Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $449, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, and plenty more! Go check out the full list here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
In Depth Product Reviews
You probably stumbled upon here looking for a review of a sports gadget. If you’re trying to decide which unit to buy – check out my in-depth reviews section. Some reviews are over 60 pages long when printed out, with hundreds of photos! I aim to leave no stone unturned.
2
Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘Gear I Use’ equipment list, from swim to bike to run and everything in between (plus a few extra things). And to compliment that, here’s The Girl’s (my wife’s) list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
3
Have some fun in the travel section.
I travel a fair bit, both for work and for fun. Here’s a bunch of random trip reports and daily trip-logs that I’ve put together and posted. I’ve sorted it all by world geography, in an attempt to make it easy to figure out where I’ve been.
4
My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
5
The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
Crashed during a group training ride… On a Computrainer!!
Skewer had loosened over the course of 90 minutes, left side slips out, and the bike and rider went flying into the poor guy next to me.
Ending my usual muddy trail on my ass ;-)
Watching my new training partner try to ‘unclip’ for the 1st time only to do it perfect then fall over trying to get closer to the group for the photo!
Hi! :-)
Not terribly funny, but i had an 8 mile run planned for yesterday and realized at the first half mile that I forgot my gel (I’m training for a half-marathon). Didn’t want to ruin my route that was planned, so I just kept going. Oh well….
Funniest moment was having to take a dump in a foreign place while in the middle of the run. thing is there were no public toilets so i had to knock on at least 3 doors before someone let me use their bathroom.
Could do with replacing my Forerunner 101!
Hi, Funnest training moment happened a few months ago when I fell down and ate some pavement 2 days before I tested out with the local law enforcement agency – It was awesome!
During a race, someone hooked a finger in my tri shorts during the swim, pulling them down. Just ahead was a bridge with a bunch of spectators on it watching from above. Effectively, I mooned them.
Clipless pedals. Enough said
My funniest, embarassing moment was at the gym, I thought I was all alone on the dreadmill, and passed gas, about 20 seconds later I hear 2 girls start complaining and one yells, “SERIOUSLY DUDE” I was so embarassed
“hi”
:D
My funniest moment was when I did a 21 mile training run, got incredibly lost, and thought “that’s it my running days are over”. Thankfully, soon after, I woke up!
@Znook
Came to the end of a run and could feel my right shoe untying. Thought I could keep it on so I didn’t have to stop, but once I could feel it slipping off, I decided to just fling it off and finish the run with one shoe. The walk back to the shoe was more embarrassing than running without it.
hi!
Not sure how fun it was, but when I ran San Diego Marathon 2008 I had just bought my FR305. Left it on all night to charge, but it turned out I forgot to turn on the PC so instead of charging, it decharged… Result: 800 m before the finish line, the battery went dead – no marathon recorded!
funniest moment was when I was doing the water station during the marathon group training and left a bunch of bottles on the roof of my car when I took off.
“Hi” :-)
Showed up to a group track session with some friends to find that one of them had injured himself the day before. He planted himself in a lawn chair with a whistle, beer and a cigar and played “coach.” Hilarious.
The puddle wasn’t a puddle at all. It was a pothole that sent me flying over my handlebars. Luckily no damage was done to me or the bike, unless you count my ego!
Great work Ray!
Ooooh too many ‘oh I should probably clip out here’ to pick just one.
Tried to think of something funny about getting up in the wee hours of the morning to run 7-10 miles in the bitter cold…but I couldn’t.
ive never been on a real train..=)
zippy573 AT netscape DOT net
Worst thing was definitely getting stranded on the bike with no bathroom in sight and stomach issues during a 30 miler. Oh and Hi!
Hi!
Hi! :) I’d like to enter the contest, but can’t really think of a funny training moment…
Jackie Mitchell-Evans
jackie.m.mitchell@gmail.com
Falling face first during a race into the sand
My funniest training moment was when I showed up to a 22 mile training ride with 2 left cycling shoes. Because I had friends I was riding with, I taped my Croc to my right foot with electrical tape and rode anyway. The end result was 22 tough miles and a bruised foot!
Going to the pool, locking everything up in my locker, and then almost jumping in the pool with my dress clothes on, having forgot to change into my jammers!
Funny note, my verification word is weeni!
Funniest training moment? Last week me and my halfmarathon group set out on a 5k evening run. As we passed the pretty parks the two ladies behind me commented on a smell they were smelling, they said it would either slow them down or make them enjoy the run more. It took me a moment to smell it too since my nose was blocked: pot smoke, two teenagers were near the park smoking marijuana. I burst out laughing. I dont think the smoke had any effect on our enjoyment but running with those funny awesome ladies did :)
Hi! My favorite embarrassing training moment was when I went for my first bike ride with someone I was dating and was very interested in…..he happened to be an experienced cyclist and I was young and ambitious and excited to try out my NEW clipless pedals! Ooops, bad idea when you’re trying to impress someone. I wiped out twice on that ride. It worked out in the end though, three years later (and countless other wipe outs) we got married.
I decided to mix things up and listen to a book on “tape” instead of the usual music on my Nano. Things were going fine until I reached a particularly funny part right as I was running down the main street in my town. I tried to keep running but was laughing/snorting/tripping over my feet. Got more than a few funny looks as I stumbled down the street, apparently running is not supposed to be so hilarious?
Just saying Hi – My funniest moment would be introducing new friends to mountain biking, and see them give up their breakfast.
Me and a buddy were chased by a swarm of big black ground bees. What was funny is they buzzed around our heads for at least a half a mile.
Howdy! Loved the review!
getting caught on the top tube dismounting.
Hi!
Lifting more than I could, but instead of grunting… I farted.
When I first bought the Garmin Bike Sensor and having it put on backwards. I rode upwards of 20 miles while in my trainer and my machine stated I’d gone about 3.
Not the funniest moment i’ve ever had, but finishing a training with half my butt naked might do the trick…
Funniest moment happened when helping my father train for a bike race. It was supposed to just be an easy slow ride, so he could get used to the distance. Well we did the first 15 miles, stopped for lunch, then headed back. About 6 miles in on the way back food poisoning from the bad lunch hit me, and I ended up going 25-28mph, just leaving him on his bike in the dust trying to make it to a bathroom.
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The dreaded nipple chafe. I got about 4 miles into a 6 miler on the dreadmill at the gym (ice and snow outside) and looked down to find a nice red streak on my white shirt. Threw a towel over my shoulder and soldiered on!
Funniest moment, was when I saw a huge expansions join in the road and mentally told myself to avoid it but for some reason I put my front tire in it and ….crash. I guess that was not so funny.
Funniest moment, was when I saw a huge expansions join in the road and mentally told myself to avoid it but for some reason I put my front tire in it and ….crash. I guess that was not so funny.
Funniest moment, was when I saw a huge expansions join in the road and mentally told myself to avoid it but for some reason I put my front tire in it and ….crash. I guess that was not so funny.
Hi Ray!
Always good to read your blog. You bring lots of technical value to the table, and keep it fun. Great job!
Few weeks ago doing 400s repeat at the track with my sons watching, and doing their own 100s. My 7.5yr old decided he and I should do a race over 200m. We are off, and I know he is fast, so I am pushing it, but not all the way, just to get a 5-10m lead. At about 75m from the finish…I can here him being a yard behind me! Here I was the marathon racer, getting my behind whipped by my 7.5!
I had to push it all the way to stay in the lead!
I give myself 3 more years before I won’t be able to hold him any longer (he is under 17s for the 100m already!).
PS: great idea for this giveaway. I had fun reading others comments.
Hi. No real funny moments here, unless you count tripping over my shoelaces more than once on the same run.
HI!
Learning to ride has been pretty “funny”!
Riding on a multi-path trail which ended up in a dry canal. I rode in the canal for about 2 miles until I finally saw a No Trespassing Sign. The canal looked like a very large multi-path with no one around. It was kind of nice except for the very large puddles.
I don’t have a “funny” I am new to the energizing my body circuit (1 month now) and loving every minute of it! I feel so much better about myself!
Funny for them, sad for me… Doing Timberman 70.3 and I overdid the nutrition on the bike… The run is two loops and by 3 miles I have major gas… to the point where if I tried to run, after a half a mile I needed to visit the port-a-john. Finally after 10 trips (my 305 logged 33 minutes of potty breaks… Stoopid one-piece race suit) I finish the race strong and when talking with some athletes after the race I mentioned the gas and suspecting it was the Ironman Perform, and one of the women commented how there must have been a lot of that happening because on her two stops the person next to her was gassy… Luckily I excused myself in time before the realization that she had been unfortunate to be next to me twice was probably more likely. Sad where your Potty breaks start equaling your 1.2 mile swim times…
hi =)
hi
hi
Leaving on a trail run with a shirt, gastro issues due to expired ClifBloks, returning from trail run sans shirt.
Figure it out ;)
Running a 5k not being in shape and having a 10 yr old run ahead of me while singing and talking and ended up smoking me in the race
Not about training per se, and possibly of the “you had to be there” variety humor-wise, but: Went running a few weeks back w/ a long-ago cross country teammate, in a kind of coaching/motivational role as he only recently took up running again. Afterward, he offered to buy me dinner. But I’d been wearing UA spandex running tights and hooded top to cope with winter chill and hadn’t brought a change of clothes. We had quite a laugh imagining the scene of two men going to a nice Thai restaurant together, one of them wearing what look to most of the world like fashion leggings. Fortunately, we’re roughly the same size & he loaned me some normal sweats with “street cred”. And the Pad Thai was terrific in the end.
hi, in
Crashed on a rancid, roadkill possum on lunch time ride. Only had Wet-Naps to clean up for the rest of the day. Used sick leave.
It happens to all of (I think?) once, although my turn didn’t happen until 4 months into using my clipless pedals. Naturally I chose rush hour and a stop light to go ass over tea kettle after getting confused about which foot to clip out. Good times.
Being mooned
Neighbors are over hanging out after work one Friday, and I went for a quick run before settling in for a drink and some sociliazing. Our kids were all playing out front as I headed out (running barefoot and with some rather short shorts on). Upon returning, found out the neighbors kids were asking: “Why is Julian’s dad running around with no pants on?” We explained to the kids that I was indeed wearing shorts, and now I’m known among the parents as the guy who runs around the neighborhood with no pants on?!
Running side by side with pygmy goats in Germany.
trying to figure out how to tell the guy i was running with that he had nike underwear on and not nike running shorts
Hey!
Unfortunately cannot recall any truly funny training events.
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unfortunately, I don’t have any really funny training experiences.
Out on a training ride, get a flat. Put on spare tube, and pump it up, only to have it blow out–spectacularly. Look at shreds of tube to find I had stretched a 622c tube on a 700c rim.
hi! ;)
Ok, not really funny but a little embarrassing. I was running the other day and came up to a four way stop that had a pack of runners stretching on the corner. I was running on the street and there were cars going in both directions so I was busy watching them. When I traversed the corner I kicked something and turned around to see one of their Gatorade bottles rolling across the road spilling everywhere. I started back and apologized but they told me to just keep going.
Oops! Felt like a jerk for that one.
At this point I guess my chances of winning are 1/1171, but who had VCU vs Butler in the Final Four? No hilarious stories, but why do drivers think runners are moving road maps? I was once stopped and asked for directions to Gettysburg – only about 100 miles from where I was running!
Here is a tip. Do not attempt to watch the winter olympics event, luge, your 1st week on rollers. 80 mph side shot of luge is a real test of self awareness on rollers.
– @jwmwi on twitter.
Crawling across the NY Marathon finish line so that the $75 I had spent on the official vest the day before wouldn’t be in vain.
hi!
no funniest moment in training, but i wanted to thank you for this site. well done. don’t stop. i like it.
greetings and thanks from vienna
Herbert
HI. Hopefully the give away has not ended. My funniest story is that I am actually training.
Honestly, every single time have to use the restroom while out training I laugh. Don’t ask my why, but I do.
Running downtown, saw a head-turningly beautiful woman, turned my head to smile and say hi – and literally ran into a lamp post.
My buddy, who introduced me to triathlon, was riding his bike and a car deliberately swerved towards him (luckily he didn’t wreck). All of a sudden, I heard him yell and start racing towards the car. The car was stopped at a light and my buddy jumped off his bike grabbing his water bottles and launched them at the car. He then shouts at me that they were coming back around and told me to take off my shoes to throw at the car. So here we were in Lycra standing on the median of a busy intersection with our shoes in our hands ready to chuck them at the car. I had just started riding about 2 weeks before and had no idea what was going on!!
My buddy, who introduced me to triathlon, and i were out riding when a car deliberately swerved infront of him (luckily he did’t wreck). Before I know it he’s in a dead sprint to the next light where the car is stopped. He throws his bike down and grabs his full water bottles and launches them at the car where they explode. Then he yells at me to take off my shoes because they were circling back around. So here we were, in Lycra, standing on a median in a busy intersection holding our shoes. Luckily the car turned around again before coming back. I had just started riding about 3 weeks before, so I was completely shocked.
Just stopped by to say HI and hope to win the Garmin.
Hello! Me wants!
no funny story just saying “hi”
Out for a long ride. Seat post cracked.Having to 50k home standing. More funny for those with me than for me!
I ran across a 4 lane street because of a stray dog. now I know that the FR60 picks up heart rate faster than it does speed.
After practice we went into the sauna. There was a man there already, naked. Later two girls entered the sauna aswell and the naked guy had a panic when he realised the sauna was for both men & women.
He quickly escaped, naked, out of the sauna and headed for the door to the looker room.
Unfortunatelly for him, he took the door to the cafeteria :-)
After practice we went into the sauna. There was a man there already, naked. Later two girls entered the sauna aswell and the naked guy had a panic when he realised the sauna was for both men & women.
He quickly escaped, naked, out of the sauna and headed for the door to the looker room.
Unfortunatelly for him, he took the door to the cafeteria :-)
Forgetting to remove my bike gloves and running with them at SV Tri in super hot weather
Funniest moment was when I realized that a 5K that I signed up for was actually a cross-country trail adventure race instead of a road race. It was the hardest 5K I have ever run.
310XT is perfect !
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“Hi” :)
talking with a buddy on a ride and taking some bird poo in the middle of a sentence…of course the mouth was open – ugh!
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One year I took out my bike out for a spin after a longish storage. After 10 miles the inner tube decided to come out through the side of the tire, initially making a weird noise at every revolution, but eventually blocking the wheel completely. I had to deflate the tire and walk 10 miles home.
training for my first century, thinking the iPhone was a great partner for my ride. 25mph, small bump and the phone goes flying out of the RAM mount and onto the ground. In my haste to stop and retrieve said iPhone, I rip my shorts in a less than ideal place, not realizing until it was pointed out, as I bent over to get the phone. Certainly a sight those poor people will never forget! And, the iPhone was DOA.
Hey Ray… I love your site. Thanks for all your hard work. No funny training moment, but count me in for the 310xt, my spouse could use one for tri training.