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.
Road Peloton bike at work today!
Malibu Gran Fondo (short route this year).
Sadly, no cycling – had a half marathon race on Sunday (complete with a PR!)
Had blast in Mammoth, had to skip the workouts this weekend.
I rode 200 km along Black Sea last weekend.
Still snow and salt on the roads in Canada; relegated to doing km’s on the trainer.
Short warm up before the season starts, along Paris-Nice Stage 1.
riding with hubby all weekend long.
Spent some time on Strava Saturday doing the Moxie Ride
Short 17 mile ride on Saturday and a leisurely 7 mile ride with my wife and one of the dogs on Sunday.
Due to an injury not much happened during the weekend. :(
New subscriber here… 93 miles for the week ending Sunday with 5,374ft of climbing.
Friday and Saturday I did two short climbs up Mt. Hamilton in California then capped the weekend off Sunday with a Zwift ride through downtown London.
#buildthebase.
A very cold weekend in New England so Zwift time with the Kickr. Legs felt like they were outside!
Only turbo trainer, rain fault!
Skied on heavy snow and changing Babies panties full of heavier stuff
My weekend ride was working out how I could around my local hills (which are not that big) and still get about 1000m vertical in a 40km ride. Found some interesting places I never knew existed!
I did the vasaloppet link to vasaloppet.se but not on skiis; instead on my trainer in front of the TV following the winner time 3.57.18.
Went for a 70 km cx ride along the beautiful seaside trails of Helsinki
Couldn’t fit biking in but I cranked out some stair machine steps in the hotel’s temporary fitness center slash ballroom. Ready for Spring!
The last weekend was the finish of my first week back training after struggling to recover from the pneumonia that’s ruined my winter as well as my planned spring training camp in Tenerife! Managed two easy rides on the road without coughing my lungs up in the week and had planned a ride out on the club run Sunday.
Awoke Sunday to freezing rain and gale force winds, club run definitely a no-no! Got on the turbo and did an hour at L2 (142bpm) for 21.8 miles – 3 months ago I would do the same session and make 26 miles for the same heart rate! Depressing and soul destroying! ( not really – there are worse things I know!) It just means I’ll miss the early season TT’s and spring road races but you never know May I may be up to a couple of the early Club TT events and even a road race.
How great it would be to be a lucky recipient of one of the Clever Training power meters! My 58yr old legs and lungs need all the help, support and encouragement they can get – please consider me as a recipient!
Saturday had an aerobic ride for 45 minutes. Sunday had a long ride as the front end of a bike-run brick.
I’m currently healing after a broken radius (in my left arm), so I’ll spend the weekend catching up on series’ and eating ice cream… guess I’ll choose the cookie-dough if I’m lucky enough to win ;)
Going for a second ride of the year, so a short easy ride this time
I had to refrain from training as a commisaires’ seminar was scheduled. As chairman of the national technical committee, I am obliged to and responsible for keeping our corps of commissaires up to date on changes to the rules and regulations.
Recovery week.. easy 1 hour spin
My girlfriend and I visited her family west of Washington DC and had a slightly chilly 24°F ride Sunday morning. 32 good miles over rollers.
No training for me this weekend as my daughter is coming home for her 21st birthday and will be celebrating with her ?
Hopped on the trainer for a few miles
Hopefully weather is good for a nice ride and a short run after.
We had first warm weekend, so I did first ride of the year – about 40 kilometers to start season.
Two hours ride through villages and in the woods.
Pain Cave!
My cycling buddies asked me to go for a bike ride, but ended up in the pool with my two peanuts…
Wanted to ride 100k in nice and sunny weather on saturday but ended up with 85k in the wind. On sunday i wanted to do an easy ride of 50k but found myself back hone with just 35k.
Couldn’t do any riding.
Spent the weekend cycling 60k through the snow and slush of a late winter storm, didn’t even wipe out once.
No ride :(, but a run around the bays at Taupo (in town to watch IMNZ the day before).
Rest weekend. Back on the bike this Monday.
intervals x2
I did an indoor bike workout at The Fix and then on beautiful Sunday in Minnesota, my husband and I rode to meet our daughter and her beau for brunch….and then home again. (Harder coming home on a full stomach!)
This past weekend I rode on the rural area of Katy, TX with the goal of staying withing my heart rate zone 2 for endurance.
50 degree day in Ohio in March? An easy 30 mile ride to soak up the sun…
I rode over Yabitsu pass … great ride and no snow.
1.5 hours of over/under son Saturday and a 3 hour endurance/base ride on Sunday. Have to do these with HR And RPE so a power meter would make my world a lot easier.
Got in at 38 mi. or so ride on Saturday.
Did some very nice ice skating on a lake outside Stockholm. Bike safely indoors on the trainer for another month…
Trainer
30 min z2
4 min @ 350 watts
4 ez
8 min @ 300+ watts
done
Did 20 miles via Salcey Forest on Saturday – my first outdoor ride of the year. Then on Sunday used a Stages SC3 training bike for the first time at my gym and did 20 odd miles on that. Would be very nice to have a Stages Power on my road bike!
two and half hilly hours on the bike through the Queensland hinterland
Worked Saturday looking out of the window at the sun. On Sunday abandoned a catch-up ride with an old friend due to 40mph winds and hail. I tested my new castelli perfetto convertible and it was fantastic.
GCN workouts in Zwift! It was snowing… as usual… (Canada)
Fat biking in Steamboat Springs, CO on the cross country ski trails with some killer climbs.
Then the outdoor hot tub.
Try to stay warm while riding in Wisconsin winter —dress in layers and hope for sun !
A short ride to my parents and back. Lucky me i just hit a time window without rain.
Dodge the rain and ride to the creek
Returned from Belize over the weekend, so I was not able to get any biking in this weekend. I do have a date with the trainer tonight, however!!
I did a portion of 626 golden streets
Would have been wonderful to capture more data from the Grand Fonds Strafe Bianche
I planned to go cycling. Emphasize the planned part, because I have 2 boys who rather wanted to do other things. So, it became playing in the garden and building racetracks :-)
1 short and 1 longer ride (60+90km)
me and the kickr on TrainerRoad
Waiting for a better to ride more 100 km in this week.
Indoor training with Zwift both days. 90 min Sat and an hour Sun.
Stupid indoor trainer due to the frigid weather
1h30 step ups session on my good old Kurt Kinetic Road Machine
Riding got postponed in order to enjoy hiking with the family!
Broke a Strava PR on a climb!
On saturday, I rode my road bike with an amateur cyclist team. We rode 80km (too hard for me). That was great!! Later I went to swim. On Sunday, I rode my mtb and climbed with it a couple of mountains with a wonderful landscape.
A nice ride round the Surrey Hills
Three hours on the CompuTrainer (RIP) putting in some 1X work for IMLP. Surprisingly, still moving these days!
Plan was for 20km running, ended up only doing 10km as the weather turned, then regretted sunday being a rest day with the weather being really nice!
You are a legend.
was stuck riding on the spinner indoors since the mechanic didn’t finish my bike in time for the weekend.. but got in some good training anyway :)
Ride with local town group
Sadly, it was in the teens with the windchill where I am this weekend, so my cycling was a stationary bike in the gym.
I’m going to be riding with the Rivertowns crew.
Had a fantastic time running over the weekend as I build mileage from an injury. Looking forward to cycling next weekend!
Getting the MTB out for a spin, hoping it won’t be too muddy!
I rode on the track at Lee Valley Velodrome for the first time.
So I am planing to join the father on a cheeky 40km ride in whatever weather.
Put in an easy 30 miles around downtown Memphis this weekend.
Took my wife to do her 1st parkrun.
I had loads of great intentions but the rain kept me off the bike this past weekend!
I Will ride Paris Nice Challenge on saturday !
I rode 90 km with my friends on Saturday and I rest on Sunday.
Installed a new bottom bracket and did a short test ride…mystery clicking persists!
Partied on Saturday, woke up hungover and watched basketball all day. Felt guilty at 6pm so I rode across the Golden Gate bridge and back. Obviously I need more motivation to ride my bike.
DId 2 Zwift rides up the Volcano. Fun times!
Short coffee ride
Still cold in Europe, so I’ll ride Zwift during weekend. :-)
54miles through Surrey Hills through pretty much all weather conditions
Too cold to cycle outside and trainer rear wheel got crooked. Had to make due with mental cycling instead!
Cycled exactly 100 miles in preparation for my first ever triathlon, the wind blew the rain sideways at me but kept pushing through.
50K in the rain just to post it on Strava.
30 mile easy recovery ride. Headwind was miserable
A long ride on Saturday and short & sweet crit on Sunday.
This weekend was the start of a new training block and the cold hard truth of a 20 minute power test.
I did a 40 km ride around my hometown with some friends
Did 1h rides. Nice sunshine and ice and snow here in Finland.
This weekend I was on a training course so I knocked out 90 minutes in my basement on the turbo this evening.