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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.
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!
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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.
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.
Blog
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 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
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
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
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
Week in Review–April 14th, 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 recovery week riding and swimming in Vegas
No, not recovery swimming in the gigantic leisure pools here at the hotel. Rather, swimming laps at the actual municipal city pool. But before we get to that, I had to get to Las Vegas. So after running the Paris … Read More Here
Administrivia: Deal on Garmin FR110, update to Clever Training coupon code, and consolidated support page
After running the marathon Sunday, then running straight to the airport Sunday night, then up early again for another long-haul 10hr flight (this) Monday morning, and then doing booth duty for 3hrs upon landing…I’m pooped. So, we’ll keep this short … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 7th, 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 Easter You Choose The Gadget Giveaway Results!
It’s time to draw the winners of Sunday’s ‘Easter Edition: You win, you choose!’ giveaway. Like last month, I let you choose which device you wanted to win. It’s fully up to you whether you want a cycling or running … Read More Here
A detailed walkthrough of my 4:30AM 90-minute trainer workout
I’m flying at 41,004ft, headed southeasterly over Nahr az Zab, Iraq with a glaringly bright sun shining into the cabin of my very empty airplane. But this morning certainly didn’t start out in the sun. Nope, it started out in … Read More Here
A weekend tapering the run, increasing the bike
This weekend was…well…busy as usual. With April shaping up to be a bit of a mess travel-wise, I was trying to get as much stuff done as possible before Monday. Be it spring cleaning, product review shots for later writing … Read More Here
An Easter You Choose The Gadget Giveaway!
Today’s Easter. And even if you don’t celebrate Easter, you can instead celebrate the chocolate bunny…or, as is apparently also the case here in France – the chocolate chicken (and, even an odd rash of Chocolate Nemo’s I’ve seen too). … Read More Here
Week in Review–March 30th, 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 the Tour de France photo gallery in the gardens
A few days ago I saw a tweet on the official Tour de France Twitter feed announcing some sort of gallery opening featuring 80 images from years past. After a bit of poking around, I found out that this display … Read More Here
What it takes to build complex sport technology products from nothing
A number of months ago there was some initial hype around an individual (Keith Wakeham) that’s building a power meter and documenting the progress in weekly blog posts (though lately more frequent). The current prototypes of his power meter are … Read More Here
Spring has sprung–and some first thoughts on the Basis watch
Woot! For a brief moment on Saturday, it was both sorta sunny, and sorta warm. Which, by my definition means it’s spring. This weekend was crazy busy, but also a nice segue into a semi-normalized triathlon-focused training schedule for me. … Read More Here
Week in Review–March 24th, 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 Dublin Runaround
When I heard that I’d be going to Dublin about 40 hours after arriving back from nice sunny…warm…sunny…warm…did I mention sunny…Australia, there weren’t many positive thoughts in my head. There’s nothing wrong with Dublin – it’s just that (like my … Read More Here
The Elusive Non-Gadget Mailbag–March Edition
It’s been a rather long time since a non-gadget mailbag post – in fact, almost a year! For those new around here, I used to do both a combined weekly mailbag each week (roughly where my Week in Review post … Read More Here
Back to running and riding in the rain and cold
My weekend was a bit shorter than most, as I spent the first 30 hours of it working my way home. I had left Sydney around 3PM on Friday, and with some delays in Hong Kong I didn’t end up … Read More Here
Week in Review–March 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
A Sydney Swim, Bike and Runaround
I started working my way back home from New Zealand yesterday morning. Due to the way my airline ticket was, I ended up having a roughly 30 hour layover in Sydney. So I was determined to take advantage of it. … Read More Here
A Wellington (New Zealand) Runaround
Yesterday I spent just a touch over 24 hours in Wellington, New Zealand. After landing into Auckland at 4:45AM from Perth (a miserable time for a redeye flight by the way), I then had a quick connection down to Wellington … Read More Here
An inside look at my bike toolbox
Well, an inside look at my bike cardboard toolbox anyway. Actually, it’s half split between a cardboard box and a plastic bag from the grocery store. With a few oft-used items in a 4-cup measuring cup, sorta like how people … Read More Here
A Rottnest Island Runaround (Western Australia)
I arrived here in Perth, Australia nearly a week ago – and things have been a wee bit busy since then. As I noted what seems like ages ago, I’m in the midst of a two-week trip down here to … Read More Here
Week in Review–March 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
Recon Instruments previews cycling heads-up display
Today Recon Instruments gave a small sneak peek of their upcoming heads up display unit aimed at cycling. And by ‘small sneak peek’, I mean a single image, with a handful of text. Perhaps ‘very small sneak peak’ was more … Read More Here
You Win You Choose – Giveaway Winner!
It’s time to draw the winners of last week’s ‘You win, you choose!’ giveaway. This was the first time I let you pick your own prize, whereby you got to raid the pantry for whichever device you want. The name … Read More Here
Paris Half-Marathon 2013 Race Report
You know what I appreciate about the Paris Half-Marathon? It started at 10AM. Yes, 10AM! That means that we woke up around…ohh…8:15AM, walked a few hundred meters to the Metro, and took a short 11 minute Metro ride to the … Read More Here
Week in Review–March 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
You Win–You Choose DC Rainmaker Giveaway!
Because it’s the end of February (already!), and because this month got shorted 2-3 days. And because I found two cake stands while The Girl was out today and they made pretty holders. No, I didn’t tie those bows. Or … Read More Here
The Great DC Rainmaker 2013 Survey Results!
It’s been about a month since the sorta-annual DC Rainmaker survey opened up. And quite frankly, I was BLOWN AWAY by the response this year. 3,143 of you finished the survey. And as I promised, I’m going to give you … Read More Here
Week in Review–February 23rd, 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
Garmin adds new Fenix Skiing mode (in beta)
Following in the footsteps of continuing to add features to the Fenix watch (and likewise, what Suunto has done with the Ambit), Garmin quietly posted to their forums a beta version of the Fenix firmware which adds skiing to the … Read More Here
Garmin gives updated Vector power meter schedule (February 2013)
Today, on Garmin’s quarterly earnings call (for Q4FY12), they provided an update on the state of $1,500US Garmin Vector power meter, along with a few minor updates on other health and fitness initiatives. For those just joining this long-running (and … Read More Here
Reminding myself about the nutrition wall…the hard way.
It seems to happen each year around early spring time. Usually early spring because that’s roughly when my workouts get long enough that I cross over the invisible barrier where I can get away with going low on nutrition. Typically, … Read More Here
A weekend cycling around the city multiple times
With my brother still in town after our ski trip, we continued to explore the city a bit. Of course, no better way than to get him into the kick of the Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday market near our place. He now fully … Read More Here
Week in Review–February 17th, 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 epic week skiing in the French Alps
This past week my brother and I have been down in Alpe d’Huez enjoying the fresh powder. Of course, most folks reading this will recognize Alpe d’Huez as the famous mountain stage in the Tour de France. That cultural history … Read More Here
Mio Alpha Optical Heart Rate Monitor In-Depth Review (Bluetooth Smart/ANT+)
The Mio Alpha unit may represent the longest I’ve ever actually tested something before writing a review. I initially got the chance to use a unit back in July for a quick test run as they were in the midst … Read More Here
A flooded run and some brotherly love with new incoming gear
I arrived back from my US work trip into Paris on Friday evening. This would give me just about 15 hours until my brother landed here, following me across the pond. The two of us will be spending the next … Read More Here
Week in Review–February 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
A weekend building a (cardboard) boat before the Super Bowl
I’ve got meetings this week in Seattle, so Saturday mid-day I packed things up in Paris, connected to a flight in London and flew 9 hours to Seattle. I love these flights – the early-mid afternoon departures from Europe where … Read More Here
Week in Review–February 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
A Stockholm (Sweden) Runaround
I’ve been in Stockholm for work meetings since very late Sunday night (actually, technically, Monday morning). My schedule had a 2hr 20min run on the docket, with the flexibility to place that either on Monday or Tuesday, depending on what … Read More Here
Because it’s cold FR910XT Giveaway Winner!
Yes, it’s still cold. And, some 2,500 of you over the weekend shared your running/cycling/swimming/something activities in the cold. Quite a few entertaining reads in there – I definitely encourage you to scroll through some of them. Think of it … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 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
Because it’s cold: Garmin FR910XT Giveaway
Tonight (well, last night by time you read this), I was running. It seems like I’m always running. It was cold. Now to think of it, it seems like I’m always running in the cold too. Though not as cold … Read More Here
Wahoo Fitness KICKR now (sorta) available for pre-order
Today, Wahoo Fitness announced pre-orders for the Wahoo KICKR trainer will begin on January 29th at 12PM Eastern. This is obviously a fair bit behind the planned schedule of pre-orders in November. The first shipment was confirmed loaded onto the … Read More Here
The Great DC Rainmaker 2013 Survey!
It’s been nearly two years to the day since I did the last ‘Great DC Rainmaker Survey’ – and thus I think it’s time again to see what you all are thinking. When I did this last time, I was … Read More Here
Power2Max Power Meter In-Depth Review
The Power2Max is one of the newest crank-based power meters on the market today. Its price point is a bit lower than most other crank-based power meters, though, in the same range as rear-hub based power meters. Since the updated … Read More Here
A Snowy Parisian Run (and Sledding Into The Water)
It snowed! Well, obviously – otherwise I would have titled it “A not-at-all-snowy Parisian Run” It started snowing Friday afternoon, and stuck pretty much immediately. By mid-day Saturday it took a bit of a break. So I decided to head … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 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
LeMond and the LeMond Revolution Trainer are back in business
Just a quick post, as I’m heads down in a bunch of other items at the moment (including procrastinating going out running 90 minutes in some rather chilly weather). To catch those of you back up – last fall LeMond … Read More Here
A history of products destroyed in product review testing
As you already know, a lot of products come through my testing ‘lab’. After my testing is complete and my review is written up these products head back to their respective companies. Leave no tracks behind and all. But sometimes, … Read More Here
Running on the Cobbles
Last night while on my long run, I had a fair bit of time to think about cobblestones. Mostly because I was trying to avoid slipping, tripping or otherwise falling on them. The snow in my eyes didn’t help. Where … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 13th, 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
CES 2013: Health and Activity Monitors–Bringing it back to reality edition
How about them apples? Seriously, that was first thought about seeing the below situation from afar. The folks at the booth nearby had urged me to go over and try and ascertain what exactly was going on in there. Given … Read More Here
Hands on with the new Leikr GPS sports watch
It’s been a touch bit over a week since the Leikr watch launched on Kickstarter. The Leikr GPS sports watch has become instantly recognizable due to it’s larger full color screen – one that essentially looks like a Motoactv on … Read More Here
CES 2013: A look at what’s coming to me next week
While it’s always my goal to secures loot and gadgets to take home the week of the convention, sometimes that just doesn’t work out. The reasons usually vary, sometimes it’s because the company simply doesn’t have enough units on hand … Read More Here
CES 2013: The Loot I’m Bringing Back
I’ve got 12 minutes until my flights departs here from Vegas to Chicago (and thus onwards to Paris), so this is gonna be super quick. I’ve got lots more content than this, but I figured people might be interested in … Read More Here
Friday Photo of the Day: Me featured in a brochure swimming with a floaty duck
Earlier this week a reader sent me over a note letting me know that my favorite friend – Mr. Duck – was featured alongside me in the Polar Bear Plunge brochures that are now found in countless stores around the … Read More Here
Do you use an app with live tracking in it? Tell me about it!
I’m often asked to do phone app reviews, but as I explain in my FAQ page (which, btw, continues to grow), the rate of change of phone apps makes reviews all but meaningless within days or weeks. So instead, I … Read More Here
Headed to CES 2013 next week, what do you want to see/hear about?
Like last year, I’ll be making a quick trip to the Consumer Electronics Show – which is pretty much the super bowl of consumer electronics. The show is held annually in Las Vegas, usually on the first full non-holiday week … Read More Here
The Top 10 Sports & Fitness Items You Bought in 2012
As you know, one way you support the site is via Amazon. I thought it would be kinda fun to share with you a Top 10 list of all the stuff that you picked up during 2012. It’s an interesting … Read More Here
Photo of the ride: A…uhh…bullet bike?
Yesterday while out cycling, I was heading home after a loop around Longchamp – a horse race track that hundreds, if not thousands of cyclists flock to. Especially on weekends. As I was coming into the loop, I heard a … Read More Here
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
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
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
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
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
Week in Review–December 1st, 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
Garmin Forerunner 10 Quadruple Giveaway
Perhaps you didn’t score big last week on Black Friday, or Cyber Monday with a deal. Perhaps you were focused on getting the big screen TV or deep fryer. Maybe you were busy running a turkey trot. Or perhaps, you … Read More Here
A detailed look at Suunto’s new big Ambit update including App Zone & ANT+
Earlier today Suunto released their 2.0 firmware for their Ambit watch, which has previously been targeted primarily at the hiking and ultra running crowd. Though this update will move it a long way towards bringing in other segments as well, … Read More Here
1st Hands-On Ride with Brim Brothers Zone Cleat Based Power Meter
Tonight I had the opportunity to go out for a ride testing out the new Brim Brothers power meter, Zone, which is mounted into the Speedplay cleat baseplate that’s attached to your cycling shoes. The Brim Brothers Zone has long … Read More Here
Cyber Monday Sports Technology Deals
[Updated Monday, 12:14PM Eastern) We’re going to keep this post quick and short, since all the real goodness from my posting today is over in my Singapore Race Report. Here’s the new deals for Cyber Monday, as well as the … Read More Here
Week in Review–November 24th, 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
I’ve got new digs! Check out the new DC Rainmaker site!
Finally! It’s been a long time coming, with a lot of false starts, but it’s finally here! The new site not only looks fresher, but has some legit useful new functionality in it. While many of you reading this post … Read More Here
Black Friday Sports Technology Deals!
[Updated 11/24/2012 1:19AM EST] I just wanted to take a brief moment to highlight some of the sweet Black Friday deals that I’m aware of for the next week or so. Some of them help support the site, and some … Read More Here
The Johannesburg (Group DCR) Runaround
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore. After a 10 hour flight from London to South Africa, I found myself presenting and meeting 90 minutes later for nearly 9 hours. By the time I finished up I was most definitely ready … Read More Here
The Interbike 2012 Sports Tech Golden Nuggets (with Polar, Garmin, Timex, TrainingPeaks, Metawatch and more…)
There’s a ton of stuff I see each or hear while at Interbike that never makes it to a full scale post. This year, that’s even more so true with most of the major companies holding back from releasing new … Read More Here
The Belgium Runaround
Last Thursday I did one of my typical single-day turnaround trips for work. In the states, these were often done with airplanes. For example, DC over to Chicago, up to NYC or Boston, down to Charlotte, Raleigh, Florida, and any … Read More Here
First look at the Kinetic by Kurt $200 Bluetooth Smart inRIDE power meter trainer accessory
NOTE: My full inRide In-Depth Review has been recently posted (click here), with far more detail and analysis than the below post. Enjoy! This is definitely the week of power meters, and there’s no shortage of new products – for … Read More Here
First look at Wahoo Fitness KICKR ANT+/Bluetooth Smart Trainer with power meter
Today Wahoo Fitness unveiled their latest product – a Bluetooth 4.0 and ANT+ enabled trainer with an integrated power meter. The trainer will transmit power (watts) and speed information across both protocols, allowing it to bridge the gap between dedicated … Read More Here
First look at the new Polar RC3 GPS–the first integrated GPS watch from Polar
NOTE – Sept 27, 2012: My Full In-Depth Review is now available for the Polar RC3. You can view that here. Today Polar announced their new RC3 integrated GPS watch – the first fully integrated GPS watch coming from Polar. … Read More Here
A hands-on look at the Mio Alpha strapless optical heart rate watch
NOTE: This product has since been released, and I’ve in turn published a full in-depth review of it here. Late last week I got a chance to try out the new Mio Alpha watch, which is a strapless heart rate … Read More Here
Two quick items of note: Looking for a good vertical bike stand, and Motoactv slashes price $100
Before we get onto the new Alpha watch post here in a few hours, I’ve got two quick items worthy of a separate call out. First item of note: First is that I’ve (well, we’ve) decided we need a vertical … Read More Here
A short update from the land of palm trees
After weeks (heck, over a month) of crazy work related hours and stuffs, I’ve finally got a week to relax. And relax I shall. Well, mostly relax. I took with me a huge pile of goods that all arrived in … Read More Here
The Elusive Non-Gadget Weekly Mailbag–April Edition
(Quick Side Note: Regrettably, since I wasn’t in DC on Tuesday, I missed the Space Shuttle fly-by’s – which is a huge bummer since I’m a big space shuttle fan. However, The Girl was able to sneak out there and … Read More Here
Mailbag, Questions & FAQ open post!
I was sitting down this weekend working through a bunch of unread mail and I realized that there’s lots of interesting tidbits that are probably good FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) items. Some of them are technology related, some are training … Read More Here
My 2012 CES Session at the Digital Health Summit
You may remember from a handful of weeks ago that while I was busy at CES in Las Vegas running around talking with all the latest sports technology folks, I also had the privilege of being the moderator for a … Read More Here
So you just got a Garmin Fitness watch? Start here: 2011 Edition
Last year I put together a post published on Christmas morning for all of those that may have found a Garmin (or similar) fitness watch under the tree. The goal was simply to provide a comprehensive list of resources to … Read More Here
The reorganized and crazy big travel page!
A couple of weeks ago I had a few minutes while a pot of water was heating up for pasta, so I figured I’d spend maybe 15 minutes cleaning up the travel page and getting a few of my more … Read More Here
Common Question: Why don’t I review ______ ?
I’m often asked when I plan to review a given product, or why I haven’t yet reviewed a given product. I hinted at this back in January during my ‘Blog: A summary and historical view’ post, which was sorta a … Read More Here
Trip Reports Static Page
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 do a lot of work travelling, so some of those trips aren’t … Read More Here
Week in Review–January 22nd, 2011
I’ve long since wondered what to do with all the random tidbits of things I collect each week – or the little thoughts that don’t quite make for a full post. But I finally came up with a solution: The … Read More Here
Quick thoughts on the new Garmin Forerunner 210/410 running watches
Please note: This post was written before I wrote my In Depth FR210 Review – please wander over there for the latest and most comprehensive review. Thanks! This morning Garmin announced two separate new running watches – the Forerunner … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag–August 7th, 2010
Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag. This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so. I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some … Read More Here
The right stuff–equipment I use
Back about a month ago I got an e-mail from a reader regarding what equipment I use day to day in training and racing. I ended up putting together a quick hit-list at the time, but didn’t really do it … Read More Here
Timex Ironman GPS Global Trainer First Look Review
Note: Please see the final Timex Ironman GPS Global Trainer In Depth Review posted here (it’s a whole lot more detailed and in depth, and includes updates and discussions from Timex as well). – Aug 3rd, 2010 The Timex Ironman … Read More Here
Weekly Mailbag–May 22nd, 2010
Here’s this week’s edition of the weekly mailbag. This is a weekly series where I feature a handful of the e-mailed questions I received from the previous week or so. I try and pick a wide variety of questions. Some … Read More Here
Garmin Forerunner 110 – First Look Review
You may have noticed earlier today that Garmin announced via press release their latest GPS watch – the Forerunner 110. Given I get a lot of questions about their new watches when they come out, I figured I’d get ahead … Read More Here
The 25 Most Informative Posts I’ve Written
It turns our I’ve written a fair bit of stuff over the past few years – some 476 posts (477 if you count this!). And after it disappears from my front page, a lot of it never really sees the … Read More Here
Two cages down
One of the items that makes a cycling power meter so useful as a training tool is it allows you to make objective statements about how your training is going – regardless of how things like weather or terrain may … Read More Here
Days 7 & 8: A Bali Triathlon
Welcome back to the final installment of the Bali portion of the trip. Over the past 5 or so days in Bali we’ve been able to patch together a bit of a Balinese Triathlon of sorts, combining two traditional triathlon … Read More Here
Readjusting
It wasn’t actually the time zone shift with the trip that hosed things up for me. But rather, the work hours in the week leading up to the trip, and then the work hours post trip. This gummy bear was … Read More Here
Mama said there’d be days like this
Well no, actually, she didn’t. She didn’t mention anything about these days. This was definitely not on the talking points list anywhere in my childhood. After 4.5 hours of sleep after working past midnight, it was up at 5:50AM to … Read More Here
Swimming in the Potomac
I’ve been meaning to post this forever, mostly cause I have these totally awesome photos sitting in a folder. As some of you may know – you’re not allowed to swim in the Potomac river in the waters of the … Read More Here
Pre-Race Weekend Update
Since I only have a few minute before I have to head to bed, this will be mostly a pictorial. First swim wave is at 6:00AM – YIKES!. Which means I’m up at something like 4AM. Ugh! Friday: Went down … Read More Here
Pain, Noodles, Less Pain, Bike Bunnies
I semi-intended on writing a blog post up Friday afternoon about one thing. And then I planned to do it Friday night. And then Saturday I had a different one planned, and then I realized I spent every waking second … Read More Here
Wanted: Open water swim places in WashDC
When I did my first tri earlier this summer it was clear that I didn’t do enough open water swimming beforehand. By enough I mean ‘more than a few laps’ between two docks. Actually to be fair to myself, I … Read More Here
Need to find a pool while traveling? Check out Swimmers Guide
A few months ago while traveling I was trying to find information about local lap pools. While most of the country/city pools tend to have web sites, many times they don’t have particularly useful information (such as lap times, etc..). … Read More Here
About me
Hello! Thanks for stopping by (or re-stopping by)! I just wanted to give you a little background on who I am, and what this blog’s all about. I’m just a triathlete and runner like you: I run, I bike, and … Read More Here
How To Guides & Tips
Note: This page has been moved to here. Please see the latest page with all the goods there! Thanks! Trust me, it’s worth the clickage! I enjoy explaining new things to folks – especially showing people how to get the … Read More Here
Trip Reports (kinda like Race Reports)
I’ve re-arranged a wee bit – check out the new travel page here! Sorry ’bout that!
Past Header Images
Starting this past April, roughly every week I’ll be changing out the header image on my blog to reflect something that happened in the past week – either in training or just in general in my life. Here’s a quick … Read More Here
