Jetblack and Zwift announced USB-C support for the JetBlack Victory a week or two ago, but I finally got around to updating my trainer, and thought it was interesting enough for a quick post, especially given some of the inside baseball backstory.

In any industry, there are always plenty of small pet projects that others know exist, and quietly watch for years as a company toils about trying to make it happen – often faced with nearly impossible headwinds. As silly as it sounds, the JetBlack adding USB-C support to its trainers was exactly always one of those things.

Every year I’d meet with the JetBlack team at Eurobike (which I’ll be at again next week), they discussed their desire to add USB-C connection support, for people that may be struggling with wireless connection issues. The concept is hardly knew. Obviously, the industry effectively started that way (see the CompuTrainer), but wirelessly quickly took over (and CompuTrainers disappeared), but for whatever reason, there was a hard cliff where virtually no other trainer could connect via any type of wired connection to major training apps.

Kinetic briefly tried, but just like JetBlack they couldn’t get any of the big apps onboard. The irony being that for the most part, it was these very apps (cough, mostly Zwift), that actually asked for this capability – largely to solve some of their pro-series racing ambitions. Yet ultimately, when companies finally added the hardware, Zwift and others were slow (read: not at all moving) to implement it. Thus, no USB-anything for anyone.

When JetBlack announced the Victory two years ago, I commented in the comments section that it seemed unlikely this hardware would be lit up anytime soon. But while it took a while to get Zwift onboard, I’m glad it’s finally here. It’s not something I need, but I know for some people battling weird connectivity issues, it can be a huge help.

Kudos to JetBlack for beating the drum for years, and/or beating the Zwift horse enough times to get it over the line. Now, what say you TrainerRoad and others?

Note, a few minor technical details:

– For Mac & PC only (not for phones/etc…)
– You can bridge Zwift Ride/Zwift Click/Zwift Play controllers (converting from Bluetooth to USB)
– Covers trainer power, cadence, resistance control (but oddly, not heart rate)

Obviously, you’ll need to update your firmware on your JetBlack Victory in order to see the new feature, plus of course the latest Zwift update (and if you want to funnel your Zwift Play/Click, ensure those are updated too). Basically, just have yourself a giant update party (and hope it goes better than recent COROS updates). That all takes just a few minutes.

Obviously, at this point you’ll want to connect up your USB-C cable:

Since I’m guessing some people will ask, here’s the high-wattage USB-C the cable with the tiny status LED (seen below) Proves somewhat handy when you have lots of USB-C cables coming from a hub, to know whether or not it’s actually plugged in on the other side. Here, it doesn’t really do much other than be pretty. Also, I appreciate the 240w side of things.

Once that’s done, you’ll pair things up and notice the nifty little USB-C icon:

Again, here you can pair up the power, resistance, and cadence sensors. As well as also do the Zwift Click/Play controllers if updated (I didn’t pair those in via USB-C on this ride). But as noted, you cannot do heart rate via USB-C, however JetBlack will still funnel that via WiFi and Bluetooth if you’ve got that setup.

With the technical bits done, it’s as simple as completing your ride.

I had no issues with the data at all, and everything worked just fine (including control of the trainer power).

As for whether other trainer companies should adobe USB-C support? Honestly, I’d rather them adopt it for USB-C power, than anything else. That’s far more useful to consumers (on the whole), than USB-C data connection (especially since most newer trainers offer WiFi and ethernet adapter options anyway). And before someone says that USB-C won’t work for trainers, it’d work just fine. After all, Peloton’s been using a simple USB-C power cable for their newer smart bike models since 2020 (and that has to power a full smart display/TV as well).

With that – thanks for reading, and looking forward to Eurobike next week! Albeit, I don’t expect a lot of new sports tech there this year. Companies continue to shift announcements away from Eurobike (both in the sports tech realm, and otherwise).

I know, this is kinda a quirky comparison – since the Insta360 Luna Ultra has a beastly dual-camera/lens setup, while the Pocket 4 (non-Pro) has a single-camera setup. Yet, this weird duo is entirely of these companies’ own making. Both DJI & Insta360 have been playing an odd game of secret-squirrel-chicken the past few months, trying to one-up each other with information leaks, last-second product announcement changes, and otherwise tom-fudgery.

Both companies plan two models to compete more directly with each other. In the case of Insta360, there’s soon to be a base single-lens model of Luna coming in the next month or so. Likewise, for DJI, it’s expected to release a dual-lens DJI Pocket 4 Pro in the next month or so as well.

But ultimately, neither story is complete today, yet since I have both publicly available cameras in my hands today, I figured I’d show how things compare. That’s especially notable for US folks, who might not be able to buy the Pocket 4 Pro at all (or at least, for a price cheaper than the Insta360 Luna Ultra).

In any event, I’ll do a more proper feature comparison shortly, but on my ‘tasks I can actually achieve today’ list, this is what made the cut.

Thanks for watching!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

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Apple has just announced its Apple Watch-related updates that’ll be coming as part of WatchOS 27 later this year. As a quick refresher, Apple has changed their operating system naming (e.g. iOS, WatchOS, iPadOS, etc…) to match the year upcoming (2027 for next year, like car models). These platforms were announced today at Apple’s Annual WWDC event in San Francisco (Worldwide Developer Conference), and are available immediately in early access private beta to 3rd party Apple developers. Remember, this event isn’t (nor has ever been) about announcing all the new Apple Watch features that’ll come in September. On average, about 30-50% of those new features don’t actually announce until Apple’s September event.

In any case, typically in early-mid July we see Apple release it to public beta, when anyone can download it. Finally, in September, after Apple’s annual announcement event of new phones and watches, it’ll go to final release state, and be made available to both new and existing devices. In the case of iOS, that’s iPhone 11 and newer, and in the case of Apple Watch that’s Apple Watch Series 9 and newer, Apple Watch Ultra 2 & Ultra 3, and Apple Watch SE3. That’s a notable shift to exclude Apple Watch Ultra 1 (2022), Series 9 (2023), and SE2 (2022). [Note: Apple’s materials previously said Series 10 and higher, that’s being corrected, it should Series 9 and higher.]

With that backstory, this year was expected to be pretty low-key for Apple Watch-related WWDC announcements. In fact, if we look at Apple’s platform announcements overall, they lean very heavily on improvements to existing features. Many of them were performance-related or privacy-related. And of course, lots of AI-related features that don’t really apply to Apple Watch (at least at this point/time).

In this post, I’ll quickly cover all the new features, but expect more hands-on details in the July timeframe (or whenever the public beta release), where undoubtedly we’ll find more things than Apple has announced in their keynote (usually only a handful of things make it to the keynote).

What’s New in iOS for Fitness/Sports/Health:

Now, as always with watchOS, much of it starts first on iOS (the phone app), to support many of the new watch features. So, there are a number of smaller things coming to iOS that support the watchOS features. They are as follows (in Health, Fitness, and Fitness+ apps):

– Added irregular cycle tracking
– Added Perimenopause and menopause symptom logging in the Health app
– Added Perimenopause and menopause education in the Health app
– Added Fitness+ workouts for perimenopause and menopause
– Added Sort by completed Fitness+ workouts
– Added Support for timezone changes in Sleep
– Faster data updates in Health App
– Synced step count in the Health and Fitness apps
– Adds GymKit support for AirPods Pro 3 heart rate sensor data (via iPhone)

Here you can see the new features related to irregular cycling tracking, perimenopause, and menopause tracking in Apple Health:

Beyond this, there’s a whole slate of Siri-related improvements that are on your phone, a small sliver of which is accessible to the watch. I won’t dive into all those here, since they’re more general than sports/fitness/health related. Do note though that the revamped Siri AI won’t be available in the EU at launch however. When and what things look like is fuzzy there.

What’s New in WatchOS:

Next, let’s look at the list of WatchOS-related items, coming to WatchOS27 specifically.

– Workout Buddy no longer requires your phone with you (this is a big one!)
– Better battery efficiency on Apple Watch (though, this is undefined)
– New dedicated Siri app on the wrist
– New Dynamic app grid in watchOS (including direct Siri Support)
– Added single tap gesture WatchOS to open Smart Stack
– Added cycle tracking deviation alerts on WatchOS
– Improved distance accuracy during treadmill runs/walks
– More accurate step tracking on Apple Watch
– Improved Wi-Fi connectivity in watchOS
– Consolidated Find My app in watchOS
– Faster app extension launch in watchOS
– Siri improvements in WatchOS (tied to tons of Siri AI improvements on iOS)
– New Smart Stack suggestions in watchOS
– Faster media/music playback in watchOS
– View card balance in Wallet on WatchOS
– Guest Key in WatchOS
– Transit and ID cards in Smart Stack in WatchOS
– Redesigned settings in the Apple Watch app
– Adding Workout Buddy in Spanish
– Adding new insights in Workout Buddy
– Adds new Workout Zones API
– Adds new Menopause API

As you can see, a whole slate of very minor changes, mostly small improvements. Here’s a look at the Dynamic Home Grid, which basically acts like a memory for your most recent apps on WatchOS (similar to what we’ve had on iOS for years). You’ll press the Digital Crown to see this, and it’ll show up to 5 apps.

However, the biggest one is probably that Workout Buddy no longer requires your phone to be with you. Up till now, it required both your phone be with you, but also have connectivity. This appears to get rid of at least the tethered phone requirement.

Likewise, Workout Buddy is now in Spanish, as well as adding more insights. Hopefully, those extra insights will also come with improved accuracy of said insights (it often still makes up things for me).

Next, there’s the new dedicated Siri App, where you can re-visit your conversations directly from the wrist (even ones started on the phone):

Likewise, there’s more details now coming from Siri on the wrist as well, with the updated Apple Siri Intelligence.

And here’s an example of cycling tracking deviation alerts on WatchOS27:

So much so that Apple didn’t even have a section covering WatchOS. Instead, these updates were sprinkled throughout the presentation in other places. I can’t remember the last time Apple didn’t have a section about WatchOS within the presentation…it’s been a long while!

Wrap-Up:

Obviously, if you were waiting for a big WatchOS update, this will probably feel pretty disappointing. I don’t think anyone would really deny that. But at the same time, as the saying goes: Don’t count your chickens before they hatch. In this case, these chickens don’t actually hatch until mid-late September, in conjunction with new devices. It’s at that time we’ll find out what other new WatchOS features Apple is working on, just like we always find out about other new WatchOS features during that September event.

Likewise, the exclusion of Apple Watch Series 8 (2022), Apple Watch Ultra 1, and Apple Watch SE2 (also announced in 2022) will probably be unexpected, especially since Apple is actually including iPhone’s all the way back to iPhone 11 (2019). I would have expected both of those watches to remain in for another year, so perhaps there’s something else coming later in September to WatchOS requiring more power that’s justifying that transition. Again, we’ll have to see. [Note: Apple’s materials previously said Series 10 and higher, that’s being corrected, it should Series 9 and higher.]

Otherwise, stay tuned for me poking at the new offline Workout Buddy bits, once they become public beta in July. I use the Apple Watch every day, and will load the beta later tonight to start seeing how those pieces work.

With that – thanks for reading!

This was the review you didn’t know you needed. But then again, neither did I till I saw a Lego set that identically matched my road bike. Thus, I did what all rational cyclists did: Buy more cycling-related things I probably didn’t need.

The Lego Icons Road Bike set officially started shipping about a week ago, though I ordered it about a month ago. It’s priced at $129USD/119EUR, which is sorta in the lower-mid range of some of Lego’s fancier ‘Icons’ sets, that are targeted more at adults than kids. Or more specifically, adults with expendable income…just like most fancy cycling gear.

What’s notable here, though, is that unlike many of Lego’s other Icons sets, there isn’t a brand partnership associated with this one. Unlike sets with Land Rover, Ferrari, or Star Wars. This isn’t a Canyon-branded bike, or a Trek one, or a Specialized one. Instead, it just a red road bike. Despite having a Canyon red road bike, I kinda appreciate the generic aspect here. Had it been a model of a specific other brand of bike that I didn’t own, I probably wouldn’t have bought it. And given the somewhat geographic attachment that many cyclists have to a certain bike brands (e.g. Europeans often to European branded bikes, Americans often to American bike brands, etc, sometimes simply because of availability/support), their decision here has some rationale.

In any case, let’s get into things!

In The Box:

Inside the box, there are 8 bags of parts, with many of the bags having secondary, smaller bags (of smaller parts) inside them. In addition, there are two tires floating in the box, plus the manual:

In total, Lego says there are 1,015 pieces in there. Obviously, I’m not about to count them – so we’ll just take their word for it. Likewise, unlike a typical unboxing photo, I’m not going to perfectly line up each and every one of the 1,015 parts for a components shot. Else, this review would never get done.

Building It:

In my case, I didn’t take photos along the way during the build itself, but rather, videoed it from a bunch of different angles for the video at the top of the page. I then consolidated this into various tidbits that I thought were interesting during the video.

Overall, this took me a little under 3 hours to build, but as usual with most things that I film/shoot, it’s going to take me a bit longer to ensure camera angles are correct/etc. I also stopped for lunch briefly within that, and was watching some YouTube off to the side. Point being, a focused builder could probably knock this out under 2 hours.

Essentially, you build the bike from rear to front, in this order:

1) Rear trainer/stand
2) Rear wheel
3) Chainstay/Seatpost region
4) Downtube & Toptube
5) Front Fork/Headset
6) Front wheel
7) Handlebar Assembly
8) Water bottle & Rear Light

I think by far the most impressive part to build was actually the wheels. It uses a carbon-looking wheel segment piece that is rotated 180* each segment you build, which then ensures when you attach the spokes, they form a separated/split pattern such that they go to the outer rims of the wheel/rim, rather than aligned on the center. It’s super clever.

The first few pieces you do of the wheel might feel a bit confusing (and error-prone), but once you get cooking, it all works out. Plus, it’s kinda impossible to do wrong, because you’ll run out of pieces if you do it wrong (flipped order). In fact, I’d say the only portion of the entire 227-page build manual that’s a bit wonky is attaching the spokes to the wheel hub. Specifically, the way you position a very small plate in the center, has to be done a certain way, else some number of steps later it’ll all fail. The manual does show a correct/incorrect pop-out box, but even then, the nuances of that is mostly impossible to tell (until you fail later). I just sorta got lucky the first time, and then realized what it was trying to say the second wheel.

In any case, overall, the entire build was pretty straightforward. I didn’t have any “oh fudge, I need to totally rebuild everything” moments due to misunderstanding some piece 30 steps prior.

The manual also highlighted a number of both new-to-Lego pieces (such as the crankset), as well as old-to-Lego recycling (such as the handlebar drops are actually dragon horns from many years ago). As one who has primarily built smaller sets with my sub-10 year old kids, they don’t seem to include these details. One of these days I’m gonna buy the Concorde set, as an Avgeek, in honor of the couple of Concorde flights I took many years ago.

Oh, and once built? I used a real bike scale to weigh in, coming in at 620g:

This is, of course, well under the UCI limit for road bikes, but it doesn’t seem like they are very good at measuring that anyway.

Comparison to a Real Bike:

So, let’s take a look at things, part by part, in terms of realism…as well as how they compare to my actual bike.

First up is the non-bike thing, the trainer/stand. Technically speaking, the manual describes it as a “Training Stand”, which is apparently what you call it when you can’t decide which one it should be. This ‘trainer’ lacks any wheel or hub resistance unit, though, so it doesn’t provide any training resistance. However, that does mean you can pedal it within the stand, and it’ll roll for a surprisingly long time.

I appreciate that it even has a little dual-lock mechanism (one per side) so that you can keep it locked in the stand itself. This locks over the world’s most incorrect thru-axle length (actually, it kinda reminds me of the axle on this GoPro mount I reviewed many years ago, sadly, nothing like that for thru-axle these days that I know of).

Next, we’ve got the rear free hub, cassette, and rear derailleur (I’ll cover both wheels later). The bike features a rear derailleur, but it doesn’t move or have any extra gears. Instead, the RD acts as a chain tensioner, albeit an immovable one. But the real magic here is the free hub, which enables for forward pedaling operation, but also allows for the chain to spin backwards as if you were backpedaling (without interrupting the wheel). In other words, this isn’t a fixie bike.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to my bike (where a spider has made a web over the last few days):

Moving forward, we’ve got the chain. This chain has 72 individual links in it (which you get the pleasure of building). Surprisingly, it didn’t take as long as I thought it would; it comes together at about 2 seconds per chain link.

That said, as-built, the chain was WAAAY too loose and hung down all sad. So I removed 3 links, it was perfect. I put those in the ‘leftovers’ pile, in case I need them someday.

Meanwhile, up front we’ve got the 1x chainring. This is, of course unusual for a road bike, which typically have 2x (small and big chaining), but if Lego had included a 2x system, it’d have been far more complex (and would have required shifting). That said, I do appreciate the minor touches here, such as the fake/implied front derailleur just above the chainring coming off the frame.

Meanwhile, the crankset and pedals are great here. Even building the crankset is exactly like real life, in that you build the drive-side (with chainring) first, and then push it through the bottom bracket to the other wide, where you attach the non-drive-side crank arm, then attach the pedals afterwards.

The pedal essentially mirrors a road bike pedal, and you can decide whether that’s Look or Shimano (or, with a bit of a stretched imagination, Time). It’s definitely not SpeedPlay, however.

From there, we’ve got the frame of the bike itself, which is super realistic and well done. The dimensions on the top-tube and down-tube are nailed, as is the tapering on the downtime. Very clean and smooth.

Of course, there’s also that water bottle too, which if you crack it open, you’ll find water inside:

Of course, I’ll have to figure out how to make some DCR-branded water bottles for it:

Meanwhile, back up on the seat post is the saddle and rear light. The lights actually look a lot more like a Garmin Varia Radar than it does most bike lights. What’s cool here though is that the light does rotate/adjust up/down a bit, to find the right position. Further, the underside of the saddle actually has saddle rails.

My only (minor) complaint here is that the nose of the saddle feels a *touch* bit long. Like 10-15% long, versus most saddle noses, though you wouldn’t really notice it from far away. Maybe it’s just because the skinny portion happens a bit earlier than most saddles.

Up front, we’ve got the headset area, where things get a bit wobbly. There’s a lot of flux here (forward and side to side), but it does allow a slight bit of rotation (as if turning). One person commented that I might be missing a single piece somewhere behind the front fork, so I’ll double-check that. It’s not a huge deal if not, but could use some firming up.

As for the handlebars, I do feel like some bar tape would go a long way here, but obviously, that’s not quite the style. Still, it ends up looking great nonetheless. The shifters/brakes don’t work per se, but do have a little bit of play in them, so it kinda feels like your shifting if you move them slightly (but they make no click or such).

Still, there’s no denying the color scheme on the edge of the shifters is absolutely nailed here. Notably, the bottom portion of the hoods is apparently part of a dragon horn many years ago.

Getting up to the front wheel, it attaches via a quick-release system of sorts. The axle is effectively built in, but you can remove the bottom few pieces do separate pretty easily to remove the front wheel for whatever reason you might need to remove it for.

And of course, you probably noticed those disc brakes on both the front and rear wheels.

Meanwhile, the tires are my favorite part of the entire build. These snap on, and feel super realistic. There’s no tube inside, and they are effectively hookless wheels, but feel firm and spot-on.

Almost lastly, up front, there’s no front light up front. I think this actually makes sense. The vast majority of road/race bikes I see don’t have front lights on them (though many people have radars/rear lights), so I’m actually OK with this decision. That said, I’m a touch bit surprised there wasn’t a front bike brand name plate on the upper fork.

However, before we wrap-up, I do have to note one moderate omission: There’s no cycling computer on it.

You’d be hard-pressed to find this bike in the wild riding without a cycling computer of some sorts. I’d love to see someone make a 3D printed out-front mount and scale-appropriate bike GPS for it. That’d be amazing. Please?

Wrap-Up:

Ultimately, I’m super impressed with this set. Obviously, it’s not the cheapest Lego thing out there, but equally, it’s also not as expensive as many others. Priced at $129USD, it seems like a better deal than many of the higher-end kid-targeted sets that Lego sells in the barely sub-$100 price point. And likewise, many of the other Lego Icons series sets are priced far higher (e.g. Space Shuttle + Boeing 747 Carrier, Land Rover, Star Trek USS Enterprise, etc…). While as a kid I was a huge Lego builder, as an adult I haven’t really gotten into collecting fancy Lego sets (or building them). Of course, I build tons of smaller sets with my daughters, and we build lots of our own creations too with bulk sets of bricks and pieces of other sets.

In terms of the cycling side of things, I’m impressed with how well this was executed overall. In particular, the drivetrain is super well done, and the deeper rimmed wheels are spot-on (including the tires). The same goes for the frame of the bike, which really nails the road-bike aesthetic (and in particular, my Canyon bike).

There are a few companies that are already selling stickers for the side of the Lego Road Bike, for example, I saw one company selling my exact Canyon road bike. My Instagram ads have been abuzz with it since I mistakenly clicked on one of them. Perhaps I’ll buy it, perhaps not. Kinda undecided.

But I have decided this was a solid purchase! With that – thanks for reading!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the LEGO Icons Road Bike Set or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

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And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!

Buried deep in one of the longest press releases I’ve ever seen, with an unrelated title about cycling initiatives in India (and updates on Belarus & Russian athletes), the UCI has announced an update to the maximum cycling computer size. This new policy will cap the maximum size of bike computers going forward, from January 2028.

Here’s the full text of that relevant section:

“The UCI has also decided to update the article concerning on-board technologies. The maximum dimensions permitted for bike computers will be limited to 126 × 71mm, corresponding to the largest products currently available on the market. This limitation will enter into force on 1 January 2028. This decision was taken in light of the impact of on-board technologies on the cognitive load experienced by riders. Several studies have shown that the increasing volume of data available to riders during competition can contribute to an increased cognitive workload, a key factor in the occurrence of accidents. Limiting the size of bike computers is intended to prevent an excessive increase in the amount of data available during races, which could significantly compromise rider safety. Members of the UCI Management Committee also emphasised the importance of engaging with the relevant stakeholders to gain a better understanding of how riders interact with the various data streams available to them during competition.”

So in short, the new size limit comes into effect January 1st, 2028, and is 1mm larger than the Wahoo ACE, the current largest cycling GPS on the market (it’s roughly the size, weight, and aerodynamic properties of a brick). They say they are doing this for safety reasons to reduce accidents, due to “increased cognitive workload”.

But…man, the UCI tries so hard to make up excuses for its rules. And certainly, since the very next paragraph discusses its recent sprawling legal loss to SRAM on this front, it had to be aware that it now *legally* needs actual relevant and situation-appropriate evidence before making up rule changes.

Instead, I wish the UCI had just simply said “big computers above this size are simply stupid looking”. In the same way, they do that for plenty of other cycling-related rules, such as sock height.

The problem with shifting this to safety is that one would actually argue a larger screen size probably *increases* safety. It’s simply easier to glance/see the data fields on a larger display than a tiny Edge 130-class/sized device that Garmin refuses to update, but pro teams still use. So if the rule was really about safety, we’d actually have a minimum screen size spec. And we’d have a rule about where the device was placed on TT bikes (such that it wasn’t behind someone’s chin point, making it nearly impossible to see).

(I took this photo 18 months ago as part of my Wahoo ACE review. Absolute Cycling has since gone out of business, but JESPR appears to still be around, and would seem to be slightly bigger than the Wahoo ACE, though on paper it says they’re only 122m long by 69.5mm wide. The Edge 1050 is 118.5m x 60.2mm)

Likewise, if the rule was about safety, we’d have rules about distracting features on the bike computer, or we’d have locked-down modes like some orienteering/adventure races have (these modes allow for data recording, but no access to the data itself during the event). But again, this isn’t about safety. It’s about whatever else the UCI is trying to achieve here.

And in fact, the UCI seems to freely admit that it hasn’t done any actual safety work here, as it says it wants to engage with the stakeholders to determine if there’s anything distracting here:

“Members of the UCI Management Committee also emphasised the importance of engaging with the relevant stakeholders to gain a better understanding of how riders interact with the various data streams available to them during competition.”

Why then would you create a rule before you decide if a rule was needed? Again, didn’t you just lose what might have been one of the most consequential sport-rules cases ever, for this very thing? (That case loss has massive/sprawling effects for other sports, including things like swimsuits in swimming, and every other sport federation).

Look, I personally don’t have an issue with limiting the size of bike computers for aesthetic reasons. Or heck, even saying that if a Wahoo ACE broke off a mount, went flying, and hit someone in the head, it could do serious damage. But saying that someone’s overall device size (not screen size) of a bike computer is a safety concern because it’s somehow distracting? C’mon, do better.

With that, thanks for reading!

[Err…update: It has been brought to my attention that this new UCI rule may actually have a massive benefit: It would theoretically ban the Flitedeck handlebar 2,249EUR bike computer project that’s been swindling people’s money for a few years now by a pair of OnlyFans ‘creators’. That particular pretend unit is well beyond the allowed size (180mm), which I guess does prove what they probably already know: Size matters. Albeit, so does actually shipping a product. As a result, I take back everything bad I said about the UCI.]

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At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase. These posts generally take a lot of time to put together, so if you're shopping for the Wahoo ELEMNT ACE or Garmin Edge 1050 or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

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Garmin Edge 1050

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Google has opened the floodgates on asking 3rd party companies to release Fitbit Air accessories, bands, and anything else you can think of to put the little Fitbit Pebble in (which is what the pod of the Fitbit Air is officially called).

This will enable companies to create 3rd-party bands/straps of all varieties, similar to what we’ve seen for other companies. However, unlike other companies, Google is just putting the specs out there and mostly saying “go forth!”. Hopefully, that ‘forth’ results in a bicep band ASAP.

Google’s page on the topic is basically split into five sections:

1) General life-guidance on designing bands that humans want to wear
2) Branding things to not make Google upset (don’t call it “Google Fitbit Air Wannabe Whoop Clasp”)
3) A link to the actual CAD drawings (PDF file)
4) A list of technical rules to keep in mind (basically, don’t block the sensor, and release retention thresholds)
5) A list of policy rules around materials that Google has (e.g., lead-free, no PFAS, etc…)

Most of the things Google lists in those rules all make sense/etc… The PDF itself basically has three pages that show the pod from different sides, and then all the dimensions.

That said, I do find two things mildly notable. I’d assumed they’d have simply included/attached the actual CAD files, rather than the PDF’s. And secondly, I note at the bottom, they left the Google Confidential bits. Also, I feel like the ‘Not to Scale’ piece probably doesn’t belong here either.

In any case, hopefully, this quickly opens the door to cheap bicep bands galore!

Now, that said, if someone wants to create a combo Apple Watch fabric band + Fitbit Air holder on the opposite side, I’m all ears.  The same goes for any other combination of bands. I like having long-term platform data on multiple devices (though I generally only do accuracy testing on proper straps/placements). So minimizing the number of straps I have to wear would be handy. Just throwing that out there.

With that – thanks for reading!

In a move that shows the power of competition, Garmin has just announced that inReach satellite communicator device subscribers who have suspended their plans will continue to get emergency SOS access for up to 12 months. That’s a pretty massive shift for Garmin, who has long maintained that inReach devices must have a paid subscription even for SOS purposes. This covers devices like Garmin’s inReach Mini 3 series that came out last fall, as well as numerous other devices that have inReach plans.

Here’s the statement from Garmin’s Connor Hoffman:

“Garmin is introducing an update to its inReach suspend option offering free SOS access for up to 12 months even when a subscription is suspended. Because when it matters most, every second counts. When you’re beyond cellular range, Garmin inReach helps keep you connected to emergency help when you need it the most. The device enables two-way satellite messaging with family and friends from anywhere in the world, and can send an interactive SOS alert to Garmin Response℠, a 24/7 international emergency coordination center.”

As a brief bit of background, Garmin inReach devices require subscriptions that have various tiers covering all sorts of features. Generally speaking though, the higher the subscription, the more texts/photos/audio snippets you can send, and the more tracking points you can send. For most people owning an inReach device, the benefit is a blend of anywhere communications, combined with true global emergency SOS access (whereas most Apple/Google phone/watch plans that offer satellite communications work only in specific countries). But of course, in the case of Apple/Google, those satellite SOS features are entirely free.

Garmin’s inReach plan costs are (left to right): $7.99/$14.99/$29.99/$49.99 (monthly):

Garmin was already forced about a year ago to shift its thinking on plan suspensions, which previously required a silly expensive reactivation fee. But they did away with that almost exactly one year ago (June 5th, 2025), and plans no longer require an activation fee, as long as they are resumed within 12 months.

This all makes inReach devices *far* more appealing to seasonal users of the device (be it winter or summer), who may use the device for 3-5 months, and then it might sit on a shelf. For a skier who might have suspended the subscription for the summer, this might mean they’d grab it for a hike purely for SOS purposes.

Now, Garmin hasn’t quite finished updating all their pages. For example, this one here with tiers doesn’t have all the tables updated yet. Or this one here talking about suspensions. It sounds like that should be happening shortly, though. [Update: As of a day later, these are now updated]

The list of applicable devices is here, the main notable exclusion is the inReach Mini 1 (announced in early 2018), which isn’t included. I suspect this is because it performs a subscription check of some sort, and would require a firmware update that Garmin isn’t willing to do. But the Mini 2 and plenty of others are included on it.

Likewise, I asked how this impacts wearables – such as the Fenix 8 Pro series, which has inReach-style satellite communication capabilities (albeit with different underlying technology). Currently, that requires a subscription as well (which includes LTE coverage baked into it). In checking with Garmin, they noted that this will be applicable to those watches as well.

In any case, all of this is unquestionably the result of companies like Apple and Google making emergency SOS style assistance available on phones and watches, for free. Sure, they have limitations on range that Garmin mostly doesn’t have, but for the overwhelming number of users, those range/country limitations aren’t applicable. Which isn’t to say that Garmin inReach devices don’t serve a purpose, they very much do. There are boatloads of features they have around tracking, updates, etc… that simply aren’t offered on phones/watches at this time. And people (including myself) will continue to pay for those features.

Finally, I do wonder if Garmin will ultimately ditch the 12-month requirement too. That just seems like it’s fraught with ways it can go wrong (expectation-wise). Though I’m sure some accountant has decided that’s the line in the sand to make this work (for now). Who knows. In much the same way that Apple (and Google) refuse to define an end date for their free emergency SOS, despite years of saying eventually it won’t be free.

With that – thanks for reading!

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At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase. These posts generally take a lot of time to put together, so if you're shopping for the Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus Satellite Communicator, Garmin inReach Mini 3 Plus Satellite Communicator or Garmin inReach Mini 2 Satellite Communicator (2-way) or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

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Above is my complete GoPro Mission 1 series beginners guide, covering the GoPro Mission 1 & Mission 1 Pro cameras (my full in-depth review video is here). In this guide, I cover everything from what’s in the box, to how to use all the hardware bits, a walk-through of virtually every software feature in there (especially the newness), and plenty more. I think it’s a good guide for not just beginners, but really anyone who wants to get the most out of their camera. Just the same for all the other long-form guides I do. There will be a few of them coming up over the next week or so.

Here’s a look at all the main chapters (but obviously, there are tons more smaller sections within these):

0:00 Quick Overview
0:58 What’s In the Box
2:02 Hardware Basics (Buttons, Mounts, Ports)
7:41 Pairing to the app, initial setup
8:43 GoPro Mission 1 base vs Mission 1 Pro
10:23 User Interface Walk-Through
15:02 Starting/Stopping/Viewing Videos
16:11 Understanding video modes
18:20 Video Mode Settings (aka all the tiny options)
20:03 Digital Lenses Explained (Linear, Wide, SuperView)
21:42 Horizon Lock Explained
22:44 Hindsight, Scheduled Capture, HyperSmooth, and Many More
26:33 Image Tuning (Sport, Face, Underwater, and more)
27:22 10-Bit, Bit Rate, and Log Options
29:15 Open Gate Mode
30:03 Low Light Video Modes
31:11 Slow Motion Options
33:11 Timelapse & Timewarp (New) Features
36:40 Night Effects (Star Trails, Light Painting, Vehicle Lights)
38:20 Subject Tracking (Follow-Me Mode)
39:19 Photo Modes
41:34 Battery & Overheating
43:25 Underwater & Waterproofing
44:04 Dive Mode
46:13 GoPro Quik App Core Features
49:24 Accessories I actually use/buy
55:58 Pairing Microphones & USB-C Mics

As always, the point of the long-form beginner’s guides I produce is to cover both the basics as well as more advanced tips. I also try really hard to squeeze it in under 1 hour (this one started at 1 hour 45 minutes of filming time, and sliced and diced it a bunch). Anyways, enjoy!

Oh, and I’ve got a written review for the Mission 1 Pro coming. Obviously, given it’s an action (video) camera, I’d really just suggest watching the video instead, but there’s a lot of text stuff I’d like to cover as well. Till then, I suspect we’ll just continue the recent loop of G-named posts the last few weeks: Google (Fitbit), GoPro, and Garmin. Fear not, though, there are a few other letters of the alphabet coming soon.

With that – thanks for watching!

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Hopefully you found this review/post useful. At the end of the day, I’m an athlete just like you looking for the most detail possible on a new purchase – so my review is written from the standpoint of how I used the device. The reviews generally take a lot of hours to put together, so it’s a fair bit of work (and labor of love). As you probably noticed by looking below, I also take time to answer all the questions posted in the comments – and there’s quite a bit of detail in there as well.

If you're shopping for the GoPro Mission 1 Pro (with Grip) or any other accessory items, please consider using the affiliate links below! As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. It doesn’t cost you anything extra, but your purchases help support this website a lot.

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And of course – you can always sign-up to be a DCR Supporter! That gets you an ad-free DCR, access to the DCR Shed Talkin' video series packed with behind the scenes tidbits...and it also makes you awesome. And being awesome is what it’s all about!

Thanks for reading! And as always, feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section below, I’ll be happy to try and answer them as quickly as possible. And lastly, if you felt this review was useful – I always appreciate feedback in the comments below. Thanks!