For Bring Your Child to
Work Day, my 11-year-old son had a chance to see what’s it like on the inside
of the Garmin marketing communciations and blog team. He shared some thoughts from last
Saturday’s Garmin Marathon, where he ran the 5k to knock out a 7:31 min/mile average pace, placing 3^rd in the 18 & under group. Well done, son.

Peg: What kind of training did you do for this race?
D: Well, I'm in baseball now, so I really only ran two training runs.
The first one was…um, how many miles? Let’s just look in my history [checks his Forerunner 10]. We ran 2.14 miles in
19:39. And then I ran 3.01 miles in 26:25.

Peg: What was you goal pace for this race?
D: On race day, I had my
Virtual Pacer set for an 8:45 pace. I only got behind it for a couple of times
during the race, but it wasn’t for very long, and then I was back, either on pace or
ahead. I was behind mostly at the start because there was quite a bit of
people, so I had to make my way in between them.

Peg: So what was your race strategy?
D: I would pick out one person who was a pretty good distance ahead of me and I thought “okay, I’m gonna go up
and pass that person” and that’s pretty much what I did the whole race.

Peg: How did you feel when you saw the finish line?
D: I just felt like I had to finish the race, but I didn’t get as good of a
kick as I wanted. I could hear you cheering for me at the finish line.

Peg: What did you do after you finished?
D: I got a water
bottle and I started to untie my chip, then someone came with cutters and just
pulled it off. And then I went and got a banana and some Shatto chocolate milk
and my legs started coming back to life. Then I went and picked up my race
results, which showed I was 3^rd in my age group. Ultramax (the
company that did the timing) is good because they print out results really fast.
Then I went over and got some awesome macaroni and cheese from Noodles &
Company. I went back again…and again. I had 3.25 bowls of that stuff. And 3
shots of Shatto.[PS: and look what was for lunch the day D visited Garmin headquarters--bacon mac & cheese! Our head chef must know us well.]

Peg: You were feeling pretty good by then, right?
D: Yeah, I didn't want to leave. So then I hung
around the finish line and cheered on the runners and handed out thunder stix
to the crowd so they could make some noise. Jake was on the microphone saying
all the runners' names as they crossed. I thought he had to be getting thirsty
and hungry, so I brought him some water and macaroni & cheese.

Peg: And you got an award, right?
D: Yes, I got an award for being third in my age group. It was a cool Tin Man bobble head. Then I got to meet some of the pros at the race, like Desi Davila, who made the Olympic team for the marathon. I showed her my new Brooks beanie because she runs on the Brooks-Hansons team. I also met Scott Jurek. I'd never seen him before, but my mom told me about all the races he has won. I think it's kinda crazy he can run all those miles as a vegan. No cheeseburgers? No mac & cheese? That would be tough. He just seemed like a regular guy though and he told me good job on my race and he signed my award.

Peg: What were some of the best costumes you saw?
D: One lady was dressed as a yellow brick road and then there was a lady
dressed as a “wicked fast witch” and she was the masters winner in the half marathon.

Peg: Will you do this race
again?
D: Probably so. Plus I want to do the Susan G Komen 5k because my 5^th
grade teacher had breast cancer. I also want to do a kids triathlon because I like swimming and biking.

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Peg’s prodigy racaps his 5k race at the Garmin Marathon

During the Spring Classics, the day after a race is a calm one for
riders. They sleep in, have breakfast and then head out for a recovery ride. That is followed by eating lunch, having a massage and their day is done.

For the Garmin-Sharp team staff, however, the day is
anything but leisurely. That’s when all the team’s support materials — cars,
bikes, trucks, clothes, food — is made ship-shape after chaotic race days. The
day
after Belgium’s De Brabantse Pijl we spent the morning with the team staff and
watched it all take place.

In the mechanics’ truck, Juan Lujan and Joerge Wohlleben
methodically dismantled freewheels.

After pulling the cassette cluster from a Mavic wheel with a
chain whip, Lujan inspected the sprockets for damaged teeth. Using a rag, he
polished the sprockets to gleaming silver. He then dismantled the wheel’s
freewheel spindle mechanism, cleaned and greased it, then put the entire
mechanism back together. In a tightly orchestrated show of wrenching, Luhan and
Wohlleben repeated the process for 24 wheels.

Wohlleben said the carbon-fiber Mavics they were overhauling
came from the Tour of the Basque Country. “It was raining every day,” the
German mechanic observed. Because water wreaks havoc with bike components, Wohlleben
said the mechanics repeat this wheel cleaning and greasing process after every
rainy event or training ride.

In addition to the freewheel overhaul, Lujan said after
every race “We check the freewheels, the bottom bracket bearings, the headset,
the chain, the brake cables and especially the tires.”

After placing the reconditioned wheels on wall-mounted fork
racks inside the mechanics truck, Lujan slowly spun each wheel and inspected
for cuts and abrasions on the Mavic tubular tires. He pulled wheels with
damaged tires from the rack; later he would begin the process of gluing on new
tires.

Lujan moved wheels with good-condition tires to one end of
the long line of racks. For the next race, the Amstel Gold Race in Holland, the
mechanics will mount the wheels with new tires on the rider’s race bikes and
reserve the previously-ridden tires for their backup bikes. However, used is in
the eye of the beholder; none of the tires that made the inspection cut showed
even minimal wear.

Next to the mechanic’s truck British soigneur Garry Becket
was attacking the inside of a team caravan car with a vacuum.

This car was used at Paris-Roubaix and had just been returned
from a Belgian mechanic. Beckett explained that for Roubaix, the caravan cars
are fitted with different steel rims and higher profile tires to help them
straddle the race’s heavily-crowned cobblestone roads. Along with replacing the
high-profile wheels with standard car tires, the mechanic had also removed a
special undercarriage plate temporarily installed to protect the drive train
from scraping when the car
slammed into dips on the Roubaix cobbles. Without
the plate and the special wheels, the cars would quickly leave a trail of oil
and differential parts across the pavé.

This was the vehicle’s first deep cleaning since Roubaix. With
a rag, Beckett cleaned fine, tan-colored Roubaix dust that had caked on the
rear hatch hinges. Under the hood, the engine was encased in an even thicker
shell of the same grime. “It’s incredible where it penetrates,” Beckett said as
he set about cleaning the engine surfaces.

The team normally washes the cars every day. “It’s our
livery,” Becket said with his rumbly British accent. “We don’t want to be seen in
dirty old motors.”

While vacuuming the car insides, Beckett also took time to
stuff the driver’s side door pocket with Clif bars, Clif Shots, and Clif Bloks.
During Sunday’s race in Holland, the director driving the car will be ready to
hand these items to riders. 

30 feet away, French bus driver Matthiew Rompion scrubbed
the side of the team bus with a long-handled brush. This home away from home for the riders also gets an inside and out scouring
before and after every race.

Rompion said races in Belgium this time of year demand a lot
of aggressive vacuuming. Riders finish caked with mud and grime and it ends up inside
the bus when they flop down on couches or peel off soaked clothing.

After washing the bus, Rompion pulled a hose to its side and
begin filling the water tanks. “It takes a long

time,” he said. Along with
supplying water to a small kitchen, these tanks run two on-board showers. As
part of his bus-cleaning regime, Rompion also restocks the refrigerator with
drinks for the riders on their way to and from races. The morning of races he
adds bottles of recovery drink as well.

The bus has trays of Clif products on a counter, and when
those run low, Rompion restocks them from boxes of Clif products stored under
the
bus’s bench seats.

Rompion said one of his most critical tasks is replacing a
box of coffee capsules next to the bus espresso machine. How often does he have
to replenish it? “Every day!” Rompion said with a laugh. A hot-water kettle shares
the counter with the coffee machine. “For English people,” Rompion pointed out.
British physiotherapist Matt Rabin and Irish rider Dan Martin are two Rompion
says prefer tea over coffee.

The truck that houses the bikes and mechanics’ shop also has
a small
 kitchen and laundry room. Inside, American soigneur Alyssa Morahan
opened a Sharp refrigerator she had stocked with food from a grocery run
earlier in the day. Packed with yoghurt, fruit and sandwich makings, the
refrigerator is used at races — along with another refrigerator in the bus — to
prepare food for both staff and riders.

This truck had also come from the Tour of the Basque
Country. Morahan had given the kitchen a thorough scrubbing earlier in the day.
She good-naturedly added that while the staff cleans the kitchen when at the
races, it was hard to keep up at the soaking race in Northern Spain:
“Everything was wet every day—you can only clean the floor so many time while
you are tracking in dirt!” 

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Team Garmin-Sharp: The Deep Clean, The Day After

Never has the old idiom "one's eyes are bigger than one's stomach" been more apparent than with what you're about to see.

Our friends over at Field & Stream recently featured a video of a fisherman approaching two fish that were seemingly locked up and floating to the water's surface.  Upon further inspection, the fisherman realized that he was about to pull in a 'keeper' fish…that was trying to swallow another 'keeper' fish whole.  

This is what urban legends are made of and is sure to be a tale that will be told time and time again.  Fortunately enough, the events were recorded, forever proving the story to be true. Have a great weekend and Happy Fishing!

*Spoiler Alert* – The video concludes with a happy ending!

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Forget About Dogs, Welcome to the Fish-Eat-Fish World!

Our fēnix outdoor watch allows you to go hands free while still having access to Garmin’s precise and accurate navigation and trip information right on your wrist. fēnix is popular with mountain climbers, trail runners and hikers alike – as shown in our latest video series.

In an effort to constantly improve the experience fēnix can provide, today we launched an update for the BaseCamp Mobile app. This app lets you supplement your Garmin fēnix outdoor watch or Oregon 600 series handheld with the power of your smartphone. For instance, the app allows you to view data from the
fēnix on a more detailed map on the iPhone 4S or iPhone 5. You can easily manage and share the waypoints, routes and tracks you’ve logged on your trail-hardened device. Simply sync your fēnix or Oregon with your iPhone to download your data using Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology. The app can show your journey overlaid on satellite imagery so you can get the bird’s eye view of the trail you just blazed. Plus you can view your ascent, descent, and total distance, as well as charts with your speed, heart rate, cadence and temperature displayed over time.

Share Your Adventures

The
update for the BaseCamp Mobile app we released today makes it easier to share
your adventures with friends and family by adding cloud support. When you’re logged in to your myGarmin
account through BaseCamp Mobile, you can upload data from your device to your cloud account, such as waypoints, routes and tracks, The next time you launch the app on your phone, or pull
up the full version of BaseCamp on your PC or Mac, this data will automatically
appear in your collection – there’s no need to connect your device directly to
your computer. You can then organize this data into a Garmin Adventure using
the full version of BaseCamp on your computer. Easily add pictures, videos, and
notes then publish your adventure to brag to your buddies about your travels or
let fellow explorers follow in your footsteps.

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Garmin BaseCamp Mobile Update Makes it Easier to Share Your Adventures

One of the things that were popular with the crowd at Macworld/iWorld in San Francisco last week was our Garmin GLO GPS receiver. Both the iPad mini Wi-Fi and iPod Touch don't have a GPS receiver built in, so by pairing these devices with Garmin GLO via Bluetooth you'll be able to add this functionality. Just download our Garmin NAVIGON navigation app and you have a fully functional navigation system. 

GLO is the first wireless GPS receiver with the ability to receive signals from both the United States’ GPS satellite network and Russia’s GLONASS satellite network. GLONASS provides access to 24 additional satellites than using GPS alone. This is particularly helpful for users who need reliable satellite navigation in challenging environments such as deep canyons or urban environments where a large portion of the sky is blocked by solid objects.

The great thing about the Garmin NAVIGON app is that it is optimized to run natively on the iPad, making use of the larger display and the user interface of the device. You can check out the picture above to see what the navigation screen looks like on the iPad mini. The app provides premium turn-by-turn navigation including onboard maps, lane
guidance, speed limit warnings, real-time traffic and public transit routing,
among many others.

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Garmin GLO™ Lets You Navigate with Your iPad® mini Wi-Fi

Macworld/iWorld is the ultimate event for anything
Apple culture, accessories and apps. One of the great things about this event is that unlike
many other tech shows, Macworld/iWorld is open to the public, so anyone can come
and check out the latest and greatest. Macworld/iWorld takes place in San
Francisco from January 31 to February 2 and we’d love to see you at the Garmin
booth (#753).

We will be showcasing our new location-sharing features
for drivers and cyclists, helping you to stay connected with friends and
family. The StreetPilot Onboard and NAVIGON navigation apps now integrate
Glympse and Foursquare to share your location. The new Garmin Edge 510/810
cycling computers allow you to share your location in conjunction with the Connect
Mobile iPhone app.

StreetPilot
Onboard and NAVIGON Navigation Apps

The Garmin StreetPilot Onboard and the NAVIGON app
turn your iPhone into a fully functional navigation system, complete with
turn-by-turn directions, lane guidance, traffic and speed warnings, among many
other features.

The latest version of these apps makes it easier to stay
connected while on the road. The integration of
location-sharing service Glympse allows you to easily share your location with
friends and family, so they can follow along. Simply click on the Glympse
icon in the sidebar, select any recipient from their address book, and then
choose for how long to share your location – from a few minutes to a few hours.
The selected recipients will receive either a text or email message with a link
to a Glympse tracking map, where they can see the sender’s current location,
arrival time and speed.

Edge
510/810 Cycling Computers and Garmin Connect Mobile

The Edge 810 and 510 are Garmin’s first dedicated cycling devices with
real-time connectivity and combine the most popular aspects of the
industry-leading Edge 800/500 while adding advanced connected features through
a smartphone. The Garmin Connect Mobile app allows riders to gain
comprehensive, accurate ride data from a dedicated device, while keeping their
phone out of the elements and saving its battery in case of an emergency. The
Edge tracks the data and sends it to the phone using a Bluetooth® connection.
This connection allows cyclists to share all the details of their rides with
friends, family and social media contacts. 

If riders go out for a solo early morning ride, why not give loved ones
the peace of mind by using Garmin’s LiveTrack feature. The Garmin-Sharp professional cycling team, for which we
have been a title sponsor since 2008, will be using this Livetrack feature
during its training rides—giving team management and coaches a real-time look
at their efforts.

Garmin fēnix Outdoor
Watch and BaseCamp Mobile

Furthermore, we will also have the new Garmin fēnix outdoor watch and the BaseCamp Mobile app on display.
fēnix is our first GPS wrist watch
for outdoorsmen, such as mountaineers, hikers, cyclists, hunters and
backpackers. It provides comprehensive navigation and tracking functionalities
as well as trip information to guide you off the beaten track.

The Garmin
BaseCamp Mobile app for iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 enables you to
download and review information collected from your fēnix^™ GPS
watch onto the large screen of your phone. Then view them on a map for a
complete visual record of your trek. See if you stayed on trail or let yourself
get lost in the trek. Review all your saved routes, waypoints and other trek
data and plan the perfect repeat trek.

Source: Garmin
Read more here:
Garmin to Showcase Location-Sharing Features for Drivers and Cyclists at Macworld/iWorld 2013