The 2011 Felts are finally ready. It was definitely worth the wait. Check it.

Designed in California is proudly desplayed on every bike.

The New DA is even faster than the previous model. “Trips” are built in throughout the frame to disrupt the airflow & to route it around things like a battery pack and rear wheel.

A more narrow front end than before due to smaller bearings and steerer

Check out the tricky carbon bottom bracket shell - reducing overall weight!

What’s not to love!

Here’s a couple shots of Tim and the Mrs. “chilling” in Aspen before the build up for Kona begins. A week of riding the mountains and running the trails - all for fun though. This is how pro triathletes take a vacation.



The happy couple on Independence Pass



Yep, This is Aspen

Tim ended up taking a “wrong turn” and descending about 15 minutes worth of single track before realizing his error, turning around and returning to the start for a map. Lesson learned - always pre-ride the course!

These are the only guys I let touch my bikes. The Service Course is a full service bike repair business in what could be considered the most competitive region in the country for the bicycle industry. Founded by Pro Tour mechanics, Daimeon Shanks and Nicholas Legan, The Service Course has worked on bikes for the likes of Christian Vande Velde, Lance, Tyler farrar, Tom Danielson and more. Now we all know historically how picky and precise Lance is with every piece of equipment he uses - well, these are the guys that he’s entrusted to tinker with his bikes!

The coolest thing is that they even do pick-up and delivery - no extra charge! After 15 years on the pro cycling tour, working for teams like Radioshack, Garmin-Transitions, CSC and the US National Team - it’s great that they’ve planted themselves here in Boulder and are sharing their skills with the masses.

Check ‘em out for all your bike wrenching needs.

Just a few of the guys Daimeon and Nicholas have worked on during their 15 years working on Professional Cyclists’ bikes

Q: At what age did you get into triathlon? How did you work your way up the ranks to become a pro and get that first Ironman win?
Tim: I had a long competitive swimming career. My first triathlon was at age 20. After that initial race, I didn’t do another one for over a year. A friend got me interested in trying to qualify for an Ironman, and it turned out that in my second race I ended up qualifying for Kona. For the next few years, I pretty much focused on short-course racing and winning age-group titles. But after accomplishing just about everything I could as an age-grouper, I decided to turn pro. That was back in 1995, and I finished 10th in Kona. That race was crucial because it gave me the motivation to get better. My brother Tony joined me in the pro ranks, and we traveled the world together competing in triathlons. That’s also when I met Nicole, and we got married a year later. I had a few years of setbacks with disappointing results. But in 1999, I gave myself an ultimatum — either I had to improve in Kona or find another job! The strategy worked. I won Ironman New Zealand early that year, and then used that momentum to take third in Kona. That was a huge stepping stone. Up to that point, I wasn’t quite sure that I had what it took to win in Hawaii. But with that finish, I knew winning was possible. A second-place finish in 2000 was another step forward. I was so close, but it was my own mistakes that held me back. Then in 2001, all I thought about for the entire year was Kona, and that’s when it all came together. I won in Kona in both 2001 and 2002.

Q: What has enabled you to be so successful as an athlete?
Tim: I’m a pretty determined guy and I love to work hard. That’s what this sport is really all about — the strongest guy usually wins. I also have had an incredible support group around me. You don’t win something like an Ironman on your own. It takes the support of family, friends, sponsors, and fans.

Q: What do you love about the sport?
Tim: There’s so much to love about triathlon. Being outside every day has to top the list. Traveling to different locations for races has shown me the world. I also really appreciate the people in the sport. It’s like being part of a big family. I’ve been involved in it for so long now that it’s a huge part of my life. It’s been incredible.

Q: What’s most difficult about the sport, and how do you deal with that?
Tim: Setbacks are tough. You train so hard, and then an injury or even an illness can completely derail your plans. I’ve been there several times, and it’s frustrating. But now I look at situations like those as a way to learn and an opportunity to come back stronger, both physically and mentally.

Q: What else do you have going on?
Tim: As a professional athlete, you have to realize that there are always going to be younger and faster athletes coming up. I still believe I have what it takes to win, but I also know that I have to look to the future and think about what’s next. My wife, Nicole, decided to stop racing a few years ago, and she started a women’s apparel company called SkirtSports. All that she had been putting into being a professional athlete she redirected to building her company, and it shows! She loves it, and her experience helped me realize that there will be something else out there for me when I’m ready to stop racing. Last year I actually raced very little. Instead, I got more involved in her business, and also started another endeavor called Red Rock Company. It’s an event production company that puts on triathlons and other events around the country. It took so much time to get things up and running. Racing full time while helping to manage these two companies would have been very tough. But this year the focus is back on racing. I know what it takes to get to the top, and I’m not willing to put anything less than 100% into achieving that goal.

Q: What has the partnership with PowerBar® meant to you?
Tim: I’ve been part of the PowerBar team for as long as I remember. PowerBar products have been part of my training since my very first triathlon race. PowerBar’s support and their dedication to the science of sports nutrition have been invaluable to me personally. They’ve also been a huge supporter of the sport of triathlon, and have been key to its tremendous growth. And I couldn’t ask for better people to work with. I consider the whole team at PowerBar close friends, and always look forward to hanging out with them.

Q: Are nutrition and hydration important to your ability to train and compete, and is there any particular experience where you learned that lesson the hard way?
Tim: I always say that the top guys in our sport train basically the same. So winning comes down to proper rest and, most important, nutrition. Just this year, in my first race back at Ironman Australia, I had a huge nutrition meltdown. Racing through the transition to my bike after the swim, I dropped my PowerBar® Performance Energy bars and PowerBar® Gels. What a disaster! They didn’t have what I needed on the course to make up for what I’d lost. I knew it was just a matter of time before the wheels would come off. I tried to replace the calories and the carbs, but missing my PowerBar nutrition really took its toll. It was a tough way to relearn the lesson — always have a backup!

Q: Can you describe a day in the life of Tim DeBoom when gearing up for an Ironman, and your eating and hydration regimen?
Tim: I train all year round, but my big builds for key races start about eight weeks before the event. This is when my discipline goes into high gear. Everything revolves around training, resting, eating, and recovery. All the extra junk goes out the window! I eat a pretty healthy diet. I always start with coffee and a little something to eat before swim practice. Lately I’m hooked on the new PowerBar® Energy Bites — I like that you can eat only what you feel like, and then save the rest in the resealable pouch for later. During the swim, I have my water and a PowerBar Gel. After practice and before my long ride, I always eat a good breakfast. Oatmeal or toast and eggs is my favorite. Training then takes up most of the day, so I’m eating Performance Energy bars and PowerBar Gels, and drinking fluids, all through that period until I’m done. Then it’s right on to recovery. I try to eat as soon as possible after training to maximize the rate of recovery.

Q: How about for a race — what’s your typical fueling and hydration regimen?
Tim: I try to hydrate and eat pretty normally leading up to an event — nothing out of the ordinary that could upset my stomach. Race morning I get up a few hours before the start and eat some toast, a banana, and a Performance Energy bar. Then I sip water until the start. I also take a PowerBar Gel about 30 minutes before the start to top off my fuel stores. Nutrition during the event varies from race to race depending on distance and conditions. What works in a chilly race will not work in the heat and humidity of Kona. But my strategy is to always get a Performance Energy bar in me right at the beginning of the bike. This helps set me up for the whole day. Then I go into my routine of fueling every 20–30 minutes and continually rehydrating.

Q: Do you do anything in particular after a race to promote recovery and reward yourself?
Tim: I always try to get food in me as soon as a race is over, assuming my stomach cooperates. If it’s a big race like Kona, then anything goes because it’s time to celebrate! Usually the thing that really tastes good to me is a vanilla milkshake.

Q: What is your favorite PowerBar product?
Tim: Right now, I love the oatmeal raisin and the chocolate Energy Bites. I leave a couple of packs in the car, and when they heat up, they taste just like cookies out of the oven!

Q: How do you cope nutritionally with travel to an event?
Tim: I always travel with my own stash of PowerBar products and a jar of peanut butter, because you can always find good bread. Other than that, I’m pretty adaptive and I enjoy eating in new places. If you are too structured in your diet all the time, you can run into trouble when you have no choice but the local food.

Q: Any words of advice for up-and-coming triathletes?
Tim: Keep it fun! I think it’s the same advice for any career pursuit or endeavor. What’s the point if it’s not fun? Also realize that you’ll make mistakes along the way and you’ll have setbacks. But use those as opportunities to learn. I’ve benefited from mistakes and setbacks because I’ve learned from them, made adjustments, and ended up stronger in the long run. That thinking has helped me to have a long career in the sport, and it’s been exciting. Imagine if everything had gone according to plan all the time — that would have been boring!

Thanks to the Powerbar Website for this great interview.

Tim DeBoom arrived on the Big Island Wednesday afternoon, going from the sleet, snow and rain in his hometown of Boulder, Colo., to a state known for heat and humidity.

Before he started Saturday’s Rohto Ironman 70.3 Hawaii, DeBoom worried about his body not having enough time to acclimate to Hawaii’s weather. It turned out DeBoom, who has enjoyed plenty of success in triathlons on the Big Island, had nothing to worry about.

The 39-year-old overtook Australian Luke Bell on mile 9 of the event’s 13.1-mile run before steadily pulling away and crossing the finish line with a winning time of 4 hours, 4 minutes 2 seconds at the Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii.

“I knew I had to do my own race over here because my fitness isn’t ideal for this kind of heat,” said DeBoom, one of 1,270 finishers at the racez. “Coming from Colorado, we’ve had snow in the past week. I haven’t had anything like this heat. So that was a big question mark for me.”

Bell (4:05:29) and Matt Lieto (4:08:14), who entered the bike-to-run transition 5 seconds apart, took second and third respectively, while Kailua-Kona’s Luis De La Torre finished sixth with a top age group time of 4:20:34. De La Torre was the top Big Island male finisher at the 2008 Ironman World Championship.

In the women’s race, Australia’s Belinda Granger never trailed after passing Kailua-Kona’s Bree Wee at mile 5, winning her second straight 70.3 Hawaii title in 4:34:38. Wee took second in 4:40:13.

The men’s race proved much tighter, with Lieto, of Bend, Ore., Bell and DeBoom all having a legitimate chance to win. DeBoom trailed Bell and Lieto by 1:30 after finishing the race’s 56-mile bike leg, but he said he never knew how much ground he needed to make up at any point in the race. Regardless, DeBoom didn’t feel the urge to run at a torrid pace to catch his competitors. “I knew I had to control myself and keep it steady,” DeBoom said.

While DeBoom said he worried about surviving the race conditions, Bell knew DeBoom had plenty of experience running under the scorching Kona sun. After all, DeBoom won Ironman world championships on the Big Island in 2001 and 2002. Also, even though a handful of triathletes talked about choppy conditions in the race’s 1.2-mile swim at Hapuna Beach State Park and mild crosswinds on the bike leg, they said they enjoyed forgiving cloud cover during the run.

Bell, 31, thought he performed consistently in all three legs of the race. But DeBoom, Bell said, was the better triathlete Saturday. “He races well in the heat, and he’s been a world champion twice, so he knows how to race in Hawaii,” Bell said. The run course at the Fairmont Orchid features a series of rolling hills, and DeBoom caught Bell on a downhill portion of the course. “I tried to roll on the downhill with him, but his leg turnover just was a lot quicker,” Bell said. “He pushed the pace coming up the hill, and he held a nice steady tempo to the finish.”

For DeBoom, the victory helped erase bad memories from last October’s Ford Ironman World Championship, a race he did not finish. “The whole reason to come over here was to have a good experience on the island again,” said DeBoom, who plans on returning to the Big Island in October for the Ironman world championship. “Last year, racing Ironman, I didn’t have a good day. I wanted to come back and enjoy the island, have some fun with some buddies - just to go have some fun without the pressure of doing Ironman.”

De La Torre expressed similar feelings after finishing as the race’s top age-grouper. In last year’s 70.3 Hawaii, De La Torre, suffering from vog-related illness, pulled out of the race about 45 miles into the bike leg. As a result, he didn’t qualify for the Ironman world championship.
On top of that, he tweaked his left knee while changing gears on his bike during an April training session, jamming the knee on his bike’s elbow pad. De La Torre said he experienced some discomfort in his knee at 70.3 Hawaii, but locking up a qualifying spot at the Ironman world championship on Oct. 9 more than made up for any adversity De La Torre has faced. “I’m happy the goal is in the bag,” De La Torre. “I feel vindicated now. It’s a nice way to make up for last year.”

Two other Kailua-Kona triathletes were close behind. Penn Henderson, who came into the race having already won an Ironman slot in a Lavaman Waikoloa lottery in March, finished 18th overall (4:32:50), and Eric Neilsen was 20th (4:34:08). Henderson didn’t train in the week leading up to the triathlon, and he worried how he’d hold up. He bettered his time at last year’s 70.3 Hawaii by 13:24. “Sure, you have doubts at the starting line, but you have to go out and see what happens,” he said. Meanwhile, Neilsen, last year’s top Big Island male, finished 8:33 faster than he did in 2009. At the same time, Granger said, Neilsen pushed her throughout the later stages of the bike leg and the run in what the 40-year-old Granger called a “cat-and-mouse” game.

Granger said she and other competitors become complacent when they ride or run alone for long stretches. She had done just that on the bike leg before Neilsen passed her just before entering the bike-to-run transition area. “Then I caught him on the run and didn’t see him for a long time, and he caught me back again with about four miles to go,” Granger said. “I knew I had a decent lead, so it’s very easy to get lazy. You mind switches off. So having him catch me and say, ‘C’mon,’ just switches me back on.” Neilsen heard a host of fans yelling out, ‘Go Belinda,’ during the run, and he said he pretended the fans were cheering for him. “We had a good mutual respect as athletes out there,” Neilsen said. “We were both encouraging each other. It was fantastic.”

The back-and-forth competition helped Granger maintain a comfortable lead over Wee, who like De La Torre, dropped out of last year’s 70.3 Hawaii because of illness. The 31-year-old professional triathlete will try to gain an Ironman world championship slot June 27 at Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. But for now, Wee is beaming about not going through bad spells during the race. In the past, she pushed the pace too hard at 70.3 Hawaii and then found herself walking during segments before struggling to the finish line. She had plenty of energy Saturday. “If there was another mile (in the run), I could have done another mile,” she said.