Heads up! The big Garmin annual spring sale has started, with $200 off the Fenix 8 (first sale to date!), $100 off the Edge 1050, Forerunner 965 at $499, the Forerunner 265, the new Instinct 3, and countless other Garmin products including inReach Mini 2. Plus the Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium is on sale, and some Suunto & Wahoo product deals too. 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.
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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/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.
Trainer Road!
A 50km easy bike ride.
A hike in the Rockies.
Weather permitting, a hike in the local escarpment area
Small run between two rains
Quite a busy weekend.
4 soccer games for my 3 kiddos, 2 of whom I coach. A birthday party at a trampoline park.
30+ dawn bike ride, mowing a large yard with a push mower, and my kids first cross-highway bike ride to a dinner spot; quite a feat in my just-now-becoming-bike-friendly city.
Core work as I’m training for a 5 miler next weekend.
My wife has been angling for a GPS watch for a while. So, that seems like the most logical course of action if I were to win. That and running socks.
Raced a Sprint triathlon sporting the awesome TRS Racing kit… but who cares about me? My son (7) did his first Splash and Dash 150 swim / 1/2 mile run at the same race… and won! We celebrated a double family AG win! Ray, isn’t that worthy of a giveaway prize?
Ran a 10k in prep for upcoming triathlon. Pumped to use my new garmin edge 820 I just bought from clever training!
On call this weekend so it was a cross training weekend only
sad to have no adventures this weekend. had dental surgery.
can’t wait to be on the trails again
thanks for the giveaway!!
No activity for me – just recovering from pneumonia.. looking forward to be back on my bike again..
Went on an epic 270k ride, battery was about to die… You all know what I need, don’t you?
Our running club had a camp by the sea. On Saturday everybody did long run and some orienteering (so more km than usually). Anyway on Sunday we had a race and EVERYBODY (including me) did 5 km PB :)
Golfed 18 holes and went a nice long run!
Getting some biking in and hopefully a run.
I ran the 6k fulda challenge run with another 7500 People .. was Great fun and best Weather for this. to do some more km i started from Home .. to geht 15 k ;-)
Long run +30km
Speaking of adventure. I will now start my real training for Milo Marathon (Philippines) with a 21k LSD run and 30km bike. I just had my injury and I think its a previllege to have this kind of technology with me to reach my goal.
Start with a good swim, continue with a little run and finish with a long bike ride. And then? Repeat… ?
I’m going to try to go for a hike around the lake.
Going to explore new regions around my home city!
Go for a hike with my family! It’s always nice to get out and get some fresh air!
Going out with the mountainbike first time in 6 months after a back injurie :)
Intervals and intervals of course.
A couple of runs by the sea.
Chasing children around the house and yard.
Raining so on zwift doing the pretzel.
I ran the Dirty Dog 15k trail run and I came in dead last.
Hi,
Saturday was a nice little recovery day, followed by a nice 80km ride on Sunday up the mountains.
I’ll be running along the river :)
Flying to French Alps to attempt the Col De Jeux.
I am doing a long run on Sunday and am babysitting Sunday afternoon!
Bike intervals plus endurance bike followed by progresssive brick run on Saturday and straight recovery bike ride on Sunday!
Running 10K with my team this weekend for charity. It’s a fundraiser organized by the Tim Tebow Foundation (yes, that’s the former pro-football player) to help children with orthopedic needs.
Outdoor spin to get away from the indoor training screen.
This weekend I’ll have a fast training 5k and in the middle I’ll have some 1000 steps to climb.
This weekend I’m going to do a 5k run/walk with my beautiful boys and play tennis
Got hit by a car whilst doing the kinglake climb. Luckily im slow so no damage done, just a few bruises
30 min run arround the block
Bike weekend in Läde/Mora Sweden, 3 days off with friends chasing KOMs..
I ran 3 hours in nearly 100degF heat.
I rode the local mountain bike trails.
Step training: moving out of second floor.
Mountaint bike with my fiance.
Marathon race day!
Running in the the knee deep snow!
I would like to fix my watch and go swimming :)
I hope to get a few runs in and maybe swing some kettlebells
Triathlon in Shanghai. Enjoy a happy and sincere life of training.
Biked easy 20 mins on Saturday. Ran Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga Sunday (finished in under 6 hrs, which for my first time I thought was pretty good).
Training up for Tri!
Getting back to running and cycling, just off an injury. Yay!
Went for a ride Saturday and then a run Sunday. So much slower than my normal slow.
Would $500 to spend on some new sports tech really motivate me to get out and run again? I don’t know, but I sure am willing to try!
Just kidding D.C., I’m going to start running again on Tuesday over lunch…even without a fancy new watch. Just a 10-min pace mile out and a brisk walk back.
For real though, I sure would love to get something new and modern. My FR305 still works, but boy is it ancient!
Local half marathon :)
The weather warmed up enough that I could finally get all my workouts done outside! A nice 2:00 brick on Saturday and easy 2:00 ride on Sunday!
This weekend we organized an orienteering race, where i ran a lot to deploy check points, and had 50k road bike ride.
Riding Tour of the Unknown Coast in northern California. Beautiful but was really fun on my adventure bike.
This weekend in my first 21k this year… A week after a grueling cross-country bike contest and two weeks after my best 10k in a race ( just under 50 – I know it doesn’t seems much… But for me it is). So… If a live after that I will be happy !
A 10km local run(peacock run)
20 km ride in the evening :)
funny mtb rIde in belgium with our gang
link to youtu.be
that’s why we train .. For the fun with the friends
2 quick Rides around the block as my daugther ist visiting us.
Started cycling this year. Rode for 1.5 hours to Birch Bay in NW Washington state.
Taking a break for a beer and food festival! Better ride my eyes out this week in prep…
Long bike ride in preparation of a fundraising 1000km event
Training for my first marathon! Been a goal for many years and I’m finally making it happen on the sunny Gold Coast, Australia!
Run on saturday, ride on sunday
Did a 5K with the family today
Running all weekend
Wallpaper stripping repeats and paint roller sprints… does that count?
Running after my two kids on their bicycles.
Open water swim practice and dry land training Saturday. Escort kayaker for a 10K open water swim Sunday.
Working this weekend, but beautiful weather for commuting on the bike
It was a busy weekend of life stuff so I just did a couple moderate runs. But they were at the beach, so there’s that
A couple of tiddly 10k-ers in the fantastic British sun.
First time squatting in my home gym !
I an doing a 24 hour MTB race ??
Brick Run
First 30k Bike, then 7k Run
Hard to beat the guy who ran the Great Wall Marathon in China! Did my first bike race in over 30 years! Did 69km in 1:43 and pretty much cooked these old legs!
Saturday: Easy Trainer ride with Fast efforts
Sunday: easy jog
Ironman AZ 70.3 training has begun just as the weather starts heating up!
Starting training for 1st tri in 2 years
Went on an outride to a local MTB trail, took a bit of a tumble down a slope.
Ready for a new running watch
A little swim and some kms on the bike
Just a short ride. Still recovering from the last surgery
On Saturday, we ran five miles before watching the Preakness. On Sunday, we biked 20 miles to get ready for the first metric century of the season next weekend.
Simple hiking up Victoria Peak (and all the way up to West High Mount) in Hong Kong :)
Hiking around Hong Kong!
I did my last ride before the next sunday Gran Fondo in Colombia. It will be great
Having a ball on my brand new trek.
“Lifting weights” by cleaning up broken tree limbs from an odd heavy and wet winter snow storm in May in Colorado.
2h10 Sweet Spot Ride on my Sworks Shiv with 330W Normalized Power. Preparation to smash the middle distance relay next weekend…
A 20km trail run on Saturday and a 30km hike on Sunday
I will run in Caucasus for pleasure
Triathlon training: 80km bike + 10km run
On Saturday I’ll be cheering 570 girls, encouraging them to cross the finish line of a 5k, for many their first. On Sunday, going for a much needed run.
This weekend was all about getting healthy again first after falling ill.
Run around Greenlake (in Seattle) with my 14 year old tracking it on my Garmin fenix 5!
I have injured left foot so no running, but I am fine on bike and did 2 rides this weekend.
Hi,
I will have a bike Tour of approximately 100 km with 600m difference of height. :)