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
- @vettenrannalla I see nothing good coming out of that fish! #, 9 hours ago
- Now that I've run out of Swedish Fish, I make no guarantees on how remainder of trainer ride will go. http://t.co/wXXoumPygd #, 11 hours ago
- @emlynsimpson See, I'd lay blame at the act of doing backstroke. ;) #, 14 hours ago
- @seeverist Nothing this time, just a quick out and back. #, 17 hours ago
- @keithcartmell People build strange pool sizes in Paris. I found it best not to try and ask 'why'. #, 17 hours ago
- Observation from swim last night: After normally swimming in 33m pool, then 50m pool on Sunday, 25y feels like a plastic kiddie pool. :) #, 18 hours ago
- @cdwilliams1 Check out Garmin Fenix, or Suunto Ambit's, aimed at hikers. #, 19 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: November 2011
Behind the scenes: LeMond Fitness
The guys at LeMond Fitness offered a tour of their facility over a year ago, when I first met the at the 2010 ANT+ Symposium. Given I’m often in Seattle to visit family, it was just a matter of time … Read More Here
The mother of all Triathlon/Endurance Sports Black Friday Deals listing
So the other night I started collecting some of the deal e-mails I was getting from various companies, intending on putting together a bit of a Friday post on Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals relating to endurance sports. But once I … Read More Here
App Review: SwimRadar–Finding pools while travelling
(I’ve long been asked to do app reviews. And I have done a few here and there, as well as written about them for various publications. At the moment the number of developers asking for my app reviews far exceeds … Read More Here
2011 Philadelphia Marathon Race Report
My goals for the Philly Marathon were pretty clear from the start of this year: Break 2:50 In fact, I probably valued the Philly Marathon more than Boise 70.3 back in June. My previous Philly Marathon time stood at 2:54, … Read More Here
A few quick (and totally worthwhile) items
First off – fear not, my race report is coming. I had Monday’s post pre-written (correctly) assuming that I’d be exhausted. Then tonight (Monday night) came along, and I got caught up finishing other work items. So, I’ll be spending … 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
Two days till Philly Marathon
(Quick Administrative FYI: REI has the FR310XT down to $289 – then you can stack Garmin’s $50 rebate on that – bringing it down to $239…which is pretty much the lowest I’ve ever seen it. If you don’t care about … Read More Here
Tip of the day: Changing your Garmin FR60 battery
A few weeks ago I was looking to add two Garmin FR60’s to my infamous roller for some rolling pin comparison shots, like I usually do. Except, both watches batteries had gone kaput. I had noticed this back some time … Read More Here
Guest Post: Sleeping My Way to the Top Part II: The Race Report
Note from Ray: Here’s the second part of ITU Pro Triathlete and friend Lindsey Jerdonek’s experience with using an altitude tent ahead of her first ITU World Cup race. If you’re not familiar with how ITU racing differs from age … Read More Here
Spending time with the team behind the Basis watch
Walking down the street where the blue dot on the phone’s map was leading me, I started to wonder if I had the right place. As I neared the address, all I could see was an appliance store trying to … Read More Here
A relaxing weekend in San Francisco
This weekend I was out in San Francisco for the last Men’s Health Urbanathlon of the year. The event was held on Sunday, but we actually went out Thursday to enjoy a bit of the city and make a weekend … Read More Here
My Totally Awesome New Shark Blimp
Remember back a week or two ago when I noted all the new products that came in to review? Well, in addition to those, there was one little item that I just ordered myself…a remote controlled shark blimp. Yes, seriously. … Read More Here
Motorola MOTOACTV In Depth Review
As I noted two days ago, the Motorola Motoactv has completely and totally changed the face of sports watches…literally overnight. Upon its initial release it has managed to offer an immense suite of features and functionality, as well as offering … Read More Here
How to select your races for next year
It’s that time of the year where the triathlon events start to go on sale for next year, and also the time of year where you’ve got to pick and choose how to structure your season. In some ways, how … Read More Here
The Weekend: Motorola MOTOACTV, Zeo Mobile, Jawbone Up, long battery tests
I didn’t exactly plan on having as many different gadgets arrive this weekend as occurred – it just sorta happened. But holy cow – there’s some really cool stuff in here! Like increda-cool. I can’t wait to get full in … Read More Here
Week in Review–November 6th, 2011
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
Tip of the day: How not to lose your ANT+ stick
It used to be that I’d always be searching for that darn ANT+ stick to download workouts from my Garmin Forerunner. If I used a desktop computer, it would probably live a peaceful monogamous relationship with my desktop, un-phased by … Read More Here
Guest Post: Sleeping My Way to the Top
Note from Ray: When up and coming ITU Pro Triathlete and friend Lindsey Jerdonek approached me about finding an altitude tent for doing a product review in preparation for her first ITU World Cup race, I immediately thought it’d make … Read More Here
Garmin decides not to add Left/Right power or TSS/NP/IF to Forerunner 310XT
While checking on status for the forthcoming Edge 500 and FR310XT firmware updates that were scheduled to add the TrainingPeaks Metrics of TSS/NP/IF to the Edge 500, Edge 800, Forerunner 310XT and Forerunner 910XT – I got word that the … Read More Here
Wahoo Fitness gives sneak peak of new BlueHR–Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap
Today Wahoo Fitness gave a sneak peak at the first Bluetooth Smart heart rate strap – BlueHR. What’s Bluetooth Smart you ask? Well, it’s basically Bluetooth Low Energy renamed, which used to be known as both BTLE and BLE. Bluetooth … Read More Here
Timex Run Trainer 1.0 GPS In-Depth Review
Update Note: Consider looking at the just released Timex Run Trainer GPS 2.0 edition instead, if you’re looking at this watch. Comparisons between the two units are available in that review. With the market for sub-$200 GPS running watches becoming … Read More Here


















