Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - My big bike ride

I did my biggest fixed ride ever and I thought I'd share a little bit. The Seattle to Portland bicycle classic was this last weekend and has been part of a goal that I've had all year. So on Friday morning in Porltand, I hopped on my old bridgestone conversion and rode the STP route backwards from Portland to Seattle. Then on Saturday morning, I hopped on the very same bike and headed back towards Portland. The plan was to make it all the way back to Portland, but I only made it to Rainier, OR and then finished up into Portland on Sunday. The way up was different than the way back in two major ways. On the way up it rained on me for 125 straight miles, while the weather was pretty good on the way down. On the way up I rode by myself and on the way back I was riding with 8,000 other people.

Stats:
Friday: 190 miles
Saturday: 150 miles
Sunday: 72 miles (did a little extra around town when I got home)
Total: 412 miles

I only saw one other fixie on the whole ride and didn't get a chance to talk with him. I had a really good time and wouldn't be opposed to doing it again sometime. It was funny, because the 72 mile sunday ride felt like a little jaunt down to the store compared to the first two days. Oh yeah, I rode a 42x15.

WOW

I am speechless - that is just awesome!!! I know a couple roadies that did the ride and have been training by doing a century every weekend for the last couple months. (They were also doing it for fast times, not just to finish)

I am curious what training you did for it? How much have you been riding.

CONGRATS!! What an accomplishment!

that's incredible, rainedon. what will you do for an encore?

(just kidding, of course; you can rest on those laurels for a l-o-n-g time)

AN-I-MAL. Holy cow that is amazing! And on a Bridgestone! Woohoo!! That rain on Friday sucked. I was so lazy I drove to work. I can't image you were pedaling half of western WA in it. Congratulations!

Very nice - long distance stuff is great. I like reading about it.

awesome!
just curious, how long did the 190 mile ride take on friday?

I am curious what training you did for it? How much have you been riding.

CONGRATS!! What an accomplishment!


Thanks. The training I've done has not been very structured. I commute on my fixie 32 miles a day 3 or 4 days a week and do the occaisional long weekend ride. The only big fixed rides I've done this year prior to this were a few 60 milers and a 92 mile ride last weekend. On the way up to Seattle was tough because I was riding alone. I just put my head down and watched the rain drip off the bill of my cap for a lot of hours, stopping along the way for the occaisional corndog and pepperoni stick.

Pics?

Way to go. I'm feeling like a wimp now that I only did the Seattle to Portland fixed. It was still quite a journey for me... 10 hours of saddle time, averaged 20mph, ate quite a few bananas and cliff bars. there was a few times i really would have liked to have been able to coast. actually did a few times, just unclipped and let the pedals spin. i only saw one other fixed rider at a rest-stop, could have been you as i noticed it was some sort of conversion but forgot which kind... i was riding my green surly cross check with skinny tires. Anyways, congrats-

awesome!
just curious, how long did the 190 mile ride take on friday?

I was making pretty good time for the first 100 miles, averaging just over 17.5 mph. Then I ran into a few hurdles. The rain got really heavy, I got lost in a few of the towns because of street name changes and/or new construction (I was using an older map), and I had two flats. My total time ended up at about 15 hours. Not the best, but considering the conditions, I wasn't suprised. On bike time was a little less than 11.5 hours.



Pics?

Nope. I didn't bring a camera. Any electronics I would have had would have been destroyed anyway. I have a carradice barley saddlebag that is supposedly waterproof, but it was not up to the task that day. Everything was soaked. Just picture rolling farmland and industrial parks.



Way to go. I'm feeling like a wimp now that I only did the Seattle to Portland fixed. It was still quite a journey for me... 10 hours of saddle time, averaged 20mph, ate quite a few bananas and cliff bars. there was a few times i really would have liked to have been able to coast. actually did a few times, just unclipped and let the pedals spin. i only saw one other fixed rider at a rest-stop, could have been you as i noticed it was some sort of conversion but forgot which kind... i was riding my green surly cross check with skinny tires. Anyways, congrats-

That's a great ride. Much faster than me. We got a late start on Saturday morning so that probably wasn't my bike that you saw. It would have been fun to ride with some other fixies for a while. What gear did you ride?

What gear did you ride?

I rode a 46X16, which felt just right. Was able to keep a good pace by riding with some of the guys from the roadie forum with their 15 pound carbon uber-racers. We definitely took our time at the rest stops, though.

I rode a 46X16, which felt just right. Was able to keep a good pace by riding with some of the guys from the roadie forum with their 15 pound carbon uber-racers. We definitely took our time at the rest stops, though.
Hey hey hey!!! My carbon uber-racer weighs almost 18 pounds. ;)

Friday was such a miserable day in the Northwest - I can't imagine what it took to ride from Portland to Seattle.

Congratulation to both of you guys for the outstanding efforts.

55/Rad

You guys rock!

rainedon, i'm curious what your route was (vaguely of course unless you really want to lay it out). And how you liked it. Was it the same going north as south (in which case I will just check out the STP website)

You guys rock!

rainedon, i'm curious what your route was (vaguely of course unless you really want to lay it out). And how you liked it. Was it the same going north as south (in which case I will just check out the STP website)

I had a laminated STP map mounted to my stem with a chip clip and some zip ties. I just followed it backwards to the North.

http://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/stp_routemap.cfm

Wow, on a whim I did the last 70 miles of the STP on my Soma Rush (46x17) I am horendosly out of shape and did no training, think I averaged about 15mph, I was supposed to ride it with my friend but he dropped me after a bit so I just kind of poked along, it was fun but I am kicking myself for not doing the whole thing.

I know that with a little bit of training I could have just done the whole thing in one day, oh well, live and learn, maybe next year.

I got ALOT of compliments from people, it was fun but I always had to explain "oh I only did 60 miles of it" people were all still really cool though.

at one point a pack of a few guys passed me on SS or fixies, one of em was a rivendale quickbeam and thats all I remember .. the guy said something like "yeah single speed single speed" or something as he went flying by me..

I dont know if I saw any others, I was keeping my eye out, there was a group of guys from seattle that "pirated" (rode without registering but didnt eat any of the food or anything) the ride, saw them but none of them were on fixies... I was surprised at that

all in all it was alot of fun, I wish I would have done the whole thing

I had a laminated STP map mounted to my stem with a chip clip and some zip ties. I just followed it backwards to the North.

http://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/stp_routemap.cfm

thanks!