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.
This was one of the wonderful sunny weekends in the spring when you can go cross-country skiing on meter-deep snow one day and take a bike ride on asphalt roads the next, so obviously that is what I did
Speedwork on Saturday, long run on Sunday morning. Watching other people play football (soccer) on Sunday night
Ran 16k trying to get rid of a backache.
Easy run to get over a bad cold.
I ran a half marathon in Budapest. Slightly slower than planned.
swam and started back running with a 6k
1 hour bike, worked, and took a nap. I know exciting training weekend.
I was abroad for the weekend and I went on a run in London. I managed to run under the Thames, they have an underneath pedestrian tunnel!
I finally got back on the bike after a month off. So much lost endurance!
Got the tt bike off the trainer for its first ride outside; New giant trinity had it for 8 months and never turned a wheel outside; less than 100days to #IMUK :(
I sanded and painted the bottom of a boat…
First run since moving to Brest, France. Can’t speak the language but you can still smile at other who are stupid enough to be up early doing the same!
Simple run along the harbour in Newcastle Australia while kids Saturday morning sport was on.
I did a lovely 56km mtb ride around Philadelphia, South Africa
ride on beach rd, Melbourne :)
Well I had an appendectomy last week, so my “workout” consisted of getting 10k steps on the treadmill.
I Did 1500m swimming training on saturday, and a 10k run on monday :D
Good luck to all
Did the final Marathon training run, 35K eith lots of trail and pain :)
Some cycling in finally good weather and some walking with the dog.
Ridden the longest and quite hilly course of this year!
I did 2 longer endurance rides and enjoyed nice sprint weather we finally have here in central Europe.
An off-road Duathlon and easy swim afterwards.
20mile long run the zzzz
i cooked 165 pounds of snow crab then spent sunday recovering from a nasty cold
A shower-shortened ride on Saturday served as warm-up to a high intensity family day on Sunday
Two days of backcountry-skiing with the girlfriend – spring snow and t-shirt weather all weekend!
Tried to snag a local KOM, got 2nd
Road ride Saturday and MTB ride Sunday.
An easy 6-mile run on Sunday.
Will end my first full week of workouts in 4 months with an easy recovery ride!
Long walk for a college Spring Game
It wasn’t exactly an adventure, but I ran my fastest in many years 5k time on the treadmill at the gym.
40k of hill reps (no mountains anywhere) at endurance pace to get back into outdoor cycling after a winter on the trainer.
Did my best fish impersonation while ‘swimming’ from Hopkinton to Boston during the Boston marathon.
Did a bootcamp training session
I ran a 10 mile trailrun in my home town. Unfortunately it was also the first hot day of the year so I burned up completely and finished 3 minutes below my target time.On the plus side, my mate was hit even harder by the heat so he finished half a minute after me :)
I rode 70 km through the Warrumbungles
Did a nice 30 mile or so Hiking/Camping/Climbing trip.
After repair my broken gear cable (Saturday, broke on the worst place, directly in the shifter), i was doing a 3:30 intervall ride with 6 8-15min mountain intervals. Back at home I had an avg speed ov 33,3 km/h, but my girl wasn´t back from her hiking trip, so I put on some 20min easy riding next to our river.
Last weekend I “only” did a relaxed 100km loop on the bike after four tiring conference days. It’s anyway the coming weekend that will be much more interesting with the (medium distance) Liege-Bastogne-Liege cyclo sportive! For once with good weather – and hopefully without the two flats I had last year because of riding into pins lying on the street.
Well I managed to suddenly get cramps in my calf 1.5k into what was planned as a long run; so my athletic adventure was limping back home, I guess :-/
What a Great way to start off the 2018 season. Kal Haven Trail Run, 33.5 miles. Targeted 4:30, beat that by 12 minutes. A PR by 45 minutes for this distance as well. 7th overall, 1st in my age group.
I made the most of the warm autumn weather here in Sydney by going for a ride outside.
Wanted to do the first outdoor bike ride of the year, but could not find the thru axle to mount my back wheel, since bike have been on the trainer all winter :) So ended up playing 9 holes of golf instead.
got. a 358 suffer score on a 55 km ride; hooah!
I rode Tour of Watopia stage 6th and swam a few meters on the pool.
Inhouse kinda weekend.
First 200 (ok, 206) km ride with my new bike and new shoes past Saturday, enjoying the unusually warm April sun.
Recovering from a long&lazy winter…3 training sessions in a row and no stiffness!
Went swimming with the kidlets.
Mountain biking in the deep woods.
I made my first ever bike/run brick session. Kind of painfull, but certainly enjoyable experience. Oh, also i’m in need of new triathlon watch. Just sayin’
Had a cool first road ride of 120km in Finland this weekend. Welcome spring.
Went for an easier pace 50 mile ride with some of my friends to enjoy a rare nice weather day during this long winter here in NYC. Gave me a chance to wear my new kit as a Pactimo brand ambassador too!
I was on my bike for the first time in 2018. I know I am late :((
65ks in the rain.
I went cycling in the Ardennen, Belgium. 120km with 2000m of elevation, it was fun.
I did my seventh Ironman South Africa. Not as fast as you but happy no the less.
Dealt with the snowpocolypse in MN w/20 inches+ in my area still made it to do 6000 yard swim, 5mile run and climbed alp du zwift x2 :)
A 30k trail run!
I “double dipped” on Sufferfest.
I did 2 Epic days in the mountains. Which depleted my body, now I’m sick as a dog!
Rode the bike Saturday and Sunday even though windy and cold! When will spring arrive?
I did a 100k group ride on saturday and a 75k ride with the girl on sunday. Good times!!
Camping! Setting up and taking down campsites is an athletic endeavor in itself.
I ran the Boston marathon. It was crazy
A couple treadmill runs due to ice and snow
The longest one this weekend! And a one with almost 2k elevation gain, loved it! :)
Injury recovery run – not very athletic in itself but after a 4 week break it certainly felt it ;)
Did 100 km on the bike
Short run…short ride. ..short swim. ..it’s time To go longer ☺
Spent the last three days keeping people alive and helping families make informed decisions. Now I need a long bike ride to get rid of the stress.
3 hour ride, including invading an in progress TT :-). I do love the roar of a disk wheel. Was a bit of a recovery ride after a 220 mile week in Mallorca.
Ultimate frisbee all weekend. Still recovering now !
I’d adore even a vague contribution towards a new Garmin for running, so would love to win. Thanks :)
I did some lovely type 2 fun right from Amsterdam to Belgium with some off roading and I bonked and got some bad sunburns. Lovely.
A 50 mile bike on Saturday and a 1.2 mile swim race on Sunday.
Zwifting indoors in beautiful weather
Played with my kids in the yard!
Time Trial with lots of early-allergy-season snot. So attractive.
I’ll be running through airports to catch flights saturday, and if that goes well a long run Sunday
Took a long detour home from work on friday, 75km on the bike in beautiful weather and 18’C.
Rode 60 miles with my cycling group. Tried broadcasting my HR again on Vivoactive 3 to Garmin Edge 1000. It worked!
Already get the newsletter AND support DCR – love this site!
Vaguely athleticish weekend activity: moving house! To be followed by an easy 10k for recovery… ?
Chopped wood all weekend, no issue getting my step counter up!
Finally got my bike on a smart trainer (thanks to many buying recommendations from this site: thank you!) and punched through my first 100+ km bike ride on Zwift! Or ever. Does Zwift count towards real distance?
Tough 90 minute Kickr trainer ride in the basement.
I am going to ride Zwift in my new remodeled pain cave
Some Watopia miles, some trail running miles (reminds me I need to replace my Garmin FR220 I sold last month … wonder when the replacement to the 735 will come out …), and then chasing around the kids … which counts as cross training for sure.
Easy ride around BWI while Saturday morning flights took off overhead, then explored some new trails on Sunday afternoon.
Finally did a local 10k running race again on Saturday..? Felt great!??
Did a Hero day last Saturday.
A week after the Rotterdam Marathon I had to be in Hong Kong for work but ended up with a day off on Saturday. Found a pool for 2k. There was a bike in the gym of the hotel and decided to kill an hour in that and then to as a small dessert I decided to run the mill with Zwift on the iPad! Lovely how my body opposed against it all. Needed 3 days recovery after that! ? that’ll teach me!
But recently my Garmin F920XT stars playing up! I had 62km with the Rotterdam Marathon and ran 10k faster that a rocket going to the moon…. so I really need a freebie watch ? please?? Garmin wasn’t extremely helpfull unfortunately as there was no result or suggestions other than only but to reset the watch… guess what I do after discovering any anomaly ??
did a 33 mile loop in the burbs.
Went out on the MTB and splatted flat on my face. Luckly not much damage other than pride well and truly dented!!
Last weekend was April Midwest weather which meant raining ice and a lot wind. My adventure included working on the bathroom remodel. But this coming weekend headed to my second gravel race ever. Excited to see where I line up.
Ragnar Atlanta, 16 miles of trail running including a glorious 5.5 under the stars.
Weekend zwift training rides because it was cold and wet outside!
Due to weather, spent some time shoveling but was able to go to the gym with my wife for some swimming, biking and running!
Rasputitsa!
130km around Sydney! :-)
Raced the Bibra Lake ½ marathon back here in sunny Perth!
Last day of Legro’s training camp with an 81 mile ride (finally) in the sunshine.