24 Hour Velo Vulture 2009

Winners and Losers

2009-09-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

Two weeks later we're finally getting around to posting the results and reports as well as we can remember them.

Winners!

Heidi and Hazel of Team Teem are some classy ladies to be sure, but they outclassed everybody with 2685 points to take the 2009 VeloVulture! Congratulations Doods! Hope you spent the money all in one place!

Some out-of-towners won the out-of-town category! Bud and David pushed Team Choad Broke to victory getting 1115 points!

Brad thought it would be a good idea to try this himself, and even after a six hour accidental nap and a three hour flat-tastrophe, managed 1190 points! Team Han Solo wins the solo category! He also wrote an awesome ride report, read it here.

Losers!

Everyone thought Damian and James would take Team MotorDome to an easy victory, but in the end all they came up with was a bag of dicks. Team MotorDome is no more, but Team Bag-o-Dicks clinched the DFL toilet seats with a resounding Plop! of around 400 points, even edging out category favorites Team Pomeranian.

Han Solo Ride Report

2009-09-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

Velo Vulture Ride/Race Report – Team Han Solo

I was supposed to go camping this past Labor Day weekend, but lackluster weather cancelled that. Then I ran into Damien (founder and former organizer) who reminded me that this was happening. I spent 24hours trying to find a partner, then went to the start where my two leads and hope of maybe another last minute wayward rider dead ended. I’m there, I am determined and the organizers let me in. So I became the first participant to attempt a solo run, Team Han Solo.

The Velo Vulture is a 24hour race/scavenger hunt. It’s impossible to do everything, its 24hours long, and if you like frustration, physical agony, exhaustion, all while keeping your mental facilities intact, this is something you would enjoy. The endeavor is for those who are serious about it because to finish is a formidable task.

The event was organized grassroots and very well done. They did a lot of preparation and it showed. In a nutshell you can expect the following, “Here are the rules. Here is your manifest of tasks. Here is a phone number, just in case. Prizes for the winners will be at the end. See you in 24hours. Go.”

There were 137 manifest tasks: questions that need answers, objects to find, pictures to take, rubbings to make, and some bonus stuff. They ranged from Kelly Point, to the Gorge, to the West Slope, to the deep, deep, Southeast and everything in between. The fun part, figure out how to fit an impossible amount of things to do into a finite amount of time and deal with setbacks. Finally, my professional work life has meaning.

The tasks are developed by people who ride/commute/work by bike and are uniquely challenging from that perspective, the saddle. It was great to go to a place I have been by or to a hundred times, but now it was unique and interesting. There was also a number of very cool and interesting “landmarks” that are usually just a part of the background. I also visited a number of places that I have never been to, also refreshing.

Frustrating too, since you had to get into the heads of the organizers to figure out what they are cryptically referring to. The longest time I spent in one location looking for someone was nearly 90min. There are about a dozen tasks still heckling at me that I need an answer to.

Without giving too much of the race specfics away (someone is a future competitor), this is some of what I did: Rode up Saltzman road (twice), fought headwinds on Portland Dr, searched for a vent in Hollywood only to be thwarted, looked for something fishy in Ladd’s edition, ran across the St. Johns bridge, (damn flat tires), bit it on some RR tracks in the industrial NW, by chance found a statue without knowing I was looking for it, the sticker ball (estimated weight at 80lbs), and finally found a great new view of the Fremont Bridge.

But I ran this solo, everyone else was paired up totaling 29 other teams. To earn points, I had the same challenges as any other rider and I did well compared to the top teams. Winning team split score was 1300, mine was 1190. Being solo did have the following disadvantages to fully enjoying the race.

It was nearly impossible to make many of the group checkpoints. They are not mandatory; it would have been fun to meet up with the other riders.

Having someone else would have saved time in keeping organized all the materials collected and preparing them for submission.

Sometimes two half working brains are better than one.

Having a buddy would have been advantageous when out in the middle of the night being “suspicious” in some neighborhood searching with a flashlight for something your not even sure about what you are looking for.

A teammate would have prevented me from sleeping through my alarm. My two hour nap turned into a full night’s sleep of six hours. In the end extra sleep did not hurt me too much, just a little.

I had a 3 hour mechanical breakdown, which did prevent me from working for points. If I had a teammate, they could have helped and reduced that time or kept working.

Finally, drafting, hard to do that solo.

Overall this ride is more accessible than other “niche” events within the Portland bike culture scenes. It is true that 90% of the people racing would fall into some variety of the “messenger scene”, but this is not a “messenger race”. The true bar isn’t in how cool your bike is, how ridiculous your pre-pubescent mustache is (Ladies, really? Really?), or the cubic capacity of your bag, but the difficulty of the task. This difficulty is there to weed out the weak and if your not going to try to finish, its not worth showing up.

See you next year.

Race Stats for Team Han Solo

Points

Manifest (Pts) 137, attempted 57 or 42%

Total Pts (approx) 6344

Attempted 2047 or 32%

Awarded: 1190 or 58%

Race Stats

Race Time (Sec): 86,400

Race Distance (KM): 150.55

Race Distance (MI): 93.55

Time in Saddle (Sec): 32,100

Time Searching (Sec): 34,500

Total Time Racing (Sec): 66,600

Time Sleeping (Sec): 19,800

Other Stats

Total Flat Tires: 3

Punctures: 2

Ripped value stem (d'oh): 1

Crashes: 1

Miles Run: 4

Caffeinated Drinks: 1

Hours in Chamois: 18

Judging Error?

2009-09-08T19:25:00.000-07:00

UPDATE:

So after all the prizes were awarded and the paparazzi had gone home, it was discovered that there was a failure to count all of one of the team's points. What appears to have happened is that they packaged all of their smaller items in a card game box that was then taped shut without labeling it as such. To further confuse things, the masking tape label from another of their items must have transferred onto this box because, as the judges' grading notes confirm, it was treated as item #83, was not opened, and received no points. Had this box been labeled or recognized as containing other items, Team DD could have had a point total of 2835, enough to win the Vulture.

Crap, what are we supposed to do? After consulting with each other, describing the situation to former judges (without naming names or biasing with specifics), and 5 re-readings of the almost half page of explicit packet format instructions as they were stated in the rules, we have decided that this does not change results.

So there it is, judges decision stands, the team that showed us the most points with their packet won. Especially considering that DD said they had a great time otherwise, and still got some rad prizes. We sincerely hope that this will not sour relations or turn them off of the Vulture in the future.

We the organizers/judges worked very hard to get through all of the packets as quickly and as thoroughly as was possible at the time. There were certainly opportunities for errors, however we worked as a team rather than 5 individuals in order to mitigate those errors and provide the most accurate results possible for the event. The situation above was an anomaly that certainly affected results, but we believe any judging errors were relatively insignificant and would not have affected the order of placement.

The big Easter Egg

2009-09-07T16:33:00.000-07:00

I explained it at the awards ceremony, but here's a breakdown of the epic level hidden treasure we put in the manifest that would have garnered first pick off the prize table were it solved.

Step 1)

Scrap of paper in the manifest packet that said "#95 #8@gmail.com"

There was an everbright battery in the window of old greyhound station at SW Water ave and Sheridan (anwer to #95) and the year of the penny was 2004 (answer to #8), which gives everbright2004@gmail.com

Step 2a)

Scrap of paper given out at breakfast that said "The answer to manifest item b) will get you into the speakeasy"

Figure out that this meant the password to the gmail addy

Step 2b)

Bonus manifest given out at Quizzy at noon was itemized by letter. Item b) was a rubbing of the plate directly above AUTO SPKR. at the Whitmarsh Building on SW Park between Morrison and Alder, which was STANDPIPE, which was the password.

Step 3)

The only message in the inbox of everbright 2004 was as follows

Congratulations! You've cracked the code to get you to the next level!

Now on to serious business. Your next task, should you choose to accept it, is a story problem. What, Damian made me do Sudoku last year and I hate that stupid crap.

A 50 gallon keg has 2 taps, one for true pints and the other for standard 2 quart pitchers, and each tap has a different flow rate. It takes 4 seconds to get a new glass before each pint pour and 10 seconds to get a new pitcher before each pitcher pour. If, including these delays, 1.6667 pints get poured for every pitcher and the keg takes 47 minutes, 3.53 seconds to empty, what is the pour time, in seconds, to fill each of the respective containers?

Add these two numbers to give you a manifest item #. The answer to that manifest item will be very useful.

I know math is scary, but this problem is actually only algebra 2 difficulty, so if it's over your head ask any nerd 2nd level or higher to help you, they're generally very friendly.

If this email gets deleted or in any way tampered with, the puzzle it's related to will be cancelled and nobody will get the prize for it, including you, so don't be a jerk.

This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds

The answer was 20s to fill a pint, 30s to fill a pitcher, pointing you to item 50) how many mL in a pint? You could do more math or just get a beer. 473mL is printed on just about every 16oz can there is.

Step 4)

Blog post "Scuttlebutt" at 5:22am

Word on the street is that the prisoner is locked to a Mercury newspaper box on Belmont but if you free him without unlocking the lock (e.g. sawing it off) you will set off the alarms and he will be killed.

There was a luggage lock on the Mercury box in front of the launromat up the street from The Vern that had a combination of 473. That was the prize you were looking for but if it came back tampered with or broken then it didn't count.

Funny, when you're the one who made it up it almost sounds too easy, but by the groaning of the crowd last night, and the fact that it sounds like only 2 people got anywhere close to even getting the email open, I'm guessing it was a bit much. Ah, well, always next year...

Photos

2009-09-07T13:38:00.000-07:00

So we got to see all of the riders' photos but there was no way to record enough of the awesome to share it with the rest of you. We really want to have a good record of this and be able to share more than in the past because a lot of the pictures really capture the spirit of the event so much better than any description can.

If you have a Flickr or Picassa page, or some other web link, put it in the comments here or email it to us and we'll post it in the photo links box over there on the right.

Anything you post to FaceBook or Myspace should get tagged and if you're not already a fb friend you can just use the badge on the right.

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.

If you're just not a digital type and want to give us a disk or hard copy that we can post, we can do that too, just get in touch.

There is a digital copy of the manifest we can send out if that makes it easier to use the manifest question as the picture caption to clarify for people that didn't see the manifest.

We did set ourselves up a bit by asking for naked pictures, but I guess we didn't expect to see quite so many of YOUR OWN parts. Or your own commentary about your own parts. Or you doing tricks with your own parts. Jeez people.

A Huge Fucking Thank You!!!

2009-09-06T21:33:00.000-07:00

In true Velo Vulture fashion we did not write down all of the scores for the teams. We would really like to put scores on the final finishing order and humbly ask you all to post here with your final score.

We know who you are and why you can't find YOUR final score as of now. We're working on it. Give us some time. We're very tired.

Is This REALLY IT?

2009-09-06T08:11:00.000-07:00

Just let me know

More Dumb

2009-09-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

Finally! A screw up by somebody other than Tad.

#77 should be Prescott Ct

The Penny

2009-09-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

~~So apparently the penny in question on item #8 has worn since it was researched but I have solid confirmation that the first digit is still legible. Let's work from there.~~

UPDATE: There's another penny that I didn't see when researching that is all worn off. The one you're looking for has a date clearly visible and is in the southbound lane. I didn't think it could have worn off that fast and for once I was right.

Scuttlebutt

2009-09-06T05:22:00.000-07:00

Word on the street is that the prisoner is locked to a Mercury newspaper box on Belmont but if you free him without unlocking the lock (e.g. sawing it off) you will set off the alarms and he will be killed.

Godspeed

Alley cat SNAFU

2009-09-06T05:05:00.000-07:00

So Dee even tried to give me the out of blaming it on new bioswales but he lives in his own world and there is nobody but Tad to blame for Siskiyou and Merges.

No, really, YOU are wrong.

Dammit.

Oh the horrors

2009-09-06T02:20:00.000-07:00

And it's only going downhill from here unless we're very very lucky.

won Fifteen

2009-09-06T01:14:00.000-07:00

want a new won?

WARNING!

2009-09-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Some jackass in Ladd's is trying to run people over!

Wish I could send a group text to warn all of you.

I'm sure you know that this is not part of the plan and it should go without saying that putting this motherfucker in jail is worth a lot of bonus points, not to mention karma points.

CHVNK wins again!

2009-09-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

Karaoke checkpoint = epic win!

We should have made it more points to make sure more of you showed up but I'm not sure we could have handled any more awesome.

Every time CHVNK runs a checkpoint they win the best checkpoint award and while the hunt is not over yet I'd be shocked if this one can be outdone.

Griz is where?

2009-09-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

He's staring down the barrel of two jugs of whiskey and says he'll be at a SE strip club after that and don't know which one. Yeah, good luck.

BONUS RUBBING

2009-09-05T20:15:00.000-07:00

AA) Get a rubbing of VV3 from a license plate - rubbing - 30pt

RFTQ!!

2009-09-05T19:08:00.000-07:00

OK, this is the only coddling you get.

Questioners about using two manifests should READ THE MANIFEST! If there are stops that require a signature or a stamp on the manifest you plan to turn in and the copy you made for the other teammate, well, you should figure out how to get them all onto one manifest. I think both Windows and Mac have a cut and paste function. Because I said it twice and it's printed on the manifest that you can only turn ONE in.

And if the easy way to do something is not happening, well...don't get me started.

Semantics questions will still be fielded, but the most likely response will be to tell you to go find a dictionary.

God I'm a dick. Sorry.

Last correction (hopefully)

2009-09-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

#100, measure the hand in Lents Park. Answer left on it, item canceled.

Goddamnit, who's the effing proofreader? Oh, me, right.

Clarification and Correction

2009-09-05T17:02:00.000-07:00

Clarification:

For the "Cake for Griz" that we just handed out, yes, you do have to find Griz and give him the cake any time during the ride.

Correction:

#61, who is the cross for at 4th and Gertz. Somehow the answer got left on there so that stop is canceled. See, we told you you were wrong.

#100 is canceled for the same reason

And another thing:

Even if you can't find a tape for karaoke you want to show up to watch anyway, right?

Couple More Reminders

2009-09-04T21:53:00.000-07:00

Not sure if we mentioned it before, but BOTH teammates MUST be present at registration and check-in. Kind of a no-brainer, but figured it should be explicit.

I've heard of a few people still looking for a teammate, so if that's you, show up early at registration and hope for the best. Can't promise anything but it's worth a shot right? We might even give bonus points for being paired with a stranger.

Don't pee your pants. I've had to remind myself a few times 'cause I'm so effing stoked for this thing. Yeah!!

See you all in 16 hours.

Final Reminders

2009-08-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

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

"Evil Never Sleeps"

2009-08-30T12:40:00.000-07:00

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

Rules of Play

2009-08-28T22:12:00.001-07:00

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

Updates and Reminders

2009-08-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

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

Manifest is almost done...

2009-08-21T02:58:00.000-07:00

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!!!!

T-Shirts!

2009-08-20T21:45:00.000-07:00

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?!?

2009-08-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

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!

Huge Freaking Sponsor List!

2009-08-19T22:07:00.001-07:00

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! :)

BEER!

2009-08-09T23:45:00.000-07:00

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.

2009-08-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

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.

Steez of the VeloVulture

2009-07-12T14:14:00.000-07:00

The 24 Hour VeloVulture is a 24 hour bicycle based scavenger hunt for teams of two, currently in its third year.

The rules are simple.

1) Register and pay your entry fee.

2) Show up at the start and get your manifest which is the list of things to get/see/do.

3) When we say go, start your stopwatch and go get/see/do.

4) Get to the finish within 86400 seconds. We will be strict on this one.

5) HAVE FUN! We will also be extremely strict on enforcing this.

It will be Labor Day weekend this year and Matthew Alexander Case and Thadeous Charles Bamford are planning it so you know it will be absolutely retarded in the best possible way.

You will be required to have a bike and use it as your sole transportation during the ride. Also recommended are a pen, a lock, a bag, a helmet, lights, pump, tools, a coozie, rubbers, and anything else you might need for 24 hours on the road.

Partner up!

2009-07-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

This is an event for teams of two, so if you want to do it but don't have a teammate, use the comments on this post to hook up.

Warning! This is not a dating service. Any babies incurred by use of this thread will not receive child support from 24HourVeloVulture2009.

Pre-Registration for 24hr Velo Vulture 2009!

2009-07-12T14:03:00.000-07:00

Ok, here's how the pre-reg will work this year. Pre-registration will be $35 per team. The pre-registration period will end on the 31st of August, after the 31st we will take registration on the Day of the Event. Day of registration will be $40 per team. You may pre-register by emailing us at 24hourvelovulture2009@gmail.com. Locals must make payment arrangements in advance of the close of pre-registration to receive the pre-reg discount. Out of towners may pre-register here and pay the pre-reg price when they arrive, but you better be here and you better pay up suckers.

We are putting this on from the ground up, we need to have money for stuff for y'all and we need to show numbers to sponsors to get stuff for y'all. The more people who pre-register the bigger this ride will be and the more sway we will have.

This is going to be a great ride, we hope to see lots of out of towners here and we promise to make this deal about teamwork, determination, and stamina (both mental and physical) and not about insider knowledge of Portland. See you all in 6 weeks!

Date For the VeloVulture 2009!

2009-06-13T11:24:00.001-07:00

Hello all! The date for this year's Velo Vulture is September 5th-6th. That's right, Labor Day Weekend. It'll give you an extra day of sleep after we break you like we were broken last year. Thanks to Damian for letting us put this on this year. I can definitely say it will be every bit as big and fun as last year. Hope to see you all here in Portland, OR on LDW.

Cheers!