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.
Got all inspired watching Ironman South Africa so really keen to get training again.
Had a nice 3500m swim, followed by 90 minutes on the indoor bike and 30 minutes jog. Not bad for a lazy Sunday.
25k bike ride through the Australian bush
I need a Cycliq for my bike!
First stage race of the season – TT (Merckx!), Crit & RR. Our #Critsquad finished all 3 riders in the top-10.. but no podium, so I guess we did that wrong?
Run….. had sun, rain sun and rain again.
Winter still not ended… big ice storm here. Netflix got a good workout.
Did a long bike ride on saturday indoors as well as a two hour brick workout on Sunday.
This weekend was the short ride and long run.
Downhill ski
I did my first outdoor ride of the season after a pretty brutal winter. It was nice to get off the trainer for a change!
An awfully slow track 3km race :(
Ran 6k but was cut short from any other athletic adventures due to ice pellets, snow and freezing rain. Brrrrr!
Passo della Consuma climb near Florence, Italy
Busy Sunday: first training with a kids athletic club. Then 14 km alone. And in the afternoon a few kilometers with my wife!
This Weekend was all about swimming, and yeah a little bike inside?
Wee I hope I win!!!
Training in the basement again :-(
Went testing my newly built 650b gravel wheels in icy melting Edmonton
First Road Bike ride of the season!, of course we just got 10cm of snow today, so I am back to indoor training or maybe getting back on the fat bike if spring never comes.
I did the Brabantse Pijl cyclosportive, awesome weather and awesome route, also very fast!
Made an early start on Sunday morning for a 26k run looping around the beaches and watching the sun rise
60km ride to Chertsey … too little too late training session for Mallorca :)
Viking/running on Mountain roads with The baby stroller :)
Sadly recovering from a broken collarbone so just a turbo session…
Group ride to Freedom Farms Market with new friends & teammates
Fine tuned the balance on my trainer rocker plate.
Zwift time is fun time!
A very nice long trail run in Icelandic hills/mountains close to home.
Tour of watopia stage 5 on Saturday, followed by a half marathon on Sunday. Of course, this is followed with sore legs today :)
Started outdoor bike season after 6 weeks off
Took advantage of great weather in Northeast on Saturday with a ride with the tri team
Cycling in beautiful weather
12 miles on the elliptical yesterday because Ohio is bipolar!!!!
First Ride bike in 2018! Woohoo :)
Picking up my new bike and riding slowly home after smashing my body in hockey for the first game of the season.
Riding the Amstel Gold Race before the pro’s did.
Saturday: 1.5 hours at the gym – strength training, followed by a 15km run in the afternoon
Sunday: probably 2 hours tennis session or some sort of a recovery activity
Due to approach thunderstorms indoor bike speed workout on trainer and run afterwards.
Getting in some pre-Comrades training so 46k on Sat & 25k on Sun.
I carried a lot of bags (of food) from the car to the boat for a sailing adventure in San Francisco Bay :)
Just got over being sick and missing most of my runs this week. Just easing back and luckily This week was supposed to be rest week. Back into marathon training this week!
I wished I was riding my bike while I pieced together a deal to sell a family member’s old house. So there was plenty of stress, but no TSS points.
Having our kitchen redone so spent the whole of Saturday clearing the existing line- muscles I don’t normally use are aching for sure!
In vague attempt to make it sound athletic, it was a simple 100k ride this weekend. My body is still broken from riding across Australia :)
Went to the mtb-utrechtseheuvelrug trails and bombed them!
55 mile hilly ride with 458 Strava Suffer Score!
Ran 10K Bridge to Brews in Portland, Oregon.
Group ride of 30 miles that trashed me!
Friday: biked to work. After work enjoyed some of the remaining cherry blossoms in DC.
Saturday morning: rode bike to get measured for my tuxedo for my wedding
Saturday afternoon: drove to Baltimore to walk around ‘perimeter’ of Inner Harbor during Light City.
Went for a 2 day bike packing trip over 350km.
did 60 minutes on the Peloton after working on Saturday before the temperature dropped 35 degrees on Sunday!
Survived 3 laps of Regent’s Park riding with others that regularly ride at 40-45km/h. Not bad for a 90kg shorty who doesn’t get much time on the bike. LOL
Marathon pace training run around Back Bay. Amazing weather for it.
I did a 90 minutes bike trainer session on Saturday and a 12k “not that long” run on Sunday
Went to a birthday party… (Not very athletic – except I rode my bike there)
Skied down the best slopes of Tignes in the french alps…
I would like to get new camera for my mountain adventures
While the sun was shining outside, I was riding indoors, stage 5 of the Tour of Watopia on Zwift.
It was a recovery weekend but I did go inline skating with the kids. I am always surprised to find which strange muscles get sore during skating.
Endurance ride in preparation for Standing Starts and Nine Hammers.
Did a test of my climbing legs, an all out effort on a 6km, 6% avg. grade climb. It hurt!
Very short very easy trainer ride — getting over a cold.
9 mile morning run, then walked for miles around DC looking at cherry blossoms and attending a baseball game.
Did a few runs over the weekend, nothing big. Missed out of the crystal city 5k series due to cirque du soleil tickets. It was a good weekend though.
-Guillermo
I just returned from a training camp week (including weekend) in a triathlon hotel on the canary islands: at least 3 hours of workout every day. I’d say, that’s adventurous
I biked around the Yorktown Battlefield.
Did a 35k for the next marathon
Last weekend wasn’t too adventurous for me. But next weekend I’ll be joining 40,000 people for jog around London!
My week-end was mainly about eating too much food and drinking too good wine. I had to ride my bike to eliminate some of the calories between meals. Then I ate more..
took a new gravel biker onto Flemish cobbles
A 14 km. tempo run on saturday and a 25 km. easy long run on Sunday. Definetely a good weekend!!
Huge ice storm here in Sourhern Ontario so had to do a virtual Kinomap ride on Saturday and Treadmill on Sunday.
I got back on the trainer (Direto thx to the excellent in depth post) after a week off. My recover continues!
And of course, watching Amstel Gold counts, right?
Baby wrangling during rehearsals and concert where mummy and daddy were both singing and all three of us had a wretched cold!
Easy run around town.
Did a walk to check out my CIQ app I am working on.
Raced Jeff Cup in Charlottesville VA yesterday. Race was 1 lap longer (extra 10 miles) than advertised & for some unknown reason I did an hour sweet spot warm up instead of an easy 30 minutes. Doh!
Short swim and run in normandy !
Rode my bike Friday until I ran into a rockslide across the path and had to turn around. Walked zombierun training.
Made a family hike to a beautiful waterfall with a river pool splash to cool off!
Opened cycling season in Moscow with friends riding 30 km on hilly Olympic cycling road which was build for 80’s olympic games in Moscow.
Funny indoor triathlon and first street bike ride right after because spring sunny weather!
6 mile training run for the GW Classic- great weather finally in DC. Looking forward to the rolling hills of the parkway next weekend
I did some unicycling. Great core workout.
Shoveled two feet of snow then ran 18 miles
1st road race of the season this saturday and a easy recovery ride on sunday
Super Nice to see an other give away! I did a 130km bike ride as last preparation for Luik bastenaken Luik.
Mountain bike racing in Gig Harbor!!
Went for a 50K bike ride. Was planning for 70k but things don’t always go as we plan.
I completed my first 50k this weekend. We started the first 5k loop in bad weather and heard the tornado sirens go off! We all huddled in the church and waited out the 1.5 hour delay and got going again! Battled a lot of wind and rain, but I will never forget it!
This weekend we did some small hikes! The weather was chilly (-8ish) so we did a small 10k hike along the coastline!
I spent it enjoying the 80* weather in Pittsburgh before we get another round of snow tomorrow.
Did a lactose threshold test run.
Sat, swimming and cycling. Sun, cycling only.
Back on the bike in way too long.
watched the Boston Marathon!
I rode my 1st outdoor ride of the year! And set one PR thanks to indoor training this winter.
Up to my next ride. With ot without a DCR gadget.
A couple of lazy loops around McCarrs Creek.