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! #, 15 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 #, 17 hours ago
- @emlynsimpson See, I'd lay blame at the act of doing backstroke. ;) #, 20 hours ago
- @seeverist Nothing this time, just a quick out and back. #, 23 hours ago
- @keithcartmell People build strange pool sizes in Paris. I found it best not to try and ask 'why'. #, 23 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. :) #, 2013/05/22
- @cdwilliams1 Check out Garmin Fenix, or Suunto Ambit's, aimed at hikers. #, 2013/05/22
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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.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.
Pear Square One ANT+ enabled sports tracker
The Pear Square One is a bit of a cross between an MP3 player, a coach, and a run tracking device. A number of you have been asking about the $250 unit for a while now, so I ordered one a few weeks ago to check it out. At the moment, it’s pretty low on my review totem pole (as I’m fairly backlogged), but I’ll poke around at it. Note, it does not come with the iPod Shuffle, that must be purchased separately.



















A fine vehicle for Matt Fitzgerald to sell his training plans to people.
I will buy three when they change the price to $550 per unit.
The app that they also have might be a more interesting proposition though they still try to sell you their accessories to use it.
I have the Square One, great device. If you’re not doing interval workouts with a group it makes it easier to stay on track and go in the zone you should be in, not just having a Garmin beep at you. I just use the free workouts on the platform.
when are you going to review this? – REALLY curious what you think of this – it sounds really interesting- and i came close buying it a few times – but would love to hear the DCR’s take on it
At the moment, it’s still in the pile. Maybe February. I’m actually waiting on a replacement iPod Shuffle charger to ship over from the US. It’s on my mail forwarding mailbox, and I’ll probably forward everything over to be here by weekend.
Sorry for contacting you about this product before looking through your site. It is Now February and if you have not gotten the IPod Shuffle charger reply to my email with your address and I will send you one,
Rock and Roll Series has just sent out emails advertising the Pear Pro. So I would think there is a lot for runners that would like your opinion.