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.
Saturday was club ride turned surprise first long ride of the year (85 miles and 5,700 feet of climbing) and Sunday was recovery.
Did I do a recovery swim? Can’t remember
I ran myself ragged chasing after my kids this weekend.
Finding some new roads to ride while in Dallas/Fort Worth area…
Getting back on the horse to some 5ks
I got to athletically adventure into my basement for Stage 5 of the Tour of Watopia. The Three Sisters kicked my butt.
Got absolutely soaked riding to see the cherry blossoms and tulips at the Tidal Basin. Got more of a workout trying to keep warm in the cold, windy rain.
I PR’ed the zwift epic kom.
Shoveled 3″ of heavy,heavy wet sleet/snow on April 15th in Michigan!
I rode Zwift on my Computrainer for a couple of hours each day because the weather in the Northeast US has been horrendous, and iv only ben able to get outside once this season.
Long hill climb with great downhill after.
Running and enjoying the weather
Ran a fast 7miler during a very nicely cool mornung!
A couple hours of zwift will be calling my name
#paddlepeddlecrawl Ironman 70.3 Liuzhou China. Brutal swim but very fast bike and run course.
Rode 5 days in a row! Mtb, cross, road, cross, cross.
#notallmondaysarebad
No sporting activities due to freezing rain and a banged-up knee. Being responsible sure feels terrible.
I ran the BAA 5k in Boston, which takes you through the Boston Marathon finish line!
I braved the 1 mile drive to the gym despite the frozen streets to lift weights. Not really that big of an adventure, but for mid-April in the Midwest … please let the snow stop!
Was limited to a 5k rehab run through the Australian bush on a 30 degree Celsius “Autumn” day. While not fast or particularly pleasant it was good to be outside and running.
Epic interval sets on Ergvideo
Did an 8k that went over a bridge on a freeway and then finished up with a beer fest. It is Portland after all.
Did my last long run before my first 70.3.
This weekend it snowed 15″+ in MN, so I ran on the treadmill…5 mi of fun while watching part of “Icarus” on Saturday and 15 mi of slog while binging on “Parenthood” on Sunday.
going for a climb up mount donna buang
Did a couple of easy rides this weekend. Hopefully, spring will stay sprung around here!
3 X 20 minutes at 85% FTP. After fracturing my pelvis in 3 places last year, it is good to be able to get back to solid efforts. The hard part is re-learning the mental focus.
This weekend had a Recovery massage.
Boston Marathon!
Did shots with my daughter and wife at a graduation party. That probably does not count, so I also rode on Zwift Saturday and Sunday.
training for M2B in Ojai. Run, Ride and lots o’ long walks.
I raced the first road race of the year and managed to get dropped on the first climb.
I walked all around downtown in search for a new apartment. Bleh!
Scary Slick Sunday yep that was my 10 mile bike ride Started out sunny turned to a monsoon.
Trainer rides on my Wahoo Kickr 2 plus running with my 11 y/o daugther.
I did an 8 mi trail run on Saturday then yoga and 3 miler easy run on Sunday.
Long run on treadmill :(
I walked 7 miles for a racery event. Then we were only 200 miles from finishing so I walked .5 miles to “drop” and repeated it 5 more times! The sunburn and blister were worth it!
Upper body workout by chopping 1/2 cord of firewood followed by a lower body set mountain biking 2000 vertical feet.
Enjoyed the lovely spring rain both days running… ?
Recovering from a dinus infection so i had a multiple marathon maps saturday. But i did recover enough to mow the yard sunday. Whoopee.
Snowshoe hike. In April. In 2 feet of snow. I have pics.
Weekend, Taekwondo training in dojang like usual
Crammed in 96 miles of cycling over the only two warm days in April
Great 32 mile training ride for the Trek Across Maine with the Sebago Brewing Team.
90 min ride on Saturday and 9 miles on the TM on Sunday. Nothing exciting
Installed (and then tested for a 40 minute trainer ride *thanks April snowstorm*) my new between-the-arms bottle on my bike.
Finally got back to some measure of a training routine with a couple of solid runs and a some quality trainer time.
Just a slow 5K recovery run this weekend.
Whenever the weather gets naughty; its time for jumping on the trainer. Logged in few ten miles; and unlocked the level 10 in zwift!
Riding the trainer as short on time and high on fun.
I was doing an intensive 25 min climb in a longer bike ride
Got on bike. Rode bike. Got off bike. Repeat as necessary to complete route.
Didn’t get to ride, moved furniture instead.
Dug out from the snowstorm in Wisconsin.
rode 30Miles on MTB
Super slow 10km “long run”. Ah well, you’ve got to start somewhere after a long off season.
big gravel ride in the hills
Swim classes because I sink… a lot
Friday night swim date with the hubs, then a 12 mile/2 mile brick on Saturday. Gotta get it in while the sun shines!
Muddy trail run the day before the ice storm in Ontario Canada.
Taking care of my 5 month old is surely an athletic adventure, right?!
Helped the little one in our house go up and then down the water slide about 100 times this weekend.
Doing walking hill repeats with my Dad who is recovering from surgery.
Monument ave 10K 23,000 runners!
Played disk golf as I rest up from tri training injuries. Well I thought about it anyway. It was tax weekend and I got a real bad shock and could do with a give-away.
Crappy weather here in Illinois, so I ran a 10K in my basement on my Zero Runner
Indoor 10 mile power trainer ride – seriously, it was raining cats and dogs outside.
My local bike shop installed a new Stages Dual DuraAce Power Meter on Saturday. I didn’t get to ride my new Trek Emonda then but I did ride indoors on an older Specialized Roubaix with Stages Gen 1 for cadence with my Wahoo KickR 2017. Love the technology and Ray’s reviews!
1st trail run in 2018, 9 miles in cold rainy weather
Training for my first triathlon so Saturday I did a bike/swim and then a bike/run workout on Sunday.
Due to record snowfall I was lucky enough to cross country ski around my neighborhood both Saturday & Sunday!
8 miles around the national mall on a beautiful Saturday.
Sat around with my feet up recovering from a hard workout on Friday.
Beach running beside the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games Marathon Athletes! Awesome to watch these runners do their thing!! I’m still calling my session hard core – no aid stations for me, and I was wearing flip flops!
A nice rail trail bike ride w my family
I crashed while on a training ride going down at 40mph descend. I broke my AC ligament and will go for a surgery on Wednesay. But I am very
Optimistic that I am going back from this stronger.
running to catch a plane to visit family. And a marathon of chasing little kids around the playground
I rode in a cancer fundraiser called “Monkey Knife Fight.” It was maybe the hardest ride I’ve ever done. 68 miles, 6300 feet of elevation. All the big climbs were mostly gravel and ridiculously steep. But the beer was cold afterwards and the event raised over $20,000 for cancer so it was a success all around.
1 h 20 minutes of stairs, up and down. legs know it
Does running from one kid activity to another count?
9 mile tempo run in the rain!!
I did a training ride with a friend!
Knocked out by an injury. Just trying to rest and recover.
A last run around the neighbour I’ve been staying in, and learned to swim(ish).
Had a indoor pool (25m) meet this weekend, lowered all my previous times by a second or two.
Saturday, beautiful, training ride for WOW Cyclothon race around Iceland.
Spending quality time indoor while trapped by the monster ice storm in Ontario.
40 mile hilly bike ride
Took three of my four kids on a bit of an adventure on my family bike: a terrible upright hybrid bike, but it has a baby seat on the rear rack, and I have a double bob trailer that I pull. I just need to get one of those front seat kid bikes when the youngest gets big enough and I’ll haul all four places. It’s really freaking hard going up hills on that thing with 130 lbs of kids and another 15 to 20 lbs of bike trailer and baby seat.
Hits Half in Napa Valley. My B race leading up to Ironman Santa Rosa.
Did the final prep ride for my up comming cross-triathlon. Slashed my tyre on a rock :(
Went for a beautiful ride on Skyline Drive!
Gentle 5km to ease back into it after couple of hospital visits recently.
There was an ice storm (there’s the adventure), so I went to a spin class (and then the fitness-y part).
118 km bike ride, trying to dodge the showers !
1 hour run in the snow and rain.
This weekend I did some strength training in the form of carrying 12 ft 2×10 for fixing the floor of my new house.
Slow weekend prepping for River to River Relay inSouthern Illinois
packed my ride kit on Friday night – ughhh rain and wind saturday and sunday – ugh