Garmin-sponsored triathlete Jenna Shoemaker shares her training and racing experiences with the Garmin Edge 705 and Forerunner 405.

The Washington D.C. Dextro Energy World Championship Series race did not go as I had hoped, but that’s racing. There are plenty of ups and even more downs! The whole weekend was a little bit chaotic with lots of events going on and some issues the day before the race surrounding the water quality that almost turned the event into a duathlon. I had a very poor swim, finding myself in the middle of the “washing machine,” and ended up coming out of the water much further back than I normally do. From there, the race became a chase and unfortunately, the chase ended about 9k into the bike when I hit a large traffic cone in the middle of the bike course. I was at the back of the group, athletes ahead of me split right and left, and suddenly without warning, the cone was in front of me and I had no option but to hit it. I flipped off my bike, over my handlebars and landed on the left side of my head. I can remember seeing the ground and asking myself “can I get up and finish the race,” but the next thing I knew, I was lying on a gurney in an ambulance trying to remember my name, birthday and mother’s contact information. CT scans revealed no fractures or bleeding in my head or pelvis, but they concluded, based on the time that I was “out,” that I had suffered a grade 3 concussion, the most severe.

So, instead of flying to Des Moines to race the Hy-Vee Elite Cup, I flew to Boulder for a week of recuperation. I took 2 days off from training to let my body settle, but I am now back into training and am excited to get ready for my next big event in Hamburg, Germany at the end of July. I just got my hands on the Garmin Forerunner 310XT, so I have a new toy to make training this coming month even more exciting!  I love the way this particular model fits my wrist and I am really looking forward to taking it on some open water swims!

We wish Jenna a speedy recovery so she can dive back into full training mode before her next big race. Congrats to her brother, Jarrod Shoemaker, for his 5th place finish at yesterday’s Hy-Vee Triathlon. Read about Jarrod and Jenna’s family reunion prior to the Washington D.C. race.

More than ever, touchscreen navigation in the great outdoors is within your reach. Today, we announced Garmin’s new Dakota 10 and Dakota 20 outdoor handhelds. Physically smaller than the iconic Garmin eTrex, Dakota boasts a much bigger color display thanks to the 2.6-inch glove-friendly touchscreen.

Lightweight, rugged and waterproof, Garmin’s new Dakota devices quickly acquire and maintain satellite reception – even in heavy tree cover or deep canyons – thanks to a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with HotFixTM, which automatically calculates and stores critical satellite information and can use that information to quickly calculate a position. Everyone from geocachers and youth scouts to surveyors and hunters can take advantage of Dakota’s 850 MB of internal memory, which can store up to 1,000 waypoints, 50 routes, 2,000 geocaches and an active tracklog of up to 10,000 points and 200 saved tracks.

Dakota 20 adds even more features, including a 3-axis compass,
barometric altimeter, a microSD card slot for increased mapping and
memory storage, and wireless unit-to-unit connectivity for sharing your
waypoints, tracks, routes and geocaches wirelessly with compatible
Dakota, Oregon, Colorado and Foretrex devices. Dakota 20’s 3-axis,
tilt-compensated electronic compass shows your heading even when you’re
standing still, without needing to hold it level.

Based on the innovative interface of Garmin’s award-winning Oregon series, Dakota’s glove-friendly, color 2.6-inch touchscreen display is easy to read and use in all conditions, responsive to the touch of your finger, yet resistant to the forces of nature. Weighing only 6.75 ounces, Dakota lasts up to 20 hours on two AA batteries and can connect to your PC or Mac via USB connection.

It’s fun and easy to get into paperless geocaching with Dakota. You can download up to 2,000 caches, with information such as location, terrain, difficulty, hints and description — no more paper print outs and manually entered coordinates. Visit Garmin.com/geocache for more information.

Dakota comes preloaded with a worldwide basemap and is compatible with Garmin City Navigator NT for turn-by-turn directions on city streets, Blue Chart g2 for marine charting, and TOPO U.S. 24K and 100K map software for incredible terrain detail (each sold separately).

Today, Garmin released a free, mandatory GPS software update to correct a software issue that has been discovered to cause select GPS devices to repeatedly attempt to update GPS firmware, and then either shut down or no longer acquire GPS satellite signals.  The products affected are the nüvi 7×5 series, nüvi 800 series, nüvi 8×5 series, zūmo 660, GPSMAP 620 and GPSMAP 640.

Garmin nüvi 7×5 series products that are no longer able to acquire a
GPS satellite signal may download a firmware update immediately that
will correct the software issue. This firmware update may be downloaded
using Garmin’s WebUpdater.

Firmware updates for other affected products will be available online through Garmin’s WebUpdater in the near future. Affected customers who have registered their GPS device will be notified about these updates through email.

Garmin nüvi 7×5 customers who are no longer able to power on their GPS device will need to visit www.garmin.com/support, and select the first FAQ
titled “My nüvi 755T, 765T, 775T or 785T is giving me the message
‘Updating GPS Firmware’ or will no longer power on…” Customers will
then need to follow the instructions to request a return authorization
so that the device may be repaired under warranty.

We know our customers rely upon their Garmin GPS device(s), especially
during the summer travel season, and we regret any inconvenience this
situation may have caused. We are committed to developing products that
are known for their quality and reliability and will continue to work
diligently to earn the trust of our customers.