Upcoming Organized Northwest Rides.

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Hey Everyone -

So, I'm making training plans for STP in July, and wanted to do more organized rides to prepare. I'm planning on doing the either 40 (2000+ feet of climbing) or 60 mile (3000+ feet of climbing) route for the Daffodil Classic on April 18th, then the 50 mile route for the May Day Metric on May 2nd, then the 45 mile ride for Flying Wheels on June 12th, and of course STP the weekend of July 17th. After that I also plan to do either the 45 or 65 mile ride for Cycle the Wave in September. Is anyone else planning on doing any of these rides? Any other rides not mentioned that others are doing? Anyone done any of these rides and have advice or words of wisdom about them? I'm always looking for good activities!

-Jessica

Sounds like a great plan, Jessica; I've done each of those rides (except Cycle the Wave) multiple times (5xSTP - 4 as a 1-day rider) and they all provide good opportunities to enjoy supported events (rest stops, SAG support), as well as practice riding with many different groups of various experience and speed levels out on the road too. That'll help in advance of the STP when there are up to 10k of your newest cycling buddies all over the roads with you!
A couple of suggestions for your consideration: since you're planning to ride the STP in 2 days, then it'd be a good idea to plan a couple of days at least a couple of weeks before the STP, to do back-to-back training rides. As you'll essentially be riding a century on Sat and then having to get up and do the same on Sunday, I found it helpful to schedule at least 2 training rides that were long and on consecutive days, so that I wasn't totally unfamiliar with the mileage or how it felt to be in the saddle for a century on 2 consecutive days. I'm not suggesting that you have to do the exact length of the event you're training for - but I'd recommend longer rides than 50 miles. Also, I'm one of those that learned to train for mileage when riding the STP - and not focus on hilly routes; it worked well for me, as I improved my time to Portland each year (early enough to shower, get a seated massage and go out to dinner with friends on Saturday)
CTS, with Cascade and as mentioned earlier, is a good program, helping to build mileage on organized training rides and the group experience too.
There are also rides in other areas that I incorporated into my training and really enjoyed the different scenery as well as supporting other cycling clubs: the McClinchy Mile ride by the Everett-based B.I.K.E.S. club has several routes out of Arlington (March, I think); there are various Tulip Pedal rides in April that allow you to spin past all the beautiful fields on your bike, up near LaConner/Mt Vernon; RACC, Ride around Clark County is further out - an event by the Vancouver, WA cycling club and is another really well-run ride with beautiful routes - that's in May and so is the Camano Climb- but that has more hills than you really need for STP; there are more rides in May out of Pt Townsend and also Burlington - the Skagit Spring Classic is a terrific ride.
Have tons o' fun! Tailwinds!
Mary