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Tour de France: Thor scores monumental mountain victory

Garmin — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 16:49:27 +0000

Garmin-Cervelo's dream Tour continued today in Stage 13 when world champion Thor Hushovd rocketed down a mountainside in the Pyrenees to catch the only two men between him and the finish line. Like a lion stalking prey, Thor meticulously closed the gaps and shot past to a solo victory - Team Garmin's third stage win in two weeks. Here are race recaps from CyclingNews, VeloNews, Bicycling and Cycling Weekly. The amazing triumph - sprinters rarely win in the high mountains - made "Thor Hushovd" a top trending topic on Twitter and brought out the poetic side of cycling fans as @Shop_Argyle offered a free rainbow jersey to the author of the best #THORhaiku. Here are some of our favorites (and yes, some liberties were taken with the haiku structure):

@axodys: Stage Thirteen for Thor/Muscles defying mountains/A signature win
@brianfmorrissey: Down from Valhalla/Amongst the ventilateurs/The rainbow of Lourdes
@firtreezzz: The God of Thunder/ Draws rainbow between mountains/ By his Mighty swing of hammer
@RamsFoto: Argyle-Eagle dive the mountains / speeding colors turn to stripes / hammer hits the running rabbits
@chad_kemp: THOR Strikes Hammer Down - See Mountain Yield in Defeat - as Thunder Rolls On
@SeaWolfLabs: Unselfish, driven/ God of Thunder leads the pack/ Thor does rainbow proud/
@techknowgn: climbing very hard / Garmin is vicTHORious / rainbow champion

@Jodykepple: Hear Thunder rumble/And see the mountains crumble/A rainbow triumph
@frivlas: We loved watching Thor / riding for Garmin today / back in yellow soon!
@SteveDinn: Mighty Thor, mountains And rivals are destroyed when You drop your hammer
@chasemoore: THOR, god of thunder/ his legs split mountains in two/ his bike, his weapon.
@fidajapanissa: A holy spring/Changes the hammer/Into a rainbow
@Peleccotur: Thor climbs/ Mountain sinks/ Viking victory cry!
@Jobe_Rodgers: The Strength of Team/Is felt in the Thunder/His presence known
@TheGreatLakes: The rainbow climbs higher\while pyrenees tremble\as the thunder rains down
@aschoks: The God of Thunder / Nobody can hold his wheel / Thor dominates all
@i_soule: Sun shining in France - Norwegian power and grace - Drop it like it's hot
@aegolius14: Aubisque mountain tall, thunder pilgrimage to Lourdes, rainbow swift past king
@joe_bayliss: a storm of wheels comes, on the col a thunderclap, the god's rainbow shown
@alvynmcq: down thors hammer rotor ring translates into vicious power to win
@ExhaustedDaddy: mortals left behind, mountains cannot slow this one, Hail, God of Thunder!

And the winners are (drumroll, please...)

@holmanjohn: Thor he rides so fast, Others try to ride on past, But they cannot last!
@Netsnipe: Fast and Thorious / Pyrenees down to its knees / Thor's victorious!

Check out the team's Edge data as posted to Garmin Connect - such as Thor's Stage 10 stats below - and be sure to follow @Garmin and @Ride_Argyle on Twitter and visit SlipstreamSports.com for in-depth race reports.

Tour de France: Tommy D answers the call in the climb into the Pyrénées

Garmin — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 19:49:36 +0000

Quick quiz: Can you name the highest-placed American in the Tour de France after Stage 12? Do you know who on Team Garmin-Cervelo is less than a minute behind the defending champ? Who is giving the argyle armada its fourth different breakout performance in four years at the Tour? And finally, what 33-year-old is currently sitting in ninth place overall in his Tour debut? You can answer all of these questions with one name: Tom Danielson. Here's the intro to the team's race recap, showcasing Tommy D's great ride today and throughout July.

The Tour rookie stayed with the GC favorites until the final, late-stage attacks with just a few kilometers to go in the grueling, three-climb 211km stage from Cugnaux to Luz-Ardiden. Samuel Sanchez won the stage and Danielson crossed the line 11th at 1:03 back. “I felt good, stayed steady and listened to my body, I rode the best I could and I was pretty close in the end, so I am satisfied,” Danielson said in the team's race report. “I cannot complain.I was a little empty at the end, with those guys’ accelerations came in the end. For me, the key is to be steady every single day, and when I have an opportunity, take it.”

After the stage, VeloNews veteran reporter John Wilcockson caught up with Tommy D. Here's part of his interview, and you can read the whole thing at VeloNews.com: Danielson has finished top 10 at the Vuelta — seventh in 2005, sixth in 2006 and ninth in 2010 — but those placings never earned him a Tour slot until now. Asked how the two grand tours compared, he said, “I don’t know. I think I’m in better shape here so I’m actually suffering less here than I was at the Vuelta. But I guess it’s harder. It’s definitely faster and there’s a lot more attention on it. There were a lot more people (on today’s stage). I was having trouble seeing where I was going with all the flashes and stuff. So that was pretty cool. A lot of fun.”

The whole team is making this Tour a lot of fun for all of us. Check out their Edge data as posted to Garmin Connect - such as Tommy D's Stage 8 stats below - and be sure to follow @Garmin and @Ride_Argyle on Twitter and visit SlipstreamSports.com for in-depth race reports.

New at OpenCaching.com: Summer heats up with new series of caches

Garmin — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 19:41:52 +0000

If you've visited OpenCaching.com lately - or if you subscribe to "Opie's Logbook" - you know there have been many exciting developments in our geocaching community this spring and summer. If you haven't been to OpenCaching.com recently, we'll let Opie tell you what's new (and we have another new promotion coming up that we haven't even told Opie about, so you'll have to check back for details...):

Cache Series Pages – We know geocachers invest time & energy creating collections of themed caches. Our new Cache Series Pages allows you to create a landing page for related caches. Fellow geocachers can use this series page to discover your series and quickly download your entire series to a GPS device or GPX file. Create a series page from your profile page or check out a couple of great examples for the Kansas State Park Challenge and the North Country Trail Geotrail.

OpenCachers want your caches – We receive countless emails from happy OpenCachers. What's their most frequent request? They wish more people near them would list their geocaches on OpenCaching.com! Geocaches appear on OpenCaching.com because geocachers like you take the time to hide a cache and post the information to OpenCaching.com. Know a fun place to visit near your home? Hide a cache for others to find. Already have caches listed on another site? We provide a page to easily import those listings and let others discover your caches.

Finally, with so many new cachers joining OpenCaching.com in the last month - and so many people new to the activity as a whole - we’d like to remind you what we are all about.

Free: Download as much as you want. You’ll never have to pay.
One click: Center the map where you are going caching and download up to 5000 geocaches with one click.
Open: Third-party developers are encouraged to access OpenCaching.com’s data to make their own apps.
Community review: You get to see new caches as they are submitted and make sure they are following the rules.
Listening: The site is for you, so we listen to you when adding new features.

These changes are just the highlights of what’s new -- your feedback and support will shape OpenCaching.com into the future. We look forward to your guidance, your enthusiasm, and your caches to help build a better geocaching community.

Tour de France: Entering mountains, Thor maintains overall lead

Garmin — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:53:24 +0000

On a day when everyone assumed Garmin-Cervelo's Thor Hushovd would lose the yellow jersey that goes with the overall lead of the Tour de France, he and the argyle armada powered up Saturday's climbs and stuck with the main group. Despite the attacks and gaps that come with the mountain stages, Thor finished with the other leaders and maintained his 1-second lead in the general classification. And he did it with a smile on his face.

Immediately following the stage, Twitter lit up with praise for the argyle superhero and his seven days in yellow: >"The mighty Thor defending his maillot jaune with pride, guts & determination" >"all hail the god of thunder - incredible ride today by #Thor and the @Ride_Argyle team #TDF" >"Wow, Thor Hushovd still in yellow despite a day in the hills!! #TDF #GodOfThunder" >"Thor Hushovd, you are some kind of superman." >"There is only one #thor...hushovd."

Some are now predicting that Thor might keep the yellow jersey until Stage 12, but if and when he passes it on, he'll be trading it in for an impressive consolation prize: the rainbow stripes of the reigning world champion. You can relive the action through the team's Edge data as posted to Garmin Connect - such as Christian Vande Velde's Stage 6 stats below - and be sure to follow @Garmin and @Ride_Argyle on Twitter and visit SlipstreamSports.com for in-depth race reports.

Discover New Adventures And Get Out And Explore With Your Zumo

Garmin — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 21:00:27 +0000

For all you motorcycle enthusiasts out there, why not take a ride on a new route and explore the open road with the zumo 665, a motorcycle-friendly navigator with stereo Bluetooth® and XM® satellite radio, weather and traffic. Whether you’re on a weekday ride just across town or a week long trip to an annual rally with friends, the Zumo 665 is ready to show you the way. After a recent weekend "bike run" to Pennsylvania, Zumo owner Avrom Brown from Toronto, Canada shared this:

Back roads of Pennsylvania: We were gone for 3 days and covered 1400 kilometres (870 miles), on my Kawasaki KLR650, of which half were on forest and fire roads. The Zumo 665 performed flawlessly just as our motorcycles did. We travelled on many back roads that we could not find on a paper map but the 665 picked them up with ease. This made our adventure even more exciting.

With the aid of the 665, we discovered areas that have had little travel so far this season. To break new ground makes one feel like a modern day explorer. At times when we thought we were lost, the 665 came through with is compass feature and route home feature. The 665 is a very durable unit as the banging around it took would have lesser brands left for dead at the side of the road. I am still discovering features of the 665 that allow our trips to even more exciting.

Keep up the good work and kudos to Garmin for a superior product.

Best Regards,

Avrom Brown

StreetPilot for Windows Phone provides another option on the go

Garmin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 21:49:37 +0000

Busy commuters and travelers now have another option for using easy-to-use Garmin navigation in their everyday activities. Available in the Windows Marketplace, Garmin StreetPilot for Windows Phone puts Garmin's intuitive interface right at your fingertips with flickable menu pages and theme color support designed specifically for Windows Phone. It's easy to look up addresses and services and get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination. Garmin StreetPilot uses detailed City Navigator NT street maps of the U.S and Canada, featuring millions of points of interest, 2-D or 3-D map views and speed limits for most major roads. Garmin StreetPilot for Windows Phone uses the same great City Navigator NT maps available for Garmin’s nüvi product line without the need to ever download new data. There's no need to purchase or download map updates because data is updated regularly on the network.

With Garmin StreetPilot for Windows Phone, you’ll have access to Google Local Search integrated with navigation so you easily can find new restaurants, businesses and more. You even can place calls directly from the search listing. You’ll also have access to current weather conditions and forecast details around your current location, destination or other locales. With the flight status feature, you’ll be able to look up flights by airport, airline or flight number, and get up-to-date arrival, departure and gate information.

In addition to all of the other stress-relieving features, now there's no more guessing which lane you need to be in to make an upcoming turn. Lane Assist with Junction View guides you to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit, making unfamiliar intersections and exits easy to navigate. It realistically displays road signs and junctions on your route along with arrows that indicate the proper lane for navigation.

In most metropolitan areas, you can steer clear of traffic with the integrated traffic updates, and you can simply touch the screen to view the traffic details. Receive alerts about traffic delays and road construction that lie ahead on your route along with an estimate of the delay.

Victor’s Vectors: GTN 635, 625 and 725 now available!

Garmin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:37:41 +0000

The GTN 750 and GTN 650 were announced and available for shipping March 23 when Garmin unveiled them at the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA) Convention. Also announced at that time were the GTN 635, GTN 625, and GTN 725. As of July 1st these GTN models are now available for purchase and shipping. So what is the difference between the different GTN models? Basically, the GTN 625 and GTN 725 are GPS only, while the GTN 635 is a GPS/COM. The GTN 650 and GTN 750 are GPS/NAV/COM. For a more detailed list of the differences I’ve included a comparison chart from the GTN mini-site. The GTN 625 is priced at $9,595, the GTN 635 at $10,495, and the GTN 725 at $15,000. Now the full line of GTN models are available in a price range for your budget, so to start your panel upgrade visit a Garmin Aviation Dealer near you.

Victor’s Vectors: GTN 635, 625 and 725 now available!

Garmin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 20:37:41 +0000

Tour de France: Teamwork and strong sprints keep Thor in yellow

Garmin — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 18:51:56 +0000

Team Garmin-Cervelo faced questions before the Tour about the squad's wide range of goals, which included getting a stage victory, winning the team time trial, wearing the yellow jersey and placing high in the general classification. Less than a week in, and the argyle armada has achieved three of the four goals in resounding fashion. After reigning world champion finished third in Thursday's Stage 6 sprint finish, he stepped atop the podium to accept the overall leader's yellow jersey for the fifth consecutive day. Add in the triumph in the team time trial, Tyler Farrar's historic holiday win the following day and the squad's current spot atop the team standings, and it's an understatement to say that we're off to a good start.

Tyler's perseverance sparked touching responses in the media, including VeloNews, ESPN and the New York Times. In addition to the congratulations we're receiving through Twitter, Facebook and our blog, we've enjoyed reading stories celebrating the behind-the-scenes work the team does in the sport. Back at Garmin headquarters, the early success caught the eye of The Kansas City Star, who published a great feature on our sponsorship of the team and the benefits of being involved with such a positive force in a globally popular sport.

We've also heard from many of you who have been inspired to log a few extra miles while you're watching the Tour. If you need any more motivation, just check out Thor's Edge 500 data as posted to Garmin Connect after Stage 5. Keep riding, keep cheering and remember to follow @Garmin and @Ride_Argyle and visit SlipstreamSports.com for in-depth race reports.

First G1000 Install Completed On Cessna CitationJet

Garmin — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:08:44 +0000

Last summer, the Garmin G1000 integrated flight deck was certified for installation on the Cessna CitationJet. Since then, we are excited to report several Citation Service Centers have completed installations. Here's the story of the first installation by Cessna's Wichita Citation Service Center:

For Click Bond Inc. of Carson City, Nev., the G1000 upgrade to its CitationJet met all expectations for an on-time conversion to the all-glass avionics suite that gave the company a more productive aircraft. It was the first aftermarket Cessna Citation CJ1 installation of the Garmin advanced avionics suite.

“From the moment that we picked up the airplane from the Wichita Citation Service Center through today we have not had any glitches or bugs in that G1000 system or in the GFC700 autopilot,” says Click Bond’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing Karl Hutter, one of the company’s three Citation pilots.

Patented Click Bond Fasteners
Click Bond is a successful business that designs and manufactures assembly solutions and fastening systems for a wide range of aviation, space, and marine vehicles. Its patented core technology replaces the mechanical fasteners traditionally used for attachment of nutplates or brackets with modern high strength adhesives – the “bond” in Click Bond, Hutter says. The other Click Bond pilots are Hutter’s father, Charles Hutter, the founder, president and CEO, and professional pilot and A&P Jere Marble.

The Click Bond trio of pilots provided a range of flying experiences that served to verify the design philosophy and seamless approach to integration that the G1000 brings to the aviation industry.

Karl Hutter explains, “We’ve got three pilots who have three different sets of experience on different sets of equipment. So, for example, my background is flying Cessna 182, Aerostar, and CJ aircraft. The 182 has a Garmin 430 in it, and has for a long time. Through my whole flying career I’ve been using Garmin handheld products.”

In addition to its CJ, which gets about 200 hours a year, Click Bond operates a pair of Aerostars with Garmin equipment for its shorter flights from Carson City.

“Because my Aerostar has Garmin equipment, I have been in the Garmin and the Garmin interface world for a very long time. I will tell you that actually stepping into the CJ with the new G1000 suite, (having only explored on-line materials and used the simulator) was a very, very seamless transition,” Hutter says.

First Flight Acclimated
On his first short hop, from Wichita to Olathe, where Garmin is headquartered, Hutter became accustomed to the G1000 quickly. “I got in that airplane and actually flew in IMC to a GPS LPV approach, used the VNAV capabilities, the autopilot flight director, coupled approach capabilities, the whole shooting match, successfully without any unease at any time during that flight, and that’s a fast flight.”

As for Click Bond’s other pilots, “My dad is a much more of a steam gauge guy, likes the old Collins radios with the big chunky knobs, and I can’t dispute that there’s something wonderful about that. While he has flown an older Garmin GPS in his own Aerostar, he is much more an old-school pilot, systemswise.

“Now, the CJ we’re flying had the old Honeywell system, the SPZ-5000 with a KLN-90 GPS in there. Now that he’s getting past the initial familiarization phase, he is really enjoying the new system and coming along quite well.

“And I think that Jere, our professional pilot, is somewhere in the middle, having flown the KLN-90 and other FMS systems in a variety of airplanes, from Falcons to Caribous to CJs. His attitude is, ‘Well, this is really cool, and I’m learning what I need to learn. It’s a new FMS to him, and it’s just a different airplane.’ I know he is enjoying it quite a bit,” Hutter says.

Flexibility
Since it features a flexible design, the G1000 adapts to a broad range of aircraft models. It can be configured as a two-display or three-display system, with a choice of 10- or 12-inch flat-panel LCDs interchangeable for use as a primary flight display (PFD) or multi-function display (MFD). An optional 15-inch screen is also available for even larger format MFD configurations.

The Wichita Citation Service Center did the install, the first for a CJ1, in the promised eight weeks. Because Click Bond’s Citation is a relatively early model 525 and it was the first CJ to get the G1000 conversion, the Garmin-Cessna team was ready for surprises during the installation process.

“We had incredible support from both teams, from Cessna and from Garmin. They engaged us in a constant stream of communication. As they got into the project they discovered the specifics that are involved in not just putting the G1000 suite into any CJ, but what it takes to put a G1000 into a specific CJ. Changes were made along the way. Some things are in a little different place than in the airplane that they initially used for the STC. So there were a few challenges that came along, but really the Cessna-Garmin team tackled them all and kept us very much in the loop,” Hutter says.

“They were great about it. And the aircraft actually delivered on time.”

Benefits Aplenty
The benefits of the G1000 in Click Bond’s CJ1 are obvious to Hutter. “This was the much anticipated route forward for CJ owners to get to WAAS. From a marketing standpoint, pilots who operate out of small home fields, especially in the Southeast or in the Northeast where the weather often is low, will welcome this.”

He continues, “Flying in Carson we have great weather most of the time but our airfield is in a valley with mountainous terrain all around. When you come in here at night with your hands full, it’s kind of a black hole.”

“Having a picture of those mountains on the synthetic terrain, and having them not be yellow or red, takes away a lot of concern. That kind of situational awareness in a CJ is a game changer,” Hutter says.

For more information, contact your Cessna Citation Service Center at 888-99-CSC-4-YOU (888-992-7249).