Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $429, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, (or Hero 13 bundle for $339!) 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.
Wide world of sports
Watching Mark Allen heading to the finish.
Watching the clips of the wheelchair athletes cross the line. That and the heart in the age groupers who barely cross the line with time remaining. As amazing as the elite athletes are, seeing regular people accomplish extraordinary feats is always encouraging.
My best memory is Julie Moss crawling to the finish line in 1982
Watching on a Saturday afternoon, on Wide World of Sports… and thinking, those people are nuts, so nuts that I convinced my sister to do a mini-neighborhood ironman – we swam in the creek, bike around all 3 blocks my mom would let us, and then ran around 1 block…. to this day my sister does not forgive me for making her swim in the creek….
Kona on WWS – the good ol’ days when men wore less clothing (speedo’s) than women! come to think of it, I’m glad those days are gone!!
Watching kona videos to inspire me on my first triathlon and then watching Van lierde win it eventually in 2013 after 3rd in 2012! That gave me a huge boost
My favorite moment every year is watching them start in the water!
transworld sports ages ago i think
In the early 90’s. Roundabout 10 minutes in the TV…
Junior year of college my roommates where Ironman crazed and forced me to watch the NBC special. I was hooked and was the first to complete a triathlon!
I watched for the first time last year. I was following Hines Ward’s journey to triathlete. All of the competitors at Kona are simply amazing!
First was the famous crawl back in the day, best memory was Rinny crushing the field last year
The first time was 2012 in tv (that was so cool!)
Hooking my laptop to my TV and spending all day watching then realizing I probably should have been training.
Watching local pro Virginia Berasategi six or seven years ago, but what really caught my eye was the ironwar!
Kona? Youtube, a few minutes ago :) Great motivation though!!
In the late 90’s. I could believe people would swim/bike/run for that long…
Allen/Scott iron war.
Watching the Julie Moss clip, hasn’t everyone seen that one by now?
Chrissie Wellington’s final win!
Ivan Raña debut last year. Amazing 6th position on first participation
I have vague memories of watching the TV rebroadcast as a kid, but the best recent memory was when Macca won in 2010. I was watching the live feed on and off that day, and I watched that great ending between him and Raelert.
I know he can be polarizing, but we were only born one week apart, so I can’t help but root for him.
I love watching the old Wide World of Sports coverage of Kona, not as polished, more raw.
After discovering triathlons and learning about Kona through various blogs, I started watching YouTube videos with replays of the various events. This was about a year ago. I remember feeling such extreme motivation and inspiration. I wanted to jump off the couch immediately and go run a mile. : ) Love your blog(s)! Thanks for the giveaway.
2007 Chrissy coming out of nowhere to win Ironman.
Tim Deboom winning 2x.
My favorite Kona moments include the race-to the finish between Crowie and Lieto, Chrissy’s last win while hurting, and watching Rinny smoke the field on the run last year.
FVL’s victory last year. Nobody was expecting him, especially in the journalist side. Almost no picture of him since most of the cameras were focused on the others champions.
Last year online. It was awesome
Video clips of Chrisse Wellington on her P2 blowing past other competitors on fancier bikes like they were standing still! I’m still on my second hand 2009 P2 with the same color scheme as a reminder that its about the engine, not the equipment.
The first time I saw one was in high school, I was home sick flipping through the channels and tuned in to see the bike segment. I was amazed people did that for fun!
In the hype of LA´s seven consecutive TdF “wins”, I believed that Norman Stadler would defend his 2004 Kona title and win another five consecutive Ironman World Championships…
Julie Moss’ gutsy finish.
I love watching the finish line. doesn’t matter who it is, I understand all it’s taken to get there, can’t help but get teary-eyed watching people meet their goals!
My wife & I caught a minute of it on TV in 2010. In 2011 I completed my first Marathon
the underpants run is great haha
As someone (many?) mendtioned before, it was Magnum P.I. back then, but I just realised now that I’ve seen it. Replay on YouTube ;)
In 1986 I bought a new bike for about $1200(big money then), bought a plane ticket to Kona, and planned on being a bandit at the Ironman. About 2 weeks before leaving I tore up my shoulder training for the race so I could not swim thus ending my dream. I went anyway because I had the hotel, King K booked, and the flight paid for. Had a blast just the same.
Watching the Hoyt’s compete has always been one of the most inspirational things I’ve seen.
First time in 2007 when I watched Iron War. Then again Macca vs Raelert in 2010.
Macca sharing a sponge…
Watching the 2013 recap last week…getting pumped up
Seeing the footage of the race in the 70s with the woman collapsing repeatedly but continuing to get up and finish. Crazy!
Many years ago, I remember watching a father (Dick Hoyt I believe) to a teenage son with cerebral palsy swim while towing his 100 lb son in a raft, bike with him on a specially designed bike and run while pushing him in a carriage (like a running stroller). It was amazing in itself, but made even more so by the fact that he had done the same thing the prior year and had barely missed the official finish time. Incredibly inspiring and humbling at the same time.
After running my first half marathon relaxing on the couch thinking I was tough…….
wondering why people submit themselves to such torture, and amazed that some people actually make it to the end. The torture and joy of watching people pass that magic line they call the finish. Always reminds me of what belief and persistance can do with the human body
My first was last year watching Hines Ward finish!
Watching Team Hoyt compete. Truly inspirational.
2013. Watching/listening online while working, checking up on Hines Ward.
My first time watching…saw Pete Jacobs win.
Watching it at a friends house and wondering what makes them what to do that. Little did I know that a couple years later i’d like to try myself.
Watching Chrissy Wellington get a flat on the bike and still win the race
After running half-marathon, I watched youtube clips and was very impressed!
That pan shot the helicopter does of the lava fields and the black line of a road filled with athletes.
Please DC please hopefully I get lucky:o)
Streaming it online last year. Started watching when pro’s were just exiting the water and didn’t stop watching till the top 3 finished. And love seeing the race recap package that NBC does about a month after the race.
Many years ago, videos of Dick Hoyt pushing, pulling, and towing his son around the course.
Watching it a few years ago made me want to start doing triathlons. Started with running, did two half marathons, now working my way on swimming.
Watching the race for the first time on TV, two years ago. It was a one-hour special (cannot remember the channel). It really made me realize just how hard these people trained for the race, and how much dedication the professionals, along with the amateurs put into it.
Mark Allen’s final win.
Watched Kona online for the first time last year!!! It was amazing to see the intensity in the athletes faces. Everyone was so much into it…
watching clips on youtube – feeling exhausted and inspired (by the landscape and athletes!)
Watching the youtube clip of Julie Moss trying to cross the finish line in 1982! Of course it wasn’t live because well I was born only 10 years later!
I watched the stream last year with the intention of catching the finishers for a few minutes. That didn’t work as I stayed up for many hours watching people cross the finish line.
I first watched Kona on Versus. It was cool
In 2008, glued to my crappy laptop, in the first year I started doing triathlons!
The running duel between Mark Allen and Dave Scott in the 1989 Ironman.
Watching Chrissy Wellington come from behind after a mechanical and win handily.
Remember as a watching the Hoyts and thinking one day ………….
Oh, perhaps Van Vlerken’s 2012 bike split-time, coming in fast in third…
I loved 2006 — Normann v. Macca. After Normann’s blowup the year before he did what he did best — ride like a madman! Macca had an amazing race but came up 71s short. Awesome race.
When I was 12 years old, Some Canadidan documentary on it with athletes dropping like flies all over the course.
I remember watching the ironman on NBC as a small boy and thinking how amazing it was that they could do that and couldn’t even imagine doing the distances they did. Little did I know that I’d be doing one last year…
Seeing Crowie threepeat in 2011 was pretty incredible. We may see Rinny do the same for this year!
Kona in 08′, I remember Norman Stadler cramping on the run badly!
Watching Wide World of Sports in the 80s and seeing people struggling to finish before the time limit.
I just started competing in triathlons at all this year (finished my first a month ago) and hadn’t spent much time watching them prior. But I remember seeing clips from Kona on TV when I was a kid and thinking that an Iron Man was pretty much the greatest physical goal a human being could achieve. Never imagined I could do it myself. Now I’m building up to do it. I don’t remember many specifics of that early footage, but the feeling they brought out in me continues to drive my training. Can’t wait to take it in this year, knowing exactly what went into it.
reading about the “Iron War” live on an ironman blog!!!
Watching Chrissie crush the Women’s (and most of the men’s) field.
I knew about the Hawai Iron Man but didn’t know the that Kona refers to it before looking at this subject.
Also now I see how fast a champion in this category can be and how far I am :s
Long time ago, streaming online, the site crashed. I figured fair enough, I’ve crashed enough too.
I’m not sure of exactly when it was, or even if it was on tv or a computer, but my first memory of it has to be Julie Moss crawling to the finish line.
Staying up very late (east coast USA) to watch a friend finish. Still have the video up on my youtube.
link to youtube.com
I watched it on TV a couple years ago with my boyfriend who was just getting into triathlon. I don’t remember much about the competitors in that race in particular, I mainly remember the scenery and thinking how ruggedly beautiful it is.
Watching Normann Stadler dominate the bike split in 2004 and 2006.
Sian Welch and Wendy Ingraham finishing…the perseverance.
Not long ago . . . but watching Kona coverage (in December, for some odd reason) and seeing Chrissie Wellington smile at the camera and ask, jokingly, whether she was in first or not. Of course, she was.
Kona? Awesome every time; so hard to choose which one I liked best
I was in Kona more than 20 years ago. Probably at this time what surprised me specially was the size of the waves in the Kona coast and the Hyatt Regency Waikoloa Resort were I was living, some years later a new wave bu now of athletes for Ironman was arriving each year.
Francesc
Watching the nun who races Kona. Or last year’s story of the dad of a Sandy Hook Child who was racing in his child’s memory. Or the story of the last finisher to cross the finish line and the crowds ROARING as he/she approaches the finish line with seconds to spare.
Favorite memories are the retrospective shows that highlight the classic races of the 90s. The bikes and the shorts!
Watching Iron Man Kona on tv back in 1995 was surreal for me as it seemed almost impossible for anyone to put their body through so much pain in one day!
I’ll be the 94th person to mention Julie Moss.
The first time I watched it was 5 years ago, and it inspired me to do my own triathlon!
Wish i could swim….
Following Cameron Brown’s race on Ironman live ….a few years back….
Watching McCormack and Raelert come down to the final miles in 2010
Would LOVE a new 920xt!
Watching Craig Alexander finish in 2009.
About 8 years ago a co-worker told me about it and how it inspired her so much to start running. I immediately looked it up and thought, crazy. They try to convince you those are ordinary people out there but I am even more convinced today that they are all anything but ordinary. Still, some day…
Watching the 2009 race after my first season dabbling in triathlons, and seeing Craig Alexander win the race!