STP: Seattle To Portland Classic 2006
Thanks to a comment by a user and encouragement by my girlfriend, I ended up doing it. I knew that it was going to be difficult and it was; at the same time, I found out that I could ride much faster and longer when riding with a group. I also discovered that you don't need to spend a lot of money on a bike to compete with the big boys.
I only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep but felt OK when I left the starting line near Husky Stadium at 6:30am on Saturday. There were so many people there (9000 registered riders) that someone was always in front or in the back. I started riding at a medium speed (17-19mph) for the first few miles. Soon we were on Lake Washington Blvd. and then Seward Park. I was going to stop for a pit stop there but the line to the bathrooms was too long so I kept going. Here's the bad part about not getting enough sleep: I don't remember too much after that. I can usually visualize the route I ride almost as if I had been holding a video camera all along, but this time my memory failed me. I remember riding alongside a straight road lined by offices and warehouses south of Renton--that was right before we got to the first food stop at REI in Kent, where I ate a banana and a peanut butter/jelly wrap. From there I don't remember much of anything until we got to Centralia 75 miles later, except for a couple of conversations I had with riders, tagging along with a couple of groups of riders that (temporarily) passed me, and stopping at two more food stops.
I have to say that riding fast with other bikers was the most fun aspect of this ride. First of all, I rode my old VolksCycle that I purchased on Craigslist for $30 last year. This Japanese (I originally thought it was German) workhorse will not give up and will not break down. I took it instead of my Six13 because I hadn't yet received a shorter stem for it that I ordered a few days before the ride. Given the long distance, I wanted to be comfortable on the bike, and the (at least) 25-year old Volkscycle fits me perfectly.
Even though it weighs about 23 pounds, I was able to keep with other riders who had bikes worth thousands. I'm glad I got the Six13 however because I've noticed I can go faster on it, especially on hills and sprints. Just this past Thursday I was barely able to keep up with the pack during my first race. So I think the only reason I was able to keep up with most, but not all riders who were going fast was because my speciality is long distance a la marathon running.
I think I stopped two more times and then made it to Centralia by 1:30pm. I immediately bought a spaghetti dinner for $5 and relaxed for a few minutes. The last quarter of the ride was rough on the legs. I then got my bag which I left at the start line (it was dropped off in Centralia by a truck) and set out a tent in a field on the grounds of a community college. The town itself is very small and it didn't look like there was much there besides the college, houses, and a couple of stores. There was a small beer garden nearby where the Tour de France was being shown and I hung out there for a couple of hours. Somehow it got late really fast and I went to sleep before sunset.
I got up at 4:30am and ate a very good pancake-and-scrambled-eggs breakfast. I was off by about 6am. It was pretty chilly outside (55F?) and it took me a couple of miles to warm up. The ride from Centralia to Portland was a little more scenic--more farms and open fields, but it didn't really get scenic until we crossed the Columbia River in Longview across a huge suspension bridge. Then it was boring again until about 10 miles from Portland where we could see Mt. Hood and the outline of downtown. By then, and actually a couple of hours earlier, it had gotten very warm and I knew I'd be sunburned because I didn't have any sunscreen on (didn't feel like stopping for it).
Throughout the ride, I tagged along with other fast riders and went even faster than the previous day. The difference between riding alone and with a group is tremendous. First of all, it's harder to push yourself riding alone whereas in a group you have competition. Secondly, the drag behind riders makes a huge difference and riding first in the group takes a lot more energy.
I was riding mostly solo the last 20 miles or so until I caught a couple of guys with about 5 miles to go with whom I rode to the finish line where there were lots of people cheering. I was pretty tired by then and drank lots of water, ate, and took a shower. I hung out in Portland with my girlfriend the rest of the day and the following day. Nice city!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the ride because my camera is too heavy to carry with me on the bike and I forgot to take pictures in Centralia and at the finish line.
In summary, this was a great ride: it was well organized, it was tough, and perhaps most importantly for me, it was a very good learning epxerience.
I only got 3 or 4 hours of sleep but felt OK when I left the starting line near Husky Stadium at 6:30am on Saturday. There were so many people there (9000 registered riders) that someone was always in front or in the back. I started riding at a medium speed (17-19mph) for the first few miles. Soon we were on Lake Washington Blvd. and then Seward Park. I was going to stop for a pit stop there but the line to the bathrooms was too long so I kept going. Here's the bad part about not getting enough sleep: I don't remember too much after that. I can usually visualize the route I ride almost as if I had been holding a video camera all along, but this time my memory failed me. I remember riding alongside a straight road lined by offices and warehouses south of Renton--that was right before we got to the first food stop at REI in Kent, where I ate a banana and a peanut butter/jelly wrap. From there I don't remember much of anything until we got to Centralia 75 miles later, except for a couple of conversations I had with riders, tagging along with a couple of groups of riders that (temporarily) passed me, and stopping at two more food stops.
I have to say that riding fast with other bikers was the most fun aspect of this ride. First of all, I rode my old VolksCycle that I purchased on Craigslist for $30 last year. This Japanese (I originally thought it was German) workhorse will not give up and will not break down. I took it instead of my Six13 because I hadn't yet received a shorter stem for it that I ordered a few days before the ride. Given the long distance, I wanted to be comfortable on the bike, and the (at least) 25-year old Volkscycle fits me perfectly.
Even though it weighs about 23 pounds, I was able to keep with other riders who had bikes worth thousands. I'm glad I got the Six13 however because I've noticed I can go faster on it, especially on hills and sprints. Just this past Thursday I was barely able to keep up with the pack during my first race. So I think the only reason I was able to keep up with most, but not all riders who were going fast was because my speciality is long distance a la marathon running.
I think I stopped two more times and then made it to Centralia by 1:30pm. I immediately bought a spaghetti dinner for $5 and relaxed for a few minutes. The last quarter of the ride was rough on the legs. I then got my bag which I left at the start line (it was dropped off in Centralia by a truck) and set out a tent in a field on the grounds of a community college. The town itself is very small and it didn't look like there was much there besides the college, houses, and a couple of stores. There was a small beer garden nearby where the Tour de France was being shown and I hung out there for a couple of hours. Somehow it got late really fast and I went to sleep before sunset.
I got up at 4:30am and ate a very good pancake-and-scrambled-eggs breakfast. I was off by about 6am. It was pretty chilly outside (55F?) and it took me a couple of miles to warm up. The ride from Centralia to Portland was a little more scenic--more farms and open fields, but it didn't really get scenic until we crossed the Columbia River in Longview across a huge suspension bridge. Then it was boring again until about 10 miles from Portland where we could see Mt. Hood and the outline of downtown. By then, and actually a couple of hours earlier, it had gotten very warm and I knew I'd be sunburned because I didn't have any sunscreen on (didn't feel like stopping for it).
Throughout the ride, I tagged along with other fast riders and went even faster than the previous day. The difference between riding alone and with a group is tremendous. First of all, it's harder to push yourself riding alone whereas in a group you have competition. Secondly, the drag behind riders makes a huge difference and riding first in the group takes a lot more energy.
I was riding mostly solo the last 20 miles or so until I caught a couple of guys with about 5 miles to go with whom I rode to the finish line where there were lots of people cheering. I was pretty tired by then and drank lots of water, ate, and took a shower. I hung out in Portland with my girlfriend the rest of the day and the following day. Nice city!
Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the ride because my camera is too heavy to carry with me on the bike and I forgot to take pictures in Centralia and at the finish line.
In summary, this was a great ride: it was well organized, it was tough, and perhaps most importantly for me, it was a very good learning epxerience.
Total: Seattle to Portland (STP) Classic 2006 (07/15-07/16); 201.69mi Bike Ride; 17.4 mph avg.; 11:36:49 moving time; 9260 cal
posted by Severe Training at 5:28 PM
1 Comments:
Congratulations. I’m very proud of you, especially for doing this at the last minute without training much at all beforehand. It’s great that time goes by so much faster when you’re with a group. I guess that means you can go twice as far?
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