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

And a Moment with the Crew

Despite the huge amount of media coverage the Race Across America and its riders get, for some reason their crews don't always get much love. Well, we're planning on changing that this year by finally giving them a voice. This could get interesting...


Watch RAAM Crew Stories in Travel & Culture  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

(Most proper apologies to Barrie Adsett, who's name we couldn't find correct spelling for at the creation time of this video's lower thirds.)

Finish Line Predictions!

Watch Finishline Predictions in Travel & Culture  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

More Pre-Race Interviews...

Watch Biggest Challenge? in Travel & Culture  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Pre-race Videos

Veronica here. So we tried to get these posted up last night to no avail on YouTube, but due to file extension differences and all sorts of other technical mumbo jumbo it just wasn't gonna happen. (Dear YouTube- get with the program, Quicktime supports .mov files, why don't you?) Anyway, the race may have started, but until we're able to follow them at 20mph for the entire world to see, here are a few of the rider's thoughts from last weekend to entertain you as promised:


Watch Preparing for the Race in Travel & Culture  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

I'm going to post these in a few separate posts, just FYI. We'll also let you know when we're about to be up and running via Twitter later this afternoon @teamviasat, and of course, you'll know if you have our LIVE FEED PAGE open because you'll hear us loud and clear. Stay tuned!

Rock and Roll!!! Are Ya'll Fired Up Yet?

It's 2am and The Veronicas are finally packed and just about ready to go (or at least this half is!) We have our travel sized everythings, a mountain of blue t-shirts, raincoats, mittens, a quarter mile of cables and adapters, a 24 can soft-side cooler, two pounds of beef jerky, and enough cameras to double as the night shift security at a bank.

But enough with my long winded story telling- on with the show already! Well, my little iBook is in desperate need of an upgrade, and since it is already into the wee hours of the morning I cannot forsee driving 1200+ MB of video through it's turtle-like processor, especially with the spotty WiFi I'm rocking at home. (Estimated time- 1 hour, 45 minutes for 325 MB? YouTube, you have got to be kidding me.) So until we can get over to the ViaSat HQ tomorrow and blast our pre-race interviews onto the interwebs, here is a little something to whet your appetites:




This gem was put together by my good friend Hugo Mendez in just over a weekend- he's a fantastic editor and managed to squeeze us in between the other million projects he has so that we'd have something awesome for all you guys out there who can't wait for us to go live. You can see more of his work here: http://www.cutandrun.tv/

And if you like the song, check out more of Brittany McDonald's music on iTunes!

See you guys tomorrow :)

-V

What's Up Team ViaSat!!!

In case you haven't heard yet, after a year off The Veronicas are back and better than ever this June for our annual A/V Tech Geekout Fest, courtesy of ViaSat. (We love the race a little too much for non-cyclists, and seriously, 7 straight days of testing and trouble-shooting some of the most sophisticated high-tech gadgets on earth? Color you jealous!!!) Along with the other team of talented radio hosts from last year, we'll be bringing you live streaming 24/7 more video, more audio, more interactive opportunities, more interviews, and more wild adventures than ever before!

Last weekend, the majority of the riders and crew met at company headquarters to go over all the top secret race stuff that makes our team the best in the west. Veronica and I just so happened to be down there for a few hours and caught a bit of this "top secret" talk on film, as well as the some of rider's thoughts about the upcoming race. Hehehe... Stay tuned to Team ViaSat's YouTube page for pre-race videos in the next day or so!

-Veronica F.