MBlog

Team Milram at Paris Roubaix

Our friends across the pond at the Garmin UK office have been working hard to spread Garmin - MotionBased though the professional cycling and triathlon ranks. In early 2007 they signed Tim Don, Great Britain's World Champion Triathlete, and in February 2007 they landed Team Milram, the UCI Pro Cycling Team.

Of course their using MotionBased for performance analysis. Giving us an inside view into their competitive world:
tim.don.motionbased.com
team-milram.motionbased.com

At the acclaimed Paris Roubaix, Team Milram was there tracking the action. The Dot Race below shows Marcel Sieberg and Ralf Grabsch.  Marcel was with the main-field, while Ralf got away in a long breakaway.

	Ralf Grabsch
	Marcel Sieberg

Tour de Georgia - 2007

Last year, Health Net's Doug Ollerenshaw, gave us the Tour de Georgia. Now in 2007, Garmin upped-the-ante and dispersed Edge 305s throughout the main-field. Like the Amgen Tour of California, Garmin stoked each Tour de Georgia athlete with shiny new Edge 305s. While you'd think they get nice gifts for each race, that's not the case. Their lucky to get a t-shirt or duffel, with the exception of iPods in 2006 at the Tour of California, which explains all the white earbuds during warm-ups.

This year's Tour de Georgia takes a new route through 12 host venues, covering 600 miles in seven days. With the help of Kevin Livingston, who's been uploading riders data to MotionBased, we've capture every mile of the new course.

See the Tour de Georgia on MotionBased:

Stage 1 - Peachtree City to Macon - Cameron Wurf, Priority Health Cycling

Stage 2 - Thomaston to Rome- Emile Abraham, Priority Health

Stage 3 - Rome to Chattanooga, TN - Neil Shirley, Jittery Joe's 

Stage 4 - Chickamauga/Walker Co. to Lookout Mountain Time Trial - Richard England, Priority Health

Stage 5 - Dalton to Brasstown Bald - Neil Shirley, Jittery Joe's

See all activities from the 2007 Tour de Georgia on MotionBased, this list will auto update as the race progresses. Wondering why the distance are different for the same stage? Well, even pros mess-up the start/stop button.   

Sea Otter Classic 2007 Recap

This year's Sea Otter Classic rode through Monterey County from 12 - 15 April.  Although the event finished up on Sunday, some of us are still feeling the effects of the fast paced and exiting action!  If you've never had the opportunity to attend cycling's kick-off event, it's not too early to start planning for 2008.

Team MotionBased was represented very well, sending 4 team members to compete in 4 events.  Olivier Bock came in 18th in the Pro Super D.  New MotionBased Teamer Kenny Burt was 73rd in the Pro MTB XC.  In the Semi-Pro MTB XC Shane "Shadey" Deal came in 29th with Olivier Bock in at 46th.  Dave Yakaitis raced in the Pro MTB XC and the MTB Time Trial placing 53rd and 63rd respectfully.  Below is Olivier's Pro Super D ride:

Working at the Garmin booth for the second year was a great experience.  Getting to meet our customers face-to-face and learn what your needs are in an intimate setting is invaluable.  One user even sent me the photo finish of a race he won recently . . . with a perfect shot of the Forerunner 305!

Thanks to all who came by the booth and hung out, grabbed a pair of Garmin socks, and shared a great weekend with us.  See you next year!

MBlog entry brought to you by kk.

Mac Support Goes One Step Further

You Mac users have heard it countless times . . . "make friends with PC user and update your device software."  Now you don't have to make nice with a PC user when upgrading your device software.  Garmin recently released the beta version of the WebUpdater for Mac:

Now you can update your device software at your own convenience. We recommend that all Garmin customers run the WebUpdater every few months to ensure that you have the latest and greatest features on your GPS device. It REALLY does help.

A Refresher on the Basics

We've seen our user-base grow by leaps and bounds over the last few months.  Welcome!  For those new users who are still figuring some things out and for those of you that haven't joined MotionBased yet, this week's post may be of interest to you.  Let's revisit our System Requirements and our Quick Start Guide for the newbies.

System Requirements include a few key pieces of equipment, starting with the ever important GPS device.  You need a GPS device since MotionBased only accepts activities with trackpoints.  While it is our goal to accept non-GPS workouts in the future, MotionBased currently accepts GPS only activities.  Your computer, PC or Mac, needs to have an Internet connection to upload activities to MotionBased.  You'll also need to download the MotionBased Agent for the PC, or the Mac Web Agent for you Mac users.  For either operating system, Windows PC or Mac, please check the requirements at the respective links.

Our Quick Start Guide will help you master flawless uploads.  The top 3 things to remember? 

• Make sure you're using the most recent MotionBased Agent.
• Follow the GPS Routine for best device results.
• Have FUN!  Remember that no matter what appears in your Upload Status page there is tons of information at your fingertips to help you find a solution.  And of course, we're always here to help, too!

Have a great weekend! -- kk

1 Million TrailNetwork Activities!

Over the weekend, the MotionBased TrailNetwork received its 1,000,000th activity!  To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're inviting everyone to, well, upload more public activities!  Better yet, let's all take a moment to search the TrailNetwork, pick a new favorite activity, download it to our device and get out there and DO IT!

Thanks to air9r for the millionth activity:

Thanks to all of you for your continued support and growth of MotionBased!