I’m DC RAINMAKER…
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
1In 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 2019-2020 edition) and trainers here (Winter 2019-2020 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 ‘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!
3Have 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.
4My Photography Gear: The Cameras and Equipment 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! It’s a nice break from the day to day sports-tech talk, and I hope you get something out of it!
5The 2019 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 2019 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 2018 Gear Guide too.
Tag Archives: Strava
Fascinating Stats from Strava’s 2019 Year End Report
Here’s a deep dive into how Strava athletes cycled, ran, and swim throughout 2019. From watches to hangovers, bikes to shoes – it’s all here. Read More Here
Strava App Sensor Pairing Is Now Dead: My Last Workout Taking Out The Trash
As of today, the Strava app will no longer allow you to pair to sensors like heart rate straps or cycling cadence sensors. Instead, Strava is now actively recommending you download other apps instead of using Strava’s own app. Well, … Read More Here
Strava cuts off Relive: Here’s what actually happened
Here I thought yesterday was going to be a peaceful random July Thursday morning. Nothing but Italian chirping birds at the Giro Rosa, and catching the Tour de France later in the afternoon on TV. Turns out, Strava had different … Read More Here
Strava rolls out new finger-dragging route creation feature
I’m sure there’s many creative ways I could have titled this post, but I’m going with what I believe to be the most accurate representation of this new feature, despite my desire to channel my inner 5-year old boy self. … Read More Here
My Strava Unique Uploaded Device Tally
Back a few weeks ago while at CES 2019 I met up with the crew at Strava to catch-up on a variety of topics. While Strava doesn’t do booths or even off-floor suites, they do get a lot of miles … Read More Here
Strava’s 2018 Fascinating Year In Review Stats
Well folks, it’s November 29th, so it’s time to have a detailed look at all of our socially exciting athletic data from the entirety of calendar year 2018 to see what patterns we might be able to discern. No better … Read More Here
Tech Tidbits: Polar Vantage Updates, Strava sorta removes ads, PowerTap P2 pedals
There’s been a handful of non-headliner tech tidbits this week in the world of sports tech that are worthwhile mentioning and chatting about. Of course, given this is Friday, the post length is required to be short. Apparently people have … Read More Here
Xert rolls out Segment Hunter Connect IQ App, doesn’t require Strava Premium/Summit
This week Xert, a training analysis/log platform rolled out their latest Connect IQ app – Segment Hunter. While the company’s main thing in life is their adaptive training platform (which I’ve reviewed here), they’ve actually put together a growing collection … Read More Here
Strava renames Premium to ‘Summit’, Changes Pricing Model
Here’s everything you need to know about Strava’s new pricing tiers, including what it means for existing subscribers. Read More Here
Strava Upload Insights: Ironman World Championships 2017
(Hey folks, DCR here. It’s incredibly rare that you see guest posts here, but today I’ve got a special one, from Shane Miller of GPLama fame. As you probably know, he’s deep into all things sports tech as well, and … Read More Here
Strava in Augmented Reality: Here’s how it works
As Interbike kicks off you’ll see a slew of both mainstream as well as smaller companies try and get your attention with new products. Some of these will be products that you genuinely find useful and plan to buy, and … Read More Here
Strava will now fix your Garmin or phone when you break it riding…or not.
On the list of things I didn’t see coming this Friday afternoon was Strava announcing that if you manage to kill your bike computer or phone while riding your bicycle, Strava will now pay get that device fixed or replaced. … 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 releases Strava Live Segments for Running, Muscle Oxygen on devices, Photo Watch Faces
Phew, all sorts of Garmin news over the last few days on numerous fronts, and this post seems the easiest way to bundle up three totally different things into one tidy little package. Let’s get on with the show! Strava … Read More Here
TrainingPeaks adds Strava Segment Integration
Yes, you read that title right: TrainingPeaks, arguably a competitor platform to Strava, is now supporting Strava’s most import feature: Segments. Though, not entirely in the way you might expect. Yesterday evening TrainingPeaks rolled out the ability for you to … Read More Here
Tech Tidbits: Basis closes up shop, Strava announces live tracking platform
Here’s my thoughts on two noteworthy news pieces that just hit the interwebs. Basis firms recall, shuts down services You may remember earlier this summer when device maker Basis announced that users should cease using their Basis Peak devices due … Read More Here
Wahoo Fitness rolls out Strava Live Segments to ELEMNT GPS
Today Wahoo became the third company to introduce Strava Live Segment support on devices. Live Segments means that you can get Strava KOM or PR information during your ride on favorite segments, directly on your Wahoo ELEMNT. Garmin was the … Read More Here
Polar rolls out Strava Automatic Sync
Earlier this morning Polar rolled out their long awaited (and previously promised) ability to automatically sync Polar Flow activities to Strava. This means that upon completion of an activity, the activity data will automatically sync to Strava’s site. No more … Read More Here
TdF 2015: Comprehensive list of Strava & TrainingPeaks pro uploads by stage
Over the last few weeks the folks at both Strava and TrainingPeaks have been sending me occasional (or daily in some cases) updates of each file upload to their respective services for all riders in the Tour de France that … Read More Here
Hands on: Strava and Garmin introduce on-device Live Segments for Edge series
Note: As of August 25th, 2015 Garmin has now released firmware updates for the Edge 510, Edge 810, and Edge 1000. You can use Garmin Express (desktop app) or the Garmin Webupdater (also desktop app) to install these. In addition … Read More Here
Strava news of note: Fitbit integration & Local Routes
Over the last week, Strava has rolled out two new integrations – one mostly driven by Fitbit, and the other solely by Strava. I wanted to briefly go through them since I think both are important for slightly different audiences. … Read More Here
App du Jour: StravistiX plugin for Strava
(Update: This app has now been renamed Stravistix, but at the time of this writing was called StravaPlus. I have updated the title, though left the rest of the article with the old name.) Back a few weeks or so ago … Read More Here
Garmin announces automatic sync with Strava, MapMyFitness and Endomondo
Today, Strava along with MapMyFitness and Endomondo have announced automatic sync with Garmin Connect. This means that your activities will now (or soon in some cases) automatically show up on those three platforms, should you choose to enable it. Some … Read More Here
Counterpoint: Understanding why the Garmin AutoSync rollout isn’t necessarily great for consumers
This morning’s announcement by Garmin of their Garmin Sync rollout is one that’s been long in the making – starting in earnest much earlier this year. The culmination of that effort arrived today with direct synchronization to TrainingPeaks and runcoach. … Read More Here
Suunto rolls out direct integration with Strava, a brief overview
This week Suunto became arguably the first major GPS watch maker to integrate directly with Strava. Not the first ever, but the first of the biggies (Polar, Suunto, Garmin, and to a degree, Timex). The implementation of automatic transfers to … Read More Here
