I’m DC RAINMAKER…
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The DC RAINMAKER PODCAST
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Check out my weekly podcast - with TRS Triathlon, 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.
2Read My Sports Gadget Recommendations.
Here’s my most recent gadget recommendations guide (Winter 2016-2017 edition) – covering almost every category of sports gadgets out there. Looking for the equipment I use day to day? I also just put together my complete 2015 ‘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) 2015 list. Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!
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Understand technology and sport in the How-To Guides.
I enjoy explaining new things to folks – especially showing people how to get the most from their gadgets. Here’s an ongoing list of “How to” guides.
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Read my Top 25 most useful posts.
It turns out I’ve written a fair bit of stuff over the past few years – and after it disappears from my front page, a lot of it never really sees the light of day again without Google’ing skillz. Or a photographic memory…which I don’t have. I’ve taken a look back and found stuff that…continues to find a trickle of readers via web searches or forum links.
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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.
ROTOR 2INpower In-Depth Review
Over the last few years, ROTOR has been slowly increasing both the quantity of power meters they make – as well as the types of power meters they make. It first started with the original ROTOR Power LT some three … Read More Here
Thoughts on GoPro’s new Fusion 360° 5.2K camera
A few weeks ago GoPro sorta-announced a new action cam. Sorta being the operative word here. Unlike most GoPro announcement occurrences, this was more of a formalized naming and acknowledgment of existence. It included roughly as much information as an … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
It was a whirlwind weekend, largely because I spent much of it on an airplane. So since the weekend technically extends till Monday here in France, I’m going to go the other direction and encapsulate the end of last week … Read More Here
Week in Review–May 7th, 2017
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered … Read More Here
Wind Tunnel Time: Is the Wahoo ELEMNT BOLT actually the fastest bike computer?
When it comes to companies making marketing claims about all sorts of devices, most shy away from specifics. They’ll use terms like ‘better than’ or ‘faster than’ – without numerical qualifiers, or they’ll use other terms that imply greatness but stop … Read More Here
Hands-on: Hammerhead’s new Karoo GPS Bike Computer
It’s been a few years since startup Hammerhead announced their H1 navigational bike accessory. It was sorta like a fish finder for navigation while on a bike. Rather than be a full bike computer head unit, it mostly offered you … Read More Here
Huge Spring Sale: 20% of all trainers, all power meters, and plenty more
If something happens twice a year…one might say it’s semi-annual. Thus, one could posit that this sale, which happens almost precisely 6 months since the last time it occurred might indeed become semi-annual. But no matter what you call it, … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Southern California
My great Californian adventure continues, as we’re now down in Southern California, with the weekend starting in LA (after having spent a week there), before moving onto San Diego. Here’s what I’ve been up to! 1) Running the beaches of … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 30th, 2017
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered … Read More Here
Garmin Varia UT800 Smart Bike Light In-Depth Review
Today, Garmin introduced their latest generation front bike light – the UT800. This light builds upon the connected concepts from their first generation lights, such as integration with their head units. With the UT800 though, the company has shifted the … Read More Here
Quarq DZero Power Meter In-Depth Review
This past summer at Eurobike, Quarq announced their latest generation of power meters, the DZero lineup. The aim of this line was to refresh the existing offerings, while also somewhat simplifying things. Most visible to consumers though was the addition … Read More Here
Sea Otter 2017 Tech Tidbits: Barfly, K-Edge, Quarq Qollector, Lezyne, Flaér
Here’s the second edition of the Sea Otter 2017 Tech Tidbits! The first one I did a power meter round-up, covering all the power related news coming out of the annual bike show held in Monterey, California. Whereas this one … Read More Here
Sea Otter Power Meter Roundup: 4iiii Precision, Easton/Race Face CINCH, FSA PowerBox, Team Zwatt, Quarq DZero, Xpedo Thrust-E
If there was a theme for power meters at Sea Otter this week it would be re-branding. Or rather, OEM’ing. Half of the power meter announcements were essentially just well-known bike companies offering power meters that are basically ‘powered by’ … Read More Here
Garmin Announces Smart Home Control, Connect IQ Updates
As many of you know, today kicks off Garmin’s first Connect IQ Summit, held in Olathe, Kansas. The summit is aimed at developers wanting to build apps on Garmin’s wearable and related devices. A sphere that, as of this morning, … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
As those astute DCR Twitter or Instagram followers may know, I’m now in California for a few weeks. A lot of weeks actually. And actually not just in California. Later today I’ll take a quick trip up/over to Kansas to … Read More Here
First Look: Polar’s new M460 GPS Bike Computer
Today is shaping up to be a rather busy day for announcements! Polar joined the Wednesday new products club with its new M460 bike GPS. This bike computer builds on the M450 unit they announced almost two years ago. Both … Read More Here
Garmin Vivosmart 3 Activity Tracker In-Depth Review
Today Garmin introduced an updated version of its Vivosmart lineup, the Vivosmart 3. This essentially takes the Vivosmart HR that we saw last year (aka Vivosmart Gen2) and shrinks it down. Then they layered in a bunch of new heart … Read More Here
The Xplova X5 Bike Computer Review: What I Love and Hate
When the Acer Xplova X5 was announced last year, it got a lot of attention for its headline-grabbing features: An integrated action camera, cellular connectivity, full color touchscreen with maps, and integrated nacho cheese dispenser. Well, maybe not the dispenser. … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
It was a hot one this weekend! The temperatures were more like June and July than the beginning of April. Yikes! Nonetheless, here’s what I was up to! 1) Visitors to the cave With the Paris Marathon and Paris-Roubaix both … Read More Here
Hands-on: Polar’s M430 GPS watch with optical HR
Today Polar announced their latest wearable, the M430. This unit follows in the footsteps of the popular M400 by adding in an optical heart rate sensor as well as a handful of other small (but desired) features. While this watch … Read More Here
Running dynamics finally gets its own standard
Yesterday, three and a half years after the running efficiency metrics ‘Running Dynamics’ were first announced by Garmin, they received their own legit standard. In doing so, 3rd party companies can now add running dynamics metrics to their sensors and/or … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Definitely another beautiful and sunny weekend in and outside the city. Here’s what I was up to 1) Fixing shifting and swapping power meters I’m constantly swapping power meters and gear on my bike. Which, can lead to things being … Read More Here
Week in Review–April 2nd, 2017
The Week in Review is a collection of both all the goodness I’ve written during the past week around the internet, as well as a small pile of links I found interesting – generally endurance sports related. I’ve often wondered … Read More Here
Xert Training Platform In-Depth Review
It’s been about a year since Xert plopped onto the training platform scene, and in that time it’s grown both considerably in functionality, as well as users. So what is Xert? Well, it’s part training platform, part training app ecosystem, … Read More Here
TrainingPeaks New Structured Workout Integration with Garmin Wearables
Tied into yesterday’s Garmin FR935 release was TrainingPeaks announcing rollout of their new dedicated Connect IQ apps. This new integration allows you to sync structured workouts that you or your coach creates on the TrainingPeaks platform. The workout for the … Read More Here
