-
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.
Week in Review–December 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
Memorable Travel Running, Riding and Swimming Moments of 2012
With only five more days left in 2012 (depending on if you count today), I think I’ve wrapped up my travelling for the year. As you’ve probably gathered by now – I travel a wee bit for work. And then … Read More Here
Paris Blog: Bertie’s CupCakery – December Update!
Hello from Bertie’s CupCakery! Before I start in on all of the news, I would first and foremost like to thank all of the DCR readers who have personally visited the CupCakery or referred their friends & family to the … Read More Here
Kinetic inRide Bluetooth Smart Power Meter Accessory In-Depth Review
The inRide Bluetooth Smart accessory (tiny pod above) is the first Bluetooth Smart power meter to hit the market, just ahead of other Bluetooth Smart power meters. Now, some might finagle with the terminology around ‘power meter’, but since it’s … Read More Here
So you just got a GPS fitness device for Christmas? Start here: 2012 Edition.
Congrats! So you’ve just unboxed a new GPS watch/device? Good deal, here’s how you can get started in understanding how best to take advantage of your newfound toy. Of course, unlike that dessert you’ll eat later on tonight (or, perhaps, … Read More Here
Quick FYI: Trainers are now within the Product Comparison tool
Just wanted to drop a quick heads up to let folks know that as of this past Friday, trainers are now one of the new categories that you can slice and dice within the Product Comparison Calculator. This is alongside … Read More Here
Week in Review–December 22nd, 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
Paris Blog: Getting our Christmas tree home by bicycle
Like the US, Christmas trees are readily available in France. Be it at just about every corner convenience store or small grocery, or even at gas stations. Here the trees are a wee bit shorter in general, and a little … Read More Here
An Istanbul Runaround
While I’ve flown through Istanbul a number of times this year, this would actually be my first trip where I didn’t make an onwards connecting flight. Albeit true, I was only here about 30 hours. Still, in between my meetings … Read More Here
BKOOL Wireless ANT+ Trainer In-Depth Review
The BKOOL trainer is unique in the market in a number of ways. It marks the first trainer I’ve reviewed that includes an all-you-can-eat flat-rate approach to riding videos shot outdoors, while indoors. It’s also the first resistance controlled computerized … Read More Here
Annual Public Service Announcement: How to fix heart rate strap dropouts/spikes
I just wanted to put out a quick post as a reminder for folks that may be running into heart rate strap spiking or dropout issues with colder/dryer weather. A dropout is when the strap monitoring your heart rate records/displays … Read More Here
The Santa Corrida de Noël 10K Race Report (2012)
This would be our very first race here in France. Now that things have sorta settled down between moving, opening a storefront, and just life in general, we figured a race might be in order. Of course, neither of us … Read More Here
Week in Review–December 16th, 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
A Vienna Runaround
This was the runaround that almost wasn’t. But thankfully, the calendar gods parted just enough to squeeze in a run…but only barely. I arrived into Vienna late last night (Wednesday night), and was just here for a couple of meetings … Read More Here
Paris Blog: Free hugs!
On Wednesday as I was walking back from the CupCakery to home I made my usual way across the front of Notre Dame. On any given day, it’s usually swarming with folks taking pictures, some police presence, kids trying to … Read More Here
Polar adds GPS based elevation data to PolarPersonalTrainer.com
Last week, Polar added a small but highly useful checkbox to their website. In doing so, they in turn added elevation metrics that’s pulled from units that support either integrated GPS, or the GPS pod (such as the RC3, RCX3, … Read More Here
A day of continuous heart rate monitoring
Last week I had a day trip up to Brussels (Belgium), and I thought it might make for an interesting experiment: All day continuous HR monitoring. Except, unlike such experiments folks have done in the past, I didn’t wear a … Read More Here
A Monday night Parisian long run and a look at the gear I ran with
Tonight marks the beginning of my official training schedule towards the Paris Marathon with The Girl in April. Lately, I’ve been free-wheeling it a bit on the training schedule, with both work travel and just getting adjusted to Parisian life … Read More Here
More trainers, a touch of snow, and a new bike
It’s been just over five months since we moved to Paris, and thus, it’s been just over five months since The Girl last rode her bike. Due to a issue with the frame near the rear derailleur hanger attachment point … Read More Here
Week in Review–December 8th, 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
Paris Blog: How we get shipments & mail from the US to France
(Quick FYI: By popular request, I’ve pulled the Paris Blog posts back into the main RSS feed – thanks for the feedback everyone!) When we moved over to France, one of my biggest concerns was actually how to deal with … Read More Here
Garmin FR10 Quadruple Giveaway Winners!
Over 1,700 of you entered the FR10 giveaway (including the e-mail Active Duty entrants), which only was open over this past weekend. Pretty crazy numbers! I had asked each entrant to simply list their first race of the 2013 season. … Read More Here
Thoughts on Active.com’s new race insurance policy
Late last week, Active.com announced a new option that will follow along with all the magazines, extra pasta dinner tickets, and random other junk that they offer you at the end of the race registration process. The exception being – … Read More Here
A perfect example of a creative Suunto Ambit App: Bike Power Meter Display
This past weekend I spent a bit of time poking through all the new apps that have been released onto the Suunto Ambit App zone. There’s tons of really cool stuff that people are doing – despite the highly limited … Read More Here
Cookies, Cupcakes, and Ferris Wheels
The weekend started rather early. About 3AM on Saturday type early. We, well, The Girl, was participating in an annual holiday event as the American School in Paris – selling cupcakes at their boutique. In preparing the nearly 300 cupcakes … Read More Here
