I live in a northern climate in North America and with winter (read: snow and frozen lakes and rivers about 6 months of the year), I spend about 45% of my paddling time on an ergo. I was delighted two years ago to see that Grayson/kayakpro had added this genesis port to the the kayakpro gym. This device allows one to do a number of things via two apps: Kinomap and Gymtrkr. Kinomap is a 'zwift-like' app and Gymtrkr is a program designed to track data, I'll discuss my experiences with each in turn.
Kinomap - The "Zwift-like experience" - At first I thought this was going to be like zwift, but its completely different and surprisingly better. By selecting a video, you become the paddler in the video -- maybe its a cruise on an intercoastal waterway in florida, or a race in the adirondacks, or even a training run down a wildwater river in Europe. It's an immersive experience; most videos are filmed with just the bow of the boat shown and your speed changes the pace of the paddler in the video with your stats discretely displayed on top. And it is VERY realistic, VERY immersive - it's not surprising as the videos are HD and I remember musing to myself as I involuntarily used 'body english' on the erg to traverse some side wash generated by a passing motorboat.
All of the data from each of these workouts is sent to Strava (or other) and in strava it appears like any other workout - logging speed, HR, stroke rate, "virtual" GPS position, etc, etc.
Gym Trakr - I use this to track all of my important metrics for my monthly time trials. Of course these are a bit different from on water experience, but I am able to track my overall progress YEAR ROUND - because the erg is extremely consistent especially with the spin down calibration.
Genesis port/bluetooth/screencast. The technical bits. It's a bluetooth device that connects to your phone/tablet/device. I had no trouble pairing my genesis port to my phone and then had no issues Screencasting my phones screen to a TV. [Others I know with large tablets, forgo the added complication of screencasting their screen to a TV, but I like an immersive experience]. If you already know how to connect your phone to your TV; you are well on your way to more pleasurable erg sessions. If you don't know how to connect your phone to your TV, find a tweenager; they'll get you sorted to in a jiffy.
In closing, this has made daily workouts for those of us not fortunate enough to live in warmer climes far more enjoyable, I highly recommend.
Cheers,
Matt S.
Northern NY
