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.
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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.
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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!
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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.
Full-frontal on the Sufferfest. Moar Watts!
In these corona times, my last workout was heading in a radius of 10km around my house and do as many different hills as possible. Quite a good effort considering the lazy approach of last weeks after hearing the Giro d’Italia got cancelled.
Was able to get a sunny 5k run around my local lake in during the UK’s partial lockdown.
16km run with my coach followed by a ~12 minute cardio session. Coach and I ran ~3 metres apart, and the cardio was on opposite sides of the street; good job she has a loud voice and I can hear her easily.
Treadmill workout in basement
Smart ride on my tacx… physical isolation, social proximity via Strava!
Running and biking in circles around a closed industry parking lot
Zwfit tour of watopia stage 5 (short route). Will be doing the long route later today and the stage race tomorrow morning (making the most of socially distant double XP!)
Garage circuit for me!
about 40% of the “sven Nys cycling route” , working my way up to the full one – as long as they’ll let us
I’ve driven out into remote part of my nearby forest and then I did a brief 10K jog. Haven’t seen single soul on the whole route.
A VO2 max Workout on Zwift syncronized from Training Peaks from my current Half Ironman Training Plan – which I can scrap anyways ;-)
I had a nice cold swim in the sea, there was no one else stupid enough to be in the cold water so I was totally alone.
Running in the forest
Ran a quarter marathon outside through the rural part of the country which allowed me to nicely avoid others.
Zwift Indoor Training Session on a loan smarttrainer: Crit Crusher 2/3 and some extra milage.
Basement biking alone:(
The day before yesterday I had a very nice run in the sun – weather in Germany is allmost fine at the moment!
Just finished Static Mobility exercise with my little one in the morning, looking forward to the quick running outside later today when it’s quieter outside (UK)!
Simple 5k run at the beginning of the night in the park next to my home. I was alone and listen to the birds.
A run with extra meters as I had to run around everyone! Than some strength training at home.
Early morning run before everyone else is awake.
Perfect for these days – to keep in shape
Well, it is still allowed to run outside in Ukraine, so I did a 2 hour run :)
A short run of 35 minutes
The last workout I did while social distancing was running. I kept to running on the opposite side of the road from other runners. In this terrible time of the virus, I want to remain healthy and running makes me feel better.
I did a roller session in my backyard yesterday!
Last workout was a race on Zwift with a friend, sweet and tough!
Riding the Tour of Watopia over the last week. Enjoying the social while staying responsible.
Sweetspot workout with TrainerRoad on the Wattbike.
Sufferfest Angels alone in my pain cave!
A walk with the wife
Crying whilst zwifting it on my dumb trainer.
Pilates class via zoom
5.59 km hike (crampons needed!) on the NCC’s “Pine Grove Forest” trail loop, south of Ottawa, Canada.
Barely a living soul out, and anyone I did see kept 20-feet away!
In the Netherlands 5x week 50k on BMC roadmachine. Easy going, nog to far from home. Core stabiliteit. Keeping the bodyweight under control…
Just riding Zwift and staying indoors until the all clear is announced here in Michigan. Stay safe everyone!
Cadence pyramid session on Zwift on the Tacx neo, which is a bit odd when I’m free to ride outdoors here in Aus at the moment.
Went to small park near my house for a run, luckily it has not benn too crowded so you can sun socially distant for the moment!
Stage 5 Race (B) – Tour of Watopia 2020
I’m still able to ride my bike to work in the Emergency Department – today and for the foreseeable future!
Still running/cycling outdoors in Belgium. We have to go solo though (or with someone that lives under the same roof).
Bike trainer as well as outdoor in the Netherlands. Endless polder landscapes with almost no people…
The current last activities were last night; a 16 mile virtual group ride on Zwift, followed by a solo ride up the Innsbruck KOM route. Great fun!
Early morning solo run in the sun! Thanks Ray!
A lovely early morning run along the river Thames in Reading, UK without a soul to be seen. It was even sunny!
Yesterday, with Prague in strict lockdown, I did a Zwift Academy VO2 workout as a change to my normal Xert workouts. Easier than I thought, but a nice challenge nonetheless. Nobody but me and my TACX trainer ;-)
Structured cycling workout in my (increasingly cluttered) home.
45 mins zwift whoo
I did a quick 10 mile road ride around my local lanes, I am a full time student so was an excellent way to get away from the books for 1/2 hour.
Wouldn’t it be great if I could have a smart turbo so I can finally get online!
Zwift workout before moving 2m to the left and starting work.
It’s warming up a bit in Chicago so I actually got to go out for a ride – w00t!
Did my first ever HIIT session (YouTube) followed by half an hour on Zwift (London).
No workouts here as we have a new baby to look after. I’d love a new smart trainer for when he lets us sleep again though!
Emily’s short mix on Zwift!
Been social distance riding outside, continuing riding long easy base miles until racing hopefully starts up again
Daily walk with the kid, helps to keep sanity and the only thing I get done these days, sadly.
I was out cycling 50k with a friend, always keeping distance
I did good workout on my livingroom.
5 minutes of warm up with rope
50 reps of dips between chairs
50 reps of squat with dumbbells (18,5 kg)
50 reps of bend down rows with said dumbells
50 reps of bench presses with those same dumbbells
50 reps of romanian deadlifts with the same darn dumbbells
50 reps of pull ups
finished the workout with 50 leg lower downs
i would love to add trainer or at leas decent exercise bike to my arsenal.
I’ve been social distancing for a month now. First, three weeks sickness and hospital stay. Then, when I got out, the country entered lockdown So my last few workouts have been recovery Zwift rides at home.
some bodyweight exercises for core strengh!
An early morning run in the forest was a good social distancing ;)
Tour of Wattopia race.
Gran Fondo – Terrain Ride on zwift.
Early morning runs in the forest are always great, and there’s more chance of meeting a deer than a human over here :)
My last workout was a 4DP-test on The Sufferfest. So much suffering and cramps, loved it :D
6km with a core session
thanks ray
2 hour sweat fest on the turbo trainer with ALL the fans running full chat!
A short visit to Watopia on the Kickr Core before moving my wife’s bike over to the trainer.
Threshold effort on Zwift – Yorkshire UCI Course.
Short run on quiet rural roads.
solo cycling outside
A walk of 30 mins after breaking my wrist mountain biking and am now looking to some solo training to keep/get back in shape.
Solo bike ride!
Out for a 20 mile solo ride in the morning sun today.
i managed a brief 4mile run into New Cross South East London last night – plenty of distance from others
Bike ride in March in Wisconsin.
Lots of runs in the neighboring forest.
With reduced work schedule, in able to bike in the neighborhood daily and with almost NO traffic.
a zwift ride group with hundreds of other people
Just got a new Cervelo P3 but have been limited to trainer rides, so last night was another strong effort while tweaking the front end a bit.
Playing catch with kids outside. First a football, then a tennis ball, and then a short mile run to keep the streak going.
Interval run down a dis-used railway line
None yet unfortunately….
Have been Zwifting like crazy!
Yesterday I did a run with my kids at a park where very few others were and we purposefully picked the areas we ran in to avoid what others were there. Turns out the 9 and 11 yr olds wanted to do hill repeats on an empty, snowless sledding hill. After that run, we returned home and I got 45 minutes of zwifting in from my personal socially-distanced basement
Zwift run on my home treadmill
Lonely 30 km night ride in rural West-Friesland.
Hill repeats in the isolated countryside of very rural Virgina!
Little run around the neighbourhood, going far around other people.
Home, in the garden, Fulgaz Tout of Europe.
It’s been quite simple due to the circumstances: running around the block within a 1-km radius of my appartment in Paris! Would be fantastic to put these 500 $ into a home-trainer!
On the trainer. Over and over again.
The Sufferfest!
Zwift Ride followed by short Zwift run in the pain cave.
Yesterday I did an Erg driven interval session on Zwift.
HIIT workout in the backyard
Family ride in the punishing crosswinds.
road bike tour allone