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Hello!

This is The Girl, writing to you for the DC Rainmaker weekly newsletter. If you are a new to the DCR newsletter, you can catch up with the newsletter archives here. The newsletter is just a fun piece written by me, not Ray, to sum up all of the things he, and we, have done over the last week.

The first half of the newsletter is sport tech and action cam tech focused stuff Ray has published. Then I invite you to join me below the fold for whatever nonsense I decide to write about today in the “In Depth Thoughts of The Girl”.

Moving on! 

So, what has Ray been up to this week? He had received a lot of interest in knowing more about the Garmin Connect IQ Summit, so he took a hot minute to give you some insight to what summit was all about. Also, I think it was just an excuse for Ray to get to use the word “Tidbits” in his title again! Not to be confused with Timbits, which Ray is also a big fan of, my Canadian peeps know what I’m talking about! Amazingly I can’t find any incriminating evidence of his Timbit habit in ALL of these Newfoundland posts???

After sharing some fond memories from last month, Ray looked ahead at the Suunto 3 Fitness In-Depth Review. Saddle up for another very long post and decide for yourself if it’s the right watch for you!

The weekly “Week in Review post” hit the news stands on Sunday. A post to which I continue to question if Ray writes just to spite me, and prove he really is surfing the web as a means of work… you decide.

Last but not least, fresh off the press is the Hands-on post for the new SRM EXAKT Power Meter Pedals. Ray took a flight to Italy at the earliest hours of light Monday morning to meet up with the folks at SRM and LOOK for a media event and ride (two rides actually). Check that out if power meters are your thing!

Sadly, Ray hasn’t posted a 5 Random Things post from the weekend, which is too bad. We had an epic weekend of fun here in Amsterdam! So, I’ll do a abbreviated version for you down below in “The Girls” section. I’ll give you a hint… we have a new set of wheels!

Other than tapping away on his keyboard, remember Ray also has that trusty YouTube channel. This place can save you a lot of time if you can multitask by listening to his videos and still pretend to be working at your office. Most recently, there is a video for the Hands-on STAC Zero Halcyon trainer. It was important to make a video for this guy because apparently it is “Totally Silent”. And yes, he actually put it in the baby's room to test it.

Also, out of no where Ray’s YouTube video on his GoPro Top 5 Accessory Favorites or must-haves, has started going crazy with views. About two months late? But I figured it was worth a mention since everyone else is now interested!

That’s it for the Tech side of life, and now I send you to “below the fold” for the In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl. A.K.A. Me!

In-Depth Thoughts from The Girl

Hi Friends!

Thanks for meeting me down here for the fun stuff. As promised I’ll give a quick recap of what The Makers were up to this weekend!

We are absolutely loving life here in the Netherlands. While there was nothing wrong with Paris, and that city treated us very well, Amsterdam just has a bit better “family style” happening. And to be fair, the food scene here ain’t to shabby either!

Kicking off the weekend, Ray decided enough was enough, and I needed to conquer my fear of the 2-wheeled “Bakfiets”. Otherwise known as a Dutch cargo bike. Initially I REAAALLLLY wanted the 3 wheeled wooden bike box style bike, but Ray decided he wanted to give this one a whirl.

***As a total side note, we have received this bike as a trial bike from Urban Arrow to poke at. It is just a loaner, and thus this is not my intention by showing pictures of the bike here to advertise for them - we just kinda really like it. If I didn’t like the bike I would tell you without hesitation, and promptly return the loaner!***

So, Friday afternoon was driver training lessons of sorts! It took me about 3 minutes on that bike to realize I loved it. Nothing to be afraid of! #Winning

After the bike lessons finished up in Vondel Park off we went to a GEM we found! Amsterdam FoodHallen! I’m timing my weeks away for every Friday to roll around so we can go back. We’ve made a new pact to go to the food hall every Friday for lunch and beers!!!! #StillWinning!

Then, later in the weekend we packed up all the kiddos (sans Lucy) and just went for a family ride! Likely Ray’s strategy to help me keep building confidence on the new bike!

The weekend continued with baby art classes, family bouncy gyms, and all kinds of other goodness… mainly consisting of things that went on the BBQ. But I’ve done enough typing for today, and you have work to do. Maybe I’ll talk Ray into letting me take of the “lifestyle” type blogs posts incase some of you want to know more about what happening around the city? Something to ponder.

Hope you had a great weekend, and cheers to the week ahead!

~The Girl.

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