-
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
SUPPORT THIS SITE
Wanna help support the site? You have two options. The first is to use Clever Training with the link and 10% off everything coupon below:
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back. No cost to you, easy as pie!
UK based here! Canada! Germany! France! Spain! Italy!
Catch me on Facebook
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.
-
5 Easy Steps To The Site
1
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.
2
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!
3
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.
4
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.
5
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.
Author Archives: Rainmaker
How to find & create awesome cycling routes in a smarter way
Despite having lived in Paris almost a year now, I’ve rarely cycled outside of my little set of known routes and locales. Partly because the weather has been so bad this winter that I spent a lot of it on … Read More Here
Stages Power Meter In-Depth Review Update
It’s been a touch over four months since I first published the Stages Power Meter In-Depth Review. It was interesting to me in that a lot of people took very different things away from the review. As a result of … Read More Here
Week in Review: June 16th, 2013
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
The Safer Swimmer In-Depth Review
Back last month when I posted my ‘Saint Malo Fort Swimaround’ post, a number of folks asked about the swim buoy I was using to increase my visibility. It confused me at first, because I thought I had posted a … Read More Here
Coming to Paris this summer? Here’s where to swim/bike/run!
This post is a quickie! More FYI-esque than anything else. I’ve always had a Washington DC resources page that listed all the places I swam/biked/ran within Washington DC including my favorite routes. It was sorta a one-stop-shop when people asked … Read More Here
How to download Garmin workouts to your tablet (Android, iPad, Windows Surface)
As it stands today, every GPS device available in the sports and fitness world requires a computer in some capacity. Whether that be initial configuration of the device, updating of the unit firmware, or downloading of workouts. Some devices such … Read More Here
Watching a high-speed bike-sharing police chase, and other weekend updates
Woot, a weekend back home! The weather up until Sunday was rather warm – about 80*F in fact. Which meant the crowds have been out in full force. Here’s what it looked like on Friday night out along the river. … Read More Here
Week in Review–June 9th, 2013
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
Checking out the Kayak Power Meter system
A couple days ago upon returning from China I got the chance to spend a bit of time checking out a new to the market but not new to the sport ANT+ enabled power meter. The unit operates on much … Read More Here
On attempting to do a Beijing Runaround
While I did get a chance to sorta swim in the Olympic Water Cube here in Beijing, I really also wanted to enjoy a few nice runs. In fact, the day I went swimming the weather was beautiful, and weather-like … Read More Here
Swimming in the Beijing Olympic Water Cube
After hearing that Beijing was on my work trip itinerary I immediately did a bunch of research to figure out if you could actually swim in the famous Water Cube from the 2008 Beijing Olympics (officially called the National Aquatics … Read More Here
Week in Review–June 2nd, 2013
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
The Xi’an China Runaround
It’s funny to think that prior to booking my airline ticket to this city, I’d never heard of it. In fact, I can’t think of the last time I booked any travel to a place I didn’t know existed. I’ve … Read More Here
Polar Bluetooth Smart Stride Sensor (Footpod) In-Depth Review
Earlier this week Polar announced their latest product – though, it’s not a watch. Or even anything connected to a watch. Instead, it’s an accessory for smart phones that further illuminates Polar’s direction and protocol strategy going forward. The Bluetooth … Read More Here
Paris Blog: Hanging out at the French Open
Despite my sunburns – luck was definitely on our side Monday. First, we have some good friends that have been in town the last few days and gave us tickets to go check out the French Open. Then, it got … Read More Here
Tricks to getting suitcases packed and workouts done while travelling
A number of you have asked recently how it is that I pack for work trips when it comes to working (or other sports). I don’t remember the last time I took a trip and didn’t work out. It’s just … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 26th, 2013
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
A look at aerotesting with ERO Sports and the Alphamantis System
Upon the conclusion of my Las Vegas trip last month, I took a 40 minute flight over to Long Beach, California (greater LA area) to visit the folks at ERO Sports. I’ve long followed the Alphamantis work around aerodynamics, and … Read More Here
How to download free maps to your Garmin Edge 705/800/810
The Garmin Edge series of cycling computers is roughly split into two categories: Those that have a mapping function, and those that don’t. Mapping in this case means that the units also have routable navigation – just like your car … Read More Here
A San Francisco Swimming Flight Connection Layover
When I booked this particular flight combination a few weeks ago, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the 5 hour layover. Additionally, I had mentally thought the flight left at noon, rather than 10AM – meaning that I … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 19th, 2013
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
Incredible deals: Garmin FR910XT for $299, FR310XT for $169, Edge 800 for $229, Ambit for $349
Let me just put this out up front: This is without question the most significant sports technology gadget sale I’ve seen since starting the blog some 5-6 years ago. No Thanksgiving Black Friday, Christmas, or Festivus deals even comes close … Read More Here
A London Runaround
After finishing up a day of meetings a little after 6PM, I zipped back to the hotel via two different trains in the London Underground (subway system). While light was slowly fading, I was able to make record time in … Read More Here
A look at Wahoo KICKR support on Windows via ANT, and what the rest of the industry is doing
When the Wahoo KICKR was announced last August, it was touted as being open on both Bluetooth Smart as well as ANT+. And in many ways it was. It was controllable via Bluetooth Smart, and apps could (and have been) … Read More Here
Testing out the Pebble watch with new RunKeeper app integration
When I saw the announcement last week from RunKeeper and Pebble that RunKeeper had released the final non-beta integration with the smart-watch, I was excited to dive into it. While the Pebble watch was certainly not the first smart watch … Read More Here
