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 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.
Week in Review–March 3rd, 2019
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
Three Quick Ways to Find Your Lost GoPro
Two weekends ago I managed to drop my GoPro while out mountain biking. Actually, technically I wasn’t mountain biking anymore, but rather had hiked a hundred or so meters from the end of the mountain bike trail to the peak … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend: Last Cape Town Edition
Ok, a bit belated on this ‘5 Random Things’ post – but it’s been a whirlwind of a last few days, and I finally have a few minutes to write out some stuff as we complete our last flight of … Read More Here
Spotify rolls out Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music Support
It’s been some four months since Garmin first announced Spotify integration for their music enabled wearables. This allowed those with music enabled devices to download Spotify playlists and music to their watch and play it back sans-phone, using just Bluetooth … Read More Here
The Challenges Ahead for Zwift and ESports
It was almost exactly two months ago that Zwift announced they received a whopping $120 million USD in new funding, whereby a large chunk of that would be spent on digital racing – known as esports. Since then, the company … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
We’re down to our last 9 or so days here in Cape Town, and working to make the most of them! Here’s what we were up to over this past weekend. 1) Mountain Biking Morning Early Friday morning I headed … Read More Here
Strava rolls out new finger-dragging route creation feature
I’m sure there’s many creative ways I could have titled this post, but I’m going with what I believe to be the most accurate representation of this new feature, despite my desire to channel my inner 5-year old boy self. … Read More Here
Hands-on: SwitchLok Sports Phone Case & Mount System
It’s funny how I’m always on the lookout for a good bike phone mount system, despite rarely using a phone as a head unit on my road bike. Instead, I’m more practical in my phone and bike relationship: It’s primarily … Read More Here
Garmin Acquires Tacx: Detailed analysis and what it means to you
In what is unquestionably the biggest sports tech news of the year, Garmin announced today the acquisition of Tacx – the privately held Dutch company that makes trainers, water bottles, and tools. This news no doubt will have people turning … Read More Here
The Cape Town Retro Run 5K Race Report (with a double-stroller)
Oh yes, you’re getting a race report. Mostly because I slacked off on doing race reports last year on my races and y’all called me on it. So now you’re getting a race report for anything I’ll have a bib and/or … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
This was definitely a very busy weekend. It was jam-packed with sporting related goodness! Plus, each day I managed to walk over 10 miles (15KM) in steps, plus whatever other random activities I did. Well, I think I still get … Read More Here
Week in Review–February 9th, 2019
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
RunScribe shifts away from consumer focus, but also launches new features
Earlier this week RunScribe announced two news tidbits to the world. First, that they’re going to shift focus away from the direct to consumer market, and instead focus more on business to business interactions, such as clinics and related groups. … Read More Here
SRAM RED eTAP AXS Hands-on: Everything To Know About The Smart Tech
Today SRAM announces their latest RED groupset lineup, SRAM RED eTAP AXS for road and off-road. This groupset shifts from a more traditional 11-speed cassette arrangement to a 12-speed cassette configuration. It also eschews any mechanical only version of the … Read More Here
COROS APEX Multisport GPS Watch In-Depth Review
I don’t think there’s any sports technology GPS watch startup that’s being watched as closely by GPS watch industry giants as COROS is. Now as you’ll see, it may not be entirely for the reasons you think, but no matter … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
As we continue our South African winter relocation, here’s the pile of sporty and non-sporty goodness we’ve been up to this weekend. It was a fairly busy one, so a bunch of things didn’t quite make the cut for this … Read More Here
Week in Review–Feb 3rd, 2019
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
Polar Vantage M Multisport GPS Watch In-Depth Review
It’s been nearly five months since Polar first announced the Vantage series watches, including the Vantage M and Vantage V. You probably saw my Vantage V review a couple months back. Since then I’ve transitioned to using the less expensive … Read More Here
Garmin HRM-DUAL Heart Rate Strap In-Depth Review
Garmin’s finally released a dual-capable ANT+ & Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap – but is it worth buying? I dive in with plenty of data to see if it does the job. Read More Here
My Strava Unique Uploaded Device Tally
Back a few weeks ago while at CES 2019 I met up with the crew at Strava to catch-up on a variety of topics. While Strava doesn’t do booths or even off-floor suites, they do get a lot of miles … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
With our first full weekend here in Cape Town in the books, we went all-in on seeing animals with the kids and getting our fill of touristy related things. Of course, with tons more to see in the region and … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 27th, 2019
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
Zwift Finally Rolls Out World Choice…Sorta.
Finally, one of the most wanted features is now live in Zwift as of this morning. If you’ve got yourself a Mac or PC and Zwift, you can now select which world (map) you’re going to ride that day. As … Read More Here
CycleOps H2 (Hammer 2) Trainer In-Depth Review
Update: The CycleOps H2 has since been replaced by the Saris H3, though frankly, the only meaningful difference is noise. Here’s the link to my full H3 in-depth review. This past summer at Eurobike, CycleOps somewhat quietly announced their new … Read More Here
DC Rainmaker Cave Video Tour – January 2019
It’s been almost two months since the DCR Open House, when nearly 200 folks descended on the DCR Cave to take their first look at things. And while I’d like to say that things are dramatically different – the reality … Read More Here