STP!

The alarm went off, but didn't really need to, I had been awake for a few minutes before it went off.



Brother-in-law Dave and I got dressed, ate our breakfast of fruit and oatmeal, grabbed our bags and bikes and headed down to the STP start line.



We dropped a "day bag" off at a truck going to Castle Rock, 136 miles into the ride. We put our big bag on the truck heading to Portland, 204 miles away for us via the STP route. We've used a drop bag for the last several years and find it a welcome perk to have clean, dry bike clothes as well as some of the heavier treats that we don't carry and aren't offered at the event rest stops. A favorite of mine is tropical fruit!

We again decided to forgo the thrill of the mass start for the safety of a less crowded roadway by starting a few minutes early. We had hoped to be down to Lake Washington, and through those twisty turns descending to it, before the crowd caught up. Every year there are some nasty crashes in those first 10 miles and we didn't want to be involved in any of them. In fact, we found out about half way through today's ride that a friend of ours had gone down in the crowd of the start and broken a collar bone. Bummer.

Our plan didn't quite work as well as we hoped this year. We missed a turn, heading straight up a little hill instead of making a gentle left. We soon realized our mistake as we saw Lake Washington well below us to our left.

I had not loaded the STP route on my gps, saying to myself, "It's STP, you can't get lost!". Dave and I had discussed bringing the cue sheet with us, but decided against it, pretty much with the same reasoning.

We started cutting across the residential streets making our way toward the lake in the pre-sunrise darkness. We eventually reached the water, but from my far from perfect memory of the area, I was thinking we were at a canal or waterway connecting the lake to the Sound. We turned left looking at a bridge trying to remember if the STP route went over a bridge. We couldn't remember. We jumped on a trail, the Burke-Gillman?, and soon caught some folks in STP tyvek jackets. They didn't know where the route was but were heading to the start. We followed along, while keeping our eyes open for signs of the STP route, or it's sea of cyclists.

We finally caught sight of a stream of cyclists ahead. Dave and I turned into the sea of riders and headed south. We had logged 6 "bonus miles" in our little pre STP sojourn. We had to take those twisties down to the lake in the group, something we had hoped not to do, but both of us commented later that it seemed much less hectic and dangerous this year.

The ride along the lake as the sun was just ready to rise was beautiful as usual.


I stopped briefly at the always fun REI rest stop at mile 24.

I arrived a bit before Dave and grabbed an energy bar and a drink while waiting for him. Total time at the stop probably around 15 minutes.


Dave and I continued on our way.



Dave got ahead of me on "the hill" at mile 50. He arrived at the Spanaway rest stop before I did. I pulled in, refilled a water bottle, scanned the crowd, and decided to pedal on thinking Dave was probably already on the road. He was more determined than I was this year and I knew he was trying to keep off bike time to a minimum.


As it ended up, Dave was still at Spanaway. He called me to see where I was......well, I was several miles down the road! I slowed the pace down a bit to allow him a chance to catch up, but with the lead I had he didn't catch me until I was at the half way point in Centralia.


Dave rode in just as I was finishing giving that phone update. We had more to eat and drink. I hadn't had much to this point, and was carrying quite a few of my own personal favorites in my pack. I chowed on those as well as some of the official offerings. It ended up being the longest stop of the day, I was there almost 45 minutes.


Dave and I rode on to Castle Rock, STP mile 136, where if all went according to plan our drop bags would be waiting for us. Indeed our bags were there. :-) We changed clothes and resupplied.

Comments:
Esther said...

Loving the phlog updates, Kevin! Sorry to hear about the injuries your friends sustained. Hope they heal quick!
July 10, 2011 9:05 AM



It was here that I picked up the text message on my phone informing me that a friend had broken his collar bone earlier in the day. The day was beginning to get a bit warm and while we sat in the shade we heard that terrible sound associated with a bike crash. In this case, a rider had been hit by a car. It seems as if this time it was the cyclist who had turned in front of, or pulled out in front of, a car. It's a bad situation, the rest stop requires turning across an active lane of traffic, and with thousands of bikes on the road, and a lot of personal support vehicles as well as just regular traffic things can get pretty hectic. Just remember when riding a bike and tangling with autos, bikes generally lose. I don't know the extent of injuries to the rider, we did hear the ambulance coming before we got too far away.

Dave and I pulled into the next rest stop, about 150 miles in, didn't use any services, I just checked some incoming text messages thinking they might be updates on our friend with the broken collarbone.

We pedaled along looking to get to Portland around 6PM. We crossed the Longview Bridge and were once again in Oregon. In this stretch along Hwy 30 I ran across two riders in separate instances that had flatted and found that either they had already used both their CO2 cartridges, or had cartridges but their inflator failed. I demonstrated the value of my Crank Brothers two stage pump! Having done my good deeds for the day I pedaled on. Dave had pedaled on ahead so I had my work cut out for me if I wanted to catch him...... but it wasn't that important to me. I was just out for a fun day of riding!

I got to the St Helens rest stop and took my 3rd food break of the day. I was probably there for about 20 minutes. There were some folks that I really had hoped to finish ahead of. I saw them pedal in, then dismount and walk toward food and water. I could tell by their gait, and far away expressions, that they were toast. I knew I'd have no problem coming into Portland ahead of them.

I hopped back on the bike and pedaled.

Due to construction on the usual route as it crossed the Broadway Bridge this year we crossed the St John's Bridge.

Rather than pedaling through the industrial sections of north Portland it was a pleasant change to ride this modified route.



I had not worked very hard on the bike today and felt quite fresh yet. As we pedaled along the bluff over the Willamette River I found myself passing rider after rider almost effortlessly.

Before long I pedaled across the finish line and received my cloth medallion...my 7th One Day Rider award.


Some of Dave's family had come to the finish line to share in the achievement. We all enjoyed a little of the party atmosphere as well as welcoming fellow riders coming in before calling it a night. Dave and I rode the short mile back to my pickup giving us a 211 mile day. It was the most miles Dave has ever ridden in a day. I've probably done a few more than that only a couple of times.... 2nd RAO and Furnace Creek. It was an awesome day on the bike!

Tomorrow's related ride is HERE

........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......211..............0.............0..........0........211
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July........455..............0.............0..........0.........455
YTD........4508..............0............37..........7........4551