I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- Do you have a privacy policy posted?
- Why haven’t you yet released a review for XYZ product you mentioned months ago?
- Will you test our product before release?
- Are you willing to review or test beta products?
- Which trainer should I buy?
- Which GPS watch should I buy?
- I’m headed to Paris – what do you recommend for training or sightseeing?
- I’m headed to Washington DC – what do you recommend for training?
- I’m from out of the country and will be visiting the US, what’s the best triathlon shop in city XYZ?
- What kind of camera do you use?
Tag Archives: Technology
Moderating Health & Fitness Panel at CES 2012: Looking for your questions!
A month or so ago I was contacted and asked if I would like to moderate a panel at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, in Las Vegas. For those not familiar with CES – it’s one of … Read More Here
My 2011 Sports Technology Recommendations
Last year I put together a GPS recommendations guide in August – which has become the staple of my recommendations around products. Then in November, I put a different guide together around my recommendations for the holiday. This year, I … Read More Here
The slow march towards more functional triathlon specific bikes
Earlier this week we saw Specialized release their new triathlon bike in Kona as part of the lead-up to this weekend’s Ironman Championships. For those whose lives don’t revolve around the sport, this may seem like just another bike. And … Read More Here
Bod Pod & Consumer Scale Comparison Tests: Part III (The In Depth Statistical Analysis)
(Note from Ray: Two weeks ago when I published the results of the Bod Pod and body fat scale testing, a reader who happens to be a PhD Candidate in Pharmaceutical Sciences – Nathaniel Page – made an offer to … Read More Here
Common Question: Why don’t I review ______ ?
I’m often asked when I plan to review a given product, or why I haven’t yet reviewed a given product. I hinted at this back in January during my ‘Blog: A summary and historical view’ post, which was sorta a … Read More Here
Behind the scenes on my aquatic product review posts
Monday night I had my usual Monday easy swim, and since it’s summer, I was able to do it outdoors in the town pool (during the winter, I’m stuck indoors). I had planed afterwards to spend a bit of time … Read More Here
Separating product timeline fact from fantasy: The After Party Edition
You may remember last year after Interbike I rounded up all the stories I did while down at Interbike in Las Vegas and put together a chart of each companies expected product availability information, along with my best guesses for … Read More Here
Fun with a Garmin GPS while running on cruise ships at sea
Ever since booking our honeymoon months ago I was curious exactly what the GPS map would look like while running outside on the circular running track while the ship was underway at sea. Would you be able to see the … Read More Here
Updates on Garmin Vector and new Garmin GPS watch
Note: Please see in depth post on Vector “Everything you ever wanted to know about the Garmin Vector pedal based power meter” posted here (it’s a whole lot more detailed and in depth, and includes comprehensive Q&A with the Garmin … Read More Here
A look MetaWatch, Google I/O and Potential Sport Uses
A little over a week ago at the Google IO conference a company called Fossil not so quietly introduced the MetaWatch. The watch allows one to wirelessly connect to their cell phone and stream glanceable information, such as who’s calling … Read More Here
My Sports Technology Predictions for 2011
I’m back at it again – giving my predictions for what’s coming down the pipeline for the 2011 year. Last year’s predictions post became one of my popular and regularly read posts…and, for good measure – the vast majority of … Read More Here
The Next Garmin Forerunner Multisport Watch
Without doubt, one of the most frequent questions I get around these parts is: “When will the next version of ____ be released?” – which is typically “When will the next Garmin Forerunner be released?”. I should first say – … Read More Here
What do you want in your ideal sports watch?
Let me just state this up front: Everyone’s reading…so here’s your chance. Everyone…your chance. But…let’s not get ahead of ourselves quite yet. This past summer I put together a post titled “How I would design the ideal sports watch”, which … Read More Here
How Sports Technology companies could learn from Southwest Airlines
If you follow the all of the Internets much, then you probably saw a flurry of news activity around Southwest airlines early last month. These were from reporters large and small – everyone from the local paper, to the major … Read More Here
A look at Garmin’s new Chirp and potential use in sports
When Garmin announced their newest product – Chirp – last Friday, I’m fairly certain that a grand total of 3 people in the endurance sports world actually noticed. After all, it’s targeted at the Geocaching folks (who are all abuzz … Read More Here
Separating product timeline fact from fantasy: Interbike Edition
Now that some of the hype has died down a bit from Interbike, it’s time to take a look at what exactly all these vendors have promised…and which ones might actually meet their promises. But as is always the case, … Read More Here
A chat with the folks behind Team Kovi
I first heard about Team Kovi this past spring after stumbling on them via a cycling companies twitter feed. After watching them over the past few months I’ve slowly become more interested in what their offering, especially as they’ve tweaked … Read More Here
A bit of time playing with the Tacx VR Trainer
Over the past few months I’ve received more and more e-mail asking what I thought about the Tacx trainers, and how I thought they compared to RacerMate’s CompuTrainer. And it wasn’t until I started poking at the Tacx trainers that … Read More Here
A look at Pedal Brain
Out of all the companies developing iPhone based cycling computers and/or applications – it’s actually Pedal Brain that’s been beating the drum the longest. I had a chance to sit down…well…stand up actually, with Matt Bauer – the founder of … Read More Here
Talking with Timex about the future of the Timex Global Trainer
One of the great things about Interbike is the ability to sit down with engineers and product folks about their products and have a good chat. While some companies shy away from having their top engineers show up at trade … Read More Here
Sport Tracks 3.0 Upgrade Review
Over the past few months I’ve gotten a ton of questions around Sport Tracks 3.0 and what I think of it. In the past I’ve recommended Sport Tracks in the past pretty heavily because of it’s free status and because … Read More Here
The New (CompuTrainer) Training Room
As I alluded to a week or so ago, the Girl and I were a bit busy transforming an unused room in the townhouse. See, when I bought the place some 6 years ago, there was always this room downstairs … Read More Here
The Polar/Look Power Meters & Power2Max Power Meter
(Administrative note: Looking for the usual Weekly Mailbag? No worries, it’s still a staple – but I’ve got some cool news coming about that on Tuesday…so hang onto your helmets and we’ll get there.) Some of you may have seen … Read More Here
My 2010 Athletic GPS Device Recommendations
Please see my updated 2011 GPS recommendations here. The vast majority of folks who end up here do so in search of one of the many different athletic GPS devices out there on the market. In most cases, once you’ve … Read More Here
How I would design the ideal sports watch
I’m asked on a daily basis which device I prefer and why. Generally it’s in the context of whether oe should choose device X or device Y, or perhaps a combination of device W and device X. My answers are … Read More Here