Stp?

[oxysback]

+1 on saying something nice when passing.

I rode the first 100 last year and the one comment I remember is right after 'the hill.' A gal passed me and said "Way to go twenty-one-thirty-six!", and gave me a big smile as she whooshed past me. It really lifted my spirits!

[salsabike]

Hey, Oxyback, how will we recognize you? And the only reason I'm not coming for the ride on Friday is that we are planning to do it in one day and need to be going to bed at, like, 7 pm.

[oxysback]

Hey, Oxyback, how will we recognize you? And the only reason I'm not coming for the ride on Friday is that we are planning to do it in one day and need to be going to bed at, like, 7 pm.

I'll be the one in the Dodge Caravan at the rest stops! I'm on support car duty this year.

ETA: Hubby is riding in one day, too, so early to bed for us, as well!

[MM_QFC!]

Hey, Oxyback, how will we recognize you? And the only reason I'm not coming for the ride on Friday is that we are planning to do it in one day and need to be going to bed at, like, 7 pm.

Have a most excellent, fun and safe ride, Salsa and Mr Salsa!
Are you doing it on the tandem? You'll be waving off those wheel suckers, f'sure!
Tailwinds!
Mary

[salsabike]

Have a most excellent, fun and safe ride, Salsa and Mr Salsa!
Are you doing it on the tandem? You'll be waving off those wheel suckers, f'sure!
Tailwinds!
Mary

Ha! I know. Yup, on the tandem. We'll let 'em suck for a bit, then I will turn around and give them the NY look.

Thanks for the good wishes! Would be glad to see you soon.

PS I think we need to have some more "Mick Jagger Fries." (Believe it or not, these are sweet potato fries drizzled with a melted brown sugar/butter sauce--we had them in a Snohomish pub after a ride on the Centennial Trail. They were terrifyingly good considering how bad they sound).

PPS We don't really mind if people draft. But it's nice if they're polite about it.

[LilBolt]

We are doing the ATP (Auburn to Portland)...the chaos seems to dissipate a bit by the time you get south of Renton. Plus, we get an extra hour of sleep. Some excellent advise above. If you do have a PSV and are doing 1 day, it can be kind of nice to have fresh socks & a jersey at Centralia or Kelso. And +1 on making sure your PSV uses the alternate routes! My driver (aka Mom) is equipped with a Garmin, preloaded w/ directions to casinos & Starbucks along the way.

I'll be riding my Holland Exogrid, and wear my brand-spankin'-new She Loves Hills jersey.

PS...I have my own tandem-buddies' wheel to ride. They are from Cincinnati, so I picked up their packages & mom is transporting their bike boxes + bags to Portland...that's the price I paid to 'buy' their wheel. ;-)

[MM_QFC!]

ok, it's Monday...time for STP tales! So, tell us about your experience!

Also, on Saturday I went for a ride on the Sammamish River Trail from Woodinville to Marymoor Park, then counter-clockwise around Lake Sammamish...lovely to enjoy a wide open trail, as thousands were pedaling to Portland!
Mary

[ttaylor508]

Okay, I will start with my STP tale....

Woke up around 2:30 am (actually, I didn't sleep well, so I was already awake when alarm went off). We packed up and made it to the start line at around 4:10 am. Got everything unpacked and hit the bathroom line and then hit the road at 4:40 am. It was still a bit dark, so we took it slow, but it was really nice not dealing with the crowds we usually encounter when we left later. First part of the ride was great, saw the skateboard dude in Seward Park, I can't believe he skateboards all the way to Portland and he does it with a smile.

There was a really bad railroad crossing around mile 70, we went over slow, but both DH and I felt our rear wheel slip, we were both lucky we didn't go down. They really should have carpeted that track. After the track, I slowed down to about 16 mph and couldn't keep up with our group. I thought I may have had a flat, so I stopped to check my tire. No flat, but I lifted my rear wheel and tried to spin it and it was stuck. Apparently when I went over the track, my rear wheel somehow bump the brake caliber out of alignment so the pad was dragging on the wheel. My boys came back for me a few minutes later and fixed the problem, but problem started up again on the Tenino trail. Don't know how long I was riding on the trail with the brake pad hanging up, but I was definitely wearing me out. At the ministop on the trail we met a couple of DH's old high school buddies he hadn't seen in 13 years. What a small world!!!

Made it into Centralia around 10:30 and had lunch. I was really bummed they didn't have the pulled pork sandwiches this year, so got a burger instead which sat in my stomach like a gut bomb. Big mistake!

Head winds were pretty brutal and I hit the wall around mile marker 140 and was starting to realize I had missed a few spots with the Glide, so crotch was burning (I know TMI). We took some extra time at the Riverside rest stop so I could recover and refuel. The Longview bridge was much better this year, but DH got a flat at the top. Luckily he was able to pump the tire up so we could make it to the bottom where we could change it. STP support motorcycle with a side car stopped to help us. They had a cute boxer sitting in the side car, wish I had brought my camera.

We slowed pace down a bit on Hwy 30 as we were all getting tired. Saint Helens rest stop was set up much better this year and we got a iced cold coke which really hit the spot. They also had misters and ice, which was really nice. By this point the pain in my shorts was so bad it was actually making my queasy. I was trying to stand to relive the pain, but nothing was really helping. I knew the only way to stop the pain was to get to Portland and get off my bike. The last 30 miles is always brutal, but we pulled into the finish line at about 6:30. Definitely not our fastest one-day, but considering the wind, not too bad. The beer garden was nice and getting off my bike brought instant relief for the pain. One of our riding buddies wife met us at the finish line and we went for a late dinner at a place near the finish. Finished dinner around 10:40 and was surprised to still see riders coming in. It was really nice to stay the night this year as we usually jump on the bus and head back the same day. On Sunday we were able to have a nice breakfast and go back to the Finish line to cheer the two-day riders on. All in all pretty good ride. This was my seventh STP and 4th in one-day.

[malaholic]

Congrats ttaylor508! Awesome job, and awesome story.

I am disappointed to say I didn't get to meet any other TE'ers. I'd forgotten just how huge the crowds are for STP and even if I did see any of you, I'd probably have been to overwhelmed to notice.

DH & I got up at 3 am, left the house by 4, and started riding just after 5. During the first 50 miles or so, I was telling myself that if I ever do this ride again, I'm either going to leave way earlier, or try to plot my own alternate route to avoid the massive groups. Even though it's easier physically to glom onto a huge paceline, for me it's mentally much more difficult, especially if I don't know the rider in front of me and his/her riding style. Plus I'm still a little shaken by the memory of a huge paceline crash during a ride last month...I somehow barely stayed up but the poor folks that didn't had some really ugly injuries, and that sight is still fresh in my mind.

Anyway, other than that things were going pretty well until a different nasty railroad crossing between Tenino & Centralia where my rear tire blew out. Now, I know how to change a tire and I've done it several times, but for whatever reason, I was having a really hard time getting the tube seated; one spot near the valve was geting pinched by the rim and it took both mine & DH's combined efforts to finally get the stupid thing in place. Then, after all that when we went to inflate it....the tire boot we'd put in had moved off of the hole and we had to do it all over again! I was so frustrated. We'd been on track to hit Centralia before 11 but after the flat, and cooling down a bit while fixing it, we didn't get there until almost 11:30. The food line was HUGE and we didn't want to wait that long, so we grabbed a chocolate milk and pushed on to the Winlock ministop instead where we were able to buy food quickly...but then ended up waiting forever in restroom lines.

As ttaylor508 mentioned, the headwinds were pretty rough and after the Winlock stop I was kind of wishing for a big paceline even though I'd been cursing them earlier in the day. But with most of the 2-day riders having stopped and most of the fast 1-day riders long past us, we had to tough it out switching leads every 2 miles or so instead of our usual 5. We'd been hoping not to stop again until the St. Helens stop, keeping to our plan of stopping roughly every 50 miles, but with the winds being so strong we stopped to recover at the Lexington stop too. The next 30-ish miles between Lexington and St. Helens were the toughest of the ride for me.

After a long stop at St. Helens, I kept a very close eye on my computer to manage my HR and cadence. I think this is where I was failing before....I was just riding, and not really managing my ride. If I don't pay attention, I tend to fall into a pattern where my cadence is up over 100 and my HR is up above my lactate threshold; because often on my shorter rides I will purposely push that hard just for training purposes. I guess my body just gets used to how that feels...but it's not sustainable longer-term. So on this last stretch, I carefully kept my cadence right at 90, and watched my HR. As soon as it started creeping up, I'd shift down, as as soon as my cadence started creeping up, I'd shift up. This made a world of difference in how I felt and I rode the last 30 very strong. I will definitely take this as a lesson to pay more attention to my exertion during these longer rides.

We finished at about 7:45 - a lot later thank I'd hoped to finish, but still in time to get our 1-day rider patches, so I'm super-happy about that. Our actual riding time was just over 11 hours which is right where I thought it would be; we just spent a lot more time stopped than I had anticipated.

We had just enough time to get the bikes boarded, clean up, and grab a snack before getting on the bus. I think staying overnight in Portland would've been smarter - the bus was stopped in construction on I-5 north of Olympia for what seemed like forever, and I couldn't sleep on the bus because it just wasn't comfy. We finally made it back, got unpacked and took a real shower, and just as I was getting into bed, the 3 AM alarm that I'd set for Saturday was going off again, to cap off our 24-hour adventure. I shut it off, then slept until noon.

Overall I'm feeling pretty good. I'd like to do a short recovery ride for the legs, but I think my butt won't be able to handle the saddle again for a few days. This is the first time I've done the STP 1-day and I'm happy to check it off of the list. Next up, RAMROD!

I'd like to hear how it went for the 2-day riders...did you encounter much rain? It was pouring when I woke up Sunday, and I kept hoping that the rain & winds weren't moving south.

[bikerHen]

OK. Now a report from an STP virgin! We got to the start line just before 6AM, actually found our friends we've been training with and met another club member who did the one day ride on our ride over to the start. I was very nervous about the start and the crowds but didn't have too much trouble getting going and finding a place to ride. Enjoyed the views along the lake and really had a good time just rolling along chatting with other riders. We lost one of our group at the top of the Puyallup hill, we turned off and she didn't see us and kept going. We finally hooked back up and all was well. We had a husband acting as our sag and he took very good care of us. We lost two friends just after the Tenino stop. We didn't catch them until Centralia. My sister was having some saddle sore issues and was needing to stop and "reapply" more often. Our ride time for the first day was about seven hours. Not great, but we did it!

The second day we left Centralia about 6:30AM. The first hour was accompaned by a spectactular thunder and lighting storm. We were all speculated on the best way to NOT get hit by lighting. Of course no one even thought about get inside and out of the storm! The day kinda went down hill from there. The rain got worse, body parts were getting more sore and I was really missing my Surly LHT with it's full fenders. My sister and I stopped at Lexington, had some fabulous taco from a little stand in the park and continued on down the road. We lost our two friends again cause they didn't see us stop at Lexington. The cooler weather really was making the ride better, even with the rain. Crossing over the Longview Bridge was just awesome! It was another point I was stressing over from stories I had heard. We were somewhere in the middle of at least 300 riders when the group was escorted over the bridge. We kept to the right and really didn't have an issues with the crowd.

We were flying along having a good time then about 5 miles from St. Helens my "good" knee started hurting. By the time we pulled into the rest stop I couldn't push down on the pedal. Not good when on a bike ride! I went to the first aid people and they gave me ice and ibuprofen. Then my sister talked me into a 10 minute massage. The gal that work on me said it was my quad and IT muscles that were tight and they were pulling the ligaments around my knee, or something like that. She did horrible things that caused a great deal more pain, but after 10 minutes it did feel better. So I kept the ice on my knee while we stood in the porta potti line, talked the first aid people out of more ibuprofen, ate yet another PB&J sandwich and hit the road. Another 5 miles down the road and the drugs kicked in and we rode as fast as we could, hoping we could get to Portland before the drugs wore off. Everytime my sister stopped to "reapply" I slathered Bio-freeze on my knee. About the time we hit the city limits my knee started to ache again. It was ok on the flats but did not like pushing up hills. Of course by now it was raining. The closer we got to the finish line the harder it rained. Did I mention how much I was missing my Surly with full fenders? And if I wasn't having enough issues, I started to bonk. So everytime I stop at a light, which was about every one, I was cramming trail mix in my mouth. My husband was at the last corner and took a very flattering picture of me, dripping wet, runny nose and cheeks full of trail mix! But, WE DID IT!

Now that it's all over, I have to say it was really a good ride. I didn't feel overwhelmed by the crowds at all. Most riders were well behaved. There were of course some exception but for that many riders on the road not bad. I was amazed at the number of riders with flats. We were very lucky in our little group of four. No flats and only two dropped chains. One friend dropped hers going up hill and I dropped mine screaming down a hill which scared me to death. I just knew the chain was going to wrap itself around something before I could get stopped.

So I'm glad we did it. I was even having vague thought about next years ride on the way home. The logistics are kinda hard to deal with, but I guess we have a year to figure it out.

Oxyback, sorry we didn't make dinner. We programed the resturant into the Garmin and it was showing the place miles away. Not sure if it was that far but we decided to stay local for dinner. bikerHen

[Blueberry]

Thanks for the ride reports - would love to read any more of them!

We may think about trying to fly in for this ride next year - sounds like a fabulous time (and hopefully the logistics wouldn't be too terrible!).

CA

[salsabike]

Here's how our third STP on the tandem went:

The first 100 miles were great. We were happy with our speed and felt really good and had fun. When we got to Centralia around 11:30, we were feeling a little hot and tired but perked up pretty fast after some food and 5 minutes’ rest, and got going again pretty quickly.

We did have a lot of fun on the rollers because even though tandems are slow going uphill, the amount of momentum we can generate going downhill is amazing, and often carries us up the next hill. The rollers were just a blast.

We spent a lot of time passing and being passed by the same people, which creates a little community all its own. Rode with another tandem for a bit. Lots of tandems out there this year, we thought.

At some point, the wind shifted from a crosswind to a headwind. THAT was a drag. I no longer remember exactly where that happened but I'm sure someone else will.

So things were still going reasonably well when we got to the Lexington stop (mile 143). We left Lexington feeling fine, and about a half mile down the road, had a rear blowout. We never did figure out what caused it but whatever it was, it took a huge bite right out of the tire. I would say the diameter of the missing tire piece was about a half inch. We had a boot with us but neither of us felt too comfortable about counting on a boot for 60 more miles. So...we walked the bike back to Lexington, and got a new tire. Boy, if River City Bikes hadn't been at that stop, I'm not sure what would have happened to the rest of the ride. Thank you, Alex—nice guy, too.

We started out again from Lexington. Maybe that's about when the headwind hit, because from there we just got slower. When we went over the Longview-Kelso bridge, right at the top of the bridge we encountered a moron and his girlfriend stopped on their bikes in the middle of the path—with the bikes angled to take up the whole path--yakking on a cell phone ("Hi, we're on the bridge...") that forced all of us oncoming riders into fast moving traffic. I so wish I had had the time to smack him upside the head.

And then we got a second (front) flat at mile 170. So much for Mr. Tuffy tire liners saving us from flats, dammit. Oh, well. And I personally am convinced that the last 30 miles of STP actually occur in an alternate universe, where time....just..........slows..............down. We're going to look at all the different segments of the ride according to Chris' Garmin. I am absolutely sure that the last 30 miles took us way, way, WAY longer then the rest did.

So...instead of coming in around 7, which was my hope, we got in at---10:30 pm. Wow! Ack! All I can say is, it's a good thing Cascade kept the finish line and bike corral open. AND that room service was open till 11 pm. Arghh. When we did it in 06, we ALSO had two flats, with the second one occurring 8 miles from the finish. We seem to have some “luck issues” doing this thing on the tandem in one day, but we really like to do it anyway.

Oh yeah. AND somewhere around mile 175 or so on Route 30, one of our panniers came loose, flipped around backwards, and locked up the back wheel. We fell over (going up a hill, so slowly) right into traffic (not the full lane’s worth, but maybe a foot or two into the car lane). No scratches or scrapes, and luckily whatever car went by managed to dodge us. So....I guess our luck issues cut both ways, huh?

The volunteers on STP are really excellent.

A great innovation---bag dropoff on Friday night! That means we didn’t have to go to the start line at all. We had a friend (the friend who volunteered to drive our pickup to Portland Sunday morning to get us—he’s a seriously early riser) drop us off near the start in the U District around 4 am, and we just got rolling from there. I LOVE not going to the actual start line.

Seemed like there were lots of flats out there this year.

We really had fun most of the way. The hotel greets you with a hot cookie, by the way.

And here’s a thank you to our Ironman folks here. Round about mile 170 when I started feeling really tired, I remembered all of you. I saw Colby's recent photo, and RunningMommy’s video, and some other folks, in my mind’s eye and thought to myself, “Hey, babe---if they could do that, you can do 30 more miles. Be quiet.”

On some other thread, someone asked about riding mantras. I don’t have a riding mantra per se, but I have a general triathlon training one that I’ve been using for months. I can do anything for an hour. I can do anything for another hour. Etc.

We have concluded that the Selle Anatomica saddles that we love are 85-mile saddles for us. We are still in search of the perfect double century saddle. My butt got sore, but oddly enough my legs always felt good and they could have kept going for quite a while.

Any of you see us? The tandem with the puffer fish on the back rack!

PS Diameter of the tire hole (not circumference, silly girl. Someone hasn't had enough sleep yet).

[lauraelmore1033]

And I personally am convinced that the last 30 miles of STP actually occur in an alternate universe, where time....just..........slows..............down. We're going to look at all the different segments of the ride according to Chris' Garmin. I am absolutely sure that the last 30 miles took us way, way, WAY longer then the rest did.

I thought that as well.

[ZooZoo]

I did the STP 20 years ago and hadn't been on a bike again until last year, so I guess that makes me sort of an STP virign. LOL. Got up at 2:30, my ride arrived at 3:30 and we got to the start line just in time to throw my bag on the truck and get in line for the 5:15 start. Didn't start off well. I'm pretty slow, so was quickly left behind by everyone else (I rode solo) and managed to miss the markers and got lost. But I wasn't the only one, so I ddin't feel too bad. Got back on track and was fine after that.

I have friends that live in Seward Park and they surprised me with putting a sign in there yard for me, and that really made me smile.

I haven't done many group rides - definately none this large - so it was a challenge to get used to riders passing so close (probably just my perception), but managed pretty well. Everyone was friendly and polite. Didn't stop at the first mini stop, but did stop at the REI stop and thought it was pretty cool that they had people out cheering everyone in. Ate, used the portapotty and headed for Puyallup. I had two friends meeting me at Puyallup to cheer me on, which was great. Stopped long enough to hydrate and get some pictures, then on to 'the hill'. Didn't make it completely up the hill, unfortunately, and walked part of it. Wasn't the only one, but it was still disappointing.

Stopped in Spanaway for lunch, and the lines for food and water were at least an hour long. Overheard another rider say that there was a grocery store not far down the road, so decided to try that. It was Safeway, and boy were they prepared for STP! They had a cold bottled water and 'half' a sub sandwich for $3, and the sandwich would have fed two people! Ate part of the bread, and all of the meat and cheese, then went over to Rite Aid and used their bathroom (very short wait).

Just before I hit the yelm trail, I realized it was taking quite a bit of effort to maintain my speed. Figured it was the heat. Stopped for some water and when I went to get going again the back wheel felt sluggish. Checked, and the back breaks were definately rubbing the back wheel. Finally figured out that the tire pump that the LBS had installed on my top tube was impeding the cable to the back break, but I didn't have anything to cut the zip ties with. Moved around a bit, and that helped. Stopped for water and food several times, but neglected to reapply sun screen as well as chamois cream. Bad things to forget.

Didn't stop in Centralia, as my stopping point for the night was Chehalis. Got to Chehalis at 6pm (told you I'm slow. LOL). I stayed with a host family where the proceeds went to the graduating class of 2010 graduation night. Had a shower, a real bed to sleep in, dinner, a hot tub and breakfast. They picked me and my bike up and dropped me off the next day. I was their only STP'er. What a wonderful family! They went above and beyond to make me feel welcome and comfortable! I felt pretty good that night, but very tired. My legs above the knee to the short was sunburned, and in one place, blistered. And my 'under carrriage' was letting me know that I should have been more diligent in reapplying chamois cream. Also had a problem with...well, I needed a laxitive. Never had that problem before after riding.

Sunday, up at 4:30, ate breakfast (not an easy thing for me at that time of day) and drank some coffee. The hot tub had helped with the muscle tightness/soreness. Was on the road by 6am. Thunder and lightening and a lot of rain. No amount of chamois cream was going to help my seat, and the laxitive hadn't helped. I was cold, wet and miserable. Made it to Vader and just couldn't go any further. I have to admit, I cried when I made the decision to end it there, but I felt it was the wisest thing for me. Called my friend who was expecting to pick me up in Portland and had him pick me up in Vader.

We went to Portland to get my bag, and although all the trucks had arrived and uloaded, my bag was nowhere to be found. Spent an hour and a half looking for it and finally decided that I would wait for all the 'unclaimed' baggage got back to Seattle and pick it up at Cascade. There were several people who couldn't find there bags, but when you consider how many riders there were and each rider was allowed two bags you have to figure a few would get put in the wrong place, so no big deal.




Vader was 127 mile mark. I didn't complete the STP, and I'm disapointed abut that, but I'm proud of myself for what I did accomplish. I learned a lot, and know what I need to do for next year. Next year will be sweet victory when I cross that finish line.

[Alex]

we did it!

Congratulations to you and your sister! I've been waiting all day to read your ride report and was sending all sorts of positive juju to you guys over the weekend. What a fabulous accomplishment!

Alex