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
- @tarheeltiger Not athletic, just generic. Odd. #, 11 hours ago
- @wahoofitness Can past-RFLKT purchasers e-mail to get one, or is there cost? #, 13 hours ago
- I'm almost slightly concerned with the level of interest y'all have in this (non-starter) aforementioned lingerie giveaway/review. #, 13 hours ago
- @seeverist Multisport - I would assume that depends on definition of 'sport'. GPS, not unless we redefined GPS acronym. #, 13 hours ago
- RT @wahoofitness: @Charlerious @dcrainmakerblog we have Garmin compatible mounts in the next shipment, if you buy a RFLKT and it doesn’t in… #, 13 hours ago
- @mueymal Yeah. I'm in Seattle this week, but heard from The Girl that it's a zoo. #, 14 hours ago
- Offered free women's lingerie in exchange for doing a lingerie giveaway. Umm...no. A Lingerie In-Depth Review?!? #, 14 hours ago
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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: Swimming
Chicken!
Before I could go get my new grill, I first had to knock out my Monday swim workout. It wasn’t too bad though, it started off with a 2,000 yard continuous chunk of warm-up, drills and other technique focused stuff … Read More Here
Dubai Day 1: Sighting off camels…while swimming
Over the course of the last few days I’ve hop scotched across the country a to Seattle, Whistler and then back to Seattle before swinging through DC for a bit. Shortly after that my brother and I left for a … 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
Gambling at the track
First, it was off to San Fran on an early Tuesday morning flight. After landing, I ping-ponged back east again over the Sierra Nevada mountains. We descended past the bright red rocks of Red Rock Canyon National Conservation area. And … Read More Here
Swim, Bike, Run, Rinse, Repeat
Monday marked a return to the norm. The ever constant and cyclic training regime: Swim, Bike, Run, Rinse, Repeat (actually, there are many rinses, fear not). Except, the cool thing is that since I’ve got a race on Sunday (Nation’s … Read More Here
How to make bad BBQ
Another weekend, another busy boatload of stuff. In my continued attempts to keep things short, here’s the quick version. Friday: After having fun with the usual Friday IT2 trainer ride, it was time to watch the opening ceremonies. Without a … Read More Here
The Last Century (condensed version)
In an attempt to appease the blogosphere, I will try and make this weekend workout recap short. Really…I promise Sarah and Peter. So let’s jump right in. Saturday: Continuing the week over week increase in swim time, I swam 1hr … Read More Here
Back to the track…and Seattle.
The last few days in Seattle have been great. I’ve been out here for work, but I’m able to get a ton of non-work things in as well. After arriving Monday afternoon I swung downtown to pickup my relevant conference … Read More Here
Kayaking, Long Swims and Rifles
I’ve been a wee bit busy over the last few days – especially since Thursday afternoon. I’m SOOO far behind in e-mail, catching up with reading folks blogs, and really just about everything. So here’s the rundown. I tried to … Read More Here
Going Long
This weekend was all about the long game. Long swim, long bike. The usual long run comes Tuesday. I actually spent Saturday morning baking, making a nice breakfast and making ice cream (which is a post for later this week). … Read More Here
17,575
It’s funny. A few months ago I was reading a friends blog (he’s an Elite Triathlon dude) and he noted weeks where he was pushing upwards of 20,000 yards. I thought to myself then…wow – there is no way I … Read More Here
Yogi!
In many ways, my weekends are somewhat predictable. Run, Swim, Laze Around, Sleep, Bike, Run. Repeat. But, I try and mix things up as much as possible to keep the routine from becoming stagnant. Saturday: I met up with the … Read More Here
Faux Race
This weekend was a solid mix of different stuff, not overwhelmingly busy – but just good-type busy. Saturday: At 6:53AM I was laying in bed deciding whether or not I wanted to join up with the running group to do … Read More Here
Whirlwind Weekend Wrapup
I knew going into this weekend that things were going to get interesting….and busy. But that’s all good – I like being busy. Day Before Saturday But my weekend really started on Friday morning… with my first technique session with … Read More Here
Running in the rain
The training continues on. Just under three weeks left till the first race of the year and things are coming together fairly nicely. I was somewhat worried just 3-4 short weeks ago as my knee was seemingly off in it’s … Read More Here
Fearing the swim? Fear not.
It’s been less than a year since I started swimming. My first pool swim was on April 9th, 2007. That day it took me 40 minutes to go 750 yards, or an average of 5:00/100 yards. Seriously. I think doggie … Read More Here
Weekend Wrap-up
For the first time since last fall, I was finally able to complete a full week’s worth of ‘normal’ workouts without worrying about injury – nor paying for it later with an annoyed knee. While it certainly wasn’t a super-heavy … Read More Here
One big ice cube – swimming in cold water
Many of us ‘retire’ from open water swimming for the winter. Some of us have the excuse that our dear little puddle of water is frozen over. And then there are those of us that simply turn off the thought … Read More Here
Brickman
After yesterday’s brickage – I am the brickman. Well…technically these dudes down in Texas are the brickman, but I certainly feel like I could be the brickman. Yesterday’s swim, ride & run was the first time I’ve done three sports … Read More Here
Box o Swim Stuff
Despite both DHL and USPS’s best attempts to keep me from getting my box of stuff, I have succeeded in taking ownership of it. (Side Note: If I pay for DHL shipping, I don’t want DHL to hand it over … Read More Here
The State of my State
So this is my 2007 wrap-up and 2008 goals post all in one – and a few days later then the rest of the blogosphere. Cause really – ya’ll got your fill of reading the resolutions and goal posts last … Read More Here
One Fish Two Fish, Red Fish Blue Fish
One of the major advantages of traveling in a westerly direction is that you body naturally wakes up earlier. Yesterday I was up at 6AM, right now it’s 5:30AM. After getting up at six yesterday, it was off to the … Read More Here
The Tour de Guam
We arrived into Guam last night late enough that it was dark out. I was looking forward to getting out and exploring things in the daylight, and in particular looking forward to going for an open water swim. Daylight struck … Read More Here
My warmed nuts
Yes folks – it’s not every day that someone willingly warms my nuts. But earlier today (or was that yesterday…I’ve lost track, I guess it depends on how you count the dateline and all) – I had my nuts warmed. … Read More Here
Getting the short pool
Sometimes you’ve just gotta make due with what you’ve got. Some people are blessed with size…and others with the ability to use what they have (I’m talking pools here folks, don’t be gettin’ all distracted on me). Tonight was a … Read More Here


















