The Race Has Begun!

We're rocking and rolling on down the road now, but since we can't officially follow the riders until 8pm PST (when we'll more than likely start the show), for now we're gonna give you the play-by-play from the last 24 hours in pictures.
Yesterday afternoon we all met up for our annual super duper fun and exciting pre-race information session. Following that spectacular hour, the Veronicas hoofed it over to DQ for ice cream and corn dogs, then spent the rest of the evening uploading as many videos as we could until we completely passed out... and then started again this morning until we finished. Whew.
After nabbing a few hours of sleep in the wee hours of the morning and some caffinated brown water from Starbizzles, we all headed down to the pier in Oceanside for some pre-race rock and roll (and to finally get this show on the road already!!!) Rider Andrew Danly OWNED his version of the National Anthem, then traded his guitar for a bike and headed out with the rest of the riders (videos to come soon- our little upload feed can only handle so much!!!)

Here's our crew chief John going over a few last minute rule reminders with some of the drivers before the race gets completely underway.



And finally, a view of the race just a few minutes until all hands are on deck and racing into the middle of nowhere as fast as they can. Why? Just because... Oh yeah, and because they can. (Videos of Andrew's National Anthem and the 2009 RAAM Start will hopefully be up soon...)

Until then, here's a peek at our super ferocious and seriously lucky ViaSat Mascot, courtesy of Pav. Thanks Pav!

Once again, we're hoping to be live broadcasting at 8pm PST- until then, keep an eye on our Twitter feed- we're @ teamviasat. Over and out!

-V