Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.55/Rad
07-18-04, 08:57 AM
Rode the Seattle to Portland (STP) ride yesterday and chose the one day option. It's a fairly flat route that starts at the U of Washington, winds through Seattle neighborhoods and then makes it's way south all the way to Portland. Approximately 8,000 people from all walks of life do this popular event with about 1500 choosing the 1 day option. Ride started at 4:45 am in the dark which made it difficult to search for other forum members who were there - sorry guys...
All-in-all an incredible amount of fun and work. There were many opportunities to pace along and draft in big fast groups as well as motor by myself or with a single partner. The support was great and the organization was fantastic. The weather was warm and muggy but not unbearable and there was not even a hint of wind, tail or front. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone - from the hardcores to the socials - as there is definitely something for everybody. At the end is huge festival with food, beer, etc....
As for my riding experience - the first 100 miles was spent hopping from group to group, pacing and drafting. I would end up by myself after a flat or when the group took a rest (many along the route) and I wanted to keep going. This was fine as there were so many groups to latch on to in the first half that it wasn't long before another fast one came along. The second century was different in that I latched onto one good group and hung with them throughout.
Final numbers - 10:20 net riding time (auto start and stop) First 101 was 4:55 and second (104) was 5:25. Overall average was 19.8.
55/Rad
All-in-all an incredible amount of fun and work. There were many opportunities to pace along and draft in big fast groups as well as motor by myself or with a single partner. The support was great and the organization was fantastic. The weather was warm and muggy but not unbearable and there was not even a hint of wind, tail or front. I would highly recommend this ride to anyone - from the hardcores to the socials - as there is definitely something for everybody. At the end is huge festival with food, beer, etc....
As for my riding experience - the first 100 miles was spent hopping from group to group, pacing and drafting. I would end up by myself after a flat or when the group took a rest (many along the route) and I wanted to keep going. This was fine as there were so many groups to latch on to in the first half that it wasn't long before another fast one came along. The second century was different in that I latched onto one good group and hung with them throughout.
Final numbers - 10:20 net riding time (auto start and stop) First 101 was 4:55 and second (104) was 5:25. Overall average was 19.8.
55/Rad