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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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Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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In Depth Product Reviews
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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!
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.
My Photography Gear: The Cameras/Drones/Action Cams 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 (including drones & action cams!)! It’s a nice break from the day-to-day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
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 think you have the greatest job in the world, to be able to (a) work all over the place(though its just work, it beats AB commuting, having tried both) (b) have time to train everywhere you go, briefly, damn I am SO envious of your life.
About the pool, that was pretty perfect, sad to hear about your usual crappy pool conditions in France. Let me know if you ever need to come by Denmark and I can PM you a good location to a 50m pool, 50m setup with not many people outside rush hour.
Good blog entry, I love hearing how even with American security, it IS possible to utilize a 3hr window(you only used 3 I mean) when just wanting to pop off for a quick swim/run etc.
jealousy!
our pool here is only 20 meters long, most of the time you can’t see past 5 feet, no lanes, people swimming in all directions, have t look out for people diving into the pool while you’re swimming.
If you want a biking or running partner while you’re here, let me know. I’m in Snohomish. I enjoy your blog :)
Ray, there was a lot going on this weekend here in the Bay Area. You could have caught the Bay to Breaker race and seen lots of pot smoking naked people running through the city, or maybe a stage of the Amgen Tour of California.
What most people from here don’t realize, is that SFO is pretty far away from the actual San Francisco city. You did a great job finding a pool that was open and close to the airport. We are spoiled here. Usually when I’m in Germany working, I have the same problems you do in the pool, fighting it out with about 10 people/lane, if there even is a lane.Or avoiding the crazy ‘old German style’ back stroke, which basically means not looking which way you are going and trying to stretch your arms AND legs out as wide as possible in a ‘snow-ferry-like’ motion. But it may surprise you, the conditions for swimming in Germany were even worse 20 years ago when I first arrived there. Unless you were in a swimming club or team, there were never dedicated lanes or even lane lines to allow a workout.
See you around…
Indeed, getting from SFO to the city can be messy depending on traffic and where you’re going. This was quick and clean!
Realistically I could have been more efficient too, probably slicing at least 30-40 minutes off the time – but I was just enjoying the day and being lazy.
Ray, don’t drink water that’s been heated inside a plastic water bottle. Even by the sun, the plastic leaches carcinogenic chemicals.
Also, don’t go out into the sun. It’s rays have been shown to cause skin cancer…
Not quite the same as drinking poison Pete. But hey, drink up!
link to cancerresearchuk.org
Someone already posted a link, but just to be clear: PLASTIC DOES NOT LEACH CARCINOGENIC CHEMICALS. There’s no basis at all for that claim.
This link was already posted, but rebuts it quite well: link to cancerresearchuk.org
You are probably at a much higher risk of harm by having a glass bottle near a pool (don’t do that!) or drinking from a metal bottle (especially a non-lined aluminium one).
5) No-one was backstroking down my lane with four pieces of swim equipment at the speed of a one-legged turtle
I couldn’t agree more… what is even worse, that certain person is backstroking without any piece of swim equipment with the speed of one-legged sloth…
Ray
Check out the Taquieria in Burlingame next time. Outstanding Mexican food.
Also, I swam at the pool you wrote about when I lived in SF. It is a hidden gem
La Boulange is actually an SF local bakery/pastry shop which, I just found out through the googles, was purchased by Starbucks about a month ago (for $100M!). Hopefully they keep the same bakery standards as their croissants were some of the best in the city.
Yes, we are totally spoiled with our outdoor pools here – most of the ones I swim in are like that! Glad you enjoyed the brief visit to our area ;)
Jealous. That is all. :-)
You must have gotten some funny looks from the car rental people, renting a car and returning it two hours later!
No visit at #ATOC?
Thanks for the inspiration to work out during, through, despite, work travel.
Boy, you make it hard to use the, “I don’t have time to workout today.” excuse when you can get in an hour swim AND clear int’l customs during an airport layover.
Great post! You got some absolutely stellar weather, as it can be very cold, foggy and dreary here in SF during the summer. If you find yourself nostalgic for big American breakfasts the next time you’re in Burlingame, try Stacks. Good for a post-workout calorie bomb. May you and your roll aboard have many more safe travels, on-time arrivals, and quick passages through customs. Cheers! Keep up the great posts.
I see your using the garmin swim. Is this your go-to swim watch now? Any reason why choosing it over a 910xt? I would think while traveling a device that can do all three sports would mean less to pack than 3 devices. Also do these garmins now allow people to create a swim workout on the pc and upload it to the watch to follow at the pool?
It was mostly just a case of having it on my little swim bag. Also, since it hangs out in there, I don’t have to worry about remembering to charge it.
I’ve been using the Swim lately mostly just because it’s smaller on my wrist and I’ve been swimming with two swim-tracking units at once, so this slightly minimizes how dorky it looks to swim with two devices.
Unfortunately no, Garmin still doesn’t allow creation of swim workouts or transferring them to the units.
If you are free in Seattle tonight, there is a group that runs from the Born to Run store across the street from the downtown REI. Group meets at 6pm and usually sets out for 5-7 (sometimes 9) around 6:15. Otherwise try and enjoy the grey (it is better than the 87 and ridiculous humidity I just left in Chicago, not to mention the chaos of ORD).
What a beautiful pool and looks like perfect weather! Perfect setup to swim all day!
Glad you enjoyed your brief stay in the bay. We are very fortunate to have so many pools just like that swim in in the bay area. And as noted above, Starbucks really purchased the La Boulange eateries. So they have transitioned in some of their pastries into the Starbucks lineup.
Hi Ray,
Thanks for the great tip. Went there this morning on foot from my hotel and had a great training session.
Experienced the american pool etiquette too, something that does not really exist in Belgium or any other european country I went swimming.
Awesome, great to hear you were able to enjoy it!
I went to Burlingame High School and used to use this pool all the time. I sure do miss it. Great to see these pictures, and glad you got to enjoy a bit of my hometown!
I was a lifeguard at the Burlingame pool for years. You seriously lucked out. I have never seen long course so empty! To have your own lane is unheard of. Thanks for sharing SwimRadar – it’s going to make hunting for a pool so much easier.
Awesome! Yeah, I figured being somewhat mid-day, mid-weekday probably helped quite a bit. Nice blog you’ve got there. :)