TeamViaSat

Finally Home!

2009-06-30T09:34:00.000-07:00

Veronica here-

Try as I might have, I just couldn't seem to get this post up until today. Between the finish line activities, shooting interviews, well-needed beers and showers, the awards, and the death-defying two flights it took to get us back home, there hasn't been a second to stop and breathe until this morning. (I think it's Tuesday?) I uploaded the rest of the "YouTube friendly" videos last night- anything that didn't make it will be cut into the DVD somewhere, promise. (Did I mention we're trying to get a DVD out in the middle of the rest of our hectic lives? Yeah. We're crazy like that.)

Anyway...

Just wanted to share a picture I took from the finish line and let you know there are more videos up on the YouTube channel. A special thanks goes out to all the riders, sponsors, and viewers at home- we couldn't have done this without you guys! (Oh, and thanks to big daddy John for the DQ as promised, and to the Annapolis sherriff that decided not to arrest us or kick us out of the hotel Saturday night at 2am for breaking noise curfew by singing Aha's "Take On Me" at the top of our lungs.)

Until the next adventure,

-V

p.s. If you decide you really miss hearing me ramble on and on after all this, you can always follow me on Twitter @ VeronicaInLA. *end shameless plug.*

The Return to Reality...

2009-06-29T14:23:00.000-07:00

It's Monday afternoon post-RAAM and most, if not all of us have returned to our "normal" lives. This means sitting behind a desk, programming software, reading depositions, working for "The Mouse" or a whole host of other responsibilities.

The team has been bouncing around an email chain discussing how each individual's return to society has fared thus far and how much we already miss the grueling adventure we all just experienced. The following are Andrew Danly's words and I felt they had to be posted for all to see and read...

"The difficulty in fitting back into our regular lives measures the distance we left them behind last Saturday.

The airy dislocation invokes that of a returning soldier asked to punch a clock and accept 'the customer is always right.' Its a tall order given what we've done and how we did it.

It is extremely difficult to return to that person who was before. I do so only knowing I have made new friends who I admire greatly and hold hope many of us will join forces again in the cauldron of battle.

When we do, many things will require no words because we all know the feeling of sacrificing personal comfort, working as a team and pulling a 3000-mile-long rope as 'effing hard as possible.

It really says something that I can tell a cool story about each and every one of you.

If we do this again next year, I vow to bring the METAL in even heavier doses. I know you will show up ready to do anything to help the team. Knowing this team of warriors lies in wait, makes the task of becoming a peaceful civilian that much easier.

I thank you for that,

Andrew "Metal" Danly, Esq."

Thank you Andrew for your words and thank you to everyone for your time, your energy, your compassion, your commitment, and your friendship.

If you have anything you would like posted on the Blog or the YouTube channel that you'd like everyone to see, but don't have access, please send me an email or give me a call and I'd be happy to get it uploaded for you.

Humbly yours,

Hans Weichhart
Email: hans@hansweichhart.com
Phone: (818) 640-7454

We FINISHED!!!

2009-06-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

Team ViaSat finishes the 2009 Race Across America at 9:29 a.m. EDT on Friday, June 26th. Official race time was 5 days, 15 hours, and 53 minutes. The team averaged 22.23 miles per hour as they trekked 3,021 miles across the United States from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD.

This truly was an absolutely amazing race for all of us. On behalf of everyone involved, thank you to everyone who supported the team, the riders and the crew. Thank you for following us along the race via the web. Thank you to everyone who showed up at the finish line to be with us as we arrived in Annapolis, MD. Thank you to everyone who started the race with us in Oceanside, CA. We cannot say it enough: THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

The 8 men that rode this race were:

Ken Larson
Jeremy Gustin
Larry Bice
Ryan Denner
Andrew Danly
Tobias Panek
Ralph Lambert
Greg Musser

They were supported by the following crew members every step of the way:

John Tyner (Crew Chief)
Barrie Adsett (Follow Crew)
Tim Sandy (Follow Crew)
Israel Sandoval (Follow Crew)
Dave Casterton (Follow Crew)
Matt Butler (Rider Vehicle Driver)
Matt Simpson (Rider Vehicle Driver)
Julie Morissette (Rider Vehicle Driver)
Ed Danly (Rider Vehicle Driver)
Carrie Panek (Hotel Support)
Veronica Flores (Media)
Veronica Acosta (Media)
Spencer Graves (Media)
Hans Weichhart (Media)

The festivities are still not over with as the closing banquet will be tomorrow night, so continue to check the Blog, Twitter, and our YouTube channel as more photos, videos, and updates get posted throughout the weekend.

Lastly, thank you to all of our sponsors for providing us with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity:

ViaSat
Avis
Union Bank of California
Latham & Watkins LLP
Deloitte
Clif Bar
Wells Fargo
MD Logistics
KVH
Bank of America
Squadra
Sock Guy
Amigo Custom Screen Prints
Spinergy

We really could not have done this without your support and backing!

-Hans Weichhart

Good Morning Maryland!

2009-06-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a non-stop adventure the last 48+ hours have been! After finally getting a chance to work the day shift Wednesday, Veronica and I paid for it dearly with a 7+ hour drive to the middle of West Virginia for the night to "rest", (er, morning,) as you can see from the shot above. We ended up getting in Thursday around 9am, spending an hour looking for a hotel that had enough rooms, only to go back and crash at the first one we had stopped at that didn't before but did an hour later. (Why am I feeling like this isn't making sense right now? Oh yeah, delirium. Sorry. Anyway...)

Thursday afternoon we peeled ourselves out of bed around 2:30pm and joined Ken and Jeremy for a roller coaster ride at the sunset, with 5 hours of non-stop 7% inclines and 9% descents around curvy mountain roads. The night shift took over around 10pm EST, and Andrew and Tobias really kicked some butt and powered our team ahead despite having some really tough climbs as well as getting lost or accidentally instructed off-course more than a few times. Unfortunately, you guys may have missed some of the night shift video feed- they too had curvy roads packed in with some of the tallest trees I've seen this side of the Mississippi, and our internet and satellite feed were down for more than a few hours... So Veronica and I took a quick little nappy. Time completely well spent. Hehe.

And now it is Friday morning. We haven't really slept more than 3-4 hours a "night" per 30 hour shift all week, and we haven't had a real meal (even including fast food stops!) in at least 3 days, but the Veronicas are still rocking and rolling. Why? Because we're crazy. Oh yeah- and because in less than 2 hours we will be done with this race and drinking a beer. Whoohoo!!!

Until the Finish Line,

-V

Photo Montages on YouTube

2009-06-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

All of my photo montages have now been posted on the Team ViaSat YouTube channel. Be sure to check them out and comment.

See you at the finish line tomorrow!

-Hans Weichhart

Lambert & Musser Bring It Home...to West Virginia!

2009-06-25T10:52:00.000-07:00

This may be the last of the rider shifts for Spencer and myself until we reach the finish line in Annapolis, MD. Ralph Lambert and Greg Musser have made an excellent pull through Ohio and West Virginia. They've dealt with freeway traffic, speeding semi-trucks, off roading excursions, and rising temperatures all while keeping their spirits up and a smile on their faces. Every rider on this race has done an absolutely amazing job and has so much to be proud of! Here's a look back at Lambert and Musser's ride...

-Hans Weichhart

Satellite Information

2009-06-25T09:08:00.000-07:00

Have you been wondering what miracle of technology is bringing all of this wonderful media to you via the world wide web?

This little beauty keeps us streaming video, audio, and information to you live from coast to coast. Thank you to ViaSat and KVH for the hardware and software that makes all of this possible!

-Hans Weichhart

Bice & Denner Plow Through the Cornfields of Ohio

2009-06-25T06:38:00.000-07:00

Larry Bice and Ryan Denner make their way through the back roads and cornfields of Ohio. The weather is a cool 77 degrees, but with fairly high humidity. In a quick in-car interview, Denner feels that conditions are quite nice for riding as opposed to the 100+ degree weather AND humidity they've been experiencing the last few days. Here's a few pictures of their ride. More to come on YouTube later...

And one more picture, of Matt Simpson, the driver for Bice and Denner.

-Hans Weichhart

Panek & Danly Cruise Sun-up through Ohio

2009-06-25T04:05:00.000-07:00

Andrew Danly and Tobias Panek started riding at 2am EDT from Batesville, IN and continued on to New Vienna, OH where they finished their shift. They did an amazing job navigating the complicated streets and routes given to us by RAAM for this year's race. Here are some pictures of their ride...

-Hans Weichhart

Riders on the Storm

2009-06-24T17:58:00.001-07:00

Despite the previously mentioned technical setbacks, today started out fairly nice. (Okay, it was smoking hot, and muggier than a sauna, but still... it was sunny, clear, and gorgeous all morning for Tobias and Andrew. Like I've said before, you can't win 'em all!!!) However, it wasn't destined to stay that way. More than partial cloud cover set in early afternoon, but provided little to no relief for our mid-day riders Larry and Ryan, with temperatures still hovering in the extremely humid mid-90s. It was later in the afternoon that things got interesting for Greg and Ralph. After watching lightening in the distance for over an hour, the clouds opened up and...
it POURED. Seriously poured down rain for a solid 30+ minutes as our riders and crew frantically navigated the wet and windy roads of Illinois. Luckily, the rain let up before sunset, and let Musser and Lambert get in a few more miles before the shift change with Ken and Jeremy at sunset. Speaking of...
A absolutely gorgeous way to end such a muggy dreary day, and hopefully a sign of the amazing things still to come.

Until tomorrow,

-V

Photos from Tuesday, June 23rd

2009-06-24T14:58:00.000-07:00

So I found out the hard way that riders are not the only ones susceptible to exhaustion and dehydration. Sitting inside of a car for 15 hours with your window stuck open and the dry mid-west air blowing in at you sure can take a toll on your body. Anyway, I'm back up and running and looking forward to getting back on shift at 2am EDT tonight. I'd like to thank my partner Spencer Graves for covering the last shift solo while I recovered. I'd also like to thank the rest of the riders and crew who "took care of me" for the last off shift. It's GREATLY appreciated!

In the meantime, here are some more photos from Tuesday...

-Hans (Photos courtesy of Spencer Graves)

Kansas

2009-06-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Necessity is the Momma of Innovation

2009-06-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

What do you do when you've finally fixed issues with modems, cable-patching, networking, and software for the last hundred hours, only to find out your firewire port has been bent and you're supposed to be live streaming video for at least 3 more days? Well Veronica and I put our heads together this morning and after deciding that our intial setup wasn't going to cut it anymore, we started to scheme a completely MacGyvered Plan B as you can see from the picture above. We initially came up with using a webcam that I had brought along "just in case we needed it", but it had no iris or neutral density filter for the daylight hours, pretty much rendering it useless. If only we had a ND filter of some sort... something see-through with an amber tint... wait, sunglasses! Luckily we not only had sunglasses, but the other Veronica had a pair of black bar glasses from Stupidiotic that we planned on using for "anonymous interviews". A few boxes to prop the camera setup on and half a roll of electrical tape to mount it securely to the dashboard and we were back in business!

Not I don't know about you guys, but I haven't worked with too many media people who can trouble shoot instantaneously on the go in a moving vehicle with extremely limited supplies on about 4 hours of sleep and produce a live video feed with pretty much rubber bands and a paper clip. This isn't the first time the Veronica's have pulled this off... but it probably is the most innovative setup we've developed yet! We think Richard Dean Anderson would be all kinds of proud if he knew about this (and hopefully not be too upset that we've decided to dub ourselves MacGyver 2.0.) The first time was an in-vehicle "tripod" in 2006 for the camera when we hit some rain, where we basically used duct tape, a bungee cord, and several laptop bag straps (as well as the bag itself) to secure our little Sony safely inside and still shoot, and it worked brilliantly!

But enough talking about how awesome we feel right now since the video feed is working again! Really this is about you guys at home finally being able to see and hear everything that is going on throughout our journey as we Race Across America, and now hopefully you will be able to join us in the front passenger's seat for the rest of the ride. So log in, grab your Funions, and buckle up- we still have 6 states to go!

Keep on trucking,

-V
www.viasat.com/raam

More Coverage To Follow

2009-06-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

When Andrew Danly and Tobias Panek get relieved by Ryan Denner and Larry Bice, so will Spencer Graves. Coming up at 11am EDT, Veronica Flores and Veronica Acosta, "The Veronicas."

With the switch, "The Veronicas" hope to bring you the live video feed from St. Louis, MO.

Spencer Graves and Hans Weichhart will be back on the broadcast in another 15 hours. Team ViaSat is getting closer to Annapolis with every push of the pedal. Team ViaSat would like to thank their sponsors, Avis, Latham & Watkins, LLP, Clif Bar, MD Logistics, Bank of America, Sock Guy, Union Bank of California, Wells Fargo, KVH and Spinergy.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

2009-06-24T02:29:00.000-07:00

It seems as if the weathermen in Missouri want to make things interesting for Jeremy Gustin and Ken Larson. The forecast called for Thunder, Lightning and showers but gave Team ViaSat cooler temperatures and minimal humidity. Both Larson and Gustin were seamless in their early morning pull, battling the highways and roadkill.

Coming up at 6am EST, Tobias Panek and Andrew Danly will take over for ViaSat. Both Danly and Panek have been consistent and proving that they belong on Team ViaSat. It's proof that everyone knew was there but its what they want to do, show everyone that ViaSat can compete.

There Must Be Pirates, Cuz' a Storm is Brewin'

2009-06-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

Just 7.5 miles into ViaSat's charge for Time Station 31, a nasty head wind is causing Ralph Lambert a little headache. Lambert continues to dig but there is relief ahead. Teammates, Jeremy Gustin and Ken Larson await the rider transition.

There was a shower early into the Musser/Lambert pull but it seems the heavy stuff will fall on the shoulders of veteran riders Gustin and Larson.

Thunder and Lightning is Only a Good Nickname

2009-06-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

It's not the best for Team ViaSat, ViaSat is rolling through Missouri on the legs of Greg Musser and Ralph Lambert. Musser and Lambert have been making great time through the plains and steady climbs of the "Show Me" state. Now, the two will embark on a task that none of their teammates have seen up to now.

Musser and Lambert are making their way to Time Station 30 where 30 miles later, Jeremy Gustin and Ken Larson will take over. Musser and Lambert may miss the weather but it is guaranteed that ViaSat will hit the nasty stuff.

Racer Profile - Ryan Denner

2009-06-23T20:35:00.001-07:00

Ryan Denner is enjoying his rookie run with Team ViaSat and is the youngest member of the team. Denner, 28, hails from Solana Beach where being active is an under statement. Denner is not new to the world of competition. Denner is a marathoner, cyclist, avid hiker and a triathlete. Denner works for team sponsor, ViaSat.