Heads up! There’s some pretty substantial sales that just started. For watches, the Garmin Epix is down to $499, and the Fenix 7 to $449, with the Pro editions also $200 off! Meanwhile the top-end Edge 1040 cycling GPS is down to $499, and both the Edge 540 & Edge 840 are also on sale. As is Varia radar for $149. Some incredible deals, and ll the deals are here!
I’m DC RAINMAKER…
Here’s how to save!
Wanna save some cash and support the site? These companies help support the site! With Backcountry.com or Competitive Cyclist with either the coupon code DCRAINMAKER for first time users saving 15% on applicable products.
You can also pick-up tons of gear at REI via these links, which is a long-time supporter as well:
With TPC (The Pro's Closet), you'll save $40 on purchases over $200 with coupon code DCRAIN40 for tech and non-tech purchases!
Alternatively, for everything else on the planet, simply buy your goods from Amazon via the link below and I get a tiny bit back as an Amazon Associate. No cost to you, easy as pie!
You can use the above link for any Amazon country and it (should) automatically redirect to your local Amazon site.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-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 Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent GPS watch guide here, and cycling GPS computers here. Plus there are smart trainers here, all in these guides cover almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day-to-day? I also just put together my complete ‘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
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.
4
My Photography Gear: The Cameras and Equipment I Use Daily
The most common question I receive outside of the “what’s the best GPS watch for me” variant, are photography-esq based. So in efforts to combat the amount of emails I need to sort through on a daily basis, I’ve complied this “My Photography Gear” post for your curious minds! It’s a nice break from the day to day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
5
The Swim/Bike/Run Gear I Use List
Many readers stumble into my website in search of information on the latest and greatest sports tech products. But at the end of the day, you might just be wondering “What does Ray use when not testing new products?”. So here is the most up to date list of products I like and fit the bill for me and my training needs best! DC Rainmaker 2023 swim, bike, run, and general gear list. But wait, are you a female and feel like these things might not apply to you? If that’s the case (but certainly not saying my choices aren’t good for women), and you just want to see a different gear junkies “picks”, check out The Girl’s Gear Guide too.
I’m planning on a couple of family bike rides through Prince William Forest Park, followed by some pool time.
My odds are slim on this giveaway but CROSSING FINGERS!!!! Would love to have the 610 :)
Running another half marathon this weekend! With a crazy work life recently this race is going to HURT.
Also sorry if this is a repeat, the comment section is GOING CRAZY!!!!!
House hunting in Boston. It’s humid here!
long run on Sat followed by some brewskis a bbq then another long run on Sun, maybe another on Mon if I’m feeling it
I am looking forward to a long weekend of mountain biking after finally getting cleared to exercise again by my cardiologist! 40 years old is too young for a pacemaker!
Traveling for work on this beautiful weekend, unfortunately!
Planting my garden and doing 100 Miles of Nowhere. Oh and paperwork…ugh (for the paperwork).
I will spend some time in Acapulco with Friends and perhaps do some running on the beach.
This weekend I am going to sit around and lament that I will never win this Garmin since I am about the 250th person to enter your contest.
On my way to Hawaii for 3 weeks with my wife for our 10th anniversary.
1/2-Marathon in Calgary, AB
would be a great gps watch for gold coast marathon in july!
Looking forward to some time by the pool and the BBQ with family and friends. Awesome give away!!
Soccer with the kids on Saturday.
Planning a 12miler in the hills of the Bay Area on Sunday.
Most important, enjoy a well deserved nap in my hammock on Monday.
Club ride on Saturday and (my) birthday dinner that night!Solid tempo run on Sunday.
Well here in Seattle it’s likely to rain but I’ll probably run and BBQ anyway!!! And maybe clean out the garage…
Should be a four-day weekend for me, but I’m working Friday! Oh well, I’ll spend the three days I do have off working around the house and probably running a 5K on Monday. Maybe do a little mountain biking, who knows. Going to be a hot one!
Last weekend, our long weekend in Vancouver, Canada, was a wet gardening one and still no Summer in sight for this weekend,
cheers.
Helping friend get ready for his wedding and ride my bike in Dolores, CO.
I will be planting a garden and some flowers! BBQ of course will include: chips, Dutch oven potatoes and bring your own meat (probably steak), yum I can’t wait!
I’ll be throwing a “way-to-heavy-for-what-we-need-it-to-do” pier into a northern Wisconsin lake. The good news is, I have all of my bike gear along to reconnect with the old routes of my youth.
90km bike ride, 14k run, 3 k swim planned for this weekened.
Love your blog..appreciate the effort you must put into your reviews.
Spending the weekend getting my riding lawnmower running again. I’m putting in a lot of extra miles pushing my other mower around my lawn. Not Fun!
I’ll be heading to the mountains of Colorado to do some camping and fishing with my family. BBQ plans are somewhat dependent on the catch, but as a backup there are sure to be plenty of brats.
We are taking the outlaws to visit some star-shaped cities… (mysterious enough?)
I actually have some plans this Memorial Day weekend! My CrossFit gym is having a potluck on Saturday afternoon and there is a big 80 mile group ride on Sunday to do a well-known climb in Sonoma County. I may even go crazy and do some wine tasting on Monday.
Work, work, work. The life of retail when a holiday weekend comes rolling around. It’s beautiful outside means one thing, right? Shop! Ughhhhhhh…
Try running in India! Yikes. Running to commence again upon termination of 3 month hiatus!
I run a restaurant, so I will unfortunately be working all weekend so other members of my staff can attend bbqs.
Thanks for the entry!
We are busy with Highland games… many days of dancing and piping
At least a haircut and some runs around the neighborhood on Sat & Sun!
50mile ride in Malibu including climbing Encinal and heading west to Las Posas or Camarillo if were feeling ambitious. BBQ does sound good though.
the FR610 would help my run sessions…
No bbq, had one planned, but it was canceled due to forecast heavy rain here in Norway.
Plans: building a two-story deck on our house!
I’ll be spending the weekend in the spanish northern mountains with the family and some friends.
Congrats for the blog and good look for all the comments.
Still with a sore throat. I hope I can kick this before the CapTex Tri on Memorial Day!
Dear Ray,
I’ll probably wake up early to swim at 8, go with my 3 kids to the park and… why not? Some yummie baby back ribs @ tony roma’s… with delicious bbq sauce!
BTW, I spent some time with the ITU triathlon world champion here in Madrid – he’s quite a nice guy! (I hope you are jealous as I am everytime I read your posts ;)
Love your blog,
Thanks
Sam
I’m going to be a road warrior: Powerdriving from Nashville with my pops to Indianapolis to get a break from work (and see what he’s made out of in some excruciating core workouts) and then powerdriving back down through Nashville to mom’s place in Atlanta to enjoy the humid south for who knows how long!? I’m taking it one day at a time!
Just found your site, was looking for both a good watch and something to record my rides along with heart rate, Great Reviews. Now if Garmin could just add a few more watch features like multi-timezone and interval timers or open up an SDK so we could write our own. Well, bike to work tomorrow, short 25 mile on saturday and then Manress State Beach on Monday. Have a great weekend.
Hi and thank you for your effort to create a content-rich place :)
I’ll be taking part to bike road race in Estonia in Sunday.
I hope it does not rain on Sunday, there are clouds in the sky, we have family feast (to recover the calories burned during the week …). Greetings!
20 years marrage this w/end.
Got to take wifey away and promise no training, though might sneak into hotel gym while she is getting ready- should be able to fit in a two hour w/out.
The usual: long run on Sunday on Dybbol Banke (beautiful hills with sea view) and afterwards home baked omelette. BBQ if weather permits (unlikely)…
Jasper (Danmark)
The device is still not available in France. Can I be the first one to show it around?
Thanks for your super nice blog.
Taking part in a Half-Marathon race which starts at 8pm..
running and gardening , well done on the blog
House hunting and emptying old apartment will take most of the weekend. So lots of intervals up and down 4 floors of stairs with heavy boxes. And the dog still needs his runs in the forest…
Unfortunately no BBQ this weekend just plenty of work around the house weather permitting.
I plan on buying textbooks for my June classes on Friday, then going to eat crawfish at my aunts house on Saturday with the rest of my family, and babysitting my niece on Sunday then going on a long bike ride around Houston with some friends :)
Absolutely love your site. Best fitness site out there and makes me want to go from being just a runner to a tri-athlete.
Ta Shaun
Let’s try and hope for the best :)
Working the weekend, then losding the bus wiyh Kids, Wife, and tent to getaway for a few days. Of course taking the bbq goo!
Big time family party with cricket and tennis. Long bike ride planned for Monday.
Hello from Denmark. Great blog! I am looking forward to your RCX5 review. Well, this week and weekend we stay in Sorrento, Italy where we participate in a conference. I have been running in the hills two times with very great views of the coast and swimming in the pool :) Have a nice BBQ in US this weekend.
Running, running.. Can’t wait the RCX5 review :)
Well,i’m pllaning to buy a new road bike on friday so propably the whole weekend i’ll be testing my new baby :)
I´ll be spending the weekend on familybirthdays saturday and sunday – I might make a 20 k run sunday morning.
Martin Sanderhoff – Denmark
Run, relax and, YES!, BBQ!!!!
Happy to say I will be relaxing, spending time with the family and NOT WORKING.
Happy Weekend
A lot of driving for me this weekend, I have to pick up my wife form airport on Saturday, will be fun cause most of the roads around it are closed due to Obama visit, then we hit south of Poland and hope for good weather for bike trip and then bbq with family. 800 km in 2 days on less than perfect polish roads…
btw, great site, amount of useful info available in one place surpasses any other blog or site I could find, I decided to switch from suunto t3 to forerunner 210 after reading your review :)
This weekend’s plans: I’m running the Bupa London 10k again this year and it’s on Bank Holiday Monday 31st May here in the UK.
Thanks for the informative reviews, this site is my first port of call for a real life test of any new kit. Really appreciate your time and effort.
Check out my 365 day charity running challenge here: http://1095miles.com
Finally decided to bite the bullet and got a Garmin 210. Im so excited, thanks for your review
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great blog
I’ll probably train on saturday (a 10k, even if i should have a 15k: I’m a little lazy in these days!)
an relax with kids and family on sunday. Greetings from Maranello (Mo), Italy
Queen’s Bitrhday long weekend in New Zealand. Have orienteering carnival. 5 races in 3 days. About 6 hours (lost) in the forest :)
Great stuff Ray
Ray, thanx for your great work, entertaining articles and very cool giveaways. This weekend – Saturday my great friends’ wedding, Sunday after party brunch and then I guess very late 12 miler for my marathon training … Garmin would be pretty usefull for it :)
Will be going out on friday, as this is the one weekend in a month with no races (orienteering does not count).
Will try to squeeze some bike training and helping Mom put up new wallpapers in the appartment between bar and running in the wood.
Great site!
60 mile bike ride to the beach (and back Mon)!
Ill be orienteering on Saturday then going for a long run on Sunday. Of course there will be a BBQ and beers somewhere in there!!!
The weather was quite wet up here (NS, Canada) the past holiday weekend. When the rain did stop, I managed to get out for a run, plant some trees and take my young fellows out exploring while geocaching.
Opps, sorry if I double post but when I went to publish this it tried to make me sign up for a blogging account.
Taking a staycation this weekend… Doing a wine festival on Saturday, 70+ mile hilly bike ride on Sunday, and who knows what on Monday.
Gonna buy a case of BBQ Sauce and drink myself into pulled pork oblivion.
Sat, long steady run (2 hours/15 miles).
Sun, rest. Eat a bit too much.
Mon, training run for duathlon that I’m doing the following week. Probably 3 x 2.5 mile fast circuits.
Tue, back to work (unfortunately).
I am spending the weekend with family and great friends at our lake house on Lake Barkley in Kentucky. We have made such great memories there and I can’t wait to continue the traditions this weekend. I am a teacher so this is an extra special weekend, the end of school and the kick off of summer!!!
nice blog
like your posts and reviews
thanks aviad
hey DCR,
love the site and keen to see if a 610 can make its way to the deep deep south.
cheers,
dawesy
Canberra, Australia.
No BBQ’s for me because the weather in Ireland is terrible, windy and rainy everyday. If the evenings didn’t get gradually brighter, we’d never even know it was summer! But i don’t care because this weekend marks my return to running after an ankle injury, hurrah!
Rev3 Quassy Oly tri dry run into taper for 6/4 race, steaks on Sunday with friends from GA, and NYC on Monday with the kids. Have a great weekend!
Lucky me and being in the military and all means I get a 4 day weekend. Putting in some big miles on the bike as well as a TTT over here in Korea. Should be a good time!
US Orienteering Team Trials all weekend near Peekskill New York.
I’ll be working 15+ our days straight through, grabbing the tail end of day light for laps around the hotel
Shalom :)
Saturday I will cycle round the geneva’s lake (180 km) with my wife and her familly (real a sport familly ;).
Than in two weeks BBQ near the castel of Chillon (beautiful region for triathlon and trekking; you should come to see) for her 35 birthday wit friends and co.
THX for you blog, realy amazing !
I will be packing our RV for a long road trip to Disney World. Also hope to get in a nice long run.
Well lets see… pretty jam packed actually.
Jazz in the Garden tonight at the National Gallery, 90 min bike and off to a vineyard tomorrow, 2 mile swim on and then work for 11 hours on Sunday (ugh), then I round the weekend out with a Nats game on Monday.
No BBQs, but the wife and I are planning on going to Capital Q, at least once this weekend. Does that count?
Cooking steaks in the backyard!
8k on Saturday followed by cycling and swimming throughout the weekend. BBQ and beer will be used as recovery meals!
I’ll be splitting time between Ikea, the pool, hardware store, bike, power washing and running. Fun filled weekend.
Cool blog, I really liked your review on the Edge 500.
Plan on getting some good activity in, a few hours on the bike, a good long run, some time at the farmers market to get the garden underway. Hopefully the weather is nice for all of this!
Work today, outlets and a concert on saturday, long run sunday and a bbq to follow that (no need for a Pear Rule there) … thanks as always for such an awesome offer!
Working Saturday. On the bike Sunday. Running on Monday. Brian in Little Rock.
A normal week-end for me. Happy to look at your posts every day.
Keep going !
Last weekend I went for a XC mountain bike ride, finished off a semi long slow run, and this weekend I’m running a Marathon here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
KC Q Rocks
Great Blog!! One entrie. patriciagarridolopez@yahoo.com
The runners of the family are running the Soldier Field 10 mile. I with bad knees am doing my long ride during that period of time (well a little longer it is a short weekend) and then we are all doing Ride The Drive in Chicago
Single dad for the weekend (giving the wife a much needed break)
Do 3 month olds like hot dogs?
Great blog!! One entrie. Regards,
Jorge