Heads up! Here’s your massive list of sports tech deals! This includes the Garmin Forerunner 965 for just $499, Garmin Epix for $449, the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium for $735, the GoPro Hero 12 Black for $299, 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.
Biking 115km on saturday then did it again on sunday but reversed. And a good nap afterward (yes nap is athletic).
I did an 80km ride on Saturday!
Thanks for the chance to win!
Did a Halfmarathon and it was fun ;)
I ran a track 10K this weekend! Normally I’m running through the woods only, so it was a nice change.
Could use a new Garmin though! ;-)
Ran 15 miles on the treadmill…8 was enough but I pushed through, winter is too long
Being 31 weeks pregnant, I pushed myself to complete a 5 mike walk/jog and an indoor ride (using Zwift). I’m looking forward to introducing my second child to the jogging stroller as soon as the doctor clears me for exercise after he is born.
Rode my skinny tire bike to the grocery store under 5 inches of snow.
Just a 2.5h hike around the woods behind our house, gosh, I love Switzerland =)
After having been ill for many months, I managed a 15km run in the early hours through scenic Constantia and up to the slopes of the majestic Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa.
Light run and ride in the sleet
This weekend I biked the amstel gold race 150Km and 120 km on sunday.
I did that to train for the rest of the crit seaon in the netherlands
I guess my biggest adventure-ish thing of last weekend was a run before breakfast on Sunday. This could have ended with a serious bonk (thankfully it didn’t), and on the plus side I was back before anyone in the family was even awake.
Went to the Brooks Outlet Truckload Sale! Only intended on looking at their jackets and hats but ended up with a couple pairs of Glycerins, jacket, tops, socks and 5 hats.
Zwifting still
Easy Miles on the Appalachian Trail
Run Marathon in Gdańsk
Hiking all weekend long
A run in the dunes on Saturday and a flat one on Sunday
Two days of flyfishing conference in Munich, kinda cross training :)
Went house hunting and packed up current house. That is way more difficult than any of my athletic events.
Weekend spent chasing my daughter around the house while juggling feeding and changing my newborn son. Squeezed in some me-time in the form of a short 5km run.
I ran the Half Marathon Unplugged in Vermont, just before the sleet and snow started!
discovery of parachuting and first jump to 2800 meters from an airplane
Many rounds at Sloten, nice pace, bad sprint.
Drank lots of beer this weekend whilst waiting on my physio appointment this week, did managed to walk 10 miles between pubs
long run on a bad knee. Need to get back on trainer for a while.
PB on a 5k, and 90 mins on trainerroad!
I raced East Tyrone GP bike race.
Did an (almost) mountain run in the middle of a large city.
Rode the trainer inside (freezing rain and ice pellets outside…). Watched the Amstel Gold race.
Ironman training…3:30 bike and 30 min brick run.
Rode 40 miles on road bike and did final long run before recovery week for 10 mile race next weekend.
Don´t know if this is proper English, but I rolled the garden with a heavy garden roller. That was a pretty good fitness workout.
Just did 16km jog on a hotell treadmill this weekend. So please fork over some free stuff ??
I did a 55-mile solo hilly ride Saturday, and then a 50-mile trainer ride + brick run Sunday!
Been running and biking as preparations for the Berlin marathon in September. Enjoying the nice cool summer that is finally starting. Happy that the days are getting longer.
I’ve been forced to have a recovery weekend because of the exams so the maximum movement has been the way to the library. But studing engenieering is harder than an Ironman so it should count!
I joined my local group for a 55 miles cycling ride. My legs are still shot from all the climbing!
Made a tour of the St. Victoire near Aix-en-Provence, 600 m gain butta spectacular view!
Late Sunday night intervals on the trainer!
Rode the stage 5 of tour of watopia which was not supposed to be a race but managed to do this year’s best 60 min power effort
Eh, after a long break I’ve got myself into running again. Completed 5km in shitty time but it’s a start. This will never happen again. From now on, I’ll be exercising regularly.
CAT 5 bike race!!!!
A sunrise trail run followed by mountain biking.
Did a part of the famous Veenendaal – Veenendaal course
This weekend I went live action roleplaying. I ran off into the woods, pretended to be a warrior and swung a fake sword at people. My legs are mush today.
Welcome to the netherlands! You’ll like it here!
3.5k swim, 2 hour Zwift ride, 45 min run.
Riding around on Zwift
Half marathon race where I won my age group, but mostly Boston Marathon envy for friends who are there :(
Rode up Alpe du Zwift, went on a hike through 12” of new snow, more Zwifting. Fun!
2.5 hours on my kickr, 1.5 on a treammill and then another hour on the kickr, all the while cursing our mid-april ice storm.
Weekend mostly spent in course working in an ITU Technical Official course, but I did get to a yoga session.
Did the Dirty Jutland – a 215 km gravel race along the west coast of Jutland (Denmark) named after Dirty Kanza.
And my powermeter (a Powerpod) sucked, so could actually use the prize for a new powermeter for my gravel bike…
stuck inside on zwift
My first 100km Zwift ride!
Rode on the trainer as a tornado flew about a mile from my house. The tail wind would have been pretty sweet.
20 miles in the wind and rain for a chicken sandwich
Ran a PB at a half-marathon in Budapest.
Lovely Trailrun in a sunny forest! ?
Enjoyed the nice weather and did some running!
Stationary bike for cardio conditioning for an hour between aerobic and lactate threshold… If shin splint would go away could get back to running….
Then split between kicking a pink soccer ball with a 4 year old princess and getting an eight year old boy to hit a baseball.
Ugg, simply a recovery weekend from a 35 hour trip back from S. Africa. Getting back to training this week.
I shoveled freaking snow this weekend! It is April in Iowa. We are not supposed to have snow in April in Iowa.
On the Roller
Did my usual long run Sunday but bonked 2km from the end. Reason: Forgot banana
Hobbled around recovering from the first mountain bike ride of the season.
Running, fat biking and most importantly pre-ordered 3 pairs of Nordic skis for next winter.
sst(short) on zwift for the second time this week.
Did a brief run with my dog and played at the playground with my kids. The latter counts as athletic right…?
Did push day(chest) while my kid was asking me the same questions over and over!
A beautiful mountain bike trip, despite the weather (which has been unremarkable here in Italy) :)
80 and sunny and then 40 and rainy 2 x 20’s on the bike
32 miles with 1500 feet of climbing.
Transition training 2k Swim and 30km on Zwift
I’ll keep an eye out in case you’re at Sea Otter on Sunday. It’s the only day I can make it, I’m worried everybody will be packed up an out of there pretty early. On the other hand, I’m hopeful anybody left will be clearing out their stuff for cheap so they don’t have to bring it back. Not that I’m looking for anything in particular.
I did a two-day block of training, Day 1 was tempo with anaerobic threshold efforts at the end. Day two involved sweet spot efforts. We still have a little snow here in Finland and it was raining so I decided to do my efforts on Zwift.
Went on a walk around the park to get my son some sun….although he may have gotten too much!
Easy going jog with the pup on Saturday morning before thunderstorms.
Hi Ray, won a 21k trail race round a forest in Ireland! Keep up the great work!
Rode sixty odd k’s Saturday round Durban, beach sea hills all in one, beaut sunrise
In Saturday i did a 150 k Ride at Thema Amstel Gold Race and on Sunday a Recovery Ride
Ran/walked 3.5 miles. Needed to leave the paved trail to avoid hissing geese. They looked surly.
Weather was not too nice, I did the alpe of zwift on the kickr which was quite fun and tough at the same time :)
Went for a bike ride with my wife. Not the best weather but a while since we were out together.
Here is Wisconsin we were getting pounded..again…by snow and high winds….so Zwifting it was! did a brick workout on Saturday with a zwift ride on the Elite Rampa smart trainer and then did a Zwift run on the treadmill. This has been a useful tool this year with the incredibly challenging weather.
recovery weekend. Recovering from Stomach Flu. No bueno.
I rode for 2 hours in 20 mph winds last Friday. Half the ride was fun!
I did a 3 hour road ride asturday and a 2 1/2 hour gravel ride on Sunday.
Ran 13 hilly miles for training
Cross-country skiing on Norway’s largest glacier!
Exploring the backroads on the bike turned into three punctures and needing to call for a ride home.
A “quick” spin turned into a 36 miler. Unfortunately, I was relegated to doing laps in Central Park…
15 miles on the road on Friday night, 45 miles on the trail Saturday morning, and 1 hood trainer road on Sunday!
Did 2 hours on the trainer. Last recovery ride post Texas 70.3.
120k hilly ride on Saturday and a 25k base run on Sunday incl. becoming friends with the porta potty several times in a row. Would like to enhance my wattage bazooka skills!
I got married. Workouts were compromised.
Went hiking to the mountains. Had a blast.
2.5 hour trainer ride and 30 min run
I went on my longest ever ride, only 34 Miles, but I’m new to cycling and loving just getting out and riding! Went out for my second ride with my local club, which was a nice social pace, interspersed with some sharp climbs, and a mandatory cake stop!