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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!
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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.
Hope Garmin-Tacx will bring enough bug free bottles.
We bought those last time…but…there’s still a few boxes sitting here in front of me. Ya never know where they might go… ;)
OMG this is going to be a blast!!! Going to look forward to visit amsterdam,
Awesome – see ya here!
On a similar topic, the ITU Multisport Festival is heading to Almere Sept 4-13 2020. It is a bit of a ways off but it would be great for those of us overseas to have an opportunity to finally meet you. link to almere.triathlon.org
Oh, nice! I hadn’t caught that. Yeah, that’s definitely a good one to keep in mind for next year to figure out some event tied to that time-wise. Nice one!
How safe is it to store the bike after the ride? Do we need locks and stuff?
The area/building is increda-safe, but if you’ve got a 10,000 race bike…I’m not sure I’d trust that anywhere to be honest. There’s actually a moat in between the building and the outside world, but, the outside world a across the moat is a super popular cycling path (especially on weekends) and I’d hate for someone to get curious. We’ll likely close at least one of the major ‘castle gates’ onto the property, but we’ll have to leave the other open for folks to get in/out.
There will be a lot of bikes for sure, so I’ll have some form of tri/bike racks for folks to connect them to. But a lock wouldn’t hurt.
So you got a room at the Bijlmer Bajes?
Once the gates come down, it’s kinda a bit like that…
Hope you are giving ‘ get out of jail free’ cards too?!?
Total knee replacement the week prior. I’ll look forward to the podcast. Bikes, BBQ & beer. These are some of my favorite things.
Perfect! Well, the beer/bbq/bikes bit…less so the knee.
Doh! I was in Lanzarote last time and will be in Vegas this time :( Hope it’s a great event! I’m in Lanzarote first two weeks of December again so will likely miss the next one too ?
That said, I think I now recognise that windmill ?
Ahh bummer!
“Per Dutch law, all group rides must stop at least one windmill for photographic reasons”
Does said ‘law’ also explain how to stop a windmill? ;-)
Haha…good catch. I’d suggest with throwing bitterballen at it.
Suggesting overruled .. that would be a waste of good food :-p
For those really wanting to go to Amsterdam with a car I can only suggest to park underneath the olympic stadium using the P+R rules.
Sorry Ray not coming.
P+R regulations only allow parking there if you take public transport atleast x stops towards the centre and this ain’t complying with that.
I would suggest parking at the Amsterdam Forrest (Bosbaan 4, 1182 AG Amstelveen / link to goo.gl). There are almost 700 parking spots and the first 3 hours are free, and €2,50 for each hour after that (daily max is €15). Plus it’s only a 3-minute ride to the VUMC.
If you park at Amsterdam Forrest, is there a train then or bus/”tram” to the VUMC?
It’s like an 800m walk, not really worth buying a bus ticket.
Thanks a lot! Walking 800 meters should be fine :-). Anybody else thinking of parking there and then walk? I’ll look to be there around 11AM, we could agree on meeting there and going over to Ray’s place.
I will take care, busy day forces me to cancel the bike ride. Planning to be there around 1100
So jealous! Would love to see a group ride meet-up near NYC one day!
I am coming from The Hague and taking my bike. Is it recommend to travel by car ? If so where can I park ??? I need to carry a bagpack for sweaty clothes, and spare shoes, do not want to walk around all day on SIDI.
The trains come super close by (and are non-stop from Den Hague to Amsterdam Zuid), so I personally would avoid a car if at all possible.
That said, there are some parking spots within a few blocks on the streets surrounding. I’ll send all that info out in an e-mail the week prior.
Thanks Ray, I will take into consideration your advise.
Quick question, do you get a confirmation email? Otherwise I need to sign up. Looking forward to it!
No immediate confirmation email, but you’ll get a little confirmation text after entering in your details.
I can see you successfully on the list though, so you’re good to go!!!
In early July I’ll send out a bit of a more detailed email with all the goods you’ll need to know.
Thanks for checking! Will check the SPAM folder :)
Oh, no SPAM folder checkage yet (I mean, you can, but there won’t be anything from me there yet). I might do a quick confirmation e-mail to folks next week, just for fun. But otherwise next contact will be the first week of July.
Hello Ray – I registered but didn’t get any kind of acknowledgment – do you already have me and my wife Jennie down? So cool that our trip out that way happens to coincide with your event!
Ray, please check my name on your list, I may have registered twice. Sorry for that
Yup, you’re all good! Just on there once. Looking forward to seeing you!
I’d love to make the trek out to Amsterdam one of these days… for something like this, an added benefit would be listing bike rentals in the area if you know of any. I know it’s Amsterdam, so that’s pretty much every corner, but still…. :)
I presume you’re talking for just around town type bikes?
We’ve used Black Bikes in the past (including for the giant dutch clog bike we rented once). They have a bunch of locations throughout the city. Seem good to me, but I haven’t done a done of research.
link to black-bikes.com
BBQ is Awesome, if the weather co-operates.
But ehmm scrolling through the comments section I have not seen any comments on Pizza Oven..
Where are we with that?
or did I miss anything?
“Where are we with that?”
Umm….well…we’re working on that.
Thinking of flying in to Amsterdam Shiphol. Is it easy to take a train to your event location from the airport?
Could you recommend a B&B or such nearby? Would like to leave by Sunday morning. Thank you!
Super easy from Schiphol by train or Uber. Uber is your best bet here over a taxi. It’ll cost about 17-19EUR and take about 10-12 minutes to either studio. Super close. A taxi will somehow cost you 40-50EUR and take the same amount of time.
To take the train to the studio, it’s a whopping 7 minutes non-stop to ‘Amsterdam Zuid’ (leaves every 6 minutes). It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the station to Studio. The train costs 2.80EUR per person. Note that technically “Amstelveenseweg” is closer, but you’ll have to make a connection, so it ends up being a wash.
For hotels/places, I did some quick digging. If you want to search more deeply, simply put in this as your location: “Amsterdam UMC VumC”. That said, the hotel that’s most sport-focused is the new ‘Olympic Hotel’, which opened up a couple months ago. Your room has either a view of the track & river, or has a view of Olympic stadium. While I haven’t stayed in it, the rooms from looking in look pretty nice. It’s perhaps an 8-10 minute walk to the Studio. There’s also a few house boats in the area too, though they look all sold out for that night.
Hope you can make it!
I wonder how many Dutchies would take on this ride with a normal, day-to-day bike wearing normal clothes :P I know I’m considering it…
Do it with a non-e cargo bike too…and then I’ll be impressed. :)
nah, I don’t have a power meter on my normal bike….
And loaded with beer for the team!
Hi, did you send any information with mail for people who registered to your “DCR Cave Summer Open House & BBQ”. I registered early but no information until now.
Hi Klaus!
Fear not, working on the e-mail as we speak. Should be going out here this afternoon.
Cheers!
Out of curiosity and to finalize plans for the upcoming weekend: Has anyone gotten the info mail so far?
I’m just trying to figure out if there was a problem with my registration or if Ray is just busy with other stuff (I understood folks are eagerly waiting for the MARQ review).
Unfortunately just me horribly busy at the TdF. Fear not though, everyone who hit the registration button is confirmed (or anyone who still needs to register, we still have a few spots).
Thx Ray, have fun at the TdF and enjoy your time!