Happy Holidays, the Inevitable Postal Rush, and New Features

We'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of our customers the very best for the holiday season. We've been busy ourselves, with deliveries and working on some new developments. I for one look forward to the holidays as a quiet time around HQ. If I don't answer the phone right away...I'm probably hauling myself up Mt. Ventoux (virtually), or I'm outside skiing in the beautiful Gatineau Park (in true, live reality).

Whether it's because the weather outside gets colder, or for the sheer busy-ness of visiting family and friends, you'll be spending more time on your CompuTrainer in the coming weeks to keep your training on-track. As usual, the volume of mail in the postal system is huge at this time of year, and delivery times become longer and less predictable. If you are hoping for some new ErgVideos to be delivered before your holidays, we encourage you to place your orders now. While regular mail can be less predictable, it is inexpensive; for ErgVideos that must arrive quickly with tracking, choose the express-mail option when placing your order.

We've surreptituously added a very convenient new feature to our Ride Designer's Web Tools capability. If you are running ErgVideoPlayer v2.1.8, you do not need to update your software at all, since this new feature is delivered entirely by the web. This feature appears when you are connected to the web and use the Ride Designer...Web Tools button. Try it!!

When you click the Web Tools button, as usual, a web-based graphical ride designer appears in which you can build your ride and pre-analyze the session using the TrainingPeaks metrics and "time in zones" graphs. This presentation provides more information and makes it clearer and more precise to design your ride to meet specific training goals. You can set-up your ride timing (start/end/reps) and AT setting graphically and examine the expected results of your ride, before you even ride!

What's New is that we've made it easy to instantly grab one of up to 15 pre-configured rides per ErgVideo. We've provided a series of buttons along the top of the web page with very brief descriptions of the ride. In the example below, I've selected the MAP intervals ErgVideo, and in this case, the different ride descriptions are in terms of the reps and sets configured. For other ErgVideos, the buttons will show the dominant Zone levels and duration of the workout. Move your mouse over the buttons, and a tool-tip will appear that gives a more detailed description or (sometimes cheeky) comment. Click the button and the ride parameters for that workout are instantly configured on the page. I've designed the rides with effective training and variety in mind, to help you manage your training time, and to reduce your ride set-up time, all at once! Most workouts include short warm-ups, but be sure to warm-up your computrainer and calibrate before starting these rides for best results.

After you have clicked one of the new workout buttons, examine the profile and the pre-analysis. You can certainly make your own adjustments from here. Click "Show Final Ride" if you do not quite understand how "reps" work. This button will present the workout's power profile exactly as you'll ride it.

When you are satisfied with the workout design, click the button in the ErgVideoPlayer Ride Designer "Click to import the Web Ride Design". The workout parameters will appear in the ErgVideoPlayer ride designer form on the left hand side, and all you have to do now is click "Build it!". Follow the usual steps (Configure MR session, Launch Racermate Software) to begin your ride.

To quickly recap the steps: Choose the ErgVideo under File...Open as always. The Ride designer automatically opens.

1. Click WebTools. The web designer will open for your selected ErgVideo.
2. Click one of the pre-configured workout buttons.
3. Click "Click to Import Web Ride Design"
4. Click "Build it!"

The pre-configured workouts also appear when you access web-based designers in the ErgVideo Coach tool, as well as when you access Profile Toolkit page with a web browser. We hope you will try some of these pre-configured workouts. We think they will add to your enjoyment and enthusiasm for ErgVideo as an effective and entertaining training tool.

Until next time, Best wishes of the Season to you and your families,
Paul Smeulders and David Stevenson
ErgVideo.com