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
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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.
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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!
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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.
Corned Beef, Pools, and Cupcakes (though, not all together)
The weekend started like any good weekend should – with cupcakes being made. The Girl was back at it after her adventures to the NYC’s Magnolia bakery, making loads of cupcakes. Though, the Girl’s were far better – plus, they … Read More Here
Garmin Connect Development Team Tossed Overboard
In a bit of a strange twist, the team behind Garmin Connect (the site where you upload all your activities to) has been tossed out on the streets of San Fran. Garmin has decided to close their San Francisco office, … Read More Here
Pool and Parking lot bricks
With my first race of the year this weekend and my first triathlon of the year next week, things have kicked into short and fast mode for the next two weeks. As races approach my workouts tend to drift more … Read More Here
Time Trialing with the subway
Sunday night after I got home from New York City around 5PM I still had one minor item left to knock out…a 2hr and 45 minute ride. Now, I could do this indoor on the trainer – but I’m sick … Read More Here
A New York Minute
The Girl and I decided to make a little trip up to New York City for the weekend to visit some of her friends. From DC it’s a short 4-5 hour jaunt by land-based transportation. We ended up using the … Read More Here
The Nebraskan
(Note: What you see in the above picture is precisely half-of the entire airport terminal) I arrived in into little Lincoln, Nebraska late Sunday night, and was up fairly early Monday morning in for work. Many of my work trips … Read More Here
The 25 Most Informative Posts I’ve Written
It turns our I’ve written a fair bit of stuff over the past few years – some 476 posts (477 if you count this!). And after it disappears from my front page, a lot of it never really sees the … Read More Here
Two cages down
One of the items that makes a cycling power meter so useful as a training tool is it allows you to make objective statements about how your training is going – regardless of how things like weather or terrain may … Read More Here
Friday Tidbits
Food Tidbits: It’s time for some food around here – so let’s start off Friday Morning with Thursday Morning’s breakfast: I stumbled on the super-simple recipe the night before on SLB’s blog, and was on the way to the grocery … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 5 (The final day)
Our last day started much like the previous day – on the slopes of Whistler at Creekside checking out the Super-G, this time though it would be the women we’d be watching. The crowds came out in full force for … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 4
Day 4 started early, way early. That’s because we had to make the 2-3 hour trek north up to Whistler, from Vancouver. The trick is that in order to get to Whistler you have to have a valid permit to … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 3
We heard the news late the day before, and worked for about a day and a half to see what our alternative options were. What news you ask? Well, due to the lack of snow at the Winter Olympics, the … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 2
After the previous night’s medal ceremonies followed by wandering around town, we were all a bit happy to sleep in some. Around mid-morning I went out for an 8 mile run, and then afterwards went to pick-up The Girl from … Read More Here
Vancouver 2010 Olympics Trip – Day 1
We got up fairly early on our first day up here in Vancouver…as in 4:30AM early. This was to allow enough time to catch our 6:06AM bus departure from the Vancouver area up to the Whistler area for the 10:30AM … Read More Here
Tanita BC-1000 Scale Review – In Depth
If you’ve been to any athletic expo in the past few months, you’ve probably seen the Tanita BC-1000 weight scale at one of the booths. It measures more things than your TI-83 graphing calculator from high school calculus, while at … Read More Here
Weekend Tidbits
This weekend was full of all sorts of stuff – to start off with, The Girl was busy making Valentines cookies…and I was busy eating them: Of course, post-cookies there was some brief running to do – in the Cupid’s … Read More Here
Washington DC Capitol Cupid’s Undies Run
Earlier in the week a few friends (almost all simultaneously) shot me an e-mail about an upcoming ‘run’ around the Capitol building here in DC. Except, unlike most running events that round the rotunda, this particular one lacked one key … Read More Here
Funny things that float my way
We have finally made it to Friday, on a week that has been the longest…week…ever. For a week where everyone has been buried in the DC area, it’s time for some humor (actually, to be fair, even though I had … Read More Here
A hill workout in the snow
Yesterday evening, with yet another impending snowstorm I had a decision to make – try and drive to an open treadmill, or tough it out on the snow covered hills for my weekly hill repeats. On one hand I have … Read More Here
Comparing M-Dot Ironman races to Non-Dot races
If you’ve been around the triathlon block a few times, you probably already know that the official ‘Ironman’ name and race series is actually a trademarked asset of the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). As such, no other races may call … Read More Here
My 2010 Race Schedule
Ok…ok…I get it. Ya’ll been hounding me for months now on what my race schedule is for next year – and finally, I can give you some answers. As I hinted at in my last post on how 2009 went, … Read More Here
A snowy food filled weekend
Let’s just get right into the action, by starting where I left off on Friday evening as nightfall fell (hmm…does that mean it fell twice?) – it looked like this: While the snow was starting to fall, the Girl got … Read More Here
Preparing for the worst
I am prepared. I am prepared to sit back and do nothing this weekend. Why would I be doing nothing? Well, for those non-east-coastern folk – this be why: However, I am also prepared to cook a ton, and likely … Read More Here
The State of my State: 2009 Review Edition
Every year that I’ve been blogging I write a recap of the previous year, and then a post on what lies in the year ahead. Normally I do this late-January, but things got kinda busy, so I’m a little behind. … Read More Here
Garmin FR60 Review – In Depth
When Garmin first announced the Garmin FR60 last spring, it honestly didn’t even catch my attention. After all, why would I of all people – the person with a gazillion GPS based training watches – want a training watch without … Read More Here
