 |
|
Hello! This is The Girl, writing to you for the DC Rainmaker weekly newsletter. Currently sitting here in sunny Paris! The hubby is home from his 6 weeks of travel madness, and that makes me a happy camper! So, on with the newsletter! If you are a new newsletter recruit, you can catch up with the newsletter archives here. Just so you know, the way I structure the newsletter is by giving you a round up of the latest and greatest of the DCR news and posts, followed by the In-Depth thoughts of the girl!
I believe the last time a newsletter hit the stands, Ray was busy with his DCR drivable mancave, making his rounds at Eurobike and the Swiss mountains. But since then the man has traveled far and wide. First off, Ray came back from his Eurobike journeys to whisk me away on our first weekend away sans kiddo. Well… sorta sans kiddo. You’ll have to read his Weekend in Amsterdam post to get the big announcement if you haven’t already heard! Let me tell you… the first weekend away for mom and dad was fantastic. Our little peanut is 15 months old today and it was “time” for a break. Breakfast, dinner, and lunch alllllll by ourselves! I actually felt guilty about how not guilty I felt every. single. mealtime.
Following our weekend away of food and freedom, it was back to the grind for Ray. I have described his time between September 18th – October 1st as “Hell Week” for Ray… and please note “week” should be plural. Within this 2 weeks, one might have to imagine a combination of Frosh or Rush-week (I’m not sure if the term is recognized in countries outside of the USA?), but basically it’s a university thing, whereby you are pushing your body to the limits of hazing for a fraternity. You're completing ridiculous tasks at ridiculous times of the day/night, consuming undesirable amounts of alcohol, while still expected to show up to class looking presentable. Then mix in with that the pressures of final exam week, plus the physical demands of (if anyone has experienced a university or professional sports) “preseason training” week(s) of 3-a-days weight room, track sessions, and finally sport specific training sessions. That… that is what I imagine a good description of the last two weeks of Ray’s life looking/feeling like! And you know what? He LIKES IT! One might even say he loves it. I swear. Rarely a complaint from the man since he left. Maybe he just didn’t have time to think? So, with that dramatic simile filled description of his life, what was he actaully up to? He flew from Paris to San Fran for a meet up with the guys at GoPro. Where he got his hands on new gear, while planning his next 2 weeks around how could he manage to get some of the most epic pictures, videos, and testing done for the Hero 6 Black In-Depth Review!
One day in San Fran was enough, so from there he headed to Vegas for Interbike 2017. Initally scoping out the Outdoor Demo days, followed by a lot of announcements at Interbike including: 4iiii Percision Podiiiium Power Meter, Trainer Road adding new stuff, Garmin adding new VIRB support, and Bkool’s 2017-2018 Trainer line-up. I’m sure more than just that happened in Vegas. Ray undoubtedly had many a closed door meetings, many miles pounding the exhibition floors, etc. However if he hasn’t wrote about it yet, then I guess we are stuck with the age old quote of “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas”… for now. After Interbike ended, he traveled to Reno, where he spent the weekend near Lake Tahoe. He was there hammering out post after post, and getting some much longed for time on the mountain bike- making for some of those great videos you see in the GoPro Hero 6 Black review. I have to take a moment here and personally thank the guys at TrainerRoad for putting in the biking time with Ray. For you it might have just been good times out on the trails, and a fun opportunity getting to play with new video equipment, but for ME, it was peace of mind. Ray very often heads out on rides and runs, in new areas solo, often without telling anyone where he’s headed, and that adds a great deal of stress for me being a continent away! If I had known he was going to see you guys, I’d have sent cookies! Next time!
Following his weekend in the Lake Tahoe area, he flew up to Calgary, Alberta (Canada). Upon arrival from what I understood was a very early flight (Note: Ray is not a morning person…), Ray met up with the folks at AeroLab for some testing of “aero testing stuff”. I think it’s been a long time since I’ve seen Stretch Armstrong there in Areo position! I’d bet all of my newly imported Gold Fish Crackers on it that his hamstrings were super upset the next day! I imagine you’ll get a post on that in the near future.
After enduring the aero position workout, Ray piled himself into a rental car and proceeded to drive north to Banff. Here he would be partaking the annual festivities of the ANT+ conference where he is the Keynote speaker. Along the way to Banff, Ray stopped at a reputable Canadian gas station whereby he discovered “Starbucks DoubleShot Energy Drink”… a canned coffee, caffeinated blast. To which he would continue to purchase and consume throughout the week as fuel for his writing, industry meetings, video editing, and product testing marathon. |
