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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UK based here! Canada! Germany! France! Spain! Italy!
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Ray Elsewhere
Did you know I write a weekly column over on Slowtwitch?
Check out my Product/Electronics posts in Ray’s Sports Electronics Mailbag - they are packed full of gadget goodness.
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- 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?
- What are your least favorite countries/places?
- What are you favorite countries/places?
Follow me on Twitter
- RT @NathanPeterHaas: The incredible scene from our finish line today.This giro is challenging, but when I get a second to look, beautiful h… #, 16 hours ago
- @dbess340 Yeah, I'd just go and get what's out there today. I think SRM is overpriced at this point, hence why I'd go PT/Quarq/P2M/Stages. #, 19 hours ago
- @mikeportman Haha...beautiful place! And with an awesome track right there too! #, 19 hours ago
- @dbess340 The Quarq, Power2Max both do. Albeit estimated. But there's virtually no training benefit today. #, 19 hours ago
- @dbess340 They do not at this time. #, 20 hours ago
- @dbess340 SRM is certainly quite good. But pricey. #, 20 hours ago
- And just like that...back at the airport ready for my next flight. A perfect way to spend a layover. #, 20 hours ago
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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.
Read My GPS Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent gadget recommendations guide (2012) – covering almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day to day? I also just put together my complete 2012 ‘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!
Understand technology and sport in the How-To Guides.
I enjoy explaining new things to folks – especially showing people how to get the most from their gadgets. Here’s an ongoing list of “How to” guides.
Read my Top 25 most useful posts.
It turns our I’ve written a fair bit of stuff over the past few years – and after it disappears from my front page, a lot of it never really sees the light of day again without Google’ing skillz. Or a photographic memory…which I don’t have. I’ve taken a look back and found stuff that…continues to find a trickle of readers via web searches or forum links.
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.
Monthly Archives: November 2008
Gobble Gobble
I had two different Turkey Trots lined up for Thanksgiving day. The first was a 5K held in nearby Arlington, VA. It’s in busy times like these that I forget to look at little details like…say…the elevation map. This was … Read More Here
Tuesday Tidbits
I haven’t posted my Philly Race Report, as I’m going to wait till tomorrow evening for the official photos to get posted. Post-Marathon Sunday night I did a trainer ride, and then I swam yesterday – just a 1,000M or … Read More Here
BQ Baby…BQ!
Things went spectacular at the Philadelphia Marathon today. Finished in 2:54:39 at a pace of 6:39 – which gave me plenty of time for a Boston Qualifying (BQ) time. This is awesome in that it both qualified for the Boston … Read More Here
Funny guy, ehh?
This morning sent out a calendar placeholder (out of office – OOF) for an upcoming vacation I have planned for the end of the month. My e-mail was very short, and not too descriptive beyond basically saying “I’m not really … Read More Here
Winter is here
Well, ok, maybe not exactly winter. But…it technically snowed today. I saw it with my own eyes. It may have been sunny out at the time, but that’s besides the point. For a few short minutes – snow came down. … Read More Here
Pumpkin Eater
Back a few weeks ago I picked up a few pumpkins – one for cooking and one for carving. Since then, I’ve been serving up all sorts of random pumpkin creations, kinda like the Blueberry post this past summer. But … Read More Here
Training Logs
I’ve used a lot of training logs over the past two years. I’m kinda a training records nut-case. I want to know what I did, when I did it, and I want to be able to follow trends (which as … Read More Here
Gambling at the track
First, it was off to San Fran on an early Tuesday morning flight. After landing, I ping-ponged back east again over the Sierra Nevada mountains. We descended past the bright red rocks of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area. And … Read More Here
Spinning around after a long run
There are few times in my little athletic life where working out after I’ve already worked out sound appealing. I’ve just finished another 20+ miler and my legs are already unhappy with me, but what’s on the schedule? A bike … Read More Here
Loops, Flips and More Loops
Loops Saturday marked the beginning of the taper for the Philly Marathon in two weeks. It included an interesting run workout that I hadn’t done before. It started off with a 10 minute warm up, and then stepped down temporarily … Read More Here
Finalizing the list and checking it thirty billion times
It’s not even the end of the race year yet – and I’m already putting on the finishing touches for next year. One of the sucky things (actually, really the only sucky thing) about triathlons is how early the races … Read More Here
The miracles of degreaser
If you’re a triathlete or cyclist – then you likely find bike grease on just about every object you own. And if you’re a runner, then you’ll still find this stuff pretty darn cool. Back last winter the bike shop … Read More Here
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


















