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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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 @Jeukendrup: Photo from Ironman Lanzarote last weekend! Such an amazing bike course!! http://t.co/aeycRgtVEB #, 2 hours ago
- RT @mrogati: An API for all your #QuantifiedSelf data by @human_api: http://t.co/gPQfRFV6Jk. Hackathon on 6/29; how about a sleep + weathe… #, 5 hours ago
- @cthompson01 I think the other 103 pounds of junk I took back may have limited my 'take back a wine bike' potential... #, 6 hours ago
- New Post! A look at aerotesting with ERO Sports and the Alphamantis System: http://t.co/h9FaULBUJ5 #, 6 hours ago
- @DrGalactus Sometimes you just gotta prioritize... #, 7 hours ago
- Seen at grocery store: A new option for frame mounting wine bottles (below seat). http://t.co/BMOU9Jb3NN #, 7 hours ago
- RT @OnevFoto: today's #potd http://t.co/uDgQnIPvV2 by @tfrank_de via @cyclingtips #, 24 hours ago
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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.
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: February 2010
Friday Tidbits
Food Tidbits: It’s time for some food around here – so let’s start off Friday Morning with Thursday Morning’s breakfast: I stumbled on the super-simple recipe the night before on SLB’s blog, and was on the way to the grocery … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 5 (The final day)
Our last day started much like the previous day – on the slopes of Whistler at Creekside checking out the Super-G, this time though it would be the women we’d be watching. The crowds came out in full force for … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 4
Day 4 started early, way early. That’s because we had to make the 2-3 hour trek north up to Whistler, from Vancouver. The trick is that in order to get to Whistler you have to have a valid permit to … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 3
We heard the news late the day before, and worked for about a day and a half to see what our alternative options were. What news you ask? Well, due to the lack of snow at the Winter Olympics, the … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 2
After the previous night’s medal ceremonies followed by wandering around town, we were all a bit happy to sleep in some. Around mid-morning I went out for an 8 mile run, and then afterwards went to pick-up The Girl from … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 1
We got up fairly early on our first day up here in Vancouver…as in 4:30AM early. This was to allow enough time to catch our 6:06AM bus departure from the Vancouver area up to the Whistler area for the 10:30AM … Read More Here
Tanita BC-1000 Scale Review – In Depth
If you’ve been to any athletic expo in the past few months, you’ve probably seen the Tanita BC-1000 weight scale at one of the booths. It measures more things than your TI-83 graphing calculator from high school calculus, while at … Read More Here
Weekend Tidbits
This weekend was full of all sorts of stuff – to start off with, The Girl was busy making Valentines cookies…and I was busy eating them: Of course, post-cookies there was some brief running to do – in the Cupid’s … Read More Here
Washington DC Capitol Cupids Undies Run
Earlier in the week a few friends (almost all simultaneously) shot me an e-mail about an upcoming ‘run’ around the Capitol building here in DC. Except, unlike most running events that round the rotunda, this particular one lacked one key … Read More Here
Funny things that float my way
We have finally made it to Friday, on a week that has been the longest…week…ever. For a week where everyone has been buried in the DC area, it’s time for some humor (actually, to be fair, even though I had … Read More Here
A hill workout in the snow
Yesterday evening, with yet another impending snowstorm I had a decision to make – try and drive to an open treadmill, or tough it out on the snow covered hills for my weekly hill repeats. On one hand I have … Read More Here
Comparing M-Dot Ironman races to Non-Dot races
If you’ve been around the triathlon block a few times, you probably already know that the official ‘Ironman’ name and race series is actually a trademarked asset of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). As such, no other races may call … Read More Here
My 2010 Race Schedule
Ok…ok…I get it. Ya’ll been hounding me for months now on what my race schedule is for next year – and finally, I can give you some answers. As I hinted at in my last post on how 2009 went, … Read More Here
A snowy food filled weekend
Let’s just get right into the action, by starting where I left off on Friday evening as nightfall fell (hmm…does that mean it fell twice?) – it looked like this: While the snow was starting to fall, the Girl got … Read More Here
Preparing for the worst
I am prepared. I am prepared to sit back and do nothing this weekend. Why would I be doing nothing? Well, for those non-east-coastern folk – this be why: However, I am also prepared to cook a ton, and likely … Read More Here
The State of my State: 2009 Review Edition
Every year that I’ve been blogging I write a recap of the previous year, and then a post on what lies in the year ahead. Normally I do this late-January, but things got kinda busy, so I’m a little behind. … Read More Here
Garmin FR60 Review – In Depth
When Garmin first announced the Garmin FR60 last spring, it honestly didn’t even catch my attention. After all, why would I of all people – the person with a gazillion GPS based training watches – want a training watch without … Read More Here



















