Changing of the Guards

Veronica here. We've been off for the last 15 hours and are now back on the night shift again. Unfortunately, the Motel 6 we stayed at last night didn't have WiFi so new videos are slowly crawling into outer space for your viewing pleasure, but it may be a little while before you get your mice on them. In other news, we have more pictures for you!
One of the things I think a lot of people who haven't done this race have trouble understanding is the whole "time off" thing. The riders ride 5 hours a shift, the crew drives and navigates 10 hours a shift, and the media peeps are 15 hours on, 15 hours off. But the concept of an actual day in this race is lost- basically if you're on an 8 man team, add 15 hours to whatever your shift length is, and that's your "day". Now 15 hours off may sound like a lot of time, but when you figure in driving ahead from where you're currently at, estimating where the rider two teams later will be riding through when your next shift starts, plus finding food, gas, and a hotel, well... you're lucky if you manage to sleep 4 hours a shift. And then if you decide to only drive halfway to where you think you need to be and do the rest in the morning, guess what? Those driving hours are coming out of your sleep too.

Wait, did I mention the driving? I guess unless you're a rider, that's pretty much what you do- drive across the country at around 20-30mph when following a rider, and 60-70mph when headed to your destination for the "night". The good news is, for the most part the drive isn't exactly the most unbearable thing ever. A few of you guys have asked to see what we see, and not just the back-end of the rider for hours at a time. So by popular demand, here is a day in the life of the Team ViaSat Crew: driving from Point A-Point B (featuring the Veronicas on commentary.)









Aw we're driving.... Oooh look at all the pretty colors!










Are we there yet??? Oooh mountains!













And we're driving again.... Wow that's a cool rock!













Where are we??? Look, that rock is saying "Fight On!"


And these sorts of moments pretty much make up the awesome parts of the trip that we love so much. (As a side note, special thanks to our drivers for putting up with us begging for Dinosaur Tracks, the Grand Canyon, and basically any national park or random attraction we pass by in a 3000 mile stretch, as well as fiddling with the radio non-stop both during our shift and while driving the in-betweens. We love you guys and hope you love us too, even if we drive you crazy!)

Over and Out!

-V