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.

-
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.
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 @OnevFoto: today's #potd http://t.co/uDgQnIPvV2 by @tfrank_de via @cyclingtips #, 3 hours ago
- @luisap Yeah, GC has a long and storied history with IE. Some of the right teams are actually talking as of few weeks ago. #, 4 hours ago
- RT @TriMagJene: It costs $3 to fill up a buoy https://t.co/O6ZqI2RjhD #, 6 hours ago
- @chriseidhof Not this summer, perhaps in the fall. #, 6 hours ago
- @Lokoto Read my post from last Friday for details. #, 7 hours ago
- @vettenrannalla I see nothing good coming out of that fish! #, 23 hours ago
- Now that I've run out of Swedish Fish, I make no guarantees on how remainder of trainer ride will go. http://t.co/wXXoumPygd #, 2013/05/23
-
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
A Warsaw Runaround
I arrived into a dark, cold, windy – and snow filled – Warsaw, Poland late Sunday night. But shortly after getting to my hotel room fourteen stories up I was already plotting my morning run the next morning. Luckily (well, … Read More Here
Norway in a Nutshell
I’m typically not a terribly big fan of organized tours. I like to get out, explore, and wander around a bit on my own timetable. Just the way I am. But in Norway without either a car or many days, … Read More Here
A Norwegian Runaround
There are few things I enjoy more than running in new places. It’s an easy way to check out ones surroundings and get a bit of exercise in – especially after travelling. After making the relatively quick 800+ mile trek … Read More Here
The Nuremberg Runaround: Flock of Sheep Edition
Since leaving London and the Olympics on Tuesday evening, I’ve been in Nuremberg, Germany for work (though in German it’s spelled Nürnberg) . It’s a relatively small little town, but it’s plenty cute and old world. The whole center of … Read More Here
A long ride from Paris
This weekend I was back in Paris, following up on a trip from a few weeks ago with a pile more meetings on Thursday/Friday. Given the opportunity to tie it into the weekend, I figured I’d forgo traditional American BBQ … Read More Here
A Paris night run from Notre Dame
(Quick Heads Up: REI has the Garmin FR610 down to $299 (with the heart rate strap, usually $399) on some sort of temporary sale. Thanks to all that sent this in. And, that particular REI link helps out the site … Read More Here
A weekend in Paris: Chocolates, Cycling and Running
On Friday and Monday, I had/have work related meetings in Paris, so I decided to make it a bit of a weekend, and The Girl came along as well. From the moment we got off the plane, we knew that … Read More Here
Hanging out in a Greek Olympic Stadium (a really old one)
The other night I was moving a bunch of photos from our Honeymoon around to a different computer when I stumbled on some photos from Athens. Once I got past all of the pictures of Gyros, Ice Cream and Souvlaki, … Read More Here
The Honeymoon: Part II
We left off yesterday with us leaving the Amalfi coast town of Positano. From there, we headed northbound on an assortment of trains via Rome, eventually ending up in a big long town that started with a ‘C’. I could … Read More Here
The Honeymoon: Part I
There were very few people who knew of our honeymoon plans. In fact, there was really only one who knew the entire plan…me. There were a few reasons for this – but mostly the simplest was that The Girl and … Read More Here
Time Capsule Trip Report: Flying the Concorde
In lieu of a current trip report (since I’m in the middle of my honeymoon), I thought it would be fun to go back a few years ago to a trip report I wrote for friends and family about a … Read More Here
The Not-So-Big-Fat Greek Runaround…and a side trip to Switzerland.
(Note: The results of the giveaway will be posted this weekend…after I sit down and sift through the 1,500 entries…that.might.take.a.while. A long while.) For those who follow along on The Twitter, you know that I’ve been bouncing around Europe the … Read More Here
A day of Chocolate in Zurich
After a long string of flights originating from St. John’s, Newfoundland, and visiting both Halifax and Montreal on our three-province tour, we finally arrived in Zurich, Switzerland. And while our stay in Zurich would be brief – only 16 hours … Read More Here
Zurich and a little run
I left Nairobi at 5 minutes to midnight on Tuesday night. My path would take us across the vast arid landscape that is most of northern and East Africa. About 7 hours and 24 minutes later, we touched down in … Read More Here
The Great Swim Search…and other Rome notables
I’ve travelled enough that very few things ‘worry’ me while travelling. While many of my co-workers travelling with my on this trip are worried about typical international concerns like current exchanging, finding food, and pick pocketing – I’m typically most … Read More Here
Run around Rome
After a 9ish hour flight (and only about 2 hours of sleep), I landed in the city of pasta – Rome, Italy, where I’ll be for a few days for work before moving on elsewhere. The above flight path is … Read More Here
A little trip to Spain…and Africa.
Back a few months ago I got a great deal on airfare from DC to Spain ($127 round trip including all taxes). So on the eve of the Philadelphia Marathon, the girl and I booked tickets over for a 5 … Read More Here
Jumping Houses
We spent the morning of our second and final day skiing in France on the Courchevel side of the Three Valley’s Resort. As I mentioned yesterday, the ski area is really a collection of a number of resorts all seamlessly … Read More Here
70.5MPH (or 113 KMH in local speed currency)
Today, I managed to get up to 70.5 MPH on human power alone (and a little help from gravity). How you say? A combination of big French mountains and a pair of skies. What I didn’t mention recently is that … Read More Here



















