Mission Statement

The 24 hour VeloVulture is committed to bringing you 86400 seconds of mental anguish followed by a lingering physical exhaustion of caloric deficit and sleep deprivation during the 5th and 6th of September. This all we will trade for the small price of gathering the best stories, memories and pictures you are likely to acquire during the summer of '09.

UPDATE: We just set up a collective album on Picassa. Send an email to 24hourvelovulture2009@gmail.com and we'll give you permission to contribute to it. And if you have your own photo page we can put a link up to that too.


Monday, August 31, 2009

Final Reminders

1) BE ON TIME!

If you are not pre-registered, day-of registration starts at Oregon Park (29th and Irving) at 2pm and ends at 3:30pm. If you are late you can still ride, but we will start the hunt at 4pm sharp and then do late reg, so you will be auto-penalizing your team. This be-on-time shit applies to pre-reg sign in as well, you must be signed in and ready to go by 3:30. We don't want to be jerks but the hunt cannot start late because of slackers.

2) BE PREPARED!

As of now the forecast calls for rain and rediculousness storms, so be ready for anything. Reread the Updates and Reminders post if you don't yet get it. And last year's winners won on a touring bike and a basket bike. That's right, heavy, slow, rife with dérailleurs, racks, fenders and brakes, but comfy as hell. Just sayin'.

3) BE AWESOME!

Because if you aren't, you will be out-awesomed.

Totally winning the game of today,
The VeloVulture staff

Sunday, August 30, 2009

"Evil Never Sleeps"



It's kind of like that. Seven
days from when I'm posting this you will have seen the sunrise and consequently caught your 27th wind. Maybe you'll think of this song, or maybe not. Sleep tight this week, bitches.

_C39

Friday, August 28, 2009

Rules of Play

Alright children, here's the rules straight from Corndog(PDX)'s play book for your 24hr Velo Vulture 2009 pleasure. Note: There are some edits due to mathematical errors.

1. DON'T CHEAT. It will be hard and/or pointless to do so. Anything
that appears to have been either altered or sabotaged will be void, so
don't waste your time. If you are about to as me, "is this cheating if
we _____", the answer is most likely YES. This is two people teams. As
in you and the dead weight you though would be a good idea to drag
around with you for a whole day.

2. Internet rule of thumb. You will find out at 3:30. You don't need
to bother your homies every ten minutes asking them to look shit up
for you. Trust me, you'll do fine on your own. It's called planning.
Even if you called them for help, it won't give you an edge. You still
need to stop and plan. So find a hotspot or station and act like you
know.

3. This is one day. A day is made of 24 hours. Hours are made of
minutes. Minutes are made of seconds. There are 86,400 seconds in a
day. If you take 86,401 seconds to finish, you will automatically have
done it for fun only. You will not be eligible for prizes.

4. Everything must be turned in as described on your paperwork. All
photos must be numbered with the number of the item and your team
number or name/initials.

5. If you act like a jerk, you will be sent packing. This
is for fun. Have a good time. Who cares if you win a prize but were
frustrated and upset the whole time? It's not worth it. Enjoy
yourselves.

6. Be safe. This is not an alleycat. You don't need to blow lights or
generally give cyclists a bad name while doing this. You have all day.
If you're smart you won't have to ride like a bat out of hell.

That's, for the most part, it. Questions now should be posted in comments and we'll do our best to answer.

_C39

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Updates and Reminders

Things are coming together as rapidly as the countdown to race day is here at VV 3 HQ. Here's a small rundown of what is going on:

The weekend saw a whole bunch of tying up some loose ends and filling of gaps in the manifest. Tink, Ginger Whiskey and myself (C39) trolled around some areas that, simply put, needed some stuff nasty/fun or fun/nasty for you to do. Not to toot our horns, but beep beep. Mission accomplished. M61 has kicked some major ass like the true Fu-Schnicken he is to get a massive amount of prizes so hopefully everyone will get to have something to show for their efforts... Besides soreness.
We had a great collective meeting Friday night to assign tasks after going over what we got done. Needless to say, as you would expect, our poop is in a group for the event. Thud is out of office for a bike tour for a few days, which is well earned because he has put a crap ton of work in already. Have fun, buddy!

Now for the reminders:

Speaking from experience here are somethings to keep in mind while preparing for a 24 hour Velo Vulture. We will also be going over this a little at the start.

You will be riding around for the best part of 24 hours. With that you need to keep in mind that not only will you be burning a lot of calories, but you most likely will not be sleeping much, if at all. The winning team's motto last year was "sleep is for the weak", as was mine. I'm not going to suggest that you don't sleep, not at all, but there is some things the human body will experience during sleep deprivation. Included but not limited to: inhibited motor skills, problems with the decision making process and elevated reaction to stress and anxiety. Be aware what you are putting your body and brain through over the course of the race. I had tons of times where all I wanted was to end it. Kind of a war attrition, if you will. Keep in mind that we don't want anyone to get hurt during this adventure. It is solely up to you how much or little you are going to complete of the manifest during your time out there.
All of this has been done before, we're not going to force you to do anything that we wouldn't do or have done ourselves.
So with that in mind, get a couple of good nights of sleep Thursday and Friday. Eat well before, during and after the race. Pre-hydrate and push fluids through you. You have to keep your own mind in check. Keep track of yourself and your teammate. Charge them phones up. There will be contact numbers for you all in the race packets, and we will be out and about interacting with you during the event. I'll be surprised if I sleep.

There are pictures that will be have to be turned in at race finish with your packages. It is up to you to print and number the pictures in a resolution for which the judges can actually tell what it is you are taking a picture of. Printing can get costly, however, pictures printed on regular office paper off your computer in black and white will be accepted. But we will need to be able to see what it is you are trying to depict. It's not as scary as it sounds and we're sure you'll be fine, tiger.


As mentioned before here is a small list of things each team member should plan on bringing:

Bike (No shit, right?)
Lights and batteries for them
Bag
Lock
Pen(s)
Camera
Map
Tubes, pump, tools
Helmet
Cellphone and charger
Food and drink for the race
Money

Using a computer for research is allowed, however we will know if you cheat. And cheating will be more frowned upon than blood doping in the Tour de France. Unless you are someone who has been caught blood doping in the Tour, or any other major European bicycle race for that matter. Those folks are totally welcome. Don't cheat.

This event is for your pleasure. You will get out of it what you put in. You will be very, very frustrated with us at times, but remember you asked for it. I promise that when it is all said and done you will have a sense of accomplishment that you have never experienced before, unless you participated in one or both of the previous VV's. It totally kicks ass. People you know will be astonished that you tackled such a feat and put forth the heroic efforts you either tell the truth about or lie your ass off recounting.
It will take you a couple days to recover. You will be able to work on Monday. You will laugh, smile, cry, think, cuss, sweat, ache, want to quit, be frustrated with us, be frustrated with your partner, be frustrated with yourself, love your bike, hate your bike, wonder where you left your bike, be scared, be safe, pass gas, be lost, know exactly where you are at, be perplexed, wonder what the fuck, get something wrong, go back to where you were a half hour or seven ago, never do it again, look forward to next year, see some crazy shit, be too hot, be too cold, be tired, want to sleep, drink caffeine, be too awake, catch relief somewhere you never thought you would, see new parts of your city and some old ones, want it to end, want it to start over, get gas station food, get looked at weird, get cheered on by strangers wondering what you are doing, get hit up for change, hit someone up for change, change your socks/underwear/shirt, cheer yourself, cheer your teammate, drink to that, forget to zip your fly and a ton of other cool shit, all the while having the greatest twenty four hours on your bike ever. Or since last year. Word to your Pilderwasser.

Love,
C39, WBC





*Dictated, Not Read

Friday, August 21, 2009

Manifest is almost done...

and it's absolutely ludicrous. I have no idea how Damian did this by himself the past two years. We're definitely at well over 100 checkpoints with plenty that will make you laugh, cry, heave, stare in disbelief, ask for directions, and spin your head. And surprises. Because everybody loves surprises. Mwahahahahah!!!!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

T-Shirts!

Meggo and C39 have secured the t-shirts! They had a meeting with Chris (I'll plug his business when I can get it right) and have decided on a shirt, passed on the image, and provided an almost complete list of sponsors. Thanks for all of your hard work you two! They even crossed state lines to get the job done!

I think everyone's going to be super stoked for their own 24 Hour Velo Vulture mesh tanktops! Woohoo!!

Just kidding, they're going to be great...and not mesh.

People are Pre-Registering?!?

Holy crap!

We here at VV HQ are getting really pumped for the big day. Thanks to everyone who PR'd so far. Let's see some more!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Huge Freaking Sponsor List!

Here's a nice, almost totally compiled list of our gracious and excellent sponsors. They're great, they have given their support and they deserve your support outside of the race. Thanks to all of them, you are generous and amazing!

Cyclone Bicycle Supply
Outdoor Research
Velocity
CatEye
The B-Side
The Standard
Bicyclinghub.com
Double Darn
The Hive
Republik Clothing (for your skinny jean needs)
Dee and Claire's Brew Clubb So Pathetic (featuring Spanish Homework)
TCB Racks
Chris King
Raleigh Bicycles
Matt Pilderwasser
Plus Minus Beverage Chilling Devices
Save Our Soles Socks
Bakery Bar!
Black Star Bags!
Orange 20 Bikes (bike shop in LA)
CETMA Racks and Cargo!
Freight Baggage (SF bag and accessory maker)!
Knog!
Lucky 13 Bikes!
Metropolis Cycle Repair!
Taproot Web Hosting
The Clair, Meggo, Doomninja, Thud, and El Diablo Rojo's wallets.
Your Mom! :)

Sunday, August 9, 2009

BEER!


The VeloVulture has confirmed a beer sponsorship from Dee and Clair's Brew Club So Pathetic, and believe you me, it's less than pathetic. We brewed 10 gallons of ginger lemongrass Wit with fresh hops from the yard today and a vat of lemonade was promised to turn it into shandies at the finish line BBQ.



This is not at all the only sponsor on board, and we already have a prize list that will likely guarantee that no finisher walks away empty handed.

Saturday, August 1, 2009




At 4:30 in the morning C39 and I (M61) headed out on an almost wild goose chase at Riverview Cemetery in the SW. After having been turned around (by me and my horrible sense of direction)and heading half way back to downtown C39 righted the ship and saved the day. We were tired, we were delirious with lack of sleep and fatigue, we were looking for a Holy Grail that we may have never found. On the verge of abandoning the stop after about 2 1/2 hours of riding and searching we saw the sun coming up and snapped this picture. Then, beyond all hope, we discovered the item we were looking for! We were the only ones in the race to do so and it was a major boost to morale and a turning point of the race for me at least.

This year you will not be as lucky as I was last year, C39 (Charlie M-F) is a part of the three headed organizing crew, (along with arm Clair and arm Megan). You can be sure we will put together an epic event for you and you will all be going to your own personal heaven for having participated, I promise.