Heads up!!! Here’s your massive holiday sports tech deals list! This includes the Garmin Epix for just $419, the Apple AirTag 4-Pack for just $69, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $249, (or the brand new Hero 13 or $299!) and plenty more! Go check out the full list of 100+ 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.
I did a stage race in GA, US
Worked on building my new bike!
Freewheeled down the hill to the bike shop after complete drivetrain failure.
No cycling due to 10h ride from VA to MI (in a car). =/
Nor cal rideing with my team, hopingto dogde the rain.
An hour and half on the trainer, hill climbs in and out of saddle…. riveting, and an 18km run, freezing.
120′: 3xMountains (10’tempo+5’LT+5’AeC MEs). Mashed all the ME blocks, 65-75rpm.
First two sets weren’t so bad, but that last AeC block hurt. As did the 20′ brick run afterwards.
I only dreamed of cycling while waiting for my bike to arrive.
Learning how to bunch ride with the local cycling club
Only had time for a short ride this weekend, so I rode 23 miles with lots of hills.
Spent the weekend on the trainer getting ready for gravel season.
I finished the work for the room of my baby. I can’t wait to ride my bike!
Samstag mal draußen gefahren. 80 Km bei 10 Grad war Ok hör in Deutschland.
I did not do much exercises over this weekend as we just moved to Sweden and the weekend consisted of unpacking & unpacking & unpacking!!. At least the bike is now set up and ready for action .-)
Spent the whole weekend feeling guilty of not training, but did not not come to actually do it. Lack of motivation :(
On Saturday I did a 5h ride with lots of climbing and on Sunday I did a 4.5h ride with some sprints and tempo efforts. Overall two great trainings so my weekend was pretty well spent. Only thing that ruined the fun was weather – it was raining a bit both of the days.
Almost 200km on Zwift. 75km on Watopia and 109 in London.
I tried to talk my wife into throwing the kids on the back of our new Haul-a-Day to ride to church. But she said it was too cold. So no biking for me this weekend :(
I am planning on doing my first LT test this weekend on the bike!
Trainer ride.
40 miles in East Yorkshire sun (Saturday afternoon).
just a quick trainer ride ,
Around the city for a bit – finally with the fingers not freezing!
Sigh, no riding for me. But, I did pick up a new cyclocross bike. Hoping to ride more gravel in the near future!
freezing cold in NE so stuck on the trainer letting out some holly water!
No cycling this weekend as it was snowing:(
I am starting my own cycling camps company! We’ll have our first client ride this season
Hoping to see some hills this weekend on the north shore of LI!
Did a duathlon race over the weekend!
Did some HIIT :-)
Finally I was able to go biking outside on beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Some recreational cycling during the weekend and a couple of runs.
I got to spend the weekend riding up and down the coast, wind blowing in my hair, sweat dripping down my brow, pumping that blood through my body as I pedaled hard… Wait, no, that was what I WISH I had been doing instead of drywall mudding my living room. Power meter… come to me!
I just did a recovery trainer ride Friday morning.
It was -11 before the windchill so that means it was two days of indoor riding and a couple movies on Netflix.
I’m heading to the Margaret River area in Western Australia for a quick family vacation. Of course the bike is coming too so i’ll be able to get in a ride or two.
Zwift zwift zwift
Trained with Traineroad in the pain cave then headed to the mountains by car for some skiing as too much snow on the roads and dodgy drivers taking kids to ski school when I ride in the mornings.
Two days of great mountain biking at 20F.
Back on the bike Saturday after weeks of rain! Rained in middle of Sunday’s ride.
Two Trainer Road workouts on the KICKR. The weather is finally starting to break, so looking forward to getting some power readings outside!
Easy 50 mile ride.
Ride the first favorit round at nice temperature this year.
Below freezing. Hopped on trainer, got severely ill, almost passed out, kept riding until my vision got fuzzy, then decided this was not a beneficial training session.
Unfortunatley only carb cycling this weekend…
Inaugural new shoes ride! Unimpressed.
Bikes some friends around the lake for a total of 60 miles :)
10 time trial benchmark test on BKOOL turbo while it poured with rain outside!
Managed to get out on the bike for the first time in weeks! Weather has been crap here in the UK so the motivation to get out there has been lacking. Short one to start off but it did follow a swim in the morning as I start to get ready for the sportives that we’ve entered this summer.
Plan is to get out again this week and on next weekend working around the international rugby matches that I will be watching too. (Hope the wife understands!)
Put in a 2 1/2 hour ride on the trainer yesterday. Yay
Spent an afternoon dodging rain showers in headwinds mostly.
I just spent two days shopping for a hot tube and I moved my trainer so that I can get into a closet.
It’s cold and frigid up here in Canada, but we needed to do a big ride before we head to Hurricane, Utah on Friday. So we did the Gatineau 70 series Death March from P17. Everything was frozen solid so we were able to just freestyle everywhere and ride off trail throughout the woods an even back across Carman an Brown lakes!
Best ride this season….
Took a well-need break from training over the weekend
trainer weather means trainer rides
Rode up a local hill Old La Honda and then down page Mill 3300 ft elevation. Slow as a tortoise, but still made it up the hill.
Wake up.
Take Kid to training futebol.
Watch Strade Bianche.
3h20 Treshold tour.
Go to a music Celta Consert.
Friday I took my kids for a recreational ride then later they joined me for a run, helping me with my first week of training for Ironman Chattanooga. When we finished the run, my 10 year old daughter said, “well, I might as well hit the pool. There’s no sense in wasting a good bike-run day!”
Saturday was an hour trainer ride and Sunday had a 45 minute zone 1-2 run. Those things are humbling!
No big individual plans, but taking all the kiddos with their bikes for a ride. Trying to take advantage of the break in cold weather here!
I cycled to the Cambridge half marathon, ran it and then did the “slightly harder” cycle back home again :)
Daughters birthday party sabotaged my indoor bike plans. Does stages make power meters for roller skates?
Long workout on the trainer Saturday, elliptical sunday
I actually didn’t cycle at all, but some cool equipment might entice me to do so :) Thanks for giving this away, CT and DCR!
Monday AM. did shopping, including tubular wheel, tire, saddle. Wanted to ride but projects got in way. Full length in late May, so need to up my dedication.
Rode a loop around town 30k, tested my new camera holder.
No cycling this past weekend. Was enjoying a lovely trip to Tokyo but got in some good runs around the city.
1hr 30 min ride on the trainer Saturday
I cycled inside my garage on the trainer for 2 hours.
Saturday brick: 3.5 hours on the trainer, followed by a 5k run in -1 windchill.
Sunday reverse brick: 10 mile run at 0 degrees, followed by 1 hour recovery ride on the trainer.
Show me the Power!
Short bike recovery training
i didn’t get to ride this weekend, hoped into an 8k saturday morning instead and then was too beat up to ride sunday. but i’ll get out the door soon enough!
In Iraq so no cycling outdoors, two hours on the trainer (Sat.) and run on Sun.
Rode an indoor V02 max session, 3min 8 times.
Got a new PR! 164.7 km! Well chuffed! ^_^ Now, if only I’d had a Stages Power Meter to tell me how much effort that took! lol
A very Wet 70mile Sportive :(
Had my ass kicked and dnf’ed after 30km in a 120km race.
Sat ride: 1.5 hrs w/ 8x4min VO2 @125% ftp
Sun ride: 2hr easy/recovery w/ a nice coffee break.
First ride out in quite some time due to the rubbish British. Tough head wind but ended becoming a beautiful morning ride through the countryside.
Trainer inside… still snow on ground outside.
Full blast on TrainerRoad Kaweah at 0630 – before collapsing for the rest of the day.
Still waiting for spring in Sweden. Needed to deliver invitations to my sons birthday party so on with the winter gear (triple layers) and pulled out my old Marin MTB (converted to trekking) with studtires, fenders, and map holder from the garage. Snowflakes falling down, strong winds from east, and some stupid mis-navigations so it all ended up in a great ride! /Henrik
Did a metric century on Zwift… so damn cold here in the northeast!
Weather forced me indoors. Zwift to the rescue.
This weekend: Saturday- fought with Zwift for 50+ minutes while it continued to crash. Went to the gym and did leg work. Sunday – full reinstall of Zwift — and subsequent updates — through the morning, in order to get a ride in. Fortunately, reinstall worked. Weather in CT was 20+ mph winds and sub-freezing temps – NOT riding outside.
Ride the bridge to bridge. Great day
As I live in Maine and it was in the teens all weekend, I was firmly ensconced in front of the trainer and zwift for my weekend cycling activities.
Spent the weekend at an epic triathlon training camp at Club Med in Florida cycling every day. Such a treat to ride among palm trees for this northerner! (And so great to have bike lanes everywhere! And well maintained roads!) Was eyeing the power meters of some of the crew–would be great to have one to show off at camp next year (and racing, too!) ?♀️
Unfortunately my weekend ride will be an indoor training ride due to weather.
Spent far more time this weekend working towards putting other people’s posteriors on bicycles than I did my own…
I cycled to the top of a mountain nearby to see the snow.
Trainerroad FTP test complete!!
Sweet Spot Training and VO2 Max!
60 mile group ride with some racing points on Saturday morning, then an easy solo 35 mile ride Sunday afternoon. Very windy, but any outdoor cycling in MN in March without snow is great.
Riding the new volcano climb on Zwift.
4 hrs of steady .72 IF Zwift riding! ;-) got in 29 loops of the Volcano circuit… do you know how hard it was not to do the last loop and get an even 30??? not very hard, I was burnt!
90 minutes on Sufferfest this weekend
Absolutely nothing, been sick for two weeks now, argh!!!
Rain finally let up a bit here in dreary London, so I got out and did 70k this weekend! Great to get out of London and into the rolling hills… Thanks for your site, really love it!
I was hitting Trainer Road while the rain tried to get into my garage sideways. I thought it was going to be a chilled ride but with the wind whistling through and 85%-95% of FTP for 90 mins – it hurt.
I ended up doing a 90 minute high cadence aerobic workout, then going out for a 2 mile brick run in freezing temps.