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I’m DC RAINMAKER…
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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 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
Hitcase Pro iPhone Underwater/Bike/Sports Case Review
I’m often asked about sports camera reviews. In many ways I think that there’s already a ton of reviews out there of the various popular sports action cams like the GoPro or Contour. And I’m not sure I really have … Read More Here
Versailles Triathlon 2013 Race Report
Here’s my first race report from racing a triathlon in France – the Versailles Triathlon. While this isn’t my first sporting event here (that would be the half and full Paris Marathons), it is in fact my first multisport event. … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 12th, 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
Paris Blog: A Road Trip to the French Coast
As I alluded to earlier in the week, The Girl and I headed out of town Sunday afternoon to enjoy a bit of a road trip. Things have been crazy busy the last few months with my work travel and … Read More Here
The Saint-Malo Fort Swimaround
Yes, I swam around a castle. Perhaps technically a fort I suppose, Le Fort La Reine. But in either case, no, it wasn’t in a moat (or a boat). When we arrived in Saint-Malo I figured I’d be able to … Read More Here
O-Synce Navi2Coach GPS Cycling Computer In-Depth Review
The Navi2Coach cycling computer may very well be one of the first GPS-enabled bike computers that aims to compete against every aspect of the Garmin Edge 500, from customization of data fields to advanced training metrics. But can this first-time … Read More Here
A White Asparagus Swim/Bike/Run Weekend
A Warm Friday Evening Parisian Run: The weekend started off with a nice 12-mile run. Just long-run pace, so nothing too crazy. This would be the first run with the Bryton Cardio 60 multisport watch that arrived into the Queue. … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 5th, 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
Training, race sign-ups, getting crapped on, and new product odds and ends
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur between travel and putting together the Suunto Ambit review. As such, my usual weekend wrap-ups got slightly side tracked. So for those that enjoy the non-product review side of … Read More Here
Profile Design Aero HC Aerobottle + Bike Computer Mount Review
As a general rule, I don’t review things that are bike components (in the traditional bike component aspect). Instead, as you’ve seen to date, I focus on sports technology products. However, the Aero HC was somewhat of an interesting duck … Read More Here
Suunto Ambit 2 and 2S In-Depth Review
It’s been just over a year since the first Suunto Ambit came out (which for clarity I’ll use the term Ambit1 during this review), and during that time Suunto has made impressive progress on the original unit through a series … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 27th, 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 really cold swim in Seattle
It should first and foremost be pointed out that I don’t particularly enjoy openwater swims where the temperature of the water is colder than that of an iced beverage. Yet somehow, I keep getting myself into these situations. Obviously the … Read More Here
Initial thoughts on the newly announced TomTom GPS Triathlon Watch
Preface: This is going to be a super quick post, mainly to stem the sweeping tide of e-mails, tweets, FB messages and smoke signal communications that I’ve received over the last 48-72 hours from folks asking about the new TomTom … Read More Here
Cycling up (and down twice) the legendary Mount Ventoux
My journey started about 8:30AM from a small hotel in many miles below the peak of Mount Ventoux. The summit is well known in the Tour de France – and probably has an even more visible reputation than any other … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 21st, 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
An In-Depth Visit Behind the Scenes at Garmin Headquarters
Before I dive into the main focus of today’s post I just wanted to briefly note how saddened both The Girl and I are over the attacks in Boston on Monday. I didn’t hear about it until some hours later, … Read More Here
A rockslide ride in Los Angeles, plus some aerodynamic testing
I arrived into Long Beach (greater LA area) around 7:50AM on Friday, from a week in Las Vegas. First on the agenda was finding Starbucks. With a 5AM departure to the airport, I needed it. Badly. I actually don’t like … Read More Here
