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.
Tag Archives: Strava
Strava’s Big Changes Aim To Kill Off Apps
Yesterday Strava sent out an e-mail to users, outlining a change that’s occurring almost immediately, regarding 3rd party apps and the way apps are allowed to access and process data from Strava. All of these changes impact what is … Read More Here
Strava Announces Family Plan, Dark Mode, AI Cheat Finder
Strava has just announced a slate of updates at their annual Camp Strava event, where they show off a bunch of newness. This year’s event is the first time new CEO, Michael Martin, is at the helm, after starting … Read More Here
Strava Expands Cycling Best Efforts, and Starts Pushing Routes to All Polar Devices
For this Thursday’s sports tech quickie, I’m going to blend two things with the word Strava into one post. One being entirely Strava-driven, the other being almost entirely Polar-driven. Together, they form one post. With that, let’s dive into it. … Read More Here
Strava’s Chipotle Burrito Challenge Ends With Insanity
I’ve been hard at work on a whole slate of new things popping up over the rather near term. Until then, we have burritos. A lot of them. That’s because 6 questionably lucky individuals have won themselves a year’s supply … Read More Here
How Strava Accidentally Got Their Annual Report Stats Wrong
Welcome to 2024, and the year’s first legit DC Rainmaker Sports Tech Rabbit Hole. Every year Strava publishes their year in review stats, both in individual athlete form (more recently), but many years of total global and regional user-compiled stats. … Read More Here
A Strava Race Is Getting Spicy for Free Burritos
While digging around through press releases for a different post, I stumbled upon an announcement for a new Chipotle and Strava promotion running the month of January. While this press release had a lot of hand-waving feel-good New Year’s resolution … Read More Here
Tech Tidbits: New Zwift Features, New Strava CEO, Apple Watch Siri Health Integration
Here’s a quick round of notable new sports tech things in the last 24 hours or so. New Strava CEO Appointed: After a 10-month search, Strava has announced the name of their new/upcoming CEO – Michael Martin. He will replace … Read More Here
Strava Adds Direct Messaging Feature: How It Works In 2 Minutes!
This is not a complex feature, nor hard to use. Starting today, the “social network for athletes” includes the most social of features: Texting. Or rather, direct messaging. This new feature lets you (optionally) accept direct messages from nobody, … Read More Here
Strava Launches Activity Video Flyover Feature: Hands-on
Strava has just announced and launched the first stage of their video flyover function. This feature creates a 3D map video fly-over of your activity, showing an orange line and a moving blue dot alongside the line. It’s roughly … Read More Here
Strava Adds More Photo-Based Tools to Route Planning
Strava has added a new feature for Subscribers that lets you see photos while route planning on desktop now, and more specifically, lets you see the exact location of said photos. This is a major upgrade over the Strava route-photo … Read More Here
Strava Announces Huge Slate of Upcoming New Features at ‘Camp Strava’
Yesterday, Strava held ‘Camp Strava’, a physical real-world event where a bunch of people gathered together to talk about Strava. This seems to be vaguely developer-focused, and vaguely regular athlete-focused. The schedule had a host of non-technical things on it, … Read More Here
Strava’s New Automatic Gear Tracking: Quick How-To Guide
Strava’s got a new update that allows you to automatically assign gear based on sport type. Meaning, now your mountain bike rides will automatically assign your mountain bike, your gravel rides your gravel bike, and your trail runs your trail … Read More Here
Strava Expands 3rd Party App Developer Program
Strava has announced an “updated developer program”, which is the program that some 85,000 developers and apps use to leverage the platform via its API (application programming interface). Unquestionably, in the sports world – there’s no online platform that’s had … Read More Here
Strava Launches Spotify Integration: Hands-On Quick Overview
Look, I’m a sucker for Spotify integration in anything. Be it watches, Ikea speakers (because I’m too cheap to buy the fancy-proper SONOS ones), or as is the case today, Strava. Don’t worry, this post is a quickie, and more … Read More Here
Strava Adds Photo Crowdsourcing For Routes: Here’s How it Works!
Strava has added the ability to see photos uploaded to the platform from other users to the route planning tools in their smartphone app. This means that if you use any of the route functions on the Strava app, you … Read More Here
Strava’s CEO Resigns: Company Begins Search for New KOM
Strava’s CEO, Michael Horvath, has resigned, saying that “I have decided that Strava needs a CEO with the experience and skills to help us make the most of this next chapter”. The company says that “the search for Strava’s next … Read More Here
Zwift Enables Video Highlight Uploads to Strava
If you’ve already been Zwifting this morning or last night, you might have noticed a new feature: Video highlight uploads to Strava. This new feature will automatically capture certain key moments (such as unlocking a new level/etc…), while also … Read More Here
Strava Responds to Pricing Fiasco, What Strava Costs in Every Country*
It’s been two weeks since the Strava Fiasco™ began. Of course, this is actually a fiasco that’s been quietly brewing in the UK since late November. Now, if you missed Episode 1 of this storm, check out that post here. … Read More Here
Strava Raises Prices But Can’t Tell You How Much It Costs Anymore
Some days, I just can’t decide if Strava tries hard to hurt their reputation, or, if it just comes naturally. Today, however, I’m left flabbergasted. When I started writing this post, I thought I had it all figured out. … Read More Here
Samsung Galaxy Watch5 Pro: Early Sports Review
With the Samsung Galaxy Watch5 and Watch5 Pro, the company joins the ranks of other entities stamping products with the ‘Pro’ moniker. Sometimes that designation is deserved, and other times it’s little more than marketing. This time around, Samsung appears … Read More Here
Strava Launches Tour de France Hub with Routes/Segments/Rider Uploads
Back a few months ago, Strava teased an upcoming Tour de France hub that’ll allow you to track riders, stages, segments, and more – for both the men’s and women’s races this year. Today, that new hub launches ahead of … Read More Here
Strava Adding Video Support: Here’s how it works!
Strava has begun rolling out video support, allowing you to upload short video clips to your workouts, which will appear in your feed in the same manner as photos today. All users will be able to view the videos on … Read More Here
Strava Reverses Course: Turns back on Apple Health Sync Functionality
Strava has reversed course on their recent disablement of Apple Health sync for 3rd party workouts (e.g. data from Zwift, TrainerRoad, Garmin, etc.), after abruptly disabling the feature last week without notice. That move impacted many Apple iPhone users that … Read More Here
Strava Abruptly Ends 3rd Party Data Sync to Apple Health
[Update – March 15th, Strava has reversed course and re-enabled Apple Health sync. Full details here.] It’s been a few years since Strava has managed to irk the Internet, but over the last few days, they’ve unleashed a torrent of … Read More Here
Strava Publishes 2021 ‘Year in Sport’ Annual Stats Extravaganza
Strava just published their annual year in review presentation, which outlines what all of us 95 million Strava users suffer through each week. Both athletically suffering through hard workouts and long adventures. But also occasionally suffering through what others post … Read More Here