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.
Week in Review–January 1st, 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
The Didn’t Get What You Wanted $500 Gadget Giveaway Winner!
Last week was giveaway time! You had all week to get in your giveaway entry, before I got my act together here on January 1st (see, kicking off the new year right!). A mere 5,994 of you entered the giveaway … Read More Here
CycleOps Hammer Trainer In-Depth Review
Update: The CycleOps Hammer has since been replaced by the Saris H3, though frankly, the only meaningful difference is noise. Here’s the link to my full H3 in-depth review. It’s Hammer Time. The Hammer is CycleOps’ answer to the highly … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Ahh yes, Christmas weekend! We ended up packing in quite the pile of stuff over the last few days, far more than normal. Albeit, mostly non-fitness related stuff. Instead, it was more about enjoying the holiday period. Here’s what went … Read More Here
The Didn’t Get What You Wanted $500 Gadget Giveaway
I’m sure many of you received various sports gadgets over the last few weeks as part of the holidays. But for those unlucky elves who received only a half-eaten gel packet in their Christmas stocking from their not-so-significant others, I’ve … Read More Here
Week in Review–December 24th, 2016
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
The Podium Trainer Desk In-Depth Review
As trainer season is in full swing now, so are the various trainer-focused items showing up on my doorstep. And not just trainers of course, but separate trainer accessories. Today’s product hails from Edmonton, Alberta (Canada). I figure if anyone … Read More Here
A Better Way To Pace Races: Race Screen Connect IQ App
One of the primary benefits of apps on any platform is to extend the functionality of a device to do something that the manufacturer didn’t otherwise include. That’s true of phones, computers, and now even watches. Be it Connect IQ … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Just a few weekends left in the year before things get crazy in January! Here’s what we were up to over the last couple days. 1) It’s Hammer Time First up on the weekend was a multi-part test, this one … Read More Here
Week in Review–December 18th, 2016
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
ProShift Automated Bike Shifting System Review
It’s been about two years since I first wrote about an automated bicycle shifting system, then called BioShift. The device would control all shifting on your bike for you, based on understanding your optimal gearing and the demands you placed … Read More Here
The Santa Corrida de Noël 10K Race Report (2016)
It’s that time of year again! Yup, time to run with a few thousand other Santa’s as part of the 10K race, Corrida de Noël d’Issy les Moulineaux! We’ve been doing this race every year we’ve lived in Paris. Albeit, … Read More Here
The 3rd Annual DCR Open House–Recap and Photos!
Third time’s the charm! And so it was – the 3rd annual DCR Open house this past weekend. This year I had folks from not only all across Europe, but also even the US join in! Plus, we had more … Read More Here
Cycling home with the Christmas Tree: 2016 Edition
Since moving to Paris, it’s become a little bit of an annual Christmas tradition of ours to pickup our tree at the flower markets and then subsequently bike home with it. This would mark the 5th year of doing so, … Read More Here
DJI Mavic Pro In-Depth Review
While the widely held assumption this year was that the GoPro Karma drone would be the hottest drone to get one’s hands on, it’s quickly become clear over the last 75 days that wouldn’t quite pan out. A mere 7 … Read More Here
Tacx Flux Trainer In-Depth Review
It’s been just over three months since Tacx announced what was shaping up to be the hottest trainer of the 2016-2017 winter season. You’ll remember that the main appeal of the Tacx Flux was that not only was it a … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
A busy (and chilly) weekend at home as we slide into December. Here’s what I was up to! 1) Unboxing Stryd I actually had a bunch of things I was getting unboxed on Friday. These three were on the list. … Read More Here
Week in Review–Dec 4th, 2016
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
First Look: The Cycliq Duo Mount for Heavier Gear
A few weeks back Cycliq announced a new product on Kickstarter. You’ll remember Cycliq is the company behind the Fly6 and Fly12 combination bike safety camera/lights products. They combine front (Fly12) or back (Fly6) lights with a camera that’s always … Read More Here
Don’t forget the Black Friday/Cyber Monday Deals Page!
Happy Friday! For those of you in the US, I hope you had a good Thanksgiving yesterday and are still enjoying either turkey leftovers, or family leftovers. For everyone else – welcome to almost being the weekend! Of course this … Read More Here
My Photography Gear: The Cameras and Equipment I Use Daily
Update – in case you find this old/stinky page, my updated page with all the gear recommendation is here! One of the most common questions I see in blog posts that’s not specifically which GPS watch to get, is what … Read More Here
My Winter 2016-2017 Sports Gadget Recommendations
(Before we start, you can find my Holiday 2016 deals post here, expect a massive churn on that post over the next 5-7 days, as we go through both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This guide attempts as best as … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
A full week home in the city of light…and rain. Here’s what I was up to over the weekend! 1) More trainers have arrived! This week I had both the CycleOps Magnus and the CycleOps Hammer trainers arrive. That follows … Read More Here
Week in Review–Nov 20th, 2016
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
Fitbit Charge 2 Activity Tracker In-Depth Review
It’s been a bit over two months since Fitbit announced their latest wearables, the Fitbit Charge 2 and the Fitbit Flex 2 (they also announced some Blaze updates and Alta bands at that time). This review however is purely focused … Read More Here
GoPro adds data overlays to the Hero5: Here’s how it (sorta) works
Today GoPro rolled out their data overlay capability to the GoPro Quik desktop suite. This allows folks with the GoPro Hero5 Black camera, which contains GPS, to add in metrics like speed, distance, vertical, and more. It catches up to … Read More Here
Hands-on: Zwift and their upcoming running mode
Over the last few months Zwift has been occasionally teasing their ambitions around expanding the cycling focused platform to other interests. One of those being running. They’ve tweeted out various screenshots of running on Zwift, and I believe even shown it … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
Back home in Paris! Here’s what I was up to over the weekend, which was actually somewhat calm (and filled with lots of sleep, finally!). 1) Riding with the Mavic With the GoPro Karma review behind me, it was onto … Read More Here
Week in Review–November 13th, 2016
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 enables migration from Fitbit: Here’s how it works
Over the last few days, Garmin made three fitness related software announcements: A) They (finally) enabled you to combine activity tracker data from multiple devices into one cohesive picture B) They enabled Strava Beacon support through Garmin Connect Mobile C) … Read More Here
Garmin’s new TrueUp multi-device activity tracking sync: Here’s how it works
One of the major selling points of Fitbit’s ever-expanding wearables, particularly fashion-focused wearables is the ability to change between multiple devices during the day. You could start the morning off with a workout on the bulkier Fitbit Surge GPS, and … Read More Here
Huge Sale: 20% off all new trainers, Fenix3 HR, and boatloads more
Update: Head over to my full Black Friday Deals Page here! As I noted a few weeks ago, we’re seeing companies shift their holiday sale efforts earlier and earlier each year. It used to be that Black Friday marked the … Read More Here
GoPro Karma In-Depth Review
(Update: Feb 1st, 2017: GoPro has resumed shipping of the Karma drone following it’s earlier recall. There is no difference between the pre and post-recall drones from a hardware or software features standpoint, except changes to the battery clip to … Read More Here
5 Random Things From a Week in Colorado
It’s been a great seven days here in Colorado, so rather than focus just on the weekend, I figured I’d cover the last week’s worth of goodness from the mile-high+ realm. 1) A few days in the mountains After leaving … Read More Here
Week in Review–Nov 6th, 2016
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
