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.
Votage
(It’s sad, I only have one sweatshirt… I think I need to get some more) I was quite happy to find that the polling place line was only 16 seconds long. Woohoo! After reading Lesser’s post, I was fairly concerned … Read More Here
A few less than ideal ways to lose weight
I set off at just after 6:30AM on Saturday morning. My plan was to run about 21 or so miles in the 2 hours 30 minutes I had allotted for Saturday’s long run. The plan consisted of a run from … Read More Here
Turning into a pumpkin…or a turkey
Halloween has many pieces – there’s the pumpkins, the costumes and of course the candy gathering (even if as an adult that simply means going to the grocery store and buying the candy instead of standing at peoples doors).Tuesday evening … Read More Here
Spot Tracker Review
Here’s the third post in as many weeks reviewing various devices I’ve accumulated over the past year. As always, these are more for long-term reference that people find than they are for daily readers. Although I think many of you … Read More Here
A 10K, a marathon and wilderness in between
Let’s try and keep this weekend recap quick. On Friday night myself and two friends drove down to Charlottesville, VA to run in a 10K race there (Bad to the Bone 10K aka Charlottesville Fall Classic). (I’m in the lower … Read More Here
A day in the life of Rainmaker
Given some recent questions in the comments what my day looks like, I figured I’d take a few quick minutes to outline what today looked like. Now today isn’t exactly typical, but it is representative of the randomness that is … Read More Here
BlendTec Home Blender Product Review
Alternate Title: Will it Blend…Damn right it will! Back a month or so ago I was blending a smoothie and decided that my poor little blender just wasn’t cutting the mustard…err…pineapple. Of course it didn’t help that I’d been eyeing … Read More Here
Run towards the buns
Saturday is all about the run. Run far, run sorta fast…but run long. So I did. Just shy of 21 miles worth of bank deposits in 2.5 hours. I was a bit unhappy though as I couldn’t get the speed … Read More Here
Track Rabbits
Just a quick post to prove that this not-so-early-bird can indeed be up before the sun shines. 5:22AM – I start on my first lap at the track at the middle school just across the street from my hotel. A … Read More Here
Things are bigger in Texas
I flew down to the Great (albeit oversized) state of Texas late afternoon on Monday for a weeks worth of work related stuffs. If my memory serves me correct, the last time I was down this way was last year … Read More Here
Garmin Forerunner 405 in depth review
I picked up the Forerunner 405 back when it first came out this spring, and have been using it over the summer and into early fall. I was super excited about the 405 when I first heard of it about … Read More Here
The effects of a cold on athletic performance
Indoor trainers provide a really great way to analyze the effects of a given environmental parameter without all of the fuss of the environment itself changing. Last Saturday I had an indoor trainer workout. The exact same workout I did … Read More Here
Wanna build your own bike path?
Over the last week and a half I’ve had the entertainment of watching various road/construction crews rebuild the bike path in front of my house. I have a ‘running path’ on the side closest to my house, and a ‘bike … Read More Here
The Army 20-Miler Race Report and Weekend Update
I had originally planned earlier this year to use the Army 10 Miler Race to try and go sub-60 minutes. But after my coach and I developed a plan for the year which included going solidly below 3:00 for the … Read More Here
Stuck
I’ve been in a rut lately with getting behind on which product to write a review on. Some of these I’ve been meaning to write a review on since last fall, and others are a bit newer. So here’s your … Read More Here
Rain rain go away, don’t come back another day
Once again I went camping and watch a friend compete in a tri (her first Olympic Distance event just a few weeks after her first sprint). While the weekend was a blast – it would have been sooooo much nicer … Read More Here
The wheels on the track go round and round
After flying somewhere on the order of a 300-400 times in/out of SEATAC (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport), I’ve gotten really really good at figuring out which side of the aircraft to sit on on for the best views (outside the plane, … Read More Here
How to download workouts/race plans into your Garmin Forerunner/Edge
Just for the fun of it back a little while ago I decided to input my Nation’s Tri bike race plan into my Garmin device. It was a super-simple two step plan, so I didn’t have to worry about a … Read More Here
How do you like them apples?
So it’s twofer post Sunday I guess. I had a really busy – but awesome – weekend. The good news for you is that both of these posts are ‘short’ by my normal standards. Lots of pics, but otherwise short.If … Read More Here
Failboat, now arriving
Within the small circle of friends that I run with on a regular basis we often joke about committing a ‘fail’ – as epitomized on the fail blog via the Failboat. While I personally manage many fails on a daily … Read More Here
Wine vs. Workouts: Effects of alcohol
I don’t drink a lot, never really have – but I certainly enjoy an occasional beverage. By ‘not a lot’, I would say I maybe had four drinks all summer long. Yes…not a lot. Last Friday night I went out … Read More Here
Nations Triathlon 2008 Race Report
You may already know the resultant, but let’s talk through how it all went down. Pre-Race: I was a bit concerned with logistics race morning as a TON of streets were closed and since our bikes were already checked in … Read More Here
Hardware Collection – Nation’s Tri – 3rd place in AG
Details later on…off to the pool (not to swim, just to enjoy the 95* day).
One
I’m a bit belated in this post. Despite being in both ‘recovery’ and ‘taper’ mode at the same time, life has become busy. Which is good, I enjoy busy. But last Wednesday marked a minor little footnote in my blog: … Read More Here
Swim, Bike, Run, Rinse, Repeat
Monday marked a return to the norm. The ever constant and cyclic training regime: Swim, Bike, Run, Rinse, Repeat (actually, there are many rinses, fear not). Except, the cool thing is that since I’ve got a race on Sunday (Nation’s … Read More Here