The early-season racing calendar has delivered all sorts of exciting action from the Middle East and Australia. It\u2019s not for the reasons you\u2019d expect. Forget tactical crosswinds; the peloton is currently at war with the local wildlife.<\/p>\n
Between a herd of desert donkeys matching race pace in Oman and a kangaroo effectively ending Jay Vine\u2019s GC hopes at the Tour Down Under, the start of 2026 has been an unexpected mess of animal disruptions. On this week\u2019s podcast, Lisa, Levy, and I go deep into these bizarre pro encounters before things get personal. I\u2019ve had my share of close calls, but Levy tells a story this week that is genuinely wild. He was being tracked through the woods by something he couldn\u2019t see. While the facts don\u2019t quite line up, he seems to think Bigfoot is a contender. Please comment and let us know what you think is a more plausible explanation.<\/p>\n
I promise we do move on from Bigfoot, though. We\u2019re also diving into the tech we actually use to survive the road. This week I reviewed the Garmin RearVue 820. While the USB-C and 24-hour battery life are massive quality-of-life updates, there\u2019s also a new same speed detection feature that is unlike any other radar. Garmin isn\u2019t exactly marketing it as a \u201cdrafting sensor\u201d but that\u2019s exactly how I\u2019m using it.<\/p>\n
Because the 820 uses signal persistence to track objects even when they perfectly match your pace, it can literally tell you if that wheel sucker is still there without you ever having to look over your shoulder. Beyond the specifics, we dive into why radar is a tool I\u2019ll never leave home without and what tech sceptics Lisa and Levy think of it.<\/p>\n
As part of that discussion, hi-viz clothing comes up and we end up tackling one of the most polarizing topics in cycling safety. Is the push for hi-viz apparel actually just a form of victim blaming? I contend that \u201csafety yellow\u201d is just a psychological band-aid that shifts the burden of survival away from drivers and onto the riders. The team is split and the conversation gets heated. Is it an essential tool or are we just participating in a culture that excuses dangerous driving?<\/p>\n
00:00 \u2013 Intro [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-gear\/velo-podcast-hi-viz-victim-blaming-garmin-820-radar-animal-attacks\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Velo-Pod-Feb-13-Header.jpg”] Josh Ross Published February 13, 2026 01:17PM The early-season racing calendar has delivered all sorts of exciting action from the Middle East and Australia. It\u2019s not for the reasons you\u2019d expect. Forget tactical crosswinds; the peloton is currently at war with the local wildlife. Between a herd of desert donkeys matching race […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1769656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1769656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769656\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1769656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1769656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1769656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n00:35 \u2013 Wildlife Chaos: Donkeys and Gazelles in Oman
\n04:25 \u2013 Wildlife Chaos: Kangaroos at the Tour Down Under
\n05:53 \u2013 Hazardous Animal Encounters: Dogs and Bee Stings
\n08:09 \u2013 Hazardous Animal Encounters: Locusts and Tarantulas
\n09:26 \u2013 Levy\u2019s Mystery Woods Encounter (The Bigfoot Story)
\n13:55 \u2013 Listener Q&A: The Cost of Campagnolo Batteries
\n17:41 \u2013 Listener Q&A: Electronic Drivetrains and \u201cE-Waste\u201d
\n23:53 \u2013 Listener Q&A: Lower Tier and Chinese Group Sets
\n29:54 \u2013 Garmin RearVue 820: The Drafting Sensor Hack
\n47:15 \u2013 The Ethics of Safety: Is Hi-Viz Just Victim Blaming?<\/p>\nSubscribe to the Velo Podcast<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nArticles covered in this episode:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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