Hood to Coast 2007

Video from the starting line

2007-08-27T10:02:00.001-07:00

Courtesy of Jack:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4722754548815124240&hl=en

Post-Race Pictures

2007-08-27T08:58:00.000-07:00

For pictures of the Google team & the race, check out http://picasaweb.google.com/eddie.higgins/HoodToCoast2007.

A few pre-race pics

2007-08-26T11:59:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pre-race pics. cedric

Official? result

2007-08-26T09:46:00.000-07:00

Looks like we are sub 20 indeed:
3 Google One 19:51:05 3/116

We're back home

2007-08-25T19:29:00.001-07:00

San Francisco ho! We just landed back in sf. The end of the journey
is nigh. -N

Upon further review...

2007-08-25T16:45:00.001-07:00

Don's math skills have been called into question. Grant that he hadn't really slept in more than a day, and was exhausted on a beach trying to scrawl on paper balanced on his hand...but...the clock doesn't lie, and we started at 6:45pm and finished at 2:35pm-ish, so he must've mis-carried a one. Our total time was definitely under 20 hours...yay! -Nathan

We've finished!

2007-08-25T15:04:00.001-07:00

Okay, so some details: our final preliminary time was 20 hours and 1 minute (pending what the electronic chip says). Cedric was hurt on leg 31, not sure of all the details yet but sounded like achilles tendonitis, so justin finished his leg - we lost some time though. Bons slept most of the trip, and tom's flight was so soon that we're now immediately on the road for portland. More soon.

Almost done!

2007-08-25T14:32:00.001-07:00

No cell coverage for a long time so more to come, but we're about to finish!

Mist, oregon - straight from a fairytale

2007-08-25T10:01:00.001-07:00

This town was straight from a fairytale. It lived up to its name, misting on us, and I half thought I'd see the headless horseman come riding out of nowhere. It feelws like 2pm but is before 9 am. Don and I ate our pancakes and ham. My last leg went smoothly as did all the rest - everyone was solid for leg #2. Van 1 is rapidly finishing up but won't be able to follow us on the narrow roads to come, so they have to meet us at the beach. No signs of bigfoot so far but we're looking out. -Nathan for van #2 (at 8:45)

Howdy from st helens, oregon

2007-08-25T04:50:00.001-07:00

We're just leaving the campground / county fairgrounds now, with bons having made it to the line in time, being rushed after a lull, which came after a false alarm that had him downing espresso shots thinking he had only three mins to go. Onward to mist - a town - where posts may get as sparse as the cell coverage. -Nathan

Van 1 handing off...

2007-08-25T04:32:00.001-07:00

We're sitting here waiting for Cedric to finish his 2nd leg and hand off to Bons. Our second set has been a tougher one -- no more free rides from gravity. We're currently about 3 minutes behind our schedule.

Our van has acquired a particular funk.
- Ben

A word of clarification about all these "Nathan" posts

2007-08-25T01:46:00.001-07:00

Ben is in van 1. I, Nathan, am in van 2. but both of us are posting under my name, "Nathan" because we couldn't get ben's own blog account working in time. So, both his posts and mine are appearing as posted by "Nathan". We try to add a signature to help you figure it out.

There are no photos now...

2007-08-25T01:34:00.003-07:00

...Because bons is sleeping. But the handoff went smooth and now
we're off to sleep too.

Van 1 has the baton

2007-08-25T01:34:00.001-07:00

That's all for now.
- Ben

A long and lonely trail...

2007-08-25T01:06:00.001-07:00

Scott just handed off leg 11 to jack for leg 12, thirty seconds ahead of the Grand Plan and mere minutes behind team 42, our competitors from far off germany.

My leg 10 went smoothly, somewhere around 5:50 pace (unclear due to slight changes in the distance because a detour was removed)... I had 5 or so kills on my six+ mile leg, which was along a neverending straight creekside trail, unfortunately paved.

We're headed to the main exchange with van 1 and will shortly sign off for a few well needed zzzz's...

-Nathan for van 2

Van 1 on the road again

2007-08-25T00:50:00.001-07:00

We just finished our powernaps and showers (for some) at Eddie's cousins house. Getting ready to take the baton back from Van 2. Justin and Chris have some nice legs along the river in downtown portland up next.
- Ben

And van #2 is underway!

2007-08-24T22:14:00.001-07:00

We've taken the ahead-of-schedule handoff from van #1's hard charging
eddie, and bons is rolling in the back fields of oregon outside
portland. This leg takes us away from the freeway for the first
time...see u at mile 2 bons!

Exchange #5 and still flying

2007-08-24T21:27:00.001-07:00

Fast Eddie is getting ready to hand off to Cedric for leg #6. The initial downhill legs have treated us well -- we're 7+ minutes ahead of pace.
- Ben

Justin hammers

2007-08-24T19:12:00.000-07:00

Along the course. Some beautiful sights.

2007-08-24T19:08:00.000-07:00

Pit stop at mi 3.5

2007-08-24T19:06:00.000-07:00

And we're off!

2007-08-24T18:48:00.001-07:00

Justin just hit the road...

Ready to go!

2007-08-24T18:41:00.001-07:00

Justin is on the line!!!

The team

2007-08-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

The starting line...

2007-08-24T17:16:00.001-07:00

As we prep, our mountain view...

2007-08-24T17:03:00.000-07:00

Loading up supplies...

2007-08-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

Arrived in portland! Square meal #2...

2007-08-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

We've safely arrived in Portland! Met the drivers, ditched a truck,
grabbed our hulking huge vans (thanks Kerry!) And dropped into baja
fresh for square meal #2 of the day. I took the opportunity to run
across the street to get arbies...mmmm good! Onward to the hood,
looming large on the horizon.

We've finally arrived.

2007-08-24T14:12:00.001-07:00

Test post

2007-08-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

Still stuck at the airport...

A Pre-race Test

2007-08-24T09:23:00.001-07:00

Just testing - about to head out for the airport and Portland! Yay!