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
- @kbentonphoto No pillows. I just take my luck with them having them. #, 5 hours ago
- @jayprasuhn Thanks Jay! #, 5 hours ago
- @ismolieke Indeed it would! #, 9 hours ago
- Another night, another flight. Next stop, 3,628 miles. At least the plane has A/C, unlike our hot house. :) http://t.co/Q1TMRB9ujz #, 18 hours ago
- New In-Depth Review...Update: Here's a second indepth look at the @StagesCycling Power Meter: http://t.co/gmfD9T7ILt #, 18 hours ago
- @rspauwen None that I'm aware of. :( #, 2013/06/18
- FYI: @Garmin releases Edge 810 firmware update. Minor tweaks/fixes: http://t.co/7JN03g2FDQ #, 2013/06/18
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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: January 2012
What I wear: Cold weather running
Back a bit ago I got a question as to what my cold weather running gear looks like – after all, I do pretty much run outside no matter how cold it is. “Searched your blog but couldn’t see much … Read More Here
A bit more than a weekend in Seattle
For roughly the past week I’ve been hanging out in Seattle for work. Of course, since Seattle is where I grew up – that also means I get to spend time with the rest of my family, and enjoy some … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 29th, 2012
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
Behind the scenes: The DCRainmaker Gadget Cave
Back a while ago I had shown a photo of the heart rate strap collection I have, where I stash the massive number of heart rate straps that I seem to have obtained (usually just because they came with various … Read More Here
Fitting it all in: Work, Run, Fly, Blog
On Sunday evening I realized that Monday was going to be a bit of a whirlwind day – starting on one coast, and ending on the other, so I figured it might be a bit fun to simply put together … Read More Here
A review of the SportyPal Sony Ericsson Xperia Active Bike Mount
It’s not that often that I write reviews for items that actually include no electronics whatsoever. Nor is it that often that I write a review for a single piece of plastic not much bigger than a deck of cards. … Read More Here
Ironman 70.3 National Harbor: Run Course Preview…Part I
I had heard the rumors about Ironman 70.3 National Harbor in the fall of last year, as at the time it was expected that the race would be announced prior to Thanksgiving. So while last week’s final announcement was a … Read More Here
Cold Wanderings: A weekend of workouts and exploring in DC
With last week’s announcement of the latest addition to the Ironman 70.3 circuit – Ironman 70.3 National Harbor – I was curious to go and check out the course. After all, the start line is only about 5-7 minutes from … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 21st, 2012
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
CES 2012 Garmin updates for Vector, FR910XT and more
While Garmin was at CES this year – the vast majority of their focus there from a new products standpoint was automotive and mobile in nature. All of the fitness related products had long since been announced back in the … Read More Here
Sorry about the site outage, was not a day late on SOPA
Just a quick note to apologize for the DC Rainmaker outage earlier today. For reasons a bit unclear to me, BlogSpot/Blogger decided that it wanted me removed from the universe. Perhaps my recent request for WordPress developers to assist with … Read More Here
Hands on look at the Magellan Switch and Switch Up GPS Multisport watches
Last week at CES I got the chance to sit down with the product development leads behind the newest multisport watch in the market – the Magellan Switch (or Switch Up depending on the model). This unit will be available … Read More Here
CES 2012 Health and Fitness Gadget Roundup: Part II
We left off last week checking out a slew of cool things, so if you missed that pile of gadget awesomeness – definitely swing back and check it out. Without further ado – let’s get into it! First up is … Read More Here
New products, cold runs…and homemade cheese balls!
After getting back from Vegas on (yet another) redeye and going straight to work, I was exhausted come Thursday evening and Friday. Which might explain why I managed now almost three straight days of falling asleep early, and sleeping really … Read More Here
Are you a rockstar WordPress template developer?
(Just a super-quick public service announcement) I’ve started on my journey to move to little old DCRainmaker from Blogger to WordPress in the coming months, and I’m looking for a kick-butt WordPress template developer to put together the new theme/template. … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 15th, 2012
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
CES 2012 Health and Fitness Gadget Roundup: Part I
I spent a crazy busy 24 hours in Las Vegas on Wednesday, as part of speaking at a session/panel on Wednesday there (which I’ll be posting on here shortly). During that time I talked to just about everyone that I … Read More Here
A look at testing with New Leaf Fitness for Garmin device calorie calculations
Back in August while on a trip to Chicago, I snuck in an early morning VO2Max test – purely for the goal of understanding how the New Leaf Fitness metabolic profile tests worked, in an effort to get more accurate … Read More Here
Headed to CES 2012, what product details do you want?
As I sit here waiting for my connecting flight in San Francisco to Las Vegas, I just wanted to throw out a reminder to those also at CES that I’ll be moderating a Health and Fitness panel there tomorrow at … Read More Here
Bora Bora Part II: Sharks, Rays (the Manta kind), Paddle Boarding…and lots of rain.
(If you’re just joining me, start back at the first part of the two-part series) While Bora Bora is certainly about sun and sand, we did spend a fair bit of time doing lots of non-beach chair items. Sometimes for … Read More Here
Bora Bora Part I: Getting here, sun, swim and run!
After our New Zealand trip it was time to head somewhere warm(er). And no better place to do that than Tahiti. Like the more familiar Hawaii, Tahiti is made up of a number of islands – though far more than … Read More Here
Week in Review: January 7th, 2012
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
Friday Photo of the Day (or trip, as it may be)
I started writing a post for the first part of our Bora Bora trip, but then decided that I was tired. After all, all this relaxing has made me…somehow more tired. Maybe just lazy. Well, not quite sure. Either way, … Read More Here
Wahoo Fitness Blue HR Bluetooth Smart Heart Rate Strap In Depth Review
You may be wondering why exactly I’d be reviewing a single heart rate (HR) strap – after all, they are fairly common, and all largely do the same thing: Read your heart rate. But, while the just announced Wahoo Fitness … Read More Here
New Zealand Part III: Open cockpit vintage biplane flights, and canyoning (it’s like rappelling)
For our last couple of days in New Zealand we kept it busy, exploring the areas nearby Queenstown and Wanaka (both on the South Island). On our last full day though, we really packed in it. Of note were two … Read More Here


















