned with the trend, too. I think I can speak for Dan when I say that both he and I have beat the small-wheel-drum very loudly for years (and both of us are over 6 feet tall, so it doesn't even affect us personally).

Personally, I kind of disagree that it's worth making a big stink about 700c wheels and trying to make them work for shorter folks - at some point there is a cutoff that will necessitate small wheels. Say right now it's 5'3". They can change the geometry to make it work for someone that's 5'2"... but there are still folks who are 5'1". Smaller wheels address ALL of their needs, plus have other benefits covered in my article (i.e. toe overlap, lighter weight, less side force from crosswinds, etc).

If I was in your shoes, I'd probably just try to keep a good stock of tires on hand at all times. For wheels, there are still enough new options to get you by - Premier Tactical, Renn Multisport, and I'm pretty sure Velocity still makes the Deep V in 650c. Actually, I still have a set of Serfas Urbana tires that you can have if you pay shipping. I reviewed them a while back. They're listed as 650c x 28mm, but it's more like 26mm on an average rims. The tires are used but still have quite a bit of life left.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Unfortunately my back has stopped me from running, so tri's have been out for me.

I'd like a doctor data base to research who in my area would be good for athletes.

Articles on epic or "iron worthy" endurance events for those of us not currently involved in tri's. I've ridden up Mt. Evan's and Pikes Peak. What other things like that are out there for us to accomplish? Where should a average swimmer take a vacation for an epic ocean swim, or a secluded mountain lake. Where is a great overnight or multi day hike for fit individuals. Any mountain bike rides or other bucket list endurance events.

So basically, articles on events other than tri's.

This is more zwift than slowtwitch, but have a group stretch after a workout on zwift. You'd still have a leader hosting it and you'd still see your avatar doing the stretching.

We definitely need a like/dislike function.

A slowtwitch black book for training/local guides. If your willing take someone for a run, ride or get them into your local pool. The more people you help, the higher your slowtwitch rank and you get us discounts or freebies!
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [DanCT] [ In reply to ]
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DanCT wrote:
gregk wrote:
DanCT wrote:

Articles:

- Trustworthy Tri equipment reviews. Bikes, bike bits and pieces etc. DC Rainmaker has electronics covered, but no one does the rest (no one I trust)

Dan


I'm honestly curious: What about our current front-page reviews makes them seem untrustworthy? I'm not bought by any company/product that I've reviewed (and it's not uncommon that I'm featuring stuff that I've bought myself in the exact manner that any other consumer buys it). If anything, I think I've gotten a reputation for perhaps being too honest, as there are most certainly companies out there that don't call me back or ask for reviews any longer. You could say that we don't post them frequently enough, but thorough reviews take a lot of time. The other more recent X factor is that some brands are really trying to do all of their marketing directly via social media, who can "review" their own stuff on their own blog, or re-post photos and testimonials from their ambassadors. It's a strange world out there in (almost) 2019.


I don’t doubt the honesty of the current reviews. I’m looking for more comprehensive reviews. Reviewing a bike? Have you lived with it for 6 months and done a couple of races on it? Same for bars, etc. I appreciate that limits what could be reviewed (or review team needs expanding etc) but that would be my ask. The reviews are more like ‘first looks’ than user reviews.

Dan

I've done quite a handful of long-term reviews, mostly of wheels, saddles, and shoes. Even those can be tough, and I've gotten comments ranging from, "Great!" to "How come this review took so long - the new model is coming out soon!". Um, it's a long-term review?

Full bikes are tough. With shipping them to/from, storing bike boxes, etc, you pretty much need an office / site for the publication. The number of publications that have the money for this is shrinking as magazines close. The ones that still do it are typically the biggest ones with the most conflict of interest. So yes - I get where you're coming from. I've had a few offers to do bike reviews, but I don't have the space to fill up my garage with bikes and boxes, and it just wouldn't be a profitable review if I really go in depth (which requires a lot of hours). Plus it's really hard to control for all factors - I'm evaluating the ride quality, but this bike has different tires than my last bike... but most manufacturers want you to evaluate their full bike as-spec'ced.

The good news is that when you're dealing with an experienced reviewer, a long-term review isn't always necessary. When you know what you're looking for and have a lot of other products to compare to, you can get the picture pretty quickly. In other words, tripling the number of miles ridden on a product doesn't provide triple the number of insights.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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A reasonably priced online bike fit service that uses FB messenger or FaceTime to get real time advice and feedback from a known industry professional. I know it wouldn't be as perfect as an in person fit but a lot of us live in more remote places and the time to travel and being in the comfort of home (on both sides) would be big positives.
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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [ealyanak] [ In reply to ]
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ealyanak wrote:

4. Bike set up for gravel and cyclocross. I showed up at my first cross race this year w/ 45psi in the tubeless tires. I was lucky to run into a friend that helped me out on that. By the end of the season I was running 20psi in the mud. Who knew?



We have covered this one quite a bit over the last few years:
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...s_Pressure_7081.html
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...ravel_Bike_6957.html
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...Road_Plus__6860.html

https://www.slowtwitch.com/...ke_Details_4241.html
https://www.slowtwitch.com/...ometry_101_7097.html


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Re: What do you need? Mostly? [Slowman] [ In reply to ]
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Slowman wrote:

that strava is a throughway, but not the archiver. is that what you're saying?


Strava is close as an archiver. A problem, at least for some, is that when you bulk download, they don't give you your power or heartrate data back. This is the ticket where Strava says they're not going to give it back in bulk. You have to go workout-by-workout. Which would take me days with thousands of workouts. It's not clear to me if this is a business strategy (they want you to purchase their premium power analysis features rather than bulk export to TrainingPeaks, etc) or they just don't think it's that important.

So when I purchased WKO4 and wanted to look at my history as an athlete w.r.t. to my power data, I was stuck.
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