June 19, 2007 5:49est New Jersey!!!

Van 3 has just crossed the Delaware River. We are currently awaiting our riders at TS 55. The finish line is in sight! STAY TUNED!!!

-Cam

Greenup ,IL 6/17/07 @ 09:19est

We Arrived in Greenup, IL this morning ! Boys are still strong despite two crashes ! Shawn slipped on gravel and crashed. Kiv crossed RR tracks and got his wheel wedged and was thrown... Despite all the drama the boys are fine! Working hard ! Trying to make up for the days when they could only run three. Jim has been burning it up. We have finished 2146.1 Miles and have 900.5 miles to go! STAY TUNED

Here we are in the Ozarks 6/16/07 16:12

Well we finally made it out of Kansas and did not encounter much wind. The boys are back to the normal rotation of two on two off pulls every four hours for hours 24 hrs until Atlantic City. We are happy to say we made up more time during these two time stations. The temps here are very hot! 98 degrees with over 90% humidity. We just sent Kiviok and Dan for their 4 hour session. Hopefully they can make more time. Stay tuned for more..... And check out the RAAM sight for more detailed info.

Wolf Creek Pass. This ones for You 6/16 7:20 est

Team VMG RAAM Would like dedicate the grueling accent to our buddy Steele. This dedication comes as we the riders were standing on our pedals and thinking how hard you have to push to break tib /fib. Hang in there Steele.

6-16-07 2:57est

Good morning good morning good morning Kansas, we jumped on the bikes and follow vehicle for the beginning of our 2am to 6am shift. I'v been looking at the back side of Jim's VMG shorts and it reminds me of a high reving four cylinder m series motor, his legs are pumping at well over 100rpm. HE'S BACK TO FULL FORM!!! and feeling great. Our boys last nigth pulled off a speedy shift shaving more time off Strong Heart's slight lead for third place. We seem to be around +/- 6min behind them. Hopefully we'll catch them today. Stay Tuned!

-The Chief

Loving Low Altitude!

Jim here. Thanks to all for the kind words of encouragement. Just got off a four hour shift, alternating with Shawn. Feeling great now that I am back to low altitude. Averaging about 24mph on my pulls, with a slight headwind. Speaking of wind, we just rode through downtown Greensberg,KS. Or what is left of it. The town got hit by a huge tornado a few weeks ago. News footage of the destruction doesn't begin to capture the real thing. We are all doing great in comparison.

The sun just set and I am off for the next four hours. Shawn and I get the sunrise shift, beginning at 2 a.m.

Free McDonalds

We are just outside Pratt, KS and we are looking forward to the free McDonalds. Also.....Jim is back on the bike and stronger than ever.

Time Penalty Explained

You might have seen on the RAAM Race Report for VMG Racing a time penalty. Here's what happend: Shawn had dropped a chain on his bike and was forced to stop and fix it. The other 3 riders had pulled away from him in the mean time. In effort to make up time, Shawn rolled through a stop sign to make up time, thus resulting in a penalty. Hopefully it will be the last one.

Thanks for staying tuned to the blog!

-Tyler

Special Thanks to Denise Christensen!

Thank you for the burritos, cakes, bread, cinnamon buns, etc...Thanks for Fueling Team VMG!

We really appreciate it.

Dueling it out in Kansas!

Our boys are now dueling it in Kansas with team 410, Team Gs - Logistik Austria and Team 411, Team Strong Heart. Kiviok and Shawn had an amazing accent at Wolf Creek passing doing 1 mi, intervals, and by the time they had reached the top, Team VMG had negative time splits.

Unfortunately, Jim Kelly has had to stop racing as the high altitude has caused him mild pulmonary edema. On the bright side we have sent him ahead to Ulysses, Kansas and he is resting at a hotel. Thus our 4 man team has been working with 3 and holding their own. We are confident Jim will feel good enough to go on this evening and battle along as 4 man team.

We really appreciate the support and interest we are receiving! In the past 7 days our site has had 24,000 hits! Thanks A LOT!

-Tyler

6-15-07 12:52am est TS 19

Just through TS-19 La Veta, CO

Thanks friends in Cortez

That was great having such a warm welcoming in Cortez, it sure did give us the extra boost we needed for Wolf Creek. I doubt that any other team received support like that from their home towns.

-Shawn and Kiviok

6-14-07 7:36pm est Wolf Creek Complete

The boys made it over Wolf Creek Pass with ease around 6:30est.

6-14-07 12:19est Durango, TS 15

We are on our final decent into Durango and Dan is headed into the time station. We are 40min ahead of Team Strong Heart. It is a beautiful blue bird day in sunny Colorado, the boys are anxiously awaiting to attack Wolf Creek pass.

Sam's 4 Spandex Clad Ferries

As we were outfitting the vans with magnet sheets displaying our various fabulous sponsers, Shawn noticed that the word "ferries"(Lake Champlain Ferries, a team sponsor) was displayed conspicously large. He then dubbed the team the "Alternative Lifestyle Team." I mean, what kind of guys like to dress up in skin tight spandex, shave their legs, and spend every waking (and sleeping) moment together training for the "worlds toughfest bike race?" I'll tell you who.......... Sam's heros! And here they are, all 4 of them.


Kiviok Hight


Dan Busse


Shawn Gregory


Jim Kelley


All our prayers and wishes go out to Sam, I had the chance to talk with her the other day and if you are reading this right now, thank you, you are truly and insparation to us all.

-Cameron

The First 10

Things have been movin so fast, it has been hard to update the blog as planed. I finaly have the chance to update sitting in the parking lot of some hotel in Kayenta, Az. I have not had much time to sleep, let alone upload and edit any footage. I have a bunch of great footage along with a bunch of great Hi-Res Photos.

Thanks for looking
-Cameron Payne

Heres a quick shot of the standings:




Here are a few more pics by, Cameron

Team VMG


Boss Dog


The "New" Guy


Shawn keep your eyes on the ROAD!!!


Thats more like it


Good Transition

Let The Race Begin!

The RV left for Sultan City at 12:30pm Pacific time. The vans will follow the riders after the parade route........STAY TUNED!

Planning

Pre-race vehicle logistics. The cardboard cutouts are vehicles and riders. The number of wine bottles is proportional to the understanding of the audience. We'll ask Kiviok to explain it all again later...

The dinner planning picture from two posts ago...

Race rule and route changes announced the night before the race? No problem for the Uber-Chief

First Video Clip: Packing the Vans

So this is just a short clip of packing and outfitting the vans in Cortez, CO.

This mornings Solo Start 6-10-07 3:30pmest

In Oceanside 11:00am EST Update 6/10/07

Well.. here we are.... We are in Oceanside. Gettin' the Vans set up..RV etc The Solo riders head out today. 9:00am PST. We will update the sight often.. I will update with photos soon.
LV

Thank you Johnny T

Special thanks to John Tomac for all the Help throughout the training season. Team VMG relied heavily on his advice for their RAAM training. Look for Tomac training online in the near future.
Thanks again John

Cortez Morning Hot Spots

Catch your early morning breakfast and coffee at Main Book Co and El Grande. El Grande opens at 6:30 am and Main Book will be open at 7am for RAAM tuesday june 14th through Thrudsay June 16th.
See you there.

CHRIS CORMIER AND MUSCLE TECH

Thanks for the Nitro Tech shakes

OSPREY joins team VMG

special thanks to everyone at OSPREY for hooking us up with travel packs. We're very lucky to have you in our community and with us on the road.

Flying Our Colors

100 Tour de Cure this Sunday