Proving once again that our engineers are often as rugged as the products they create, Garmin colleagues Dave (senior product designer) and Tom (mechanical engineer) rode the legendary Leadville 100 recently with their eyes on the prize. And that prize is an enormous shiny belt buckle. Here they tell their stories to the Garmin blog:

TOM: Way back in January my colleague Dave coerced me into entering the Leadville 100 lottery. Lo and behold, I “won” and thus began my journey. Starting with a team training camp in Arkansas in March I would have to train more and harder than I’d ever done before. Using my Edge 500 to record my training and guide my intervals, I logged an average of 11 hours per week of focused, intense training on the bike (not to mention the core and upper body workouts). Guided by the plan from LW Coaching and Training Peaks, many lunch hours were filled with “fun” interval sessions (in 90+ degree heat) and many a weekend were spent on the MTB grinding out gravel centuries in the hot, dusty Kansas sun. There were hiccups along the way (not the least of which was a surprise knee issue that was resolved with copious amounts of NSAIDs and stretching) but for the most part I stuck to the plan.

DAVE: This was my 4th year at the Leadville 100 and 3rd year in a row chasing the elusive 9 hour Buckle. I first tried this race way back in 1996 having no idea what I was getting into and dropped out at the halfway point. But since then I have always wanted the big buckle for finishing in 9 hours. I have two 12-hour (small) buckles but they’re not chasing the 9-hour monkey off my back. Since last year I have been trying to convince other Garmin cyclists to sign up for this monster. Last year Gerald fell for my pitch and finished strong despite horrible weather conditions. This year there were several that tried to get in but only Tom was lucky (or not) to make the lottery entry. Tom was strong all summer dragging me around many a gravel road as we built our base for Leadville. After a three week training taper we arrived in Leadville. I brought along Marcos, a colleague in the ID department, and his girlfriend Dana to crew for me. Race morning was clear at 37 degrees and after training all summer in 90+ I welcomed it. I never felt better.

TOM: Race day dawned bright and cold and Dave and I made our way to the start line. Wow. I was nervous. Can’t lie. The Leadville 100 MTB race has become one of the biggest races in the country. Where else can you race with top professional cyclists and weekend warriors all at once? At promptly 6:30 a.m. Ken Chlouber fires off the shotgun and we’re off. And I’m freezing. As we flew into the valley on the way to St. Kevin’s Gulch the temp dropped to near freezing. Coming from a week straight of 100 degree days this was a shock to my system. The climb up St. Kevin’s begins soon enough and I warmed up quickly as I settled into my pace. Using my 500 to keep track of my pace and heart rate, it was easy to keep my efforts in check. I’d never done a race (or ride, for that matter) of this duration and I did not want to earn a DNF in my first attempt.

DAVE: This year I decided to set my Edge 500 to show only heart rate and average speed and not watch the clock, and this turned out to be a great idea. The first section of the race came and went quickly. I rode efficiently watching my heart rate closely on all the climbs and accelerations. Twin Lakes came up, Marcos and Dana refueled my bike and I was off to climb Columbine. I climbed this 10-mile monster at an even pace watching the heart rate closely. The trick to Leadville is to not blow up early because you stand the chance of never recovering, especially at altitude. I hit the turn at the top and started back without stopping.

TOM: The St. Kevin’s and Sugarloaf climbs went well and Columbine lived up to my expectations (long, high, crowded). On the return trip the sun was relentless and I was able to “dig deep” to ride up and over the Powerline climb (pushed the bike up the lower section) to the Turquoise Lake road and then back down St. Kevin’s to the infamous Boulevard and the finish where my wife and parents were waiting for me.

DAVE: Inbound for home I noticed my Edge 500 was indicating around 11.3 mph for an average, which is what I needed for a nine hour finish. This was going to be close. The middle rollers came and went, then up the nasty Powerline climb and onto the finish push. Still showing 11.3 mph on the 500. As I arrived at Carter summit – which is considered 1 hour from the finish – my 500 read 8:12. Time to get busy, we’re not watching the heart rate anymore. I climbed St. Kevin’s, bombed the downhill and rode hard for the finish. As I turned onto 6th – the finish stretch – my Edge 500 read 8:58. No way. I hammered it and finished 9:01:53. I didn’t care about the buckle because I just had the best race of my life. At the awards ceremony, there is a tradition to vote in a small number of riders who just missed the 9 hour cut-off. Five of us were called up. I was the fifth and we got voted in. I’ll take it. Many thanks to my supportive family and coworkers for keeping me motivated. Already thinking about next time…..

TOM: After 100 miles and 11,100 feet of climbing Dave managed to grab the coveted “Big Buckle” while I finished in 9:55, earning the smaller “finishers” buckle. I now know why this race is so special to so many people. It requires everyone to “dig deep” just to finish. I had wonderful support from my family both during the race and throughout my training. I learned a lot from this race and while I would have told you differently an hour after the race, I’ll definitely be back. If my wife will agree to it.

Every company has a personality, and Garmin's personality when it comes to philanthropy is to do things quietly and behind the scenes. However, every-now-and-again a unique opportunity presents itself and we just have to share. We were asked to participate in the Citation Special Olympics Airlift, the largest peacetime airlift in the world. Through the Airlift, Special Olympic athletes are able to fly to the Special Olympics USA National Games using donated corporate aircraft rather than having to face the challenges and expense that comes with flying on a commercial airliner. Garmin had the privilege of flying a team of Special Olympic athletes from Oklahoma to the National Games in Nebraska, and as you can see, they had a great flight.

Whether you're tackling your daily commute or traveling for family vacation, the newly announced nüvi 2200 and nüvi 2300 families make life easier than ever with multi-stop route planning, route previews and innovative nüRoute technology with trafficTrends and myTrends.

“Mixing business with pleasure, the feature-filled 2200 and 2300 products prove there’s a nüvi for every lifestyle and every budget,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin’s vice president of worldwide sales. “At work, at home and on vacation, we’re all trying to do more with less, and these nüvis can help you save time, save money and save gas every day, on every trip.”

For the busy parent or college student focused on multi-tasking and making the most of every minute and dollar, the nüvi 2200 series with a 3.5” touchscreen interface fits easily into a pocket or purse, features easy-to-use multi-stop routing to plan daily errands and activities, and includes Garmin’s ecoRoute fuel-efficient navigation to help drivers conserve fuel and money along the way (www.garmin.com/ecoroute). For those everyday trips, nüvi 2200 models automatically remember your frequent favorite destinations and use myTrends to predict your destination without you needing to activate a route, displaying your travel time and best route. For vacations, nüvi 2200 models’ enhanced pedestrian mode can provide public transit options through optional cityXplorer™ content. Available for many major cities and areas at www.garmin.com, cityXplorer helps you navigate like a local by foot or using a combination of buses, metro and suburban rail systems.

For the jet-set professional heading across town or across the world, nüvi 2300 models feature a widescreen 4.3” touchscreen display that lets users preview multiple routes. Cross-country travelers and commuters alike will appreciate the high-end features of the nüvi 2360LT without the high-end price tag. Wherever their appointments take them, nüvi 2360LT owners can go hands-free with Bluetooth wireless technology and compatible phones, or get efficient routing and realistic arrival times with trafficTrends, which recommends routes using historical data and recurring trends that Garmin has collected about traffic in your area at any given time of day. Another helpful tool is lane assist with junction view, available on most 2300 models, which guides you to the correct lane for an approaching turn or exit, making unfamiliar intersections and exits easy to navigate. And many of the new nüvi models even feature free lifetime traffic alerts, denoted by the “LT” in the product name.

The dual orientation of nüvi 2360LT is ideal for use while driving or walking, as it lets users see their preloaded maps and intuitive menus in landscape or portrait modes. And the road ahead comes to life with nüvi 2360LT through 3D terrain and shaded topography that provides unrivaled context and situational awareness. When driving, travelers with nüvi 2360LT and other compatible nüvis can tap into ecoRoute HD, an easy-to-install device that transforms nüvi into a real-time diagnostic computer. This not only provides fuel and mileage reports, but you get more accurate fuel consumption/conservation data by tapping into the vehicle's diagnostic system.

All of the newly announced models in the 2200 series and 2300 series feature millions of preloaded points of interest and turn-by-turn directions with spoken street names, and certain models feature a speed limit indicator that displays speed limits for most major roads and alerts drivers who are exceeding the limit. Preloaded mapping is also enhanced as North American coverage (2250, 2250LT, 2350, 2350LT and 2360LT) includes Mexico. Coverage of the lower 48 states (2200, 2300) now also includes Hawaii, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Grand Bahama Island, Nassau and the Cayman Islands. The transatlantic model, nüvi 2370LT, includes detailed mapping for North America and Europe.

Laptop, Check.  GPSMAP 696, Check.  A Blog topic for this week, Check!  Garmin’s engineers are at it again.  Recently they have added a new feature to the 696 that will allow customers to add customized checklists.  That’s right.  No more flipping through a multitude of pages for Pre-Flight, Engine Start, Taxi, Pre-Takeoff, and etc.  With the 696 and G3X you can literally make your own checklist and check off the items as you complete them.  Still don’t believe me?  Then check it out yourself with the free checklist editor here.

.

"The slim profile and large, sharp screen make this nüvi one of the most portable and best-looking standalone GPS devices that we've tested," raved CNET in their just-posted review of the nüvi 3790T. In fact, they were so impressed with this nüvi's design, features and performance, they gave it 4.5 stars and deemed the new 3790T an Editors' Choice pick! In addition to being the "best looking" PND they've tested, CNET also liked the voice command feature that lets you truly be hands-free by speaking the words you see on the screen or by speaking certain commands, the included traffic data, and Bluetooth capability. The bottom line? According to CNET, "the Garmin nüvi 3790T is an exceptional portable navigation device with just the right blend of form and function."

If you agree and think this is one nüvi you can't live without, don't forget to follow @Garmin on Twitter for a chance to win a top-of-the-line nüvi 3790T of your own! All you have to do is hit "retweet" on the weekly key phrase, and Twitter will take care of the rest! To be eligible to win, you have to retweet the entire phrase, be following Garmin, and be a resident of the U.S. And be sure to retweet the key phrase each and every week throughout the contest, because we start from scratch every Friday at noon. Click here to go the Week 2 key phrase to retweet. Good luck!

To learn more about the nüvi 3790T, check out out interactive minisite and these tutorial vidoes.

It's been a busy week for Team Garmin, which becomes Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. The team issued the following press release with more exciting roster announcements as Eurobike kicked off, marking the debut of the new touchscreen Edge 800.

BOULDER, COLORADO (September 1, 2010) -- Slipstream Sports today announced six additions to the 2011 roster, marking the remaining Cervélo TestTeam riders to join the newly formed Team Garmin-Cervélo.

Roger Hammond (UK), Heinrich Haussler (AUS), Andreas Klier (GER), Brett Lancaster (AUS), Daniel Lloyd (UK) and Gabriel Rasch (NOR) will join teammate Thor Hushovd (NOR) in 2011. These seven will be joining Garmin riders including Tyler Farrar, Ryder Hesjedal, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie and Dan Martin.

"Team Garmin-Cervélo's roster will be strong and versatile," said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO, Slipstream Sports. "All of these riders bring a lot of experience to what's already a great team. I'm proud of what we've done since 2008, and I'm excited for what we'll do in 2011."

The creation of Team Garmin-Cervélo is still under development. More information, including an official team roster, will be released as it becomes available.

When we talk about how Garmin's Forerunner 110 is meant to simply answer runners' two most important questions - How fast and how far? - the answers get even easier when the runner is Ryan Hall. How fast? Very. How far? Very.

While Forerunner 110 is easy enough for beginners training for their first 5K, its GPS-enabled features are powerful and accurate enough for elite runners such as Ryan. Check out this video from Ryan's YouTube channel (which is full of helpful training tips) and hear him talk about his favorite features ... while he runs ... uphill ... at a 7-minute pace. Sigh. And to learn more about these easy-to-use features, visit our online learning center and watch Peg's demonstrations in the short tutorial videos.

Thor Hushovd, Norwegian Road Race Champion, nine-time Tour de France stage winner and 2009 green jersey holder, will ride for Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. Team Garmin-Transitions and Cervélo SA announced last week they will join forces for the 2011 season to create a new team that will be known as Garmin-Cervélo.

“I’m proud to join Team Garmin-Cervélo in 2011. Cervélo has been a great supporter for the past two years and its partnership with Garmin feels like a good fit,” said Hushovd. “I chose Garmin-Cervélo because I have a lot of respect for what Jonathan Vaughters has done for cycling, because I think we’ll have a very strong, competitive team, and because I’ll be able to continue to work with Cervélo. I look forward to seeing what we can all do together next year.”

Hushovd started racing at age 9 and went on to win the under-23 time trial world championship and the under-23 versions of Paris-Roubaix and Paris-Tours. He turned professional in 2000 and is considered one of the best sprinters, time trialists, and Classics riders in the world. Hushovd has twice finished in the top three of Paris-Roubaix and will focus on a strong Classics campaign with Garmin-Cervélo.

"We are incredibly excited to bring Thor to the team in 2011,” said Jonathan Vaughters, CEO of Slipstream Sports. “One of our goals is to become stronger in the Classics, and adding a world-class rider like Thor will get us there. He’s an exceptionally talented rider and a great fit for our new team.”

“I’m going to focus my season on the Classics,” said Hushovd. “My biggest goal is to get one major Classics victory in 2011. I’ve come close over the past few years so I will build on that experience and hopefully, stand on the podium with my new team.”

The creation of the new team is still under development. More information, including official team rosters, will become available in the October timeframe.