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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
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.
Lots of chasing after my own peanut, though she doesn’t have any step counters or trackers of any kind yet, so…
Did my first ever duathlon race, oh well, that’s last weekend. This weekend was hiking the mountain.
Trail running the welsh countryside
does digging up the yard count?- i can guarantee it was athletic, or at least it felt like it
I went for a walk. I also did some core work.
Rebuilt my road bike and took it for a test ride around my epic neighborhood and lived to tell this story.
Kept my mates out of the wind on the famous Dutch flatlands
Had a great last 30k run, starting the tapering towards Düsseldorf marathon end of April.
130 charity ride pre Mallorca 312!
Did a too cold and too windy bike ride without appropriate cold weather clothing!
Would love to win! As a celebration to living in the same country as DCRainmaker! I went to the not so exciting gym and biked with the kids in tow in their cart through the flower bulb fields.
Due to the non stop rain, I stuck inside on the trainer. On the plus side completed my first 100 TSS TrainerRoad work out in a couple of months.
First bike ride / climb up to the local ski area
Steady 10 mile run followed by walking the dog and a whole load of gardening. Enjoying the UK Spring sun!
Ran a whole bunch of hill repeats with a tempo run in the middle.
A small 30k bike ride through the dunes near The Hague, instead of a race. Can’t even call it recovery, still being kind of sick.
Well, I didn’t do anything fancy, but I did treat myself a couple of pull-ups!
I did a weightlifting full body work out followed by a row on a concept 2 rower.
Did a midndistance 26km long run prepping for a marathon on June!
Had to do my yearly physical test. Not much but still count on the Queen’s ship. 2200meters and variety of different physical exercises. Even thou I love my Garmin 920xt it’s still Monday in more then one meaning.
I had to accompany my son to a convention so didn’t do anything athletic other than walking *a lot*! :)
I would like to buy a new 10ATM Water resistent watch, so I can enjoy the gps data not only from my evening runs, but also from my kite surf trips :-)
Did the Brighton Marathon, UK. 3:28:40
Quads are smashed.
Scuba diving in high seas in Roatan!
Went for a walk in the city
Worked two critical care paramedic shifts this weekend, but I was up each morning at 3 am to get my bike workouts done on the trainer before heading to work. Off day today, but went out early and did 10.5 miles on the trail.
I made the mistake of thinking at 190 pounds i could make it up a four minute climb 3 times in a race that required me to put our over 450 watts each time to keep up with the 150 pound guys.
I’m 50 and win several races a year on cirt courses and power RR courses.
Saturday was revenge of the skinny guys…..
My teammate won I was 6th but still in front of 25 or so others. #Ouch #No hills over 6%
It was simple. Saturday fast 8km and Sunday long 20km slow run. Completely satisfied. :-)
Walked around gingerly testing if my achilles was healed enough to work out.
Saturday – 3 hr zwift lsd, Sunday – 8k easy run that turned out not so easy.
Walked 7 miles around the Long Beach Grand Prix venue.
This weekend I did a bar marathon in Paris. It has the word « marathon », this was athletic. And I can tell you that I was exhausted at the end!
Well, it wasnt really an adventure, but a light training across the weekend.
Preparing for a cross duathlon, it was trail running on Saturday, and some XC riding on Sunday.
Well… It was my recovery week!!!
I did a half Ironman last week
Failed half-marathon on Saturday, 60k ride on Sunday.
I went for a run while the baby was sleeping. So humid and the overall feeling was blah. Cought some pokemon though ;)
‘Short’ 14 mile recovery run in the build-up to Edinburgh Marathon
I went to a swimmeet and did a 70k bike ride till sunset.
This weekend I had nightshift as a paramedic. Probably a few times in Zone 5 :-) And I even ran from home to the fire station every shift.
I had an easy 75km ride with my friend around the lake nearby.
I did a Pre-Sushi run of 11 clicks with some pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and lunges. The sushi was great by-the-way!
Here’s hoping that last night shift hasn’t taken too much out if me that I can ekk out a small run.
I had a brick Saturday and long run Sunday
Short 35 mile 3500′ of climbing ride.
This weekend was a much needed recovery weekend with a very ‘athletic’ stroll.
Back yard trimming :)
On the bike trainer watching Amstel Gold Race :)
Tip trip!!
50 mile road ride with no fitness on Saturday followed by an evening trail shred session with my son on Sunday
Spent the weekend watching my son train while I recover from back surgery. But I did also watch some Peter Sagan clips, that was intense and entertaining.
Finished week 5 of my training on my quest for a sub-20 minute 5k.
Windy 40k ride on Sunday, PB’s on the way out, slow on the way back!
Second race of the year, first race that I was able to finish in the first group.
Squash playoffs. Epic 5 setter in the morning where I squeaked out a win followed by a throttling by the top player in the area.
45 minute walk and some weight lifting after recovering from a 5k and other fitness adventures during the week.
1500 yard swim, 17 mile bike, 6 mile run.
On Friday I did a recon of the IM Maastricht bike course. On Saturday I did the 150km route of the Amstel Gold Race. On Sunday I did a 16k recovery run. I like endurance sports.
Trainer ride then crosstrain. A.k.a help shovel cars out of a April snowstorm.
On Sat I did a pre-ride with my 6th grader for his first NICA race. It was 74 degrees.
On Sunday, he rode the race in damp, 40 degree WINDY weather. I stood on the sidelines and gave my vocal chords a workout.
I’ll split the winnings with him.
The plan was to compete in a whitewater kayak race, but the weather meant the river was much too high. So, I got some quality time watching the West Wing and drinking tea instead!
Hut ski trip in Colorado Summit county and closing day at Vail!!!
I rode 90 miles in the rain on gravel for some dumb reason.
I did a farewell ride on my Trek Fuel EX8 that I’m selling.
This weekend was my wifes birthday, so we did a marathon, restaurant style, too much courses!
Lifting on Saturday, and a recovery day on Sunday, with stretches and mobility exercises.
So this past week I did nothing that could be vaguely described as ‘athleticish’ but it would be a stretch to describe the weekend as a ‘recovery’ weekend as my wife and I have a 2 week old daughter. I wonder – does Clever Training sell anything that’ll help the baby sleep? #deliriousnewparent
This weekend I ran 20 trail miles in Scotland’s Lomond Hills
Muddy 10k – not my best but stopped the watch on 45.00 precisely!
Does yard work mixed with toddler Duplo time count as “vaguely athletic-ish?”
My athletic adventure this weekend consisted of shoveling the Minnesota blizzard off my driveway and building a nice snow cave for my kids. Can’t wait for the Spring weather to finally show up!
I defied doctor’s orders and went for a short run after getting a tooth pulled and bone-graft, but I took it easy, honest!
Recovering from an injury and Vermont became covered in an inch of ice. Spent lots of time indoors on the bike and walking on icy trails with the dog!
Just a 10k run, starting an half-marathon prep.
A (comeback form injury) 10K PB at our local 10K road race. Great to be back racing again!
Biked 42 miles in the wind!
Setup for 2 hour trainer ride, 1 hour in and storm knocks out power for 24 hours. So much for my brick. Running during a tornado watch is not advisable.
This weekend I had to modify my programmed mtb ride, downgrading it from 3 hours to 1 hour… because my little son got the flu. Well, 1 hour is better than nothing.
A full weekend of ab workouts thanks to asthmatic bronchitis constant coughing. Core strength FTW!
12k run on saturday and 30k bike in sunday in Italy
I had an olympic triathlon here in sunny Florida on Saturday- and I managed to nab my first overall win!
Picture perfect mountain bike ride yesterday, 34 miles and 5000 ft of climbing at Devil’s Backbone and Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins, CO.
15 mile hill run in the burnt mountains of the Thomas Fire. Now turning green again.
Early morning mountain bike ride with friends!
I had a beer :-).
Was planning a 50 mile gravel ride in Missouri, it snowed, I slept
75 km bike ride on Saturday, family swim and 6 km family run on Sunday.
easy run
This weekend I was going to do The Javalina Chase roadrace but got injured and did nothing instead
Completed a local 5K event in cold weather and rain. Fun times!
Completed the annual 50 mile Quantico Epic mountain bike ride on the grounds of the Quantico Marine Corps Base in Quantico, VA.
Battled my way around my local parkrun. No matter which way I was running it always felt like I was going into a headwind!
My weekend consisted of an excessive number of 30m reps, moving boxes from one apartment to another across the road, all in all 5.5 miles covered on Saturday!
Quick three miles followed by recovery at a chocolate festival.
My mate and I went for a cold and windy coffee ride Saturday. During we talked about Paris Roubaix and zwift racing. Ride was about 3 hours but in that wind i was cooked at the end
Nice walk with the wife
just a run outside and a trainer session for the bike
A beautiful weekend started with parkrun, then onto speed walking shopping, some stair climbs to get the washing done and finished with some stretching to get some weeding done in the garden. Covers all the bases ?
Walked several miles Saturday. Walked around Hermann Park to check out the Japanese festival.
I am planning to race a criterium in CA this Sunday and volunteer on another race on Sat – glad to be back in action after being of bike for 3 weeks.
Have archery practice then a forest run this weekend.