well, it wasn't the "Most Epic Ride Ever", but it was epic enough for this little brown mousie. I started out around 5:30, feeling dehydrated and crampy in spite of the fact that I had really been pushing the water the day before. I'd also spilled my coffee mug while trying to get the bike out of the house without letting any of our six cats out, so I was riding, as my husband quaintly puts it, "uncrapinated". In hind sight I realize that it was a good thing to start out a little slower than I might have been inclined to do otherwise. People were crashing left and right for the first 25 miles! One guy inexplicably wiped out on a gentle downhill with an equally gentle curve. Alarmingly, he just lay there for the longest time. People were screaming "biker down, biker down" as they waited for the light to change so we could get to him. I was sure he was seriously hurt, but heard him assure the first people to reach him that he was ok. by the time I rode past, a group of people were telling him it might be a good idea not to just lie in the road if he was ok. I saw him at the next rest stop and noticed that his jersey was torn at the shoulder. That must have hurt!

In spite of the accidents, people were actually pretty well behaved for the first half of the day. I was surprised by the number of slower riders to be passed. usually I'm the one getting passed. On THE famous hill I was passed by a young man who looked to be under the age of 10, but he was apparently too proud to shift down from his tallest gear and I passed him back. I wanted to tell him that it was ok to shift down, but decided to keep my advice to myself. He was clearly very fit (if a little foolish...) Somewhere before puallup I passed an interesting looking three seater rig that looked home made. I remembered to take a picture of it at the rest stop in Spanaway.

The sheer number of people at the spanaway stop always amazes me. I tried to capture the press of the crowd, but I'm not a skilled photographer....
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/pictu...6&pictureid=66
pappa Murphy's was there passing out free pizza and it was utterly delicious!

Somewhere around mile 65, I started suffering from my lack of coffee. I didn't have the presence of mind to find a coffee stand until I started getting the withdrawl headach from hell. Luckily, I found a discarded, but unopened packet of cliff shot with caffeine. I sucked it down feeling like some kind of junkie, but quickly got some relief. Don't tell anybody, eh?
I rolled into Centralia around 2:00 and was feeling pretty good. I showered without having to wait and ate and then passed out on my sleeping bag without intending to. I felt dizzy when I woke up at 7, so I went out and found more food. That seems to have been the right thing to do because I felt great in the morning. I think I felt better at the start of day two than I did at the start of day one. I really enjoyed gliding silently through the sleepy farm land and towns around Chehails and I loved the rolling hills around Vader. The magic faded after the lunch stop and I found the crowds http://forums.teamestrogen.com/pictu...6&pictureid=64
again, my picture fails to capture the absolute crush of people.
Saw a group of interesting elliptical bike contraptions at that same spot.
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/pictu...6&pictureid=65
They don't look like they would do well on hills, but I saw them again on the Longview bridge and they just swished up effortlessly! They looked like a lot of fun to ride. Would have been interesting to see how they handled the downhill.

most of the ride after than was a grind, and not so much fun. Pace lines really got oppressive at that point, and lines at porta potties got ridiculously long. I just pushed along and pretty much zoned out until the route turned us out onto that stop light happy stretch of down town portland. Pretty sure I caught every stinkin' one. I didn't like the crowded steel bridge much either and the crawl those last few miles to the finish was interminable. I was feeling pretty crabby as I crossed the finish line, and told my husband I was never doing the STP again or, for that matter, ever riding my bike again. He just smiled knowingly and steered me to baggage claim and then on to a burger king where I ate the bestest burger evah!
After a good night's sleep I am only a little sore and a little tired and already looking forward to next year's ride. Crazyness!!