24 Hours of Killington

Race Update #3: Race Ready!
Lot's of important news to report. Please read through.

Our staff are setting up the venue this week. The course is marked and we've managed to get some extra trail work done too. The course has been drying all week and is in good shape.

I rode the course earlier this week and I was reminded how much of a mountain biker's mountain bike course this is. This is a course you want to approach with a real sense of toughness. It's more boxing match than tennis match. The climbs are tough. Almost all the climbing is steep climbing. And the singletrack is demanding in it's own right, with little room for long rests. I think you can have a great experience racing this course but you have to take-on a tough, tenacious mind set. And, remember, it's a race and it's the same course for everyone. The pay-off will be a well-earned sense of pride and accomplishment, real bragging rights, and a certain exhausted elation at the end of your last lap with a endorphin buzz that should last the rest of the year. (Ok, maybe not quite that long.)

As beautiful and dry as it has been this week, the current weather forecast for Killington is not looking too promising for the weekend. It's looking like we'll be getting some showers but it's too early to say just how much rain we'll get. By the looks of the forecast it is unlikely that we'll get the 2-3/4 inches of rain that we got last year. I think the course can withstand some rain though it will get muddy on the surface and the lap times will get longer. We've already committed to using the second short-cut of the rain course. We'll make the call on the using the first rain course short-cut before the start of the race.

If you need to reach us by phone, you can call us at our office in Killington at 802-422-6907 or you can reach our production manager, Moriah, on her shoe phone at 304.614.5091.

On-line Registration till Wednesday Night (tonight),
Walk-in Registration on Friday at Killington
On-line registration will be closed Wednesday night at Midnight >>>On-line Registration

Walk-in registration will be available on Friday, July 27th from 2 pm to 9 pm but race-packet pick-up is much quicker and easier if you pre-register on-line.

Race Packet Pick-up on Friday Only
Race-packet Pick-up (Race numbers, RFID cards, race T-shirts) will be on Friday at the Start/Finish from 2 to 9 pm. Teams must have all their GGP (on-line or mailed-in) and Killington accident waiver and release of liability forms signed before they can get their race packets. Note: Killington Resort requires that every participant sign Killington's own hard-copy accident waiver and release of liability form. We'll have copies available at Late Registration and Race-Packet Pick-up or, you can bring a signed copy by downloading and signing this pdf file.
NOTE: There is no late registration or Race-packet Pick-up on Saturday, race day.

Lodging vs Camping
RV and Car camping will be available for $10/person but the rain in the forecast may inspire you to splurge on a little more comfort. Check out Granny Gear's Accommodations page for more info. Or call 1-877-4-KTIMES (877-458-4637) and mention code "24HOUR" to make your reservation.

Bunny Hop World Record
& Gap Jump Competition Realtime Video on dirtragmag.com
The 24 Hours of Killington will host a trials competition with an eye to setting new world-records in both the Bunny Hop and Gap Jump contests for both bikes and unicycles.

Qualifiers are 10 am Saturday morning for unicycles and 12:30 afternoon for bikes. The bike competition is 5pm-6pm and the Unicycle competition is 6pm-7pm.

A good number of top-drawer competitors have answered the call and they're going to go for the new world records. The action will be webcast on Dirt Rag's website.

Don't miss these amazing spectacles of athleticism.

Welcome Friends From the North
Our first Canadian team has signed-up to test their skills at Killington. Sounds like they're pretty experienced 24 -hour racers, too. Good luck!
>>> Check out the Killington Photo Gallery

Team Elite Racing from Canada

Remember If You Need Some Help Building Your Team...
Riders looking for teams are posted in BLUE text. Team in search of riders in GREEN text. >>>Racer Message Boards

The FJ Trail Teams Schedule of Events:
The Folks from the Toyota FJ TrailTeam are headed to Killington as we speak. They are a fun bunch and they're psyched to be part of the festivities. Be sure to take one of these amazing vehicles for a test drive and join the fun with all the other activities being hosted, too. >>>Toyota FJ Trail Team

Friday, July 27th
2 p.m. to 7 p.m.	Toyota FJ Ride-N-Drive For those racers who may be a little too busy on Saturday
8 p.m.	Toyota FJ Drive-in Movie Two Roads to Baja, Slide shows and more
Saturday, July 28th
9 a.m. to 10 p.m.	E-Shots with Baja FJ Cruiser Have your picture taken with a new Toyota Baja Cruiser, which can be easily downloaded from your home.
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.	Toyota FJ Ride-N-Drive Stop by Toyota FJ Trail Teams booth to take a test drive in an FJ cruiser!
8 p.m.	Toyota FJ Drive-in Movie Slide shows from the day's racing plus historic Granny Gear Videos from the early-days of 24-hour racing
10 p.m. to Midnight	FJ Midnight Safari Like to see the race at another vantage point? Join the FJ Trail Team at the spectators lounge located at the"Hot Spot". Free Ride N’ Drives to and from Base Camp to the Lounge, come by and check it out!
Sunday, July 29th
9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.	Toyota FJ Ride-N-Drive Stop by Toyota FJ Trail Teams booth to take a test drive in an FJ cruiser!
9 a.m. to 4 p.m.	E-Shots with Baja FJ Cruiser Have your picture taken with a new Toyota Baja Cruiser, which can be easily downloaded from your home.

Battles Shaping-up for the Solo and Expert Divisions.
As of this morning, eight Men's Soloist and two Women's Soloists have signed-up. Last year's 3rd place, Chris Gagnon is back to compete against a relatively large field. Many of the names in this class are new to us so it's hard to tell what this field has in store for Gagnon.

Holly Forsyth has also sign-up this morning in her bid to defend her 24 Hours of Killington champion status and win more points towards her bid to become this year's 24 Hour National Points Series Champion. This year, Forsyth has a competitor, Alexi Conine. This is Conine's first 24 and she says she just in it for fun, but hey, it's always more fun when it's a race.

Bill Barrow's Memorial Ride Steps Up In Men's Expert
The DC-based DCMTB/CityBikes team, which has been bagging points all season long in their bid to become the 24 Hour National Point Series Champs in the Men's Expert Division, will have to earn their points the old-fashioned way now that Bill Barrow's Memorial Ride (last year's overall race leaders) have signed-up again in the Men's Expert Division.

RealTime™ Scoring Rocks!
If you have never raced with Granny Gear before, you are in for a treat. Knowing your team's placement at any point during the race adds a whole new dimension to your experience, especially toward the end when strategy plays a bigger role. RealTime™ Scoring uses RFID cards for each racer and records and broadcasts the results for every racer on every team in every class onto the internet, in real-time so even friends and family at home can follow your results on grannygear.com.

RealTime™ Adds StoryBoard™ Graphical Race View Feature!
This year's 24 Hours of Killington will be the live debut of our new "StoryBoard™" graphical race-view functionality. This view (see below and click through to last year's 24 Hours of Killington) allows you to track the relative position of a team over time, within their class or overall. For example, in the overall view below you can see how team #6 started in 6th, quickly fell to 9th and then, over the remainder of the race, climbed as high as 3rd before finishing in 4th. Very cool.

We've added this functionality so that it works retroactively with all past races, back through 2003. So, if there are other GGP races that you've been in you can see that race in a whole new light! >>>2006 24 Hours of Killington StoryBoard™ view

Click on this image to go to 2006 24 Hours of Killington StoryBoard view

Prize Table Posted
It's been a tradition with Granny Gear, since her first race in 1983, to lay out a generous prize table for her competitors and the 2007 edition of the 24 Hours of Killington will continue that tradition. Check out the Killington prize table on grannygear.com. We ordered all our prizes last week, based on the teams that were registered at the time. For prize categories not listed that have been filled since we made the prize orders, we'll fill-in with jerseys or other prizes that may be available.

Feed That Motor!
Last year, Killington's food service kept the chow going through the wee hours of the morning and they're planning to provide great food service again, for the duration of the race. Here's a pdf of the menu for you to peruse.

Awards Ceremony and Banquet !
We know you'll need re-fueling when this race is over and we know you've got a long drive home, too. So, we invite you to stick around for the Awards Ceremony and Banquet and enjoy a nice lasagna dinner (lasagna, salad, bread roll and a drink) and cheer-on our champions while you replenish those muscles. The banquet is FREE to racers (just bring your ID) and $10.95 for everyone else. The banquet starts serving at 2 pm and the awards will start about 2:30, or sooner if possible.

Don't Forget the Kids!
Don't miss the 2nd Annual 24 Minutes of Killington Kids Race. Get 'em started right. We emphasize sportsmanship and fun. Entry to the race is free and everyone wins a prize!

Thank You! We're very grateful for the opportunity to return to Killington for the 2nd Annual 24 Hours of Killington. We're also grateful to get to produce races for such a super group of people. Your sense of fun and your positive attitudes have been inspiring us from the start and we're SO looking forward to seeing everyone again. See you soon!