I’m DC RAINMAKER…
I swim, bike and run. Then, I come here and write about my adventures. It’s as simple as that. Most of the time. If you’re new around these parts, here’s the long version of my story.
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Think my written reviews are deep? You should check out my videos. I take things to a whole new level of interactive depth!
Smart Trainers Buyers Guide: Looking at a smart trainer this winter? I cover all the units to buy (and avoid) for indoor training. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
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Check out my weekly podcast - with DesFit, which is packed with both gadget and non-gadget goodness!
Get all your awesome DC Rainmaker gear here!
FAQ’s
I have built an extensive list of my most frequently asked questions. Below are the most popular.
- Do you have a privacy policy posted?
- Why haven’t you yet released a review for XYZ product you mentioned months ago?
- Will you test our product before release?
- Are you willing to review or test beta products?
- Which trainer should I buy?
- Which GPS watch should I buy?
- I’m headed to Paris – what do you recommend for training or sightseeing?
- I’m headed to Washington DC – what do you recommend for training?
- I’m from out of the country and will be visiting the US, what’s the best triathlon shop in city XYZ?
- What kind of camera do you use?
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5 Easy Steps To The Site
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.
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!
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.
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!
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 2023 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.
Travel
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend
With our first full weekend here in Cape Town in the books, we went all-in on seeing animals with the kids and getting our fill of touristy related things. Of course, with tons more to see in the region and … Read More Here
An Accra (Ghana, Africa) Runaround
I’m just about to board my flight back to London after 48 hours here in Accra, Ghana. I was down here for a smattering of work meetings over the past two days. As a super-quick African geography refresher, here’s where … Read More Here
A Roodepoort, South Africa Runaround
I arrived yesterday morning into Johannesburg around 7:30AM after an 11 hour flight from London. While I thought I might run in the afternoon following a day of meetings, my body was apparently able to rather successfully get rid of … Read More Here
The Johannesburg (Group DCR) Runaround
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore. After a 10 hour flight from London to South Africa, I found myself presenting and meeting 90 minutes later for nearly 9 hours. By the time I finished up I was most definitely ready … Read More Here
A circular tour of Africa
Most folks can find South Africa on a map. After all, if you can find Africa, you can find probably find the southern portion. Simple enough, right? Welcome to Ghana But what about finding Accra? Well, ya probably need a … Read More Here
Cycling around South Africa
If you’ve never been to Africa, you probably have a specific representation of what the continent looks like. In your mind, it probably looks a lot like many of my past posts – usually out in the bush, in places … Read More Here
A week in the Seychelles on Denis Island
After our departure from Botswana we headed back through South Africa where we caught an Air Seychelles redeye flight from Johannesburg to Victoria, on the island of Mahe, within the Seychelles. Because I realize that few probably know where exactly … Read More Here
Three days in Botswana’s Okavango River Delta
(Sorry for the delay in posting…the last five days since being in Botswana we were at a location that while promised internet…did not actually have fully functional internet…thus…no posts. Let the posting resume!) When I originally started looking at places … Read More Here
A week in South Africa
After finishing up eating chocolates in Zurich, we boarded our Swiss airlines flight for the 10.5 hour journey south to Johannesburg, South Africa. This would be the start of a two week trip in the region, with the first leg … Read More Here
Wanna buy a Kenyan bike?
Last week before my flight back to the US, I swung briefly through a Kenyan mega mart of sorts on the way to the airport. My coworkers wanted to pick up some coffee (nearby regions are known for it) at … Read More Here
Swimming in Kenya’s Nyayo National Stadium
I arrived back to Nairobi Monday mid-afternoon ready to get my workout in for the day. I had done some research prior to arrival and found my best option (of only two options in the country) was Nyayo National Stadium, … Read More Here
24 hours in Tanzania
Sunday morning started early…but I was at least able to enjoy a breakfast before going as my ride to the next airport was slightly late. Because Sunday my place of work was closed for the weekend and Monday was a … Read More Here
Welcome to Tanzania, by way of Zurich and Kenya
There is early..and then there is damn early. Off to Tanzania: Saturday morning started damn early at 3:30AM to catch my first flight to Zurich (from Rome). The one par I love about flying over the Alps region of Europe … Read More Here
A little trip to Spain…and Africa.
Back a few months ago I got a great deal on airfare from DC to Spain ($127 round trip including all taxes). So on the eve of the Philadelphia Marathon, the girl and I booked tickets over for a 5 … Read More Here
Kenya Day 6: Ostrich Balls and BBQ Crocodile…the end.
Our last day of the trip, after two weeks and a lot of miles, we were ready to wander on home. But first we had the morning game drive. I wouldn’t call it out, but since we saw the very … Read More Here
Kenya Day 5: Simba the Lion King
We’re going to keep this one quick – just photos. The day is our last full day in Kenya before making our way back Saturday towards the US (with first stops in Nairobi, Dubai, and then eventually DC – and … Read More Here
Kenya Day 4: Cheetah vs. Buck
The day started out more or less like any of the previous days in Kenya. We’d get up before dawn (6AM) and shuffle our way to the Land Rover ready to begin the the day. Speaking of which, here’s what … Read More Here
Kenya Day 3: The grasslands
My goal is to make like a cheetah and get this post knocked out. It stands between me and dinner. We left Tsavo National Park relatively early in the day to head to the small airstrip to catch our the … Read More Here
Kenya Day 2: Lions, Leopards and lots of land
Our second day started early…rather early. It seems to be a trend that I need to break actually. But at least we caught the sunrise from our front porch, illuminating the 19,345 foot Mt. Kilimanjaro. The schedule for the day … Read More Here
Kenya Day 1: ‘Smile…you’re in Kenya!’
Despite being a redeye flight from Egypt that arrived at a potentially painful 4:10AM, it wasn’t too bad at all. We were virtually first off the plane and then made like rabbits to the customs area to be able to … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Singapore
Phew – it’s been a whirlwind last 10 days! Flying to Australia for the Tour Down Under (with more posts to come, especially some cool behind the scenes bits on tech), and then now just getting back home this morning. … Read More Here
A Singapore Runaround
It’s been a while since my last official ‘runaround’ post in the long-standing series. Not because I haven’t been running around all sorts of random cities, but rather, posting about it usually gets knocked down the totem pole of things … Read More Here
A Week On A Small Australian Tropical Island
After leaving Adelaide we headed north to Sydney. We were only there about 72 hours, and I haven’t exactly written a post about it yet. Partially because the weather was generally shiest. And partially because I’m backlogged on everything. Either … Read More Here
Spectating the 2017 Tour Down Under
It comes to an end – The Tour Down Under (at least for me, the race finishes later this Sunday – today in Australia). I stayed for a week in Adelaide, overlapping all of the Women’s Tour Down Under, and … Read More Here
The North Huvadhoo Atoll (Maldives) Swimaround
The Girl and I have been taking a long awaited vacation to a place far away from the hustle and bustle of daily life (and our respective jobs). For that, we burned a bunch of points and flew to the … Read More Here
Swimming in the Beijing Olympic Water Cube
After hearing that Beijing was on my work trip itinerary I immediately did a bunch of research to figure out if you could actually swim in the famous Water Cube from the 2008 Beijing Olympics (officially called the National Aquatics … Read More Here
The Xi’an China Runaround
It’s funny to think that prior to booking my airline ticket to this city, I’d never heard of it. In fact, I can’t think of the last time I booked any travel to a place I didn’t know existed. I’ve … Read More Here
A Wellington (New Zealand) Runaround
Yesterday I spent just a touch over 24 hours in Wellington, New Zealand. After landing into Auckland at 4:45AM from Perth (a miserable time for a redeye flight by the way), I then had a quick connection down to Wellington … Read More Here
A Rottnest Island Runaround (Western Australia)
I arrived here in Perth, Australia nearly a week ago – and things have been a wee bit busy since then. As I noted what seems like ages ago, I’m in the midst of a two-week trip down here to … Read More Here
Singapore Brooks Run Happy 9K Race Report
Back a few months ago when we first realized we’d be going to Singapore (actually, for all the cities we’d be visiting), I looked up the race calendar for this past weekend. Turns out, there were a number of races … Read More Here
A Kochi, India Runaround
Welcome to India, the land of a billion people, nearly as many bikes, and countless interesting places to run. Despite having flown over India more times than I can remember in the past two years, it’s been almost exactly two … Read More Here
The Seoul Runaround
It’s roughly midnight, and I’ve been asleep for two hours. Well, was asleep. For reasons unclear to me, my body thinks it’s time to to wakeup. Clearly, it’s confused. Nonetheless, traffic continues to bustle outside – a never ending surge … Read More Here
An Auckland Runaround
(I wrote this up last month during our trip to the South Pacific, but the posting got busy with CES immediately following – so it never quite made it to the light of day. I figured it’d be a fun … Read More Here
Bora Bora Part II: Sharks, Rays (the Manta kind), Paddle Boarding…and lots of rain.
(If you’re just joining me, start back at the first part of the two-part series) While Bora Bora is certainly about sun and sand, we did spend a fair bit of time doing lots of non-beach chair items. Sometimes for … Read More Here
Bora Bora Part I: Getting here, sun, swim and run!
After our New Zealand trip it was time to head somewhere warm(er). And no better place to do that than Tahiti. Like the more familiar Hawaii, Tahiti is made up of a number of islands – though far more than … Read More Here
Friday Photo of the Day (or trip, as it may be)
I started writing a post for the first part of our Bora Bora trip, but then decided that I was tired. After all, all this relaxing has made me…somehow more tired. Maybe just lazy. Well, not quite sure. Either way, … Read More Here
New Zealand Part III: Open cockpit vintage biplane flights, and canyoning (it’s like rappelling)
For our last couple of days in New Zealand we kept it busy, exploring the areas nearby Queenstown and Wanaka (both on the South Island). On our last full day though, we really packed in it. Of note were two … Read More Here
New Zealand Part II: Glaciers, peaks, long hikes…and a lot more sheep.
We continue our exploration of New Zealand roughly in the same southerly region that we left off at, departing from Queenstown. From there we drove a couple hours deeper into the mountains towards the Milford Sound region, staying in Te … Read More Here
New Zealand Part I: Caves, cows, sheep and mountain biking
Most conventional itineraries to New Zealand from the United States usually fly across the Pacific from either LA or San Francisco, with a relatively short 11-13 hour flight straight to Auckland. But, as you’ve probably guessed by now, I usually … Read More Here
The India Runaround
With my work completed yesterday (Thursday), I had the morning in Delhi to do as I saw fit before my flight later this afternoon. I initially thought I might go do some touristy stuff, but after it was found out … Read More Here
India Part II: Crouching Tiger
(Quick note: You can see the first half of my brief trip to India here in Part I) As a general rule of thumb, when you want to go see unique things in the wild, it takes a bit of … Read More Here
India Part I: “For some things, there are no explanations”
We arrived into Delhi, India – the country of 1.2 billion people – quite late Tuesday night…errr, rather Wednesday morning I guess. We were supposed to be there Tuesday night – but because the coffee pot on the airplane wouldn’t … Read More Here
A very short stay in Bangkok
I can’t say I was able to spend much time really seeing much of Bangkok during my short stay in Thailand. While I was initially scheduled to be there some 5 days, in the end, I’d only end up staying … Read More Here
A weekend in Vietnam
When I started this multi-week international work trip through Asia early last week, there was no plan to spend any time in Vietnam. It simply wasn’t on my itinerary. I was to work until Friday in Seoul, and then head … Read More Here
A moving bit of Seoul Food
I arrived into Seoul in a general state of confusion. Usually I have a much better handle on travel logistics for cities I’m arriving in, but somehow things got busy and I didn’t quite have the time to ensure I … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Past Week in Banff
The above has been my playground…err..work spot, for the last week. Of course as you saw this weekend in my ANT+ Symposium post I’ve been up in Banff, Canada (within the province of Alberta) for the annual sports technology conference. … Read More Here
5 Random Things From A Week In Newfoundland
I’ve been relaxing up in Northeastern Canada since early last week, so here’s what I’ve been up to! 1) Back in Newfoundland After three flights following my brief stay in Oulu, Finland, I found myself landing in Newfoundland, Canada – … Read More Here
A Kananaskis Moose Runaround
As many of you know, Wednesday and Thursday of last week I was in Kananaskis, Alberta (Canada) for the ANT+ Symposium where I delivered my annual keynote session on the state of sports technology. While you’ll see a handful of … Read More Here
A week of swim, bike, run (and eating) in Newfoundland
We arrived up here late last Sunday night, ready for a bit more than a week on ‘The Rock’ – Newfoundland, Canada. For those not quite clear where that is, think Greenland, and then go a little bit southwest – … Read More Here
A Canadian Moose of a Long Run
Quick Side Note: A US soldier deployed over in Afghanistan (and avid reader of this blog) is working on a public speaking course during his deployment over there and is doing a quick survey on running and GPS as part … Read More Here
A summer weekend in St. John’s, Newfoundland
The past four days I’ve been enjoying my time up in St. John’s, Newfoundland with my in-laws (still getting used to saying that!). Despite the mixed weather, it’s been a great time! Thursday morning I went for a bit of … Read More Here
A weekend of Cycling, Snow Skiing, Crankworx and Ziplining
Given I’m out on the west coast this week for work, I decided to sneak in a bit of activity north of the border up in Whistler, Canada – about 4 hours from my parents place outside of Seattle. We … Read More Here
A Newfoundland Christmas
As I’ve come to realize over the past few months, that when going to Newfoundland (home of The Girl), the journey is half the battle. I’ve yet to experience a trip there free of flights being dorked up, and this … Read More Here
My 24 hour trip to the ANT+ Symposium
As many of you know, I was invited to speak at the ANT+ Symposium held yesterday about an hour outside of Calgary, Alberta in small ski & golf resort village and town of Kananaskis (no, I can’t pronounce it, and … Read More Here
Newfoundland Part II: Moose everything
My second week up in Newfoundland was almost as busy as the first, despite the fact that this time we didn’t attempt to drive around the island. Instead, we focused on things that were local – and just generally enjoying … Read More Here
My first week in Newfoundland
I’ve been up here in Newfoundland, Canada for the past 10 days now in total – though, that’d be a week since the St. John’s Triathlon last Sunday. This past week has been a whirlwind tour of the island, as … Read More Here
5 Random Things From A Week in Cancun
After a busy week up in Banff at the ANT+ Symposium I traded a foot of snow for steaming hot…weather…with The Girl. We’d long been looking forward to this trip, as it’d be the first week away from the kiddos … Read More Here
Mexico City Runaround
Mexico City, 7:08PM: I sit here now in a cab, stuck in barely crawling traffic in the dark, hoping to make it to the airport in time for my flight. The check-in cutoff time is 37 minutes from now, and … Read More Here
A Rio de Janeiro Runaround
I arrived into Sao Paulo, Brazil early on Thursday morning, directly from Europe. With meetings on Thursday and Friday taking up all daylight hours, I didn’t see much of Sao Paulo by time I was back at the airport Friday … Read More Here
A Mexico to Israel via London Layover Airport Interval Runaround
To start, let’s just recap the last two days. Or at least, I think it’s been two days: Sunday 10AM France Time: Departed, connected in London, flew to Mexico City. Sunday 6:45PM Mexico Time: Landed in Mexico City after 11hrs … Read More Here
A weekend in the sun
We’re gonna keep this weekend update post pretty short – since you’ve got a boatload of detailed posts coming up this week covering all sorts of goodness. As I mentioned on Friday, The Girl and I had a long scheduled … Read More Here
Two days in Tegucigalpa, Honduras
The one and only thing you need to know about flying into Tegucigalpa is that it’s gonna be an interesting landing. So interesting in fact, that pilots have to be specifically trained on the approach. As you descend below the … Read More Here
A brief visit to Haiti
In a continuing trend for very short work trips, I just finished up spending the last 24 hours in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. While I’m now on my way to Central America (via a convoluted routing involving Miami and Houston), I did … Read More Here
A very short trip to Jamaica
This will be a very short post, for a very short trip. After leaving Canada and the ANT+ Symposium on Wednesday (well, technically Thursday I suppose) I caught a few flights that eventually had me descending into the very water … Read More Here
Swimming into a policed compound…in a foreign country
I arrived under cover of darkness into Santo Domingo on Tuesday night, after my 48 hours in Guatemala City. When I left nearly two weeks ago, the Dominican Republic wasn’t actually on my travel itinerary, but a last minute change … Read More Here
48 Hours in Guatemala City
After leaving Mexico city on Sunday, I caught a flight some 670 miles south to Guatemala City, Guatemala. Now, it’s fully understandable that you may not know much about Guatemala City, or for that matter – exactly where it is … Read More Here
Training at 7,500 feet
As I talked about yesterday, I’ve spent the previous week in Mexico City, Mexico – which has an elevation of 7,500 feet above sea level. That’s roughly 2,000 feet higher than Boulder, Colorado…or, for those Floridians, that’s about 7,498 feet … Read More Here
A week in Mexico City
I’ve been spending the last seven days a bit south of the border, some 2,000 miles from Washington DC in Mexico City, Mexico. I’m down here for work, and while it’s kept me quite busy during the week – I … Read More Here
Isla Guadalupe Great White Shark Diving – Day 5
I woke up surprisingly late – around 9AM. Though, since we were just making the trek back to land, I wasn’t exactly missing much. Thankfully, the weather continued to hold up and made for an incredibly calm ride back – … Read More Here
Isla Guadalupe Great White Shark Diving – Day 4
Over the course of the night the boat moved a round a bit in an attempt to avoid some of the winds and swells that can make life on the boat uncomfortable. But, by time the sun rose we were … Read More Here
Isla Guadalupe Great White Shark Diving – Day 3
For some, the day started earlier than others. In an effort to get to a better shark diving spot after yesterday’s empty handed attempt, the boat pulled up anchor and started motoring north at 4:30AM. The film crew followed suit … Read More Here
Isla Guadalupe Great White Shark Diving – Day 2
Our day began with sunrise at sea, just after 6AM. We had been motoring east now for some 17 hours, making way towards Isla Guadalupe at a steady clip of about 10mph. However, while we slept, the ocean did not. … Read More Here
Isla Guadalupe Great White Shark Diving – Day 1
Our itinerary put together by Shark Diver called for us to leave San Diego around 6:30AM via charter bus. We’d then drive South about half an hour, where we’d cross the US-Mexico border before continuing onto Ensenada, Mexico – the … Read More Here
Gone…Great White Shark Diving
And now…for something completely different… With what turned out to be a very long triathlon season now in the books, I need some rest and relaxation before starting up for a very exciting next year. I went for a nice … Read More Here
Tidbits and Tech From a Week Skiing in the Alps
A week ago we escaped down to the convergence of France, Switzerland, and Italy. By and large, it was all about family time skiing. After all, I somehow managed (albeit not on purpose) to not publish a single post or … Read More Here
A Few Epic Days in the French Alps
I’m currently at 34,999ft cruising over the Atlantic, nearing the coast of Newfoundland. But prior to that I was home in Amsterdam for the weekend – however, much of last week I spent in Chamonix, doing a bunch of meandering … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did in Finland (in the Arctic Circle)
Last weekend we headed up to northern Finland for four days with another family. Both our sets of kids are all only a few days apart in age. But since we were busy defrosting from that trip last week, I … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Sardinia
Turns out the last few months have been a wee bit heavy on travel. Thankfully, they’ve all been to great places – and for better or worse, we’ll be taking a bit of a staycation for the majority of the … Read More Here
5 Random Things From A Weekend in Bruges
It’s been a busy few days in the DCR realm, as my parents came into town and we headed up to Bruges, Belgium for the weekend. It’s about a 3-hour drive from Paris. While Bruges is well known to the … Read More Here
A Weekend in Chamonix and the Alps
This past weekend was a solid road trip adventure as I worked my way from Paris to Eurobike in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Except instead of just taking the highway there directly and being done with it, I decided to take a meandering detour … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Mallorca
From Wednesday of last week until last night, I was down in Mallorca, which is a small Spanish island located in the Mediterranean. It’s a super-quick journey from Paris, yet has mostly warm and sunny weather, even this time of … Read More Here
A Grand Budapest Weekend
This past weekend we flew the quick two hours over to Budapest, Hungary to enjoy a long weekend in this Eastern European capital city. Many of our friends had made similar trips last winter, and all found it far exceeded … Read More Here
5 Random Things From A Week in The Arctic Circle
So the last week I’ve spent up in Finland and Norway, far from civilization – a place where reindeer far outnumber people, and darkness far outweighs light. Here’s what it’s been like. 1) Getting there Back a number of months … Read More Here
An Esbjerg (Denmark) Runaround
The Runaround: It’s been a while since my last runaround. Not because I haven’t been running around random cities across the globe, but just because with so much other stuff to post about, they’ve gotten slightly overrun. But here’s a … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Switzerland
Woah – a crazy busy weekend down in Switzerland roaming around. But also a ton of fun. Here’s what I’ve been up to! 1) Got a bunch of replacement gear As some of you know, during my sailing trip to … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend in Côte d’Azur
We just wrapped up an awesome few days with friends down on the other side of the country – here’s what we were up to! 1) Flew down to the French Riviera Getting a slight head start on the weekend, … Read More Here
An Apeldoorn (Netherlands) Runaround
Once again this week I had to actually look at a map to figure out where on earth I was being sent for work. The last time was when I went to Xi’an, China. Sometimes I’ve heard of the city … Read More Here
5 Awesome Things I Did and Saw on Bastille Day 2014
Being in Paris now a few years, there appears to be no bigger single-day party than Bastille Day. Now technically it’s not called Bastille day. Rather, locally it’s known as Fête nationale (National Celebration) or Le quatorze juillet (14th of … Read More Here
5 Random Things I Did This Weekend…in Amsterdam
Here’s what I’ve been up to the last few days… 1) Started the weekend on an early train to Amsterdam In a clear violation of my rules for being up in the 5AM hour multiple times a week, I once … Read More Here
A short trip to Finland….with sunrise at 3:30AM
With a week of vacation over (and a weekend in the Pyrenees over), I got back to the real world and my day job with a trip up to Helsinki Tuesday night for two days of meetings. What’s perhaps most … Read More Here
An Epic Weekend of Cycling in the Pyrenees
After touring our way down the western coast of France, I arrived Thursday night into the Pyrenees region along the south of France – ready to begin three days of riding. Much of what I was doing was aimed at … Read More Here
Working our way down the west coast of France
As I noted earlier this week, we took the week off to explore the western coast of France. While you could spend weeks doing this with meticulous attention to every little town along the way, we decided to go for … Read More Here
A Lisbon (Portugal) Week of Runarounds
Over the past week I’ve been hanging out in Lisbon, Portugal for work meetings. But, I managed to get in a number of runs here, as well as a bit of time in between things exploring the city a little … Read More Here
A Cardiff (Wales) Runaround
Last Thursday I had a quick day trip up to Cardiff for some work meetings. Of course, it was somewhat a bit of a near-disaster in that I didn’t realize I was going to Cardiff until about 14 hours before … Read More Here
A Frozen Sea Helsinki Finland Runaround
I left the lovely British countryside behind (and by lovely, I mean cold and raining) and boarded a nearly three hour flight from London Heathrow to Helsinki, Finland. I always forget just how far that is from the rest of … Read More Here
A Thanksgiving Kiev (Ukraine) Runaround
I found myself on Thanksgiving Eve cruising east towards Kiev, Ukraine – for meetings on Thanksgiving in the capital city. The plane was pretty much empty, and in an ironic twist, the airplane food that was served was actually turkey. … Read More Here
A Dortmund (Germany) Runaround
While last week I was in beautiful sunny Greece, today…I am not. Instead, I’m in Dortmund, Germany. Which – may very well be a very nice sunny place too on some days. Regrettably, today was not one of those days. … Read More Here
A relaxing weekend at the beach (in Greece)
After finishing up work meetings on Friday evening, The Girl and I kicked back and enjoyed the weekend (+ this upcoming Monday) here just outside of Athens, Greece. For the most part we had nothing planned. That’s sorta the goal. … Read More Here
A lunchtime Greek getaway openwater swimaround
The last few days, and for the next number of days, I’m attending a slew of meetings in Greece. My schedule is pretty packed from morning till night, but today I had a brief break around lunchtime for precisely one … Read More Here
A Doha (Qatar) Nighttime Runaround
I landed in Qatar rather late Sunday night, about 11:30PM or so, making it roughly 12:30AM by time I got to the hotel. For the super-quick geography reminder, here’s where Doha is: With work meetings taking up most of the … Read More Here
A Bahrain Run & Swim Brickaround
The last 48 hours I’ve been in Bahrain, a tiny little island country in the Middle East that floats to the east of Saudi Arabia. So close in fact that when I’m on work trips to Saudi, I often just … Read More Here
A Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) Runaround
After my meetings finished on Sunday, a run was in order. Now ideally I would have done said run at 6AM on Sunday, well before my meetings. But when my alarm went off there was lot of snooze button pushing and … Read More Here
A Night Cycling Around the Autodrome Race Track in Dubai
On Monday when I posted that I was heading to Dubai for a few days, a reader suggested I check out the Wednesday night ‘open track’ at the Autodrome. Each week they open the track to just cyclists and runners … Read More Here
Swimming, Riding, and Running (and sightseeing) our way around Israel
After wrapping up work late Thursday evening, I was ready to join The Girl in enjoying the rest of the weekend wandering around Israel and checking out the country. It would of course be a bit of a whirlwind tour, … Read More Here
An Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia Runaround
I arrived in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Monday evening for two days of meetings. I had flown first to Bahrain, and then drove across the causeway that connects the two countries. The actual driving portion of the journey probably … Read More Here
A sandy day in Muscat, Oman
After leaving Dubai, we arrived the next morning in Muscat, Oman. Muscat is about 300 miles east of Dubai, and pretty much the most easterly point in the Persian Gulf. Here’s a quick refresher map: We didn’t have either a … Read More Here
A Dubai Runaround (Night Interval Edition). And a camel.
We landed into Dubai at around 10:30PM Saturday night, after a 7 hour flight to Doha, Qatar, and then another hour flight onwards to Dubai. Customs took a wee bit more time, due to The Girl’s Canadian Citizenship (the UAE … Read More Here
Cycling in Jordan, and other adventures in the desert
After 6 days in Jordan, I’m now on my next leg of the trip, headed up north to Athens via Istanbul. I lucked out in that this work trip ended up on a holiday weekend, giving me an extra day … Read More Here
Egypt Day 4: Planes, no trains, and some messy automobiles
Very little in life goes according to plan at 4:30AM. The fact of the matter is that nothing should be happening at 4:30AM, so when you try and apply complex international relations at that hour in the morning…things invariably go … Read More Here
Egypt Day 3: Blowing Bubbles
After driving a gazillion miles from Cairo, it was time to do what we came here to do – diving. Both my brother and I certified scuba divers, so it was mostly just a matter of picking out a reputable … Read More Here
Egypt Day 2: The long road ahead
(Waking up to sunrise in Giza) When most people start off on a long drive, they tend to bring useful accessories such as maps, directions and perhaps even a little GPS navigation system. We however…decided against all of those. We … Read More Here
Egypt Day 1: Perfecting telling people off
It all started like any other international arrival. Our plane from Dubai descended under a cover of darkness to land out at a remote stand at Cairo International Airport. However, the first sign of things perhaps not going as smoothly … Read More Here
Dubai Day 4: Sand Dunes, Soccer and Suits
This was effectively our last full day in Dubai, and quite full it was. Without question it was the busiest day, first starting where every day starts – the hotel breakfast buffet. I call this out only to note the … Read More Here
Dubai Day 3: Skiing in the desert- Prepared two ways
Those who read my blog semi-regularly will know that I’m a huge fan of skiing. I’ve been known to go a bit out of my way (say a few thousand miles) to get some skiing in. So it wouldn’t be … Read More Here
Dubai Day 2: Relaxing? Umm…maybe.
Today was supposed to be a relaxing day. And in theory – it started off that way. A nice breakfast from the buffet, and then I went out to the beach to hang out for a while and just enjoy … Read More Here
Dubai Day 1: Sighting off camels…while swimming
Over the course of the last few days I’ve hop scotched across the country a to Seattle, Whistler and then back to Seattle before swinging through DC for a bit. Shortly after that my brother and I left for a … Read More Here
A New York City Runaround
I flew out to New York late Tuesday night, only in town for a little under 48 hours – just enough for a full slate of work meetings. I ended up swimming on Wednesday at a place just a few … Read More Here
A San Francisco Swimming Flight Connection Layover
When I booked this particular flight combination a few weeks ago, I wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the 5 hour layover. Additionally, I had mentally thought the flight left at noon, rather than 10AM – meaning that I … Read More Here
A rockslide ride in Los Angeles, plus some aerodynamic testing
I arrived into Long Beach (greater LA area) around 7:50AM on Friday, from a week in Las Vegas. First on the agenda was finding Starbucks. With a 5AM departure to the airport, I needed it. Badly. I actually don’t like … Read More Here
A recovery week riding and swimming in Vegas
No, not recovery swimming in the gigantic leisure pools here at the hotel. Rather, swimming laps at the actual municipal city pool. But before we get to that, I had to get to Las Vegas. So after running the Paris … Read More Here
A weekend in Seattle playing with the Garmin Fenix and other gadgets
Important Note: I’ve published a full-scale Garmin Fenix In-Depth review (13,000 words!) over here at this link. The below were initial thoughts on beta hardware with highly beta firmware. Specific hardware changes were made since then to address some altitude … Read More Here
A weekend bouncing up and down the East Coast (and a look at the new Joule GPS)
While we may have moved to Paris, it certainly doesn’t seem like it yet. In fact, since moving to Paris, I’ve spent more time outside of Paris than in Paris – go figure! We had long since planned to come … Read More Here
A week of relaxing (and product reviewing) in Florida
Ahead of our big move to Paris, we’ve spent weeks…if not really months preparing. Since we had to be out of our house back on June 4th, we’ve actually been hoteling it since – with locations dependent on my work … Read More Here
Photo of the week: A summary of my week
I started writing a post highlighting a couple photos from the craziness that’s been the last 7 days. But then I realized, the above drink napkin I filled in during one of my nine flights this week actually covered it … Read More Here
Weekend Tidbits: Running with Chris Lieto, shooting with the pros, and a DSLR tethered iPhone
The two previous posts I did around Ironman Texas 70.3 in the past couple days were more finitely focused on the race scene (day before and race day), so I wanted to take a second to show off some of … Read More Here
A bit more than a weekend in Seattle
For roughly the past week I’ve been hanging out in Seattle for work. Of course, since Seattle is where I grew up – that also means I get to spend time with the rest of my family, and enjoy some … Read More Here
A quick travel day, plus some new gadgets
The past week has been pretty crazy busy workwise, with the only saving grace being that training is on a ‘flexible’ schedule – which basically means I run, ride and swim when I want. Take for example today. Today started … Read More Here
A relaxing weekend in San Francisco
This weekend I was out in San Francisco for the last Men’s Health Urbanathlon of the year. The event was held on Sunday, but we actually went out Thursday to enjoy a bit of the city and make a weekend … Read More Here
A bit of a Canadian Rockies Weekend
We bumbled our way across the US (and Canada) most of the day Saturday, eventually arriving in Calgary later that evening. Normally this would have made for a relatively calm 90 minute drive up into the mountains, but due to … Read More Here
Loops around the track and airport in Seattle
This week my workouts have largely been centered around my hometown in Mukilteo, WA. I’ve been out here for work all week, but I stay with my parents and do all my workouts in the area near my house. For … Read More Here
We’re not in Kansas anymore…or wait…are we?
Shortly after landing at Kansas City International airport on Friday evening The Girl expressed some concern that the car rental driver said we were actually in Missouri. It’s at this point I remembered from the last time I was in … Read More Here
A ‘Magical’ Weekend
When I was ‘signed up’ for this past weekend almost a year ago, I didn’t exactly expect for it to be slotted in between weeks of back to back international travel…but then again, I’m not exactly what I was supposed … Read More Here
A brief tour of my hometown…Mukilteo, WA
While the initial driver of my weekend at home was my 10 year high school reunion, and then the Kirkland Sprint Triathlon – I was also looking forward to showing off a bit of my hometown to The Girl in … Read More Here
A short trip to the Big Easy…with a side of BBQ in Memphis
We’re gonna keep this quick…because quite frankly – I’m exhausted. I headed down to New Orleans rather early on Tuesday. It’s nice in that they had a nonstop morning flight from DC, making it easy to avoid having to stay … Read More Here
Beating the heat in Connecticut
Monday midday we (The Girl, my Mom, my Dad, and I) packed up the car and headed up to nearby BWI airport to catch a flight to Hartford, CT – just a short 45 minute hop away. This is where … Read More Here
Trying not to get skunked on a 3AM training ride
I’ve crisscrossed the country hundreds of times, though today’s flight home is a bit of a different experience. Because of a mechanical issue, my little Airbus 320 is being kept below 28,000 feet – thus providing a slightly different view … Read More Here
A log cabin, and following strangers in pickup trucks
Way back at the Rumpass in Bumpass Triathlon, our friends Lindsey and Carl had planned to join us for the weekend (and race) down at Lake Anna in the RV adventure. The lake is about 90 minutes south of DC … Read More Here
Training in the middle of nowhere
My travel for work goes in spurts – sometimes there are dry spells, and sometimes it gets…umm…undry. I’m currently in the midst of a rather busy work travel set. While sometimes my travels take me to interesting places at home … Read More Here
The NYC Red Bull Air Races…and other items in NYC
When I heard about the Red Bull Air Races a few years back, I mentally jotted it down as a pretty sweet thing to eventually go check out (btw, check out videos like this to see what I mean). At … Read More Here
Getting pushed out of a plane at 14,000 feet
As you may remember from yesterday’s little Space Shuttle adventure, we had a brief stop to make on the way home…or so I thought. I had been told by pilot and crew (aka…The Girl) that we were just picking up … Read More Here
Other Posts
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
Memorable Travel Running, Riding and Swimming Moments of 2012
With only five more days left in 2012 (depending on if you count today), I think I’ve wrapped up my travelling for the year. As you’ve probably gathered by now – I travel a wee bit for work. And then … Read More Here
One Million Miles
Back in June I hit a minor milestone in the alternate reality that I live in with respect to travel – which I do primarily for work. As of June 16th, I crossed over the threshold of flying 1,000,000 miles … Read More Here
Checkin’ out a Space Shuttle launch
Back a few years ago a friend (Bruce) and I started talking about the idea of going to see a Space Shuttle launch. We’re both fairly interested in aviation and space, and it seemed like a logical road trip to … Read More Here
The day before Knoxville Rev 3
I was going to make this all one post (Race Report and Pre-Race Stuff), but decided to split it apart. It will be more epic that way…which…will go along with how the race went. As I mentioned earlier in the … Read More Here
Adventures in triathlon RV’ing
I have officially discovered there is no better way to do local or semi-local race weekends than renting out a little RV and going full tilt at the race site. Let’s do a not-so-quick recap on how it all goes … Read More Here
A week of training in Seattle
After a pretty darn successful Sunday race in the Rainman Triathlon, I got back to work – and training on Monday. That included a relatively straightforward swim of a tad over 3,000 yards. One interesting thing is there are far … 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
Friday Tidbits
As part of some upcoming work travel trips I’ve been filling out a crap-ton of visa applications for different countries. I have a list of some 31 countries, of which I’ll be visiting about a third of over the next … Read More Here
Texas Training Extravaganza
I’ve been down here in Austin, TX since last Friday – but that doesn’t mean my training stops. Nope, it just changes scenery. On Saturday (the day before Longhorn 70.3 that I was cheering at), I went out and basically … Read More Here
Longhorn 70.3 Spectator Report
I’ve decided that I think the best way to do a 70.3 race is not to race it…but rather to cheer it. Much more relaxing. Yet, still a heck of a lot of walking. Lots and lots of walking to … Read More Here
The week…in pictures
Now that I’m back in DC I figured I’d post a bunch of interesting pictures that didn’t make it into any particular previous post. Above: On the drive up to Penticton at a gas station near the border Below: Medals … Read More Here
It’s getting hot in here
The good news is that I didn’t have to run. The bad news is I still had to bike…on the trainer…without a fan…indoors. And thus was the start to my birthday, a nice 65 minute trainer ride on little red … Read More Here
Tour de Seattle
It’s getting hot (in) here…perhaps my new bike shorts has contributed to the record temperatures here in Seattle. Either way, it hasn’t stopped my training. Though this is a recovery week (well timed to a travel week), I’ve been busy … Read More Here
A week in review (aka: Cupcakes in review)
While the focal point of the past 7-10 days has been Ironman Rhode Island 70.3, it’s actually been rather busy otherwise as the Girl and I spent time with my family and relatives in both Rhode Island and Connecticut. Here’s … Read More Here
Ironman Rhode Island 70.3 – 2009 Race Report
The Ironman Rhode Island 70.3 course is a bit different than most triathlon courses out there, primarily due to its point to point nature. This means that instead of starting and ending in roughly the same place, you actually start … Read More Here
Cows and Corn? Welcome to Lincoln, Nebraska!
It becomes more rare with every trip I take that I actually get to go somewhere that I haven’t been to before. However, every once in a while comes along some trip that takes me to a place i haven’t … Read More Here
Aloha – from the Hawaiian islands!
After my race on Sunday, I had to quickly pack up everything and get all my stuff ready for a work trip to Hawaii. I took off early Monday morning, and after 12 hours of flying time, I descended down … Read More Here
High Desert to High Mountains
Upon leaving the desert on Thursday evening I arrived just over two short ours later in Seattle – the next stop on the trip. This stop wasn’t for work though, it was for a nice enjoyable weekend of Seattle and … Read More Here
Two puddles of water and a desert
Wednesday brought a bit of improvement in the throat situation, which was good – as I had two workouts scheduled. But due to the conference speaking and other work schedule, I wasn’t able to tackle these until until around 5PM … Read More Here
I found some Red Rocks
So far…so good. Well, as long as you don’t ask my throat. I came into this trip with a slight head cold and a sore throat. Speaking for 75 minutes at a shot multiple times a day…did not help the … Read More Here
Ummm…it got hot.
I think this marked the beginning of the ‘busy season’, which officially goes from now until mid-November. Sorta like opening day in major league baseball – only much less relaxing. I honestly don’t remember what happened Thursday or Friday, so … Read More Here
Packed and ready to roll…and run…and that swim thing.
I have arrived. Well, to the Tampa airport anyway…just waiting for my bike case to roll off the ‘oversized’ luggage area. But that should happen relatively soon. I had forgotten how much more ‘fun’ it is to pack for an … Read More Here
Training while travelling
After my trip to Spain, some folks asked me how I manage to find places to train while I’m travelling. Given how often I travel (for work or holiday), it’s pretty important to be able to stay on top of … Read More Here