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In Dave Zabriskie, Team Garmin-Barracuda has one of pro cycling’s most colorful personalities. Garmin has taken advantage of this by offering a free Dave Zabriskie voice pack for its nüvi in-car GPS systems. Download the voice pack from the Garmin website, which carries a recorded warning from Zabriskie (“You’re either going hate me, or you’re really going to dislike me."), and hit the road with all the normal driving commands plus Zabriskie wisecracks like, “I will turn this car around right now!”
Zabriskie joins Yoda, Oscar the Grouch and the Yeti in telling you where to go. Actually, he’s the only real person listed in Garmin's premium voice offerings. But that makes sense; like a pro-cycling version of Robin Williams, Zabriskie has a tough time not falling into character when the microphones come out. We spoke with him last week in San Francisco during the Tour of California, and the Utah-born-and-raised Zabriskie conducted the full interview with a deep southern accent.
“They didn’t really have a script,” said Zabriskie. “They were just like, ‘Say stuff.’ So I was kind of unprepared. And they had really horrible coffee, being the Midwest company that they are. I think it could have been much better with a nice cup of brew. My caffeine levels were not as high as I wanted. I’d actually like to do a second edition.”
On the bike, Zabriskie is all business. He finished second overall in the Tour of California this year, his third runner-up finish in that race. He’s also the current American national time-trial champion and a former wearer of the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
Off the bike, though, he’s all Zabriskie, even when he’s supposed to be all business. He owns his own line of skin-care products for cyclists, including a chamois cream (it reduces chafing in the nether regions), called DZ Nuts. On the company website, Zabriskie says he started the business after “suffering in silence from a weak taint.”
With cycling season in full swing and the Tour de France approaching, Wired is hitting the roads of Northern California for a comprehensive look at the bikes, gear, and apparel the pros use. In the lead up to the Tour start on June 30, we’ll bring you ride reports, gear reviews and other insights from the world of cycling. Follow us on Twitter @WiredBike #wiredbiketest.
