Tim DeBoom Two Time World Ironman Champion

Top 10 men



1. Chris McCormack (AUS) 8:15:34

2. Craig Alexander (AUS) 8:19:04

3. Torbjorn Sindballe (DNK) 8:21:30

4. Tim DeBoom (USA) 8:22:33

5. Marino Vanhoenacker (BEL) 8:23:31

6. Chris Lieto (USA) 8:25:49

7. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 8:26:00

8. Luc VanLierde (BEL)

9. Michael Lovato (USA)

10. Francisco Pontano ESP

Tim's in the post race press conference.

More to come.

Thanks for all the support.

Okay, so Thursday was rough. I spent most of the day making trips to the airport for family and friends and the rest prepping for another "gathering" at the Red Bull House. Everything went off without a hitch. The pro meeting was the biggest I've ever seen. It used to be 50 people in a room, and now it's 150 athletes and tons of media, agents, family and friends. Quite the spectacle. After taking 5 years to finally change the highly ridiculed 7m drafting rule, the new rule change that has everyone in uproar is the rediculous "wetsuit" rule that pretty much allows you to wear anything at the race start. The biggest problem, besides "affecting" the race is that these suits are so easy to assemble that athletes can actually have custom "one-off" suits made with thicker neoprene and get an even greater advantage. In an attempt to remedy this, the pro athletes have to write their names on the suits, and after the swim portion of the race the suits will be weighed and evaluated and anyone's suit that is deemed out of the accepted measurement range will lead to their disqualification. Hmmm. Tim is racing with an official Ironman sponsor suit - Blue Seventy, so hopefully Ironman's own endorsed products are legal.

Sorry, but we totally slacked on photos yesterday - it was too nuts and Mecca left the camera on and killed the power. I plan on totally redeeming myself today with lots of shots of Tim, his bike and the RB girls. I did get one shot of the RB girls as they played XBox Guitar Hero - addicting game - at the RB House. So, I'll post that at the bottom of this writeup.

One more night of Happy Hour at the House. Anyone on the island looking for a frosty beverage can head on over and we'll be sure to set you up. Come back later and we'll have more images.

Time is getting short and Tim is getting anxious. To quote our Dad, "the hay is in the barn" and it's a waiting game now. The bike is completely built, tires glued and the gameplan is complete. Today is the pro meeting and a couple of appearances for Zipp and Powerbar. Our two other brothers, Todd and Tom arrive today from the mainland, along with Nike pal, Dennis McMinn. The Red Bull House is getting full. Along with them, we have DSM Ambassadors myself and Mecca, the Red Bull gang and our buddy from Patagonia, Andy Marker. Interestingly, the house is still pretty tidy for a bunch of men living in it. At yesterdays Happy Hour with Inside Tri we a pretty full house and are expecting even more with todays happy hour with DSM and Skirt. We're headed over to Tim's place this afternoon to take a few shots of his fully built steed and are hoping to convince the Red Bull girls to pose for a few shots for the blog as well. Couple of other cool blogs out there this week - Peter Reid's goto webguy, Client Lien is doing some good stuff for Triathlete Mag (http://www.triathletemag.com/Departments/Features/2007_Features/Inside_the_Pro_Scene_at_Kona_II.htm) and DSM friend Jessi Stensland is cranking out some good updates for the Ironblog (http://ironman.active.com/).

So Tim's custom Zed Tech Zipps have arrived. Zipp said that its the best custom job they've ever done and we're not arguing with that. Very cool! The wheels also have super high-tech ceramic bearings in them, made by one guy on the planet who supplied a very small elite group of Tour de France contenders. These should fly! Check out our photos.

Honest to Gosh I left the camera in the car, but will redeem myself later. Yep, the RB girls have arrived and caused quite a stir downtown. Believe me, this will definitely not be the last time we mention the girls.

Our buddies at the Endurance Conspiracy have been helping us out as well, so be sure to check out their stuff at www.enduranceconspiracy.com - they've got a blog also.

One more plug, Tim just relaunched his website, so be sure to check out some cool video footage and other stuff at www.timdeboom.com. Cool site.

Photos next time...I promise!!

So today is when the real circus begins. NBC interviews, appearances and final race prep. Tim slept in this morning before heading over to the Kona pool to test some swim garments. Although we feel strongly that the latest swim outfits are totally wetsuits and should be banned from Kona, the rules are the same for everyone and Tim needs to figure out which one fits him best. They are all basically the same in performance - FAST, but each one fits a little different and Tim needs to make a final decision on which suit to wear. After the swim we were off to the best breakfast spot on the island - The ALoha Cafe - great food. We then hiked around back of the cafe where the giant mango trees are and loaded up with some fruit for the week. Then it was back to the condo for rest before the NBC crew showed up this afternoon.

Today was the last key run for Tim and he always does it in the Energy Lab. No matter how many times he's run this race, always good to refamiliarize himself with key segments. Tim also was going to run in a couple of pairs of race shoes to determine which pair he wanted to run in. This is pretty normal for Tim to narrow his race gear down to a couple of final options and make a final decision heading into race week - just like the helmets yesterday. As usual, it was scorching in the E Lab - no wind and just plain hot. Tim looked smooth. The way to win this race is to be strong and able to react to any changes that may occur throughout the race - that's why Tim is preparing to bring 7 different kinds of smoke come race day. The first has already been tracking - invisibility (laying low heading into the race and off the radar - let the popular boys enjoy their hype while Tim lays low and gets strong). More smoke later.

Here's some shots from the E lab of Tim and the DSM Crew.

Heading out!

Into the Lab

The Magic Shoes

So today was the day that Tim heads out to ride the climb to Hawi and get re-accustomed to the Momuka headwinds - which by the way, were howling today. A steady 20+ mph easy. Tim also used this opportunity to test different headwear and determine which aero helmet worked and fit best for him. Brother Tony and buddy Mecca joined him along with long time friend and sponsor Toshi from Loopd. For more about Loopd goto www.timdeboom.com or loopd.com.

Like we said, the wind was howling at Hawi today and we only saw Tim get out of the saddle once - to quote TIm, ya just gotta let the wind take you and not fight it.

Here's plenty of picks of Tim and DSM team member, Kimo, on the ride and testing wheels and helmets today. Obviously, the final word on wheels won't be til end of the week as the weather begins to define itself.

 My Machine! Thanks Jim.

After a night of Southpark, we woke up with the plan that TIm was to swim the entire race course. It tends to get lonely on the course and difficult to see buoys, so Tony volunteered to snag a longboard and lead Tim through the course. A casual 60 minutes later, Tim was through the course and ready to head back to the condo and chill for a couple hours before taking the bike out to Hawi for a 2 hr ride in the wind. This would also be a good chance to test his aero helmets and make a final decision on which one he would wear on race day. The rest of the DSM crew will be moving into the Red Bull House today and setting everything up for the big week. Here's some shots from this mornings swim.

First day waking up in Kona. Man we slept hard last night. Lots of coffee followed by an early swim at the pier started the day. Then back to the condo to chill and watch Unbreakable with Bruce Willis - another great film for the DeBoom gang who are a bunch of comic book fans. Trivia fact #1 for Tim's fans and followers - Tim has been an avid comic book collector since junior high and is very proud of his original X-Men collection.

After a quick bite, Tim was off for one of his final "long" runs before the big day. Here are some photos pre and post run.