On Saturday morning at 4:30, Dianyla, her brother, and I took off from his place. Dianyla and I looked like two pregnant women on bikes - we had our camel backs on the front and our backpacks on our back. Loaded down, we breezed to the starting line. Her brother was kind and took us on a route that was pretty flat. :-)

After throwing our bags on the right bus, we got in line with all of the others. Our start time was right at 5 a.m. I was pretty excited about the ride and felt strong at first. Since we didn't really eat much at the beginning, I got hungry right away. I lost sight of Dianyla and then stopped at the first mini-stop to eat.

When I got to the Kent stop, I was starving. I ate my two chocolate delights that Dianyla made and that hit the spot. Yummy! I felt very strong and boy did I need it when I got to the 72nd Street hill. I made it up the hill and took a break at the gas station at the top. (Along with a hundred other people!) Doing the STP by myself, I did end up taking more/longer breaks than I would have with Dianyla.

I felt pretty strong going to Spanaway and that stuck with me to Centralia. By this time, everyone is calling me "Biker Chick" because of my jersey. "Hey, biker chick, your turn to take us up this hill" "There she is - we didn't know where Biker Chick went to."

Two critters – a mouse and a chipmunk – ran out in front of me within two miles of each other. The lady behind me was laughing so hard about the animals and their suicide attempts with my front tire. We all had a good laugh over that.

I got to Centralia about 3 p.m. and wanted to take a shower really bad. I checked my bike at the corral and went in search of my bags. Once I found my bags (note to self - a bright ribbon would have been helpful), I headed to the gym. When I got in there, I tried to stake out the best spot for sleeping. I got my stuff all set up and hit the showers. Man, that was the best lukewarm shower!! When I got out, I headed for the cafeteria and ate lasagna, salad, and bread. There were swarms of people around the beer garden, laying on the ground, or setting up their tents. The campus would become a wall of tents by the end of the day. I grabbed the trolley to downtown and walked around a bit. I got a magazine to read, an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen. As I was paying for the icecream cone, the trolley went by. I had to run (YES, RUN) to catch it. Once back at the campus, I stopped by first-aid and asked for a bag of ice. My left knee was a little twingy. I also snagged a bunch of ibuprofen and headed for the sleeping bag. I got to my sleeping bag and there were 4 guys on both sides of me. My neighbor to my left asked me if I wanted to go have a beer with him and I told him no, I just wanted to ice my knee and relax. Not to be a gear snob, but he was one of those riders that wore cotton.

Thank God for the ear plugs!! I fell asleep around 8:30 and woke up at midnight to the song of snores. I dug out the ear plugs (a gift from Dianyla!!!!!) and went back to bed. I then woke up at 5:35 to the sound of sleeping bags rustling. I went and got in line to drop my bags off. (I wasn't sure if I was going to get everything put back in my backpack.) I got in line for my bike and once I got that I headed for the cafeteria. The line for the pancake feed by this time was out the door. The breakfast took way too long. I had already stood in lines for the bike and bags, so I was getting nervous about the time. It was about 7:45 before I got on the road and it was lightly raining.

It rained on and off until Vader. I started feeling sick to my stomach and soon suspected the sausage at breakfast. I kept forcing myself to eat, even though I was so nauseated. That feeling stuck with me the first 40 miles and slowed me way down. My knee felt okay, but my quads were *****ing at me. At mile 40, my stomach started feeling better and my muscles seemed to give up with the complaining and kick in. I was such a slug during this section, I knew that my time was going to suffer.

A line for the men’s restroom?!? I had the pleasure of walking into a very nice mini-mart/gas station and marching right up to the women’s restroom. There were 5 guys in line waiting their turn for the men’s. I couldn’t resist making a smartass comment to them as I glided by.

I got to do a lot of drafting and riding with people. I would find a group to ride with and stay with them for as long as I could. I always asked permission to join. We would all get separated at the honey buckets or mini-stops and then I would search for another group going my speed. The downside of grouping with others was when I would get with a slower group and slow my pace down. I guess it helped with recovery though.

Just south of Winlock, I suddenly heard a noise coming from my rear tire. I stopped and looked at my tire and discovered a small spring stuck in my tire. Fortunately, it didn’t make contact with my tube and I was able to pull it out without incident. A guy stopped and asked if I needed help and I said “no thank you, I got it.” (Dianyla, I made you proud.)

I had the misfortune to witness two accidents that took time from my ride. One was a lady that did a header right before the Longview bridge. At that point, I was riding with three guys and we all stopped and sat with her for a while. We made her call her husband and check in. We then got the Gold Wing guys to stop and sit with her. She had a goose egg on her forehead and her knee was pretty shredded.

The bridge! I was in the first row waiting to go over the bridge. By the time we had gotten to Castlerock, there was a HUGE headwind. I have never ridden in a headwind that was that strong. We were all complaining about it. When you HAVE to pedal to go down a hill, you know there’s a headwind. OK, back to the bridge – when we got the all clear to take off, I hit it hard. I was only passed by 7 other people on the incline. Woohoo, I kicked it’s ***. Several times, the wind was so strong, it would blow my bike around pretty bad. That wind lasted until I was south of Ranier.

After the bridge, I hit the Oregon signs. That didn’t really impact me – the Rainier city limits sign – was a beacon for me that I was almost home. (The training rides on the end of the route with Dianyla were SO helpful.) Once I passed Rainier, I was going strong! Home stretch! Outside of Ranier by Jack Falls Road, a guy in front of me had a bad accident. He and I were riding by ourselves at that point. His tire caught the lip of the pavement right at the intersection and he headed for the ditch. He flew over his handlebars and landed on his shoulder in the ditch. We had been going about 15 mph, so impact was rough. I slowed down and stopped without crashing myself (Thank God!) I told him to stay put and reached for my cell phone. I sat in the ditch with him as I called the Gold Wing guys. Art, my new buddy, was saying his shoulder was really hurting. As he was trying to move his shoulder, he and I soon realized that it was his collar bone that was injured. The Gold Wings arrived and called for medical and I sat for a while and ate a banana. I was pretty shaken up from the whole experience and finally got on my bike and headed to Portland.

When I got to Goble, I hooked back up with some other people I was riding with before. They were running out of steam and I ended up breaking away from that group. I stopped in St. Helens McDonalds and ate the two hot apple pies. By this time, my digestive issues were back. I had slowed way down, but had good spirits. I knew I would make it.

The first view of St. John’s bridge was pretty emotional. I was riding with three other women and we were cheering, yelling, and crying. I’m glad I got to share that experience with those three. I rode with them for a few miles and they pulled over. Not me, I was determined to get to the finish. At the St. John’s bridge light, two older guys pulled up with me at the light. The three of us stuck together until ‘Da Hill’. I left them behind and geared down and took the hill. At the top, a group of people who had already finished had driven their cars back to that point and were cheering everyone up the hill. What a sight!! I was pretty emotional the last ten miles. I cruised to the Broadway Bridge and the event photographers got me coming down the other side. What a goofy picture that is going to be – tear-stained, dirty face with a giant smile, holding thumbs up to the camera.

As I crossed the finish line with a group of people, the announcer let everyone know a group was coming through. The bubble machine is pumping bubbles at you and there was a guy ringing a big bell. Everyone cheers as you get your STP finisher badge. I crossed the finish line around 6 pm. I didn't hit my target mph, but I did hit a new world record on a downhill ---- drumroll please ---- 41.3 mph. Woohoo!!

I did it. I gave myself the gift of completing the STP all on my own. Wow.

Here are some other personal stats:
3 years ago: rode my bike on a HUGE 5 mile ride
2+ years ago: 85 pounds heavier
1 year ago: cried when I completed my first 25 mile event
4 months ago: completed my first metric century
2 weeks ago: made it from mile 40 to mile 50 on Barlow Century (hardest incline)
Today: a tad sore, but very proud.