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.
Had a 51k MTB ride on a beautiful single-track up in the mountain on Friday followed by a 17k up hill run in the area where I live on Saturday. I used Sunday to have a good rest for the week to come!
Did an easy paced 40 km Bike Ride on saturday. Followed by a quick 5k on Sunday.
Saturday – 50K club social ride. Nice and easy
Sunday – Sufferfest, Nine Hammers
I chased 5 4yo girls around the yard and neighbourhood for my daughters 4th birthday party (treasure hunt and just hilarious 4yo shenanigans). Followed up by a some simple easy indoor trainer workouts. Good times!
I did some mountain bike training with a lot of funy tracks!!
On Saturday pool swim in the morning and run 7 km at afternoon.
A bunch of running intervals
Friday: FTP test on the trainer
Saturday: kids birthsday
Sunday: Long groupride, 110 k avg. temp. was 0 degrees celcius (very cold)
I did a very short run of 2k.. trying to get back into a running routine after an injury… Sigh…
Just an easy 80km ride, followed by pancakes:)
26km in the heat on Saturday; yoga-type class on Sunday
I did some hard mtb climbing efforts in preparation for a race this coming weekend. :D
Had this week two tennis training sessions. Each time 1 hour single training with drills followed by a 30 min training match.
Long ride Saturday, long swim Sunday…
90 min of relaxed mountain biking on Sunday
With my wife due our second child in the next 4 weeks training has to be on weekdays. This weekend was reduced to a leisurely pool swim with a 2 year old.
Good luck to you and the Girl, a true life changing moment.
Moving house the last couple of days, logging that as gym workouts ;)
Training log for last weekend:
P90X legs and back
Light ride on trainer
P90X Kempo X
P90X chest and back
All with the wife and 3 girls 3 and under. No stopping us! Can’t wait for the weather to clear up around here.
I’m in my marathon preparation program. Saturday was just an easy run of 11K including some strides at the end. Sunday was a 24K long run including 16K of marathon pace and a 1600m treshold pace. Overall a nice running weekend :)
Rest days, really needed it!
Last weekend I enjoyed three rides all with loads of elevation gain. Last ride was on a demo Trek I’m thinking of purchasing.
It was a slow weekend: 5k running, some climbing, and some stuff at home (pushups, crunches, etc.) A bit more sunny time wouldn’t hurt my motivation…!
Unfortunatelly I got sick and my trainings were mental. So I thought of half-marathon distance and being quicker on it.
Thaught two full days ski lessons at the mountain to 5-7 y olds, followed by core strenghtning exercises with the TRX and freeweight exercises in combination with gym ball at home. ⛷??????
1/2 Marathon run, related streching and foam roller exercises.
Luckily for me it was a recovery weekend, very little in the way of ‘standard exercise’
Nothing fancy, short run through town.
Unfortunately no workouts for me…. had the flu :-(
I did a 5k jog – steady state to ease my sore hip back into it. Then went for a lovely walk on the beach with my black Labrador and the family.
I was training for my second halfmarathon. 10km at easy tempo and than 10km at under 5min/km. Lots of fun.
Friday – Beer after work (regret this) then 2016 best for 5km (22mins).
Objective is sub 20 mins for run section of a sprint tri.
Sunday – Long walk in the Kent (UK) countryside and visited Charles Darwin’s house.
Undulating hills and muddy valleys…lovely.
3 repetitions of the ‘Peak to Creek It’, an 8 km-skiing descent in Bormio, Italy, going from 3012 to 1500m :-)
Too bad of the really icy piste conditions
Saturday was 25km run and Sunday 50km ride – getting ready for 1/2 IM! :)
A short but very pleasant jog with old friends in the Fontainebleau forest : 15 km without too much rain :-)
10 dips on the bar, then try another 10, then struggle the last 10. Then lace up and run 5km.
Just some trail runs on Table Mountain in Cape Town.
On the training was a long run of 3 hours, but I have a calf injury, so only in the gym this week doing upper body and a bit of swimming.
A 1 hour bike ride on the trainer on Saturday and a cold and wet 10K run on Sunday
I have been training indoors with my turbo trainer since December, just 2 more weeks and I’m back on the road. Last weekend, I did a 3hours session with my heart rate in zone 2-3 with 3*20mins at 80rpms.
I ran with my daughter on Saturday and Sunday. One day I’ll beat her home!!
Just a simple 3.3mi recovery run.
Saturday – long endurance ride
Sunday – recovery ride
both on home trainer
Just a 17km run (freezin cold brrr), my first 3000m swim training (yippieh slowly gathering distance) and a 105min trainer ride (boring).
I rode 115km and climbed 860m, with beautiful weather and scenery
Saturday: Jog, 8k @ Zone 1, 6:07 min / k
Sunday: Run, 21k @ Zone 1, 5:36 min / k
My S. Valentine’s workout was assisting my wife with chickenpox :(
Getting better from a cold, and reading lots about the Krebs Cycle.
Actually I had a race this weekend. It supposed to be winter triathlon, but snow is already gone here, so instead of run-bike-ski we had traditional duathlon – run-bike-run. Finished 1 minute short from TOP-10.
Weekend is my recovery day after 5 day of training.
A cheeky (and filthy) Cyclocross training ride followed by an easy Sunday run for me
On saturday an up the hill bike session. On sunday just a relaxing jog across the univerty capus
90 km ride easy + 18 km run easy…
A nice cold 14 mile fell run with beautiful blue skies.
I did some quick runs as my wife was expecting our 2. child and yeah our boy arrived on Sunday. So happy.
I did my longest run ever, 19.5k, as training for my first half marathon on Saturday! As a recovery, a short easy bike on Sunday morning.
Cycling tabata type intervals and 1hr fast walking between days
I participated at the winter version of the dutch cult sportsevent the elfstedentocht (but on a bike instead of ice-skates). It was suppose to be 200km trough 11 cities of the Dutch province Friesland. But trough the bad weather (all day rain and temperature around freezing) they discontinued it halfway. A huge amount of the participant were supercooled so they had to discontinue it. In the end, after 153 km, I had a really cold Valentines day…
I did some elliptical machine and a lot of resting.
1.5 hours recovery skiing
just ski!
saturday and sunday
Last weekend I logged about 3 hours of extra sleep!
Definitely the training I needed at that point :)
I did back-2-back long runs over the weekends covering 17km on Saturday on my own heading east and another 24km heading southwest with my friends :)
just 60ks with some big hills
Been sick all weekend, so no training for me :(
Just started back on Tuesday, with a treadmill run :)
Easy 5 miler Saturday and 21 miles with 10@ marathon pace on Sunday. All part of the schedule for VLM.
five hours of pedalling around the pyrenees, then skiing
Im currently training for a sub 40min 10k. So last weekend was 6 x 1km sprints @ 3.40min/km pace on the Saturday and a 1.5hour long run at easy pace Sunday :)
Hiked the Dipsea trail from Stinson Beach to Mill Valley and then back Stinson Beach. With the reroute, it was close to 16 miles in perfect weather.
I did endurance and tempo training
I ran until my heart’s content :)
Last weekend I did 60k in a group ride on Saturday and on Sunday I did another 60k with my brother.
No running, unfortunately. Just some basketball until the road construction in our village is finished.
32km run on Saturday!
Cross country skiing Saturday and running Sunday. Nice and easy.
I rested up this last week to be able to do the Hedianga Beast Trail Run (11km) on Sunday – was my first proper trail run and took me 30 minutes longer than my normal road race time :P
On Friday I did a hard intervals session, 15*400
On Saturday I went for a 60km easy ride with the mates, nothing special :)
Sat morning: cross-country skiing 1.5-hr training session, 18.9km + 500m ascent
Sat afternoon: cross-country skiing stroll around w girlfriend and friends, 45min 9.3km
Sun morning: race day, cross-country skiing 20.3km + 450m ascent
Saturday – 4h bike ride on the trainer (with Trainerroad), Sunday – swim + 15km run
As much cycling as I can fit in around the kids. Something you’ll soon understand ;-)
Same here! At least I was able to align trainer road sessions two days in a row starting the week so I am not getting (even more) behind my initial (wishful) plan
1 hour easy ride with no intensity as I’m recovering from a right leg injury…
My workout was a 22k long run 5:36min/k + a 12k easy run. The speedy runs are on tuesday and thursday :D
But your great with these givaways ….
If i would won, i would take the lactate level tester you tested in january :) The BSX one … to kickstart my running, cos i’ve been at the same level in the last 6 months :( … But i guess harder training will do, cos i’m no lucky dude :D
Best luck to all !!!
Keep up the good vibe on this site DC !!!
On the log, there was some alpine skiing and some snow walking but kids got sick at the last minute. Therefore, only some skiing.
Sadly enough, really bad weather this weekend, so only a trainer session.
Last weekend was difficult to train outside. Saturday i went with my youngster (14) to his training, it was raining (light rain) and i ended up following him and a team mate, in my car. Just after beginning, he had a flat and i ended up changing the inner tube in the rain, getting very dirty and also leaving a stain in the recently dressed pants… On Sunday i thought i would “get even”, but the rain, but mostly the heavy winds (average if 50 km/h and with gusts of up to 80 km/h) forced me to give in to reason… ended up just doing some strenght exercises indoors :-/
Saturday I finally had some time again for a short sunny ride around my hometown. Forgetting for a moment all the things that ‘must’ be done that weekend. Looking forward to some warmer weather as well :).
Saturday was a 10K and Sunday was a 15K
Last weekend was a 28K long run with 8K a bit slower than marathon pace and 6x400m to finish.
On the weekend I did run 10k in so called mountain race. It was not really in the mountains but near Warsaw in Wesola district where we have some small dunes on otherwise flat terrain.
This week I am in Paris for on the job training and I did run 21k on Tuesday along the river from Porte de Vincennes to Eiffel Tower and back. It was my first 21k as I normally just run 5-10k. It was great run but my legs are killing me now though :)
Saturday training ride and Sunday was a long run preparing for Boston.
Swim drills over and over again… :)
I did a swim, bike, run and repeat. Basic Tri training.
Unfortunately I got a cold so I could not do my planned 15k running. Hopefully next Sunday I will be back running.
Just an easy twenty minute run on Sunday. Recovering from a knee injury.
My plan was to make my fastest interval and i did it
Long run…this year first time over 30k.
I did an 80 minute run and a very boring 100 minute ride on the trainer. I’m ready for some nice weather! Thanks for all the awesome info you post here!!
Unfortunately my log was empty. Recovering from cold… looking forward to be back on track soon!
Long run then rest day
Last weekend was spent indoors it’s the family. The closest to a orient was the afternoon spent at a super huge (and fun) international grocery store.
Two drill & TT swims in the pool. A MAF test, functional threshold pace/HR test, and an off road run. Three high cadence trainer workouts. Pretty much a fun little week I had there.