#Legend
I bought his Woodway treadmill off of him about a year ago after he and his wife sold their place in St. Augustine, FL. He was super, super nice and the treadmill is running great. I wish him and his wife the best 
Good luck to him. I think he’s one of the nicest guys in triathlon. Was his bike on ebay at one time?
We had the good fortune to meet him at Challenge Bahrain. One of the funniest, intelligent and genuine athletes we’ve come across. Wishing him nothing but the best for the future.
I am not surprised by the news but very sad to see Dirk Bockel go. I loved following his vlogs on youtube, and seeing him in Kona. Between having a bad race in Kona for a couple of years in a row (the broken wrist year being the nail in the coffin) and a lack of vlogs I was expecting something like this. Dirk seems like such a friendly, caring guy and wish him luck in whatever he does next.
I met him at St. Croix. Really nice guy and super athlete. Maybe when you have done everything else but win Kona (sub 8 win at Roth, Beijing Olympian etc) a time comes when you decide that if you are happy focusing on winning local/regional IM’s or if you feel you need to win Kona to feel fulfilled. It is 9 years now since Beijing Olympics, so, as a fan, I can see the natural evolution of this and if you are as smart as I perceive Dirk to be, wanting to move on to other types of life. Back from the early days Pauli Kiuru made a run at Kona and went as fast at 8:16 but kept coming up against Mark Allen and then a younger crew with Hellriegel and Luc Van Lierde and Peter Reid. Pauli walked totally from triathlon and is a member of Parliament in Finland but it seems from facebook still stays fit doing various runs etc. I can see how guys like that want to self actualize outside sport too (if Dirk chooses a non sport path after giving the heart and soul to sport). I believe Dirk is now in the “40-44 age group” with the likes of Crowie and Cam Brown too.