On Saturday, I rode in the STP - the Seattle to Portland Classic. It's the largest multi-day ride in Washington, with 8000 registered riders. And a few poachers who don't pay the registration fee but use the marked course, try to slip in and eat the food, etc.
My friend Tom and I rode it together, doing the one day version - 206 miles on the backroads. We left UW at 5am and arrived in Portland at 8:30pm, just about right on schedule. About 1600 riders were expected to do the one day version. I understand the ride sold out; this is the first year in a while that has occured. Clearly Lance is making road cycling more popular.
We rode through some quite nice country towns along the way. I particularly liked Spanaway, Yelm, Tenino, and Castle Rock - all places that I had never before visited. They seemed pleasant, with nice tidy homes, clean streets, and a certain peacefulness. The warm summer day and sunny morning put them in their best light, I'm sure.
A few towns had clearly seen better days, or perhaps they had just routed us through the more run-down sections of town. Some towns may not like 8000 riders cruising through all day long for an entire weekend.
All in all, a great ride. Probably the best long distance ride I have ever done, and by far the longest one day ride - 108 was my previous one-day mileage record. The end stats: 206 miles, 16.1 average speed, about 12:45 or so on the bike.
The early part of the ride had us leaving UW in a groups start, with groups riders starting every 10 minutes. We ride part of the Lake Washington Loop to Renton, where I had our only flat tire of the day. The day dawned bright and clear, with not a cloud in the sky. Temperature was perfect in the low 60s.
We went through an industrial and commercial section of Kent. Reminded me quite a bit of Silicon Valley in the mid 80's - broad flat valley filled with recently built tilt-up concrete office buildings.
Centralia was the lunch stop at the midpoint. Many two-day riders stop here for the day and camp locally, or stay in a motel. By that time, the temperature was climbing into the upper 80s and a certain mugginess had set in. We even had some light sprinkles of rain as we were leaving, with thunderheads on the southeast horizon.
We crossed into Oregon at the Longview Bridge. I really wish they had ran a streetsweeper on the shoulder, as it was filled with tons of lumber fragments, some broken glass, and a lot of gravel. Tough to negotiate all that with traffic whizzing by. I understand the two day riders get escorted in groups by police; we were on our own.
Longview to Portland was an uphill grind with most of the 50 miles being a slight climb, the kind that wears out both your legs and your soul. This was the toughest part of the ride for me as the pain had set in. My neck muscles ached from too much leaning on my hands earlier in the ride, which also made them ache, and my right foot had developed a hotspot in the forefoot. I have learned the hard way that minor bad habits that are forgiveable in a 30 mile ride can take a much greater toll on a 200 mile ride.
Luckily the electrolyte tablets had I been taking along with sports drinks and water had prevented the kind of muscle cramping I had feared most. Carefully paying attention to that with one tablet per hour along with a gel had really paid off.
After merely suffering for an hour, I started trying to find ways to cure my pain. Around mile 185 I had figured out how to compensate and the pain was much reduced. I sat up a lot taller and steered with my fingertips, taking the weight off my palms and shoulders. This would tire my back out sooner, but so what - I had only 20 miles to go. And I worked on a proper push-pull pedaling rhythm that put no pressure on the balls of my feet, and that really worked well. I've always tried to have a better pedal strokee but I know tend to fall into the old "stomp on it like I'm climbing stairs" rhythm, especially if I'm down on the drops. Nothing like 25 miles of pain to motivate one to make a change.
We finished up at Holladay Park in Portland. It was really great to see my wife and kids cheering me through the finish line. My girls have never been able to attend on of my events before and they too thought it was special. I'm also glad that they thought I still looked pretty good and not beat to death, despite the fact I was covered with sweat, road grime, and spilled gel.
