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.
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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.
Excellent as always!!
Riding in rain sounds thrilling :) adding on my list.
Rain is something to experience, especially hard rain… riding with one eye closed because it’s beating so hard you couldn’t keep it open anyway. Just make sure you’re adequately equipped for the weather conditions.
However, cleaning up the bike afterwards is kind of a chore (this, however, depends on how much you care about the bike, some guys will just hose theirs down and hang to dry)
Welcome in The Netherlands, the veluwe is a nice place to work out. Have a nice time.
Greetings from Utrecht
Ever heard of Apeldoorn? Nope? Don’t worry, me neither. < Only heard of it because there is a velodrome and I think hosted either the European championship or a World Cup round
Hi Ray,
another vote for the Veluwe area!
Go south from Apeldoorn and cycle to the Posbank, the highest “mountain” in central Netherlands (110m). And it’s the biggest nature area in the NL’s as well.
Apeldoorn in dull, but the surroundings are not. Enjoy your time here.
Ben
Apeldoorn! Currently have my work assignment here! Make sure to check out paleis het loo.
You must ask your Dutch colleagues why anybody should “Quickly call Apeldoorn”.
Being Belgian, that’s the only thing I can think of when I hear Apeldoorn.
Very funny commercials they have as well: link to youtube.com
Priceless!
Haha, “Snel effe Apeldoorn bellen!”… :-)
Like Mans already suggested, you could visit Paleis het Loo, a former palace of Dutch royalty but now a museum: link to paleishetloo.nl. Like Ben already suggested: cycling the Posbank is quite enjoyable since it is in the biggest Dutch national park the Veluwe (link to theveluwe.com) although it is technically in the Veluwezoom area of the park.
I would also highly recommend to travel to Zutphen or Deventer. Those are nice old cities on the banks of the IJsselriver and were part of the Hanseatic League during the middle ages.
Have fun in The Netherlands. I’ll be happy to provide more tips if you are getting bored.
Cool that you are coming to the Netherlands. Apeldoorn isn’t much special. But it has one of the few velodromes in the Netherlands. Have fun in our flat country.
Curious if the chocolate butter, and really all chocolate in Europe, for that matter is dark chocolate by default, or if milk chocolate is prominent.
Love the former, despise the latter, personally.
It’s a blend. As one who prefers dark chocolate, I tend to see milk chocolate as the default (more available) in most non-expensive settings (grocery/gas station/etc…). In boutique chocolate stores, more dark chocolate.
I’d love to hear more on your opinion about the Autolib. We have an electric car in the states, and would think that a system like the Autolib is ideal. Being able to drop off a car to charge and just hop in another one seems awesome!
As for what can cause you to lose more on the way back than the way out, there are so many factors to consider. Elevation is a big one – if you have more uphill on the way back, you’ll lose more energy of course. Driving slower is definitely usually better for electric cars – about 20mph is about ideal but almost no one would suggest driving that slow all the time, and doing 45 or 55 isn’t that bad incomparison. Once you get above 55, every 10 mph really starts draining it much faster.
We’ve recently started using only President butter here but we’ve never seen this one! I wonder if its stateside?
Join the butter coffee craze!
You could have chocolate chip butter coffee. Eh?
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks CDG is a stupid airport… I connect through it twice a month (once each way), and still after a dozen times I’m not 100% sure where to go; and I take deep internal pleasure (I know, I shouldn’t, but I can’t resist) at looking at tourists (the Rick-Steeve-toting, iPad-pix-taking, general-exhilaration-exhibiting bunch) as they look for the way to their connecting flights… Every time, in the train between 2F and 2E, a bunch of people get out at the middle station, stare blankly at the signs, and eventually step back into the train.
Hi Ray,
Bastille Sunday Market, I also enjoy it a lot.
It would be nice, if one day you could organize an event in Paris for the people, following you and living in Paris
Yup, it’s definitely on the list for this fall to put together. Good stuff coming!
Lived in Apeldoorn for 18 years, couldn’t wait to leave ;-). Enjoy your time there, as far as possible. Open water swimming is possible at Bussloo
Your notes on hating CdG are pretty spot on. The design of that airport is incomprehensible.
Welcome to the Netherlands, If you can go for a (trail)run on the ‘Veluwe’.
Hi Ray,
Wecome to my hometown Apeldoorn. I agree with a few other posters that this is not a very exciting city but this area is great for roadracing and mountainbiking, running too probably but that is not for me. If you need a local guide please let me know, I would be glad to show you around.
A pity I just moved away from Deventer, although I could never keep up with your pace! Apeldoorn is not much special besides it is the Royal Family city, Deventer the next city on the rail-line is one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands with nice architecture.
Enjoy your stay.
I’ll see if I can catch a rainmaker ‘in the wild’, here in Apeldoorn. Enjoy your stay, the area surrounding the town is great for running and cycling.
Totally off topic but, do you organize your own travel because that seems like a full time job in its own right?
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Yup, I do that all myself. For me personally, having a travel agent never works out. So, I just do it all – much nicer.
Have you tried/seen Trader Joe’s cookie butter? It looks and spreads like peanut butter, but is made from speculoos cookies.
It’s crack in a jar. Comes in smooth, crunchy, and 1/2 speculoos 1/2 faux Nutella (Think pre mixed PB&J) varieties
We lack Trader Joe’s in France, regrettably.
That said, we do have speculoos paste/butter of sorts…and it’s definitely in our cabinet. :)
We can pretty much incorporate speculoos in every dish imaginable. If the Nobel Prize is ever extended into gastronomy, the inventor of this should be given one for life time achievement. As an added bonus, it requires an extra 100km bike ride to burn off an average speculoos sandwich :-). And considering the forum, this is definitely good.
I know you don’t have TJ’s in france, meant “have you seen it on one of your US trips”.
Yeah, I love Trade Joe’s. I don’t think I’ve been in one since I left on my trips back. Mostly because many of the things I loved there are more frozen foods than dry/boxed foods. :-/