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.
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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.
Getting pushed out of a plane at 14,000 feet
As you may remember from yesterday’s little Space Shuttle adventure, we had a brief stop to make on the way home…or so I thought. I had been told by pilot and crew (aka…The Girl) that we were just picking up … Read More Here
Checkin’ out a Space Shuttle launch
Back a few years ago a friend (Bruce) and I started talking about the idea of going to see a Space Shuttle launch. We’re both fairly interested in aviation and space, and it seemed like a logical road trip to … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag–May 15th, 2010
Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag. This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so. I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some … Read More Here
75 Cents
(Note: I want to first thank everyone for all the comments, e-mails and thoughts over the past few days – they mean a lot. It’s been amazing how many people have dropped by my little place on the Internet to … Read More Here
The ‘I got hit by a car during the race’ Rev 3 Knoxville Race Report
Given you’ve probably read the title of this post, you have a rough idea what happens at some point along the way in this story. That means you also think you know how this story ends, but just for fun … Read More Here
The day before Knoxville Rev 3
I was going to make this all one post (Race Report and Pre-Race Stuff), but decided to split it apart. It will be more epic that way…which…will go along with how the race went. As I mentioned earlier in the … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag–May 8th, 2010
Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag. This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so. I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some … Read More Here
Wahoo Fitness ANT+ iPhone Adapter
(April 2013 note: While I reviewed this back in the spring of 2010, the product has since released and is supported by more than 150 apps on the iPhone/iPod platform. Since then I continue to use it quite a bit … Read More Here
How to fit two triathlon bikes into a really small private airplane
There’s some smart nuggets amongst ya’ll yesterday in the guessing game around details about the picture I posted. You can read all the guesses here. And here’s the original the picture: Some of you picked up on two key items … Read More Here
Can you name details about this picture?
For Tuesday I’m going to go with something a little bit different than a normal post. Last week The Girl and I participated in a bit of an experiment…with our bikes. This experiment took quite a bit of time actually … Read More Here
New positions early in the morning
The weekend’s training schedule ended up getting swapped around quite a bit at the last minute, which, afforded me the time to spend some quality time at Coach Alan’s place re-working my bike fit. After the Bumpass in Rumpass Olympic … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag – May 1st, 2010
Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag. This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so. I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some … Read More Here
Pushing the envelope
It finally happened, almost 6 years to the day from when it first started. What happened you ask? Well, first, some history. I moved from Seattle to Washington DC on May 1st, 2004 (6 years ago tomorrow) – and when … Read More Here
Averting disaster in the Dark Hills
Anytime you have 2-3 hours of workouts to do on a weeknight, you have to plan a bit. Most of that planning for me falls into two buckets – scheduling of the actual workout itself, and scheduling my caloric intake … Read More Here
Understanding the importance of Garmin firmware updates
One of the more common questions/comments that I answer on many of my review posts are technical in nature – and often times covering specific issues or problems a person is running into. As a result I end up doing … Read More Here
A meaty weekend
This weekend was full of all assortment of activities – from the usual swim/bike/run to cooking up a storm on Saturday night. We start with a 10 mile run on Saturday morning along the Potomac river on the Mt. Vernon … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag – April 24th, 2010
Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag. This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so. I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some … Read More Here
The Rumpass in Bumpass 2010 Race Report
If there was ever a race to do based on name alone, this would be it. I mean – really – how many races have the ASS word not once – but TWICE in name of the race? The RumpASS … Read More Here
Thoughts from a (new) USAT Referee (or…what I’m looking for)
In addition to racing this past weekend, I also became a new USAT Certified Official Referee. The process involves wading through an extensive 91 page manual (very in depth by the way, but also fairly well written and easy to … Read More Here
Adventures in triathlon RV’ing
I have officially discovered there is no better way to do local or semi-local race weekends than renting out a little RV and going full tilt at the race site. Let’s do a not-so-quick recap on how it all goes … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag – April 17th, 2010
While I was sitting on my flight back from Seattle a few weeks ago I was working through the small pile of questions from folk just like you (well, actually, specifically – some of you). While doing this I realized … Read More Here
Free National Park Access for a week, starting Saturday! Wootage!
As many of you know, over the past few years I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time up on Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park, which…is part of the National Park System. Not only is it probably the best cycling … Read More Here
Sous Vide Awesomeness
You may remember a fair while back I started a little project to build my own sous vide machine – more properly known as an Immersion Circulator. As I mentioned then, using an Immersion Circulator isn’t something particularly new, it’s … Read More Here
Choosing your Garmin device data fields
When you first get your new fangled Garmin Forerunner or Edge device you’ll probably be using the default data field views that show commonly used metrics like pace and distance. After all, these are some of the key benefits of … Read More Here
101 Runs on the Wall
This weekend turned out to be pretty darn busy, lots of running, running around, and everything in between. It started early Saturday morning with a run with the Pacers group. The plan was 10 miles easy, but somewhere along the … Read More Here