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
- RT @Jeukendrup: Photo from Ironman Lanzarote last weekend! Such an amazing bike course!! http://t.co/aeycRgtVEB #, 11 hours ago
- RT @mrogati: An API for all your #QuantifiedSelf data by @human_api: http://t.co/gPQfRFV6Jk. Hackathon on 6/29; how about a sleep + weathe… #, 14 hours ago
- @cthompson01 I think the other 103 pounds of junk I took back may have limited my 'take back a wine bike' potential... #, 15 hours ago
- New Post! A look at aerotesting with ERO Sports and the Alphamantis System: http://t.co/h9FaULBUJ5 #, 15 hours ago
- @DrGalactus Sometimes you just gotta prioritize... #, 15 hours ago
- Seen at grocery store: A new option for frame mounting wine bottles (below seat). http://t.co/BMOU9Jb3NN #, 15 hours ago
- RT @OnevFoto: today's #potd http://t.co/uDgQnIPvV2 by @tfrank_de via @cyclingtips #, 2013/05/24
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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.
Tag Archives: Random
Boston Bound
This week has been crazy busy with work and late night training. Before Wednesday night’s run, I happened upon some Caps tickets (local NHL hockey team)…for the first game of the Stanley Cup Playoffs…in a luxury suite. SWEET!!! And without … Read More Here
Random tidbits – I was featured on TrainingPeaks.com
Just in case some of you missed it (well, everyone but Bill)…I was featured on the front page of the Training Peaks website two weeks ago as part of their member profile series. The front page was then linked to … Read More Here
Chocolate Milk vs Endurox R4 Recovery Drink – Stimulus Edition
The other day I was chatting with a friend talking about recovery drinks. I’ve been on a chocolate milk kick for a while now – as I’ve previously gone in depth on. Given it’s been proven to be just as … Read More Here
A few random tips for new (or old) bloggers
Over the past 18 months or so I’ve figured out all sorts of little random things about this whole ‘blogging’ thing. Aside from finding out that it takes a fair bit of time, I’ve also picked up on a number … Read More Here
Tuesday Tidbits – February Edition
In no particular order – observations of the last week: No, my blog is not for sale. While I’m flattered by the offer, it would be kinda awkward to sell this blog and blog name. However, if you present me … Read More Here
Bicycle Crash Density
Who knew? Such a term. I would have called it “Place where things go wrong”. I was browsing the city’s web site and stumbled upon their ‘Pedestrian and Bicycle Mobility Plan’ from June. This plan essentially outlines how they are … Read More Here
A White Christmas (Tree) and a run in the snow
But before we can get to the Christmas Tree, we have to get beyond a run in the cold and some weight lifting. Yesterday’s morning run was quite a bit of fun. Well, I thought it was fun anyway – … Read More Here
Things I was going to blog about…
I was going to blog about the process of picking a coach, but I got lazy and busy and everything else that happens. So maybe I’ll write it up over the weekend I was going to blog about signing up … Read More Here
Tuesday Tidbits
I haven’t posted my Philly Race Report, as I’m going to wait till tomorrow evening for the official photos to get posted. Post-Marathon Sunday night I did a trainer ride, and then I swam yesterday – just a 1,000M or … Read More Here
Funny guy, ehh?
This morning sent out a calendar placeholder (out of office – OOF) for an upcoming vacation I have planned for the end of the month. My e-mail was very short, and not too descriptive beyond basically saying “I’m not really … Read More Here
Winter is here
Well, ok, maybe not exactly winter. But…it technically snowed today. I saw it with my own eyes. It may have been sunny out at the time, but that’s besides the point. For a few short minutes – snow came down. … Read More Here
Loops, Flips and More Loops
Loops Saturday marked the beginning of the taper for the Philly Marathon in two weeks. It included an interesting run workout that I hadn’t done before. It started off with a 10 minute warm up, and then stepped down temporarily … Read More Here
The miracles of degreaser
If you’re a triathlete or cyclist – then you likely find bike grease on just about every object you own. And if you’re a runner, then you’ll still find this stuff pretty darn cool. Back last winter the bike shop … Read More Here
Votage
(It’s sad, I only have one sweatshirt… I think I need to get some more) I was quite happy to find that the polling place line was only 16 seconds long. Woohoo! After reading Lesser’s post, I was fairly concerned … Read More Here
Turning into a pumpkin…or a turkey
Halloween has many pieces – there’s the pumpkins, the costumes and of course the candy gathering (even if as an adult that simply means going to the grocery store and buying the candy instead of standing at peoples doors). Tuesday … Read More Here
Spot Tracker Review
Here’s the third post in as many weeks reviewing various devices I’ve accumulated over the past year. As always, these are more for long term reference that people find than they are for daily readers. Although I think many of … Read More Here
A 10K, a marathon and wilderness in between
Let’s try and keep this weekend recap quick. On Friday night myself and two friends drove down to Charlottesville, VA to run in a 10K race there (Bad to the Bone 10K aka Charlottesville Fall Classic). (I’m in the lower … Read More Here
A day in the life of Rainmaker
Given some recent questions in the comments what my day looks like, I figured I’d take a few quick minutes to outline what today looked like. Now today isn’t exactly typical, but it is representative of the randomness that is … Read More Here
BlendTec Home Blender Product Review
Alternate Title: Will it Blend…Damn right it will! Back a month or so ago I was blending a smoothie and decided that my poor little blender just wasn’t cutting the mustard…err…pineapple. Of course it didn’t help that I’d been eyeing … Read More Here
Wanna build your own bike path?
Over the last week and a half I’ve had the entertainment of watching various road/construction crews rebuild the bike path in front of my house. I have a ‘running path’ on the side closest to my house, and a ‘bike … Read More Here
Stuck
I’ve been in a rut lately with getting behind on which product to write a review on. Some of these I’ve been meaning to write a review on since last fall, and others are a bit newer. So here’s your … Read More Here
Rain rain go away, don’t come back another day
Once again I went camping and watch a friend compete in a tri (her first Olympic Distance event just a few weeks after her first sprint). While the weekend was a blast – it would have been sooooo much nicer … Read More Here
How do you like them apples?
So it’s twofer post Sunday I guess. I had a really busy – but awesome – weekend. The good news for you is that both of these posts are ‘short’ by my normal standards. Lots of pics, but otherwise short. … Read More Here
Wine vs. Workouts: Effects of alcohol
I don’t drink a lot, never really have – but I certainly enjoy an occasional beverage. By ‘not a lot’, I would say I maybe had four drinks all summer long. Yes…not a lot. Last Friday night I went out … Read More Here
Me vs the Hurricane
Let’s be clear…I won vs the Hurricane. Well, actually…we won. Because I’m tired and already behind a day on getting this written up and posted, we’re going to go with pure picture mode. Booyeah! (Our little Spot Tracker GPS trail) … Read More Here


















