Seattle to Portland - July 12th (and 13th?)

[buildrunbike]

Anyone riding STP this year?

We're going to head up and ride it on our tandem. The ride is sold out (except for tickets on CL and their message board) but I highly recommend riding this sometime if you can figure out the logistics of getting up there. The biking community in Seattle and Portland makes it a super ride, with great support and a rolling cast of characters. I rode it in 2004 and my favorite memory was riding past a guy with a baby carrier / backpack thing that had his slightly overweight beagle hanging out of it.

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

[cccorlew]

Yo! buildrunbike, I got your message. We'll be there. Our plans are still in flux. I have a hotel in Seattle the night before, lodging after day 1 and a hotel in Portland the night after.
We may go early and we will stay late to see family in WA afterward.

We are toying with riding at Crater Lake on the way, but we're only talking at thins point.

Here's a link to my blog entries about STP last year
http://ccorlew.blogspot.com/search/label/STP

[reidconti]

I'm from Seattle and have run it a couple of times - 1994 on a mountain bike with slicks, in 2 days.. and then 2003 in one day on a borrowed aluminum Univega. Let me tell ya, a double century on an aluminum bike is what sold me on the carbon when I was shopping :)

What blew me away is that the climbing is *under* 2000 feet. I don't know how they managed fewer than 10 feet per mile of climbing for 200 miles in the northwest! But it is a great ride, well supported, etc.

I'd probably take a quick trip up there and do it this year if I weren't doing the death ride (same weekend). Maybe next year.

[redspoke]

I'm doing this with my older brother in 1-day. I have some questions for you Reid...

How's the weather at 5am? Will s/s jersey and shorts be ok at that time in the AM? Does it have a history of raining?

Wind? Typically any? Heads or tails? Certain spots?

I get the feeling this will be a really fast double due to it being: a)pretty much pancake flat like I'm used to, and b) a continuous paceline due to 9000 riders on the road at the same time. Was this your experience?

My crash owwie on my hip healed to a point and then just stopped when it was a little larger than a golf ball in diameter. Saw the doc yesterday and it turns out to be cellulitis and I'm on abx for 10 days. Main side effect being exacerbated sun exposure so I probably won't get any long rides in until July 3rd a week before this. I think I'll be ok since it will be easier than the Davis Double no matter what mother nature throws at us... Hmm.

[buildrunbike]

Redspoke --

Here's my two cents. I would watch the weather and then make the call on what to wear. Rain can threaten - most carried fenders, in fact. It can get a bit windy in the late afternoon, as you cross into Oregon. It can be a super fast double, if you try.

[buildrunbike]

Yo! buildrunbike, I got your message. We'll be there. Our plans are still in flux. I have a hotel in Seattle the night before, lodging after day 1 and a hotel in Portland the night after.
We may go early and we will stay late to see family in WA afterward.


I was going to offer to take your bikes up, but it looks like you got it covered.

[reidconti]

I know people who do it in ~9.5h, but obviously they haul ass.

When I did it in '03 I was totally unprepared -- hadn't ridden a bike in almost 2 years, but I was in pretty good shape from rowing. I sort of got called to action at the last minute so I just made it happen. I rode in shorts and a cut-off t-shirt. It took me ~15h, but like I said, I wasn't prepared :)

IIRC, it's pretty cool in the morning. At 5am it will be low 40s, maybe mid-40s. I don't remember much wind, and typically mid-July (anything after the 4th) is fairly safe from rain. Maybe crosswinds or tailwinds, though I remember there being a pretty nasty headwind on a long gentle uphill out of the lunch stop in Centralia or thereabouts.

I doubt you'll have any problems at all, it's a pretty easy ride with great support. Just bring your warm clothes, and look at the forecast the night before.