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
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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 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.
Polar RC3 integrated GPS watch In-Depth Review
The Polar RC3 is Polar’s first GPS integrated watch. As a mid-range watch, it has pretty heavy competition. Let’s dive deep and see if it…. Read More Here
MyTriRack Transition Rack Review
There’s a lot of ways you can reduce your total time in triathlon. The most common being you can swim faster, bike faster, or run faster. To get faster at each of those individual sports you either need to train … Read More Here
A brief weekend testing gadgets back in France
While the Interbike show was winding down Friday morning, I was skipping to the airport to make my flight back home. Just a short jaunt you know, a 3 hour & a 10 hour flight. I actually rather like the … Read More Here
Week in Review–September 23rd, 2012
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered … Read More Here
The Interbike 2012 Sports Tech Golden Nuggets (with Polar, Garmin, Timex, TrainingPeaks, Metawatch and more…)
There’s a ton of stuff I see each or hear while at Interbike that never makes it to a full scale post. This year, that’s even more so true with most of the major companies holding back from releasing new … Read More Here
First look at the BKOOL ANT+ resistance controlled trainer
This morning I spent a good bit of time getting to try out the BKOOL trainer, which is a resistance controlled trainer that enables you to create and ride specific workouts while automatically changing the resistance/load based on the terrain … Read More Here
Quick FYI: StageONE power meter post updated with answers to a gazillion of your questions
Since there’s been a huge response on my StageONE power meter post (read: a ton of questions and a whole lot of people viewing it), I went ahead and sat down with the guys last night and walked through every … Read More Here
Hands on with the ICEdot helmet crash notification alerting system
Today I had a bit of time to spend checking out the newly announced ICEdot system, which will help automatically notify emergency contacts in the event of an accident while on your bike. The system is a combination of a … Read More Here
4iiii’s debuts Viiiiva Bluetooth Smart and ANT+ Consolidator Heart Rate Strap
Today at Interbike, 4iiii’s quietly showed off a new heart rate strap that contains both a ANT+ chip and a Bluetooth Low Energy chip within it (Bluetooth Smart). At first glance, you may wonder why this is important – but … Read More Here
A photographic look at the CrossVegas Cyclocross Race 2012
Every year at Interbike one of the coolest non-showfloor events to head up to see CrossVegas, which is a huge Cyclocross event that takes place on Wednesday evening – about a 15 or so minute drive from the Las Vegas … Read More Here
Paris Blog: Bertie’s CupCakery Opening in Paris!
Since this is a Paris life post I thought it was important to give everyone the fantastic news of how Paris life for us as we know it is about to change! This is because Bertie’s CupCakery is now officially … Read More Here
An early quick look at the Tacx iPad trainer app
I got to spend a tiny bit of time today looking at a very early beta version of the upcoming Tacx iPad app, which will be released just after the new year in January 2013. The app aims to control … Read More Here
Wahoo Fitness announces KICKR trainer pricing/availability
Back at Eurobike I went pretty detailed and deep on the new Wahoo Fitness KICKR trainer, which is the first Blueooth Smart and ANT+ combination resistance controllable trainer out on the market. The trainer was designed to allow application developers … Read More Here
First look at new Wahoo Fitness RFLKT Bluetooth Smart bike computer
Today Wahoo Fitness showed off their newest product here at Interbike; the Wahoo Fitness RFLKT bike computer. The RFLKT (pronounced ‘Reflect’) is the Bluetooth Smart driven bike computer that connects directly to your phone and displays the content of the … Read More Here
And thus begins Interbike 2012…
I’ve successfully arrived in Las Vegas, ready to tackle another year at the massive bike show – Interbike. I’ve got a full plate over the next two days and I’m looking forward to talking with a number of companies, especially … Read More Here
The Belgium Runaround
Last Thursday I did one of my typical single-day turnaround trips for work. In the states, these were often done with airplanes. For example, DC over to Chicago, up to NYC or Boston, down to Charlotte, Raleigh, Florida, and any … Read More Here
StageONE $699 ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart crank-based power meter announced
This morning, Stages Cycling announced a new crank-based power meter, StageONE, which will be available for $699US. The power meter includes both ANT+ and Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE/BLE/Bluetooth Smart), allowing you to connect to any of the ANT+ power meter … Read More Here
Week in Review–September 16th, 2012
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered … Read More Here
Paris Blog: Going to the farm and picking fresh produce!
One of the things we both really enjoy doing is going to u-pick farms and picking our own fruits and vegetables. In the past, we’ve primarily picked apples, blueberries, and strawberries. Given it’s fall (crazy, huh?), we figured it was … Read More Here
Coolness: Me and Simon Whitfield presenting at ANT+ Symposium
Well, not together at the same time. Because that’d be awkward – mainly for me. And probably a little for him. He would talk about Olympic Gold and Silver medals and Olympic opening ceremonies…and I would talk about plastic trophies … Read More Here
The Girl’s 2012 swim/bike/run gear I use list
Last week I outlined every piece of gear that I regularly use in my day to day training or racing. Not the stuff that I review for products, but rather, the goods that I always turn back to once the … Read More Here
The Swim It In-Depth Review
With the steady rise of deaths in the swim leg of triathlon, I’d been asked by a number of people about my thoughts around the Swim It. I even wrote a rather long op-ed post on it a while back. … Read More Here
Norway in a Nutshell
I’m typically not a terribly big fan of organized tours. I like to get out, explore, and wander around a bit on my own timetable. Just the way I am. But in Norway without either a car or many days, … Read More Here
Week in Review–September 9th, 2012
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered … Read More Here
Size matters: Time for a bigger piece of wood
As I started putting together the initial Polar RC3 and Garmin FR10 reviews a few weeks ago, it became clear that in order to accommodate all of the watches I wanted to picture together in my typical size comparison photos … Read More Here
