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.
Doing X Adventure Dunborough short on Saturday and long on Sunday as neither are long enough.
First trip to the Perth hills on the bike for a year or so. Love it out there.
Went golfing with my Son. His first time out on a course.
I never win. :-( Oh, and I drank beer last weekend. For umm, recovery reasons.
Freezing rain in Ottawa. And while normally I would get out the spikes and go go go, it’s April and I really should not have to deal with ice. So off to the gym to life those heavy things. Not adventurous, but it does help me to get through adventures!
Just a couple short runs to keep the mileage going.
Unintended triathlon: Training swim of 2500yd, training run of 10k then my wife wanted to go on a bike ride which ended up being 15mi. So I treated myself to a great recovery dinner later!!!
Chased the 3 year and 21 month old around in circles all Sunday.
Just a slow jog around the neighborhood. In the Spring snow :-(
Did a morning and evening run on Saturday
I didn’t train because i was sick. This srping looks like winter to me.
Greenway exploring on the new bike.
18k trail run on San Tan Mountain in AZ.
Ride on the bike share, tore apart my old grill
First ride outside of the year on Saturday. Things are looking up.
Run in the rain
I’ve been training for an upcoming 10k and an eventual half marathon later this year.
Eleven mile long run and then chasing around the two kids all weekend…
I did a 4km open water swim
Ongoing recovery weekend – from spine fusion!!
30 laps of pool walking ??♂️?
Completed 5×10 under overs on Friday just to find myself sick over the weekend.
Open water swim for the first time in my local reservoir
Towing a couple of kids in their bike trailer down to the local park.
I did some practice laps of the upcoming MTB race we’re having in Cambodia in two weeks time
Biking, strength training, and step mill
45 mile ride woth 3k feet climbed, followed by a tempo run. Easy Peary lemon squeezy
Race #3 in our local gravel series, what would normally be an easy & fast 55 miles turned in to a brutal day with a high of 33°F & 40mph WNW wind with gusts over 50mph. Single speed hurt but we managed to beat most of the spinny geared guys.
10km race, which is usually the first race of the season for me. I use it to gauge my preseason fitness.
Watched the incredible runners finishing Boston despite the terrible weather
I’d like to win but all I did was Sufferfest on the trainer!
Raining outside so just a quick 90 min up Alpe du Zwift and back!
Lots of freezing rain over the weekend here so 2 hour Zwift on Saturday, and a really slow and tough half marathon run on Sunday
4am Tour of Watopia virtual ride/race followed by 7:30am local group ride/virtual race
I did a 5-mile aerobic run…followed by 6 hours riding in a car.
30km run – my first tarmac run >21km for a year and it hurt! Give me the trails any day…
10 mile run on tired legs, half marathon coming up!
Trail running before the deluge in nova
Shoveled the 20+” of snow we got in northern Wisconsin from Blizzard Evelyn
I raced a 2,000 meter rowing race in Philly, and did terribly.
Life is just a game, Boston rulez. a
Not a whole lot because of bad conditions. 10 mile treadmill run and an hour and change on Zwift/Xert!
On Saturday I ran 11 miles and on Sunday rode my bike 3 hours.
What was supposed to be a leisure ride Saturday turned into climbing some of the local inclines/hills, then hooking up with one of the local cycling clubs on the way back home for a few miles.
Short time-trial on the bike Saturday morning enjoying beautiful sunshine!
crappy weather, happy zwifter
Was at a conference, but got in two good days at the hotel gym.
What was supposed to be a leisure ride Saturday turned into climbing some of the local inclines/hills, then hooking up with one of the local cycling clubs on the way back home for a few miles.
I ran a 33 mile lap around Manhattan with Run2Revive to support Alzheimer’s and ALS research.
My athletic adventure this past weekend was shoveling an unwanted April blizzard several times. Apparently 20″ in 48 hours. I am so sore.
First ride outside. 1.5 hours in 20mph crosswinds and headwinds! Great start to the season!
This weekend I did the most epic cross-country skiing trip I´ve ever been on..bluebird and surrounded by mountains filled with deep snow. Hollywood would have called it a blockbuster…
Getting back into shape- 25 miles of mileage, both hard and recovery sandwich between 21 hours of continue education classes at work. It was a rough weekend with little sleep.
Overslept and missed the morning ride but wore myself out landscaping the house.
VO2 max run session and a jungle circuit on zwift. And the best workout of all, playing in a bouncy castle with my kids for 30min.
Did some yummy trail running, no tequila this time.
I was under Dr’s orders to do absolutely nothing athletic. Had a little surgery and sat around with ice on my balls mostly.
This weekend i was athletically looking after my 8yo sone whilst mum is away in san diego… son doing activity on my behalf – trying out fencing (as in swords not walls)
10 mile fastpack/hike in my new Bedrock Cairn 3D Pros.
Took the dog for a walk
I went for a short ride out of the neighborhood that ended rather quickly due to an old lady deciding my rear tire was a bumper. Oh well.
12km run
Work trip to Vancouver means I got to run Stanley Park and the sea wall! Beautiful!!!
Did a 10 Km hike up Sutton in Quebec, Canada. I’d really like to get the 500 USD, since I’m stuck with the funky Canadian currency ;-P
a ‘hike’ that turned into considerably more than planned, due to more snow than planned on the descent route.
Enjoyed a rainy Sunday with a nice 6 mile run
Felt great being out in the elements
Just my normal parkrun on Saturday morning. Do they have parkrun in the Netherlands yet?
70km club spin to the mountains!
What’s the TSS for spreading mulch all day
Long ride on saturday, first warm day of the year (before it got cold again on sunday…)
Spent the weekend taking fishing poles out of my dad’s garage and to FedEx, also moved a bunch of boxes, clothes, etc for my step-mother.
More recovery than activity, but such is life in mourning
So I had a recovery day sitting in the office working…and getting up and walking every now and then.
Got lazy and went fishing. Didn’t catch a thing but enjoyed my time.
31km ride followed by a 13km run… awesome 2+ hr workout!… would love to win!
Cleaned my road bike for the first time in 6 months.
On Saturday I had a thrilling 30 mile ride. Indoors on the trainer. I followed it up Sunday with a 4 mile fartlek run. Again indoors, on the treadmill. This winter just won’t go away!
Did an 8ish mile trail ride and some strength training.
Completed first triathlon (so). With no prior open water swimming experience, the first leg sure wasn’t pleasant at all.
Upped indoor trainer workouts from 60 to 90 minutes, same intensity, absolute killer but loving it.
Last 6km swim before swim race this weekend!
Recovering from the Tour of Watopia on Zwift.. While also still trying to get some running miles in for a North Face Trail run in DC
Working in the yard and training with our active dog who loves Intervals.
Run in the rain
BAA 5K on Saturday. First race since BAA 5K in 2016. Great to be back!
Rainy/stormy day in the Pacific NW. Had an outstanding workout doing a bunch of cross training machines that left me pretty much feeling exhausted, need to get some technology to better monitor the ebb and flow of my workouts.
This weekend we had a freezing rain storm accompanied by snow. The roads were super slippery and dangerous. So it was a recovery weekend for me but I still managed to go for a… trek to the local donut shop with my daughter :-) Recover and refuel :-)
First strength training in a while on Saturday (now properly sore) and a test run on the treadmill Sunday (have been laying off due to posterior tibial tendonitis).
Crap weather in Portugal…watching Amstel Classic was the most athletic thing to do :D
5.5mi run on Sat and a hilly 26.4mi ride on Sunday to prep for this year’s first race (oly dist) next weekend.
Slowly on the road to the gym again….walked 5 miles! Woohoo!
I ran the Desert Rats 50k in Fruita, CO.
Ran my 4th Half Marathon this weekend
Raced the RVa Monument Ave 10k
Early morning strength on Saturday, running on Sunday followed by stacking 2 tonne of firewood away!
Improved my best lap time on the local MTB race course by 45 seconds!
Still stuck inside on the trainer – will winter never end in this country!!! (Canada.)
Adam
Nice recovery treadmill run (first run after months of biking due to plantar fasciitis) … :)
Dropped off the rental car and ran home.
My weekend adventurous weekend activity was kayaking to three sisters springs and swim around that area with resident manatees!
Recovery from spin workout
Long slow distance ride