Heads up – Massive Sports Tech Holiday Deals List is Live!!! The Garmin Fenix 8 is $250 off (even the Fenix 8 Pro is $100 off!), the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on sale, the Garmin inReach Mini 2 is $249, the GoPro Hero 13 Black, DJI NEO, and a ton of other brands/deals, including Wahoo, Oura, Whoop, Polar, Samsung, Google, and more than 100 sports tech deals 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 2024 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.
Did a workout on Zwift this afternoon and might do another one tomorrow morning.
Well, being that the temperature dropped to -20C today, I’ll be doing a workout on Zwift with virtual power from my Tacx trainer. Would prefer a real power meter for my outdoor rides!!! Thanks for the DCR giveaway!!!
Round The Island (RTI) ride is in the plans, should be about 115km all in all.
Bike to start of swim-run training. 3 weeks to Breca Wanaka! Epic group session round the harbour in Christchurch, NZ.
Trainer Saturday and Sunday.
TrainerRoad!
Likely will get some time on the kickr with a nice 90 minute trainer road session!
This weekend, on Saturday i’m planning on taking a group of women on a ride up Mt Macedon, a nearby mountain that is great for beginners. If that falls through then I’ll probably do some gardening. I live in Australia so we have just finished summer and there is a lot to do to get ready for winter.
On Sunday the plan is to take a full day and drive out to our nearest alpine area, where id like to double up on two mountains, one i’ve done before and one i’ve heard tales about. It should take about 8hrs, its 145km with an elevation of 2831m, so this will be a challenge for me both in time in the saddle combined with overall elevation for a single ride. My husband was going to join me for this ride but he had an accident earlier this week and might not be able to ride by then, but ive got my fingers crossed.
This weekend is a 3 day weekend for us (Labour Day), so on monday my plan is to have a rest day and thoroughly clean my bike. Because after all that my bike will deserve some attention.
MTB trails on Sat, Zwift on Sun
Rode fat boy this weekend
Did a fat bike ride on Sat. And then a indoor trainer recovery is planned for Sun.
RIde to the beach and back.
80 km group ride for tomorrow morning! Last easy ride before ramping up to Monterrey 70.3!
Rode over 40 on my Speed Concept today and tomorrow riding some singletrack on my mountain bike.
rode 25 miles helping to train novice cyclists complete their first century
Doing some indoor trainer work and get a mountain bike in.
60km on saturday
Swin on sunday
Winter is almost over and weather allowed doing grand opening of road cycling season.
Working this weekend, but headed to Solvang for a 4 day mini camp Sunday night.
Saturday: bike by my girlfriend while she did a little run.
Sunday: hopefully 60-70 miles on the “high” temperatures (40-50 F) of Wisconsin
2hours of solid indoor training hiding from the Canadian winter watching ironman!
Familiarization ride on the new triathlon bike, my first. Then spend some time with the Fast Bike Fit App to start dialing in position/fit.
It’s all about #buildthebase. Weather is crappy so it’s gonna be in the garage sweating it out.
21 miles training some first time triathletes.
Rode 14 miles as part of the Desert Triathlon
i plan on going on rides to lose weight and get back into shape, hoping to get back to 100 miles a week at least
However many episodes of cheers i can handle while on the trainer.
2 hour endurance ride Sat, followed by bowling… and also a run on Sunday, maybe, also, maybe followed by a recovery ride… all inside since I am a wimp! :-)
After Carnival break, Sunday restarting the engines with a hard 60+Km ride over the highlands of Minas Gerais state, in Brazil!
Ended up being an inside ride on Saturday, too much work and a real road ride on Sunday. just a couple of hours, but we pushed it a bit and ramped up the TSS
Riding gravel in the Ouachita mtns.
3hr trainer ride (yay!)
7F here today. :/ Did 1h45m indoors on the trainer.
There will be no biking for me this weekend. Stupid snow.
swimming instead :)
An hour on the trainer today followed by an hour of strength. Wish it wasn’t supposed to be too cold tomorrow or I’d head on the trails.
60 mile “all teams” ride in Memphis on Saturday and a relaxed ride cruising with friends at the park on Sunday.
Rode 50 miles on the trainer today. I’m three weeks in to my recovery after my bike crash where I broke my wrist, so I’m still stuck indoors. Hopefully only one week more in my splint and then I can get back on the road!
Tomorrow I have my last long run before my half marathon next weekend.
Completed a 2 hour trainer session today (Saturday) and plan on a 1 hour trainer session on Sunday with a 1/2 hour run afterwards.
I will be doing a LSD run on Saturday (not the drug induced kind) and I’ll be racing on Zwift tomorrow (Sunday)!
Ill be doing little riding. Its cold in Wisconsin! Hoping to get a little time on my new mountain bike thiugh
Zero cycling plans. I’m fishing my face off.
Riding my 33 lb fat tire bike to prepare for my road bike weighing half as much…and hopefully with a power meter to see how much good the fattie did…
50 miles training for Sea Otter Classic with co-workers.
30-40mph winds means it’s trainer time this weekend.
Recovering from a week skiing. ?
Ride on the WO&D trail
Wish I could ride this weekend. Just getting over a bout of norovirus, so yeah…
Did 90 min on the wahoo this am followed by 30min of core….gah, can’t wait to get outdoors!
Preparing for Oceanside half Ironman – 3 and 1/2 hour Computrainer class this morning. Couple hours of cross country ski this afternoon. Long run tomorrow
Done 26km on Saturday with around 300 m vertical.
Today I did Mt Donna – 17km up & 1100 vertical (and of course down again)
Already road the volcano on Zwift. Plan to do some more tomorrow.
Zwift. Lots and lots of Zwift. A volcano climb per day keeps, um, Spring coming on schedule?
Did the flat course with the Volcano climb each of the last two days. Tomorrow will bring the Figure 8 with the Volcano climb add-on.
2 hour trainer workout Friday and a 1 hour trainer workout on Saturday.
Thanks!
Race a 5k, long run and then some zwift in the afternoon to finish my mileage for the week
2 hour sweet spot intervals.
Having a serious man flu here and just dreaming new stuff for my bike…good way to spend the time when you can’t train ;)
riding the trainer after a week of vacation
cycling indoors on saturday, zwift it ism and on sunday 50 miles on the road
The only thing I’m riding this weekend is an Airbus 720. Visiting the grandkids in Michigan!
This would be for my boyfriend who did 70mile time trial yesturday and the Warwick half marathon (run) tomorrow. I’m now back home in Australia and for me it’ll be the gym spin class tomorrow
Fri. 50′ spin
Sat 90′ spin
Sun Quad brick with Z4 intervals!
Ski trip on Saturday, quick 20 mile road ride on Sunday!
Sat = FDR nut punch
Sun = Mellow velo Lookout
Riding my first ever time trial and then into more race day drills/training, since I’ve never raced either! Prey for no rain.
Taking a break to go downhill skiing
Do the local club ride on Saturday and a 100 miler in Zwift on Sunday.
Hit the trail today, riding roads tomorrow (if it doesn’t rain, otherwise I’ll work on converting an old road bike).
After being hit by a car on my bike just over two weeks ago and having surgery to put a plate on to my broken left collar bone, my replacement bike arrived yesterday. I am going to do my first session on my Neo & Zwift so I can get back on track training for a fundraising ride (1,070km over 7 days) for Leukaemia I am doing at the end of April. Going to be interesting doing that whilst wearing a sling. Expecting it will heal properly in time. Cannot ride on the road for next 4-6 weeks.
Enjoying Tucson’s favorite routes this weekend.
I finished up a hard MTB block of training in Moab, UT. This included a 3hr hard ride, a 8 hr hard epic link up, a 6 hr endurance ride, and finishing with a 3 hr race recon ride on Porcupine Rim trail. One of the best, and hardest blocks of training I have ever done!
tapering due to sinus infection
A round of golf with my daughter instead of a bike ride.
Some recovery miles are in order for this weekend.
Riding till my legs go numb.
Week 3 Day 7 of Strava’s 30-min climb training plan. 3 hrs of endurance miles. Caps a week with TONS of nasty intervals :/
Started with a small cycle with 1 min sprint intervals – unfortunately finished my weekend on a rather zealous boat party that ruined the rest of it!
I got in 110 today in the hills of SE GA, and right now, I’m ok if I don’t see my bike until next week.
Run on Zwift at home before getting on the road to go see family & then run at Zwift at the hotel in the morning.
About to cycle to work in the pouring rain, can hear it thumping off the road, may need to evolve gills.
3 hour ride wih my wife and then a brick run. Final countdown before a 70.3 mid March.
Taking my 2 year old daughter for a sunday cruise around town.
Zwift training
Picked up my 2017 team kit this evening. Don’t know when I can race as I am recovering from foot surgery
First outdoor ride today in a while – was not warm but got out for some tempo.
2h trainer at z2, need to know my power!
My cycling training this weekend will be in a track in the Abu Dhabi desert! Hope to spot some camels
A cinchury!
My plan is to attack the km startimg with spring and to reach the target of 7k km in 2017. This weekend I have to do with the guys more than 160km.
All the best!
Just a couple hour ride in sunny south florida.
City ride with plenty of short hills and stop sign accelerations for fun.
Full run weekend for me: intervals + long run
Planning to run instead of biking this weekend
Hope for first 100 km this year :)
Nice ride with the wife and little guy in the trailer. Good resistance training.
It is very windy in Casper, WY (wind gusts of 55+ forecasted for tomorrow) so I am riding the rollers in 50* weather, really sucks. Today I did some speed ork and tomorrow is threshold testing (oh boy!).
4 games of ice hockey and a very steady 5k run
rained all weekend so it was kickr time :)
Zwift it will be
1 hour HR threshold cycling fighting against heavy headwinds dreaming about summer.