Heads up! The big Garmin spring sale has started, with $200 off the Fenix 8, $100 off the Edge 1050, Forerunner 965, Forerunner 265, and countless other Garmin products. Full list & thoughts 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:
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.
-
Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
-
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/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!
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 2024 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.
Ran a nice marathon in Longueuil, QC, under awesome sunny conditions.
$500 would definitely fuel the tech geek in me!
5 miles on Friday, 5k Parkrun on Saturday, 10 miles this morning, all in preparation for my next half marathon in two weeks!
Went for a 2hr ride and 30min brick run Saturday and 4 hr ride and 30 min brick run Sunday. Swim Monday. Finally some sun and warm temperatures.
Bluenose Marathon kids event with six week old twins in the Thule. Their first medals look great on their cribs too!
Also fortunate enough to get Road and mountain bike rides in too!
No real adventures this weekend as its rained all weekend. I did do an upgrade of my trainer bike from 8 speed to 10 and freshened up the cables and bar tape.
Saturday Double Brick and Sunday Long Run
Riding my bike!
Long run in the rain at Birds Hill Park.
I am up to winning a $500 giveaway!!! :)
Really hope I’ll make it for my 80K bike ride.
Some longcourse metres in the pool then a run. Will work up to a triathalon any day yet..
Postholing on the snow, trail running!
An awesome trail race at Soapstone Mountain.
Just a metric century on the trainer using Zwift.
Fitting in a quick ride.
Sunday @triathlon du chemin des dames near Paris !
Getting ready for first Tri of the season with some brick workouts
Practice ride in Cambridge for Eagleman 70.3. And training for a series of Bike MS centuries coming up in June! Gonna be a great month
Sufferfest videos
Trail run in the mud
Colfax half marathon this morning!
Just a couple of easy runs
3hr bike ride and 2hr run
Ran in the rain on lake Michigan in Chicago, yoga, kickball with friends and a light jog home!
Longer than anticipated run followed by slower than anticipated ride!
Gonna swim 5km open water during weekend!
Social bike ride, charity 5k with my family, first triathlon of the season, and my son’s first duathlon!
My first half-marathon (and first official race too haha) !! The Chicago Spring Half Marathon sponsored by Michelob Ultra. Ran it with 3 friends and finished with a 2:07:42. Not the fastest but I knew from the start I have to get out there and run more.
5 mile run, greenway ride with my sweetie, then some much need bike cleaning and maintenance.
2 races canceled due to rain = 2 endurance training rides.
45 min recovery row on the gym rowing machine for today. Yay!
My first bike ride of the season. :)
Long run this morning, training for SkyRuns!
A tacx ride because it’s allergy season !!
Packing the house up to move transpacific. That’s athletic enough for me.
Carb loading on pizza and beer while watching the Giro and Tour of California. I mean recovering from Ironman ;)
Hi Ray!
Here’s my weekend results:
Friday free
Saturday 2h bike, then 10k easy run
Sunday 3h roadbike
Best Jan
Ran NYRR Breoklyn Half Marathon!!! 1:48:18
Ran 3 miles and dug a trench and filled it back in with my buddy.
Recovery ride that went better than expected
Long swim – maybe will be able to do that Ironman this season after all!
Long weekend walk in the park with the boys and a bike ride. And maybe some gardening too.
Long ride and a duathlon!
I went for an easy 5 mile run both Saturday and Sunday. It was the first runs after being sick with strep throat. Feel good now and ready to resume training.
Planning to get back into training with a treadmill 5k interval run, weights session followed by a 1k swim (aka drowning with style). With a 40k ride the following day ??
Just a couple of recovery runs. Nothing too strenuous.
I’ve just cycled 230km this weekend :)
Offroad triathlon on North Stradbroke Island (a sand island off the east coast of Oz)
Really wish I’d trained more for it….
On Saturday I ran the Great Wall Marathon in China. Hot and steep but awsome all the same. Now some relaxing before the next adventure
Long run Saturday and a nice bike ride Sunday followed by yardwork!
Ironman Lanzarote but I had to walk the marathon due to injury
Hard swim. Too many chores to do much else.
Watching the giro with my broken wrist :(
A long run with some speed work mixed in.
Clambered back on the bike after a week in hospital.
This weekend involves an adventure of running in a new city while trying to digest all the food eaten while attending a runner friend’s wedding.
Some great efforts here. I am probably going to eat a pepperoni pizza and chill. Good luck y’all
Did some hiking on the AT in Virginia. Saw some ponies in Grayson Highland.
Running with the wife and a long bike ride in the trainer!
A run around the neighbourhood.
13k easy run before training for next marathon, Matsumoto Marathon, begins. Will train through the hot summer!
Dance Recital for the little one & High School Graduation for the big one, plus taking a friend to the airport–all on the same day! Athletic adventures were mostly racing from one activity to another. Now LAST weekend, my girls & I completed a treetop ropes course & ziplines.
Long (20+) on Saturday and a boozy Sunday
Long run for me, tennis with my oldest & throwing BP for my youngest.
Walked dogs every 2 hours, moved washer/dryer and cleaned both, moved kitchen kitchen appliances and cleaned behind those, etc. But I’d rather be swimming!
A five-mile run, after grocery shopping and before exercise.
A training ride for the Paris-Brest-Paris challenge, which i will do to raise awereness for veterans with PTSD.
Did my first long run back after ironman Aus 2 weeks ago. Felt pretty good.
Enjoying trail running in the jungle
Working out in the gym while recovering from a calf strain and chasing the grandkids around. I’ll put 3 kids under the age of 7 up against any HIIT work-out.
Sat: Commute to the Gym. 20min. 2-hour workout all superset combos. Commute to the grocery store then farmer’s market and load up the backpack and then back home. I felt good and wanted to keep riding but I knew Sunday was happening. Sunday: 50 miles. I have been working at trying to get a higher NP. Legs were like bricks though.
My weekend started Friday morning, with an OWS in the Barnegat Bay with my Jersey Shore Tri Club peeps. A 5K on Saturday, an a rest day Sunday. As always, thanks for the great web site!
Climbing Munros in God’s country?
Open water swim off the east coast of Singapore. #Allflashnodash
Just a 1 mile swim and an 86 mile bike ride on our way to AMBBR (Lake Tahoe Century) in 2 weeks. Easy weekend :-)
ran my first marathon 2 weeks ago and qualified for Boston 2018! Keeping up the run, did 18.5 km along the sea wall and over Vancouver’s bridges at 6am! Beautiful!
Going for a long run.Then watching dvr’d rest of Tour of California.
Planning for a couple of runs and a trainer ride. Trying to get back to form after a couple of busy months at work.
Swim, swim and swim. Need to improve. And this weekend sub1h section training.
I’m stuck with an old ‘dumb’ trainer, doing some indoor Zwift recovery workouts after fighting with Lyme disease for the last three years .. I’ve had some better weekends ?
Torrance Armed forces day 5K!
Started off with a 3k Open Water swim, followed shortly after by a very hot 40k bike. That left me mostly fried for the rest of Saturday. Sunday was a much more relaxing pool swim and hike with the dogs & the girl
Started cycling again this week, my legs hurt! ~150km in the past 24h, with over 1600m of climbing!
I rode on the trainer…. Very exciting
Short run and then mowing the lawn as a ‘cool down’.
Just a little training run for upcoming races.
A couple 5K runs along the beach in lovely Nha Trang, VNM. A few gym strength workouts as well…while supporting Pacific Partnership 17 with US, AUS, UK, JPN, & VNM navies.
Chasing my daughter around Disneyland. Hardest workout known to mankind.
Busy weekend. Competitive Sporting Clays shooting on Saturday, took 3rd in one event, followed by a medium recovery run. Sunday included a Sprint Tri (also took 3rd overall) to work on my transitions and some speed before Ironman 70.3 Raleigh in 2 weeks.
Just your basic training ride on the bike :)
Big climbing ride with my father! Legs will hurt!
Riding the Golden triangle. 320km in the Canadian Rockies!
Track 5k tempo run.
I ran 18mi up on the Backbone trail in Los Angeles. I tripped early on, and somehow dropped my fuel, so I bonked hard around mi 14, and trudged my way downhill that last 3-4mi. It was approaching 90 and sunny, so needless to say it was an exercise in tenacity as much as just an exercise!
Woo woo…made more room for sushi tho!
Today was a nice easy ride on the trainer to keep it chill and supple!
I’ve been ill…so looking forward to getting in a run and a cycle.
Back to back trail runs training for the Flagstaff Sky Race
This weekend was trying to recover fast enough from getting sick Friday night so I could attempt an open water Sprint Tri. I failed, so my backup plan was to do the tri without throwing up all over myself (only had to hold it back 5 times). Now I am just curled up under a blanket trying to stay warm in this blistering 75 degree weather.
25 miles on the bike yesterday, 5 miles of running today.
Raced a State Championship TT on Saturday. 2nd place F35+ at the ripe old age of 51 and set a PR so it was a good day. Not much else until I hit the gravel on Wednesday on my new Surly Straggler.
Riding 80 miles, IM training
Enduro mountain bike race!! I entered my first Enduro last year at the young age of 50. Here’s to staying young.
Racing Bay to Breakers!