2009 STP - Seattle to Portland in one day - 200 miles

We did it!!!! 200 miles in one day!!! The 30th annual STP which was sold out with about 10,000 bike enthusiasts starting in Seattle, Washington and cycling the back roads all the way to downtown Portland, Oregon. Before this the furthest I've ever ridden in a single day was 100 miles. My friend to the left of me in the picture furthest ride was 60 miles. But we thought it would be fun to do it in one day. About 3/4th of the people stay overnight at the half way point but we thought it would be nice to get it over with just in case we couldn't sleep and woke up sore. This year it looks like we made the right choice because the first day was nice and sunny but the second day I heard was raining and that would have sucked. Everything was perfect for us! Perfect weather, no accidents, no flats, great attitudes, great support team and great finish!

So to document the ride we left the house about 4am and got into Seattle about 4:50am. The traffic was so backed up getting into the parking lot we decided to be dropped off about a mile from the starting line and it worked out perfect. We crossed the Start line at 5:06am. Just picture 1,000's of cyclist streaming onto the city streets. It was an amazing sight and experience.

So here we go buzzing through the backstreets in Seattle going along Lake Washington down into Renton, Tukwilla and come to our first rest stop at 23 miles in. I was amazed at the sea of people already there enjoying the great snacks they had for us. We are feeling great so far. After a few minutes we're off again going through Kent, Auburn, Puyallup and we come to what they called "the hill" a 4 mile 450ft elevation climb. The road was recently paved and it was actually a nice enjoyable little climb. It was a nice change of pace to get to stand and pedal. Our next stop was in Spanaway at 53 miles in. After filling up with water and a couple snacks off we go again. Still we're both feeling good. Now we pedal our way through Roy, McKenna, Yelm, Rainier and stop in Tenino at 82 miles in for another short water and food break. In Yelm my inner thigh muscles felt like they were starting to cramp so I drank more water and pedaled with only one foot in the clip and alternated for awhile and it cleared up. (That was the only cramp I got for the entire trip, thank goodness).

Off we go through Bucoda and come to the halfway point in Centralia. Here we got a creamsicle (yum!), more food and filled up again with water. I kind of felt like I just might gain weight with all this food. But little chance that was going to happen after finding out I burned over 12,000 calories on this ride.

Now we head off through Chehalis, Forest, Napavine and stop in Vader at mile 124. At this point I was thankful I was wearing my Underarmor heatgear long sleeve shirt under my jersey. It kept me sweat free and the sun off my arms. I just wish I had the same thing for the legs (next purchase). But sunscreen and a base tan kept any sunburn away.

Then off we go through Olequa and get to Castle Rock at mile 134 for another water refill and a short stop in the shade. My right foot started to bother me and I had an ankle support on my left foot so I moved it over and that helped. What I should have tried was to move my clips in my shoes to see if a different placement would help.

Now off through Lexington and over the Longview bridge. The bridge was beautiful but felt so dangerous because of the raised metal plates going down the backside of the bridge and it felt like they were going to either pop the tires or dent the rims. But we made it and here is where we have our first encounter with our support and cheer leading team.



It was fun to see where they were going to pop up and stop to cheer us on. At mile 168 we stopped at our last stop which was a mini mart in Columbia City to get some cold water and our support team came over to encourage us and some other rider that had a strained or torn muscle. He was in allot of pain but wanted to continue.

At this point my GPS said we only had about 22 miles to go but in reality it was 32. We started to slow down these last miles to about 16mph but we still got in right at 9pm which is when they said they were going to close the festivities at the finish line, so we just made it! There were many people there giving you hand slaps as you cycle over the finish line and made you feel like you just climbed Mount Everest. What a great feeling of accomplishment!

To see our route and stats click here.