violiav

This will be my first, and probably last, time doing this and I'm really starting to stress about logistics (let alone actually finishing the thing- I'm in Texas, and we're just now getting past the Great Floods of 2015 so we miss most of May for training). I.e. where to stay at mid point, the tent situation, the power supply transport situation, the sleep apnea transport machine situation. Getting the bike boxes from FedEx (shipping three bikes is cheaper than airline transport) to where we'll be staying for a night (some AirBnB place the B-I-L set up), and getting them from there to the starting line.

What happens if one of us gets hurt on the road? How to get to Portland (I read that the organizers don't provide transport to the destination)?

Any words of wisdom?

ETA:

What speed should I be chugging along at to finish reasonably comfortably? I average at about 12 mph (sometimes faster, sometimes slower depending on if there's anything interesting to look at), but my boyfriend is constantly fussing that I don't go fast enough (as fast as him) to finish in a reasonable amount of time (time is not my concern- getting there is).

Seattle Forrest

Most people will do ~100 miles per day; if you're averaging 12 mph that's only 8 hours. Long ride for sure but it's the only thing you have to do all day. I'd be more worried about going too fast early on and running out of steam, it's not like night is going to come half a day early by surprise.

Black wallnut 

The first day is about as easy of a century as ever has been mapped. Resist the urge to start before the two day time. The other logistics are challenging for sure. Power supply and sleep apnea machine, think outside the box here, perhaps there is a local (where you will be staying) that can rent you one for the night? If not then perhaps a package transport service.

As far as the boyfriend.... Find one more supportive of where you are. 12 mph is plenty fast enough to complete the ride in two days. However at that speed don't take long breaks at the stops.

toddles

I ride centuries and it's not bad at all going about that speed (probably avg closer to 13 mph) but I've never done it back to back before. Honestly, I'm wondering how my ass would hold up.

toddles

For 2 reasons -- time and I find longer breaks promote muscle fatigue later on the bike. When my muscles cool down at my age -- look out.

Shifty

OP wrote: Any words of wisdom?
Hummmm....I'm going to be blunt here. You are kind of late asking these important logistic questions. The last time I rode STP these things were nailed down in February before the ride.

If I were you I'd let your SO ride and you drive the rental car as a support. Meet him in Centralia and get a room up the freeway at the casino. You can see how everything works, then both of you ride next time. I'm not being snotty here, there is tons of planning here that you haven't done and it's pretty late to start.

violiav

Well it *was* supposed to be planned out already. We got talked into this venture over vacation in Washington by his brother and sister. "All you guys have to do is buy bikes and fly out here", "It'll be fun", "Our daughter will be able to meet us at the mid point with camping gear". Everybody is all "yay camping".

Me: "So do I have to do any planning?"
Everyone: "No! Take it easy, don't worry about anything! Whoo!"
Me: "ok....."

Since we agreed to do this it's been one thing after another. Seriously. Everyone going to Disney World would be easier (and more fun).

January we buy the bikes (3, because BF asks the kids if they want to do this to, and fortunately only one says yes), check. I plan everything out. I look into taking the bikes on the plane (which is what BIL and his GF did). That's prohibitively expensive. And I can't find the right number of bike cases for rental at the right time. Buying them is out of the question. After asking around online, I decide using shipbikes.com would be the best thing. I just have to rustle up some boxes. Ok cool. That I can do.

It starts to fall apart in April. SIL's son injures his knee and has to pull out, so she waffles about going.
Then it rains for a month.

A week ago the daughter pulls out because of something to do with school. Some pre-law class thing. There goes our support/transport.
S-I-L waffles about pulling out again.

I reach out to my family up there. No dice. Their car's are out of commission. Health issues. That's why we're at square one at this stage.

My average speed is a concern that's not even high on my list of things right now. Nor is it something that's serious enough to kill a long term, heavily invested relationship. I figure that if I'm doing a ride with 10,000 other people I'll never be by myself. Heck I'm totally comfortable with being at the tail end.

Seattle Forrest

If your boyfriend complains about your speed (or anything else) while riding, you can put your air pump into the spokes in his front wheel.

toddles

Black wallnut 

It almost sounds like you might not have fun on this trip. I am not sure but you might still be able to get a partial refund or sell your packet on craingslist and do as #Shifty mentioned. Do you already have motel reservations on both ends? How comfortable are you in trusting strangers? It is quite likely you could find someone already driving a support vehicle that might have room to transport your ps and c-pap.

B. Carfree

There's so much wonderful bike riding to be had in the PNW, it seems like a shame to do a ride like STP, which is over some of the least inspiring terrain possible, when one has obvious logistical problems that may turn it into an extremely unpleasant experience. I personally wouldn't fly half-way across the country just to have a marginal cycling weekend.

If you decide to follow through, good luck and I hope you have a great time. There's lots of wonderful people involved, riders and volunteers alike, and I suspect you'll get the help you need. If nothing else, you'll make everyone else feel fortunate that they aren't in your shoes.

violiav

Yeah the room in Seattle as well as Portland are already taken care of. Air BnB, which I've heard people both love and hate. There's still a chance that the transport might work out, I'll know this weekend. According to the Cascade STP website the final day for refunds is 6/11.

I know now that I will never, ever let anyone else takeover planning for a trip. Nope. Nope.

Rocky Gravol

Start early but be aware there will be a massive traffic jam of people being dropped off at the U of W.
Plan for it, or have your ride drop you off a mile ahead of the start. It will be mostly downhill.

Doing an 8 hour century is not that hard, there will be a herd mentality a lot, with people
waving you through stops.

If you should break down, the support cars will only get you to the nearest rest stop.

Tent camping is on green grass, this ain't Texas

ShortLegCyclist

For your CPAP machine, there is a luggage truck designated for each town along the route from about Centralia onwards. Drop your CPAP machine inside a large backpack with the truck, then when you get to the town the truck is going to ride up to it, claim your bag/CPAP device and carry it in your backpack on bike to your campsite. This is also where I would leave your tent.

If you are not camping out, you could look into high school gyms, people will be sleeping in those, but spaces I think are reserved. The farther down you go on day one, the more likely you will find empty space. All hotels for STP are usually booked many months in advance, but people do cancel and there may be rooms available again, wouldn't hurt to check. Again, the farther along the route you look the more likely you will find one. My first time on STP I didn't decide to ride until late January and ended up with a hotel room in Kelso, meaning I had to ride 185 miles the first day. Made for an easy 30 mile second day, though, and I crossed the finish with the fastest riders even though I would never be mistaken for one in action!

For medical emergencies, there are dedicated teams that patrol the route with bright shirts, I think they are orange, sayin STP SUPPORT. There are also SAG wagons for gear issues like flats and bent derailleurs.

It's a challenging event for someone who does not cycle a lot of miles, but because there are so many people of so many levels, you will find yourself striking up conversations all over the place with interesting people. People going 12 mph are much more likely to talk to you than those in pacelines at 20mph. I think you will have a wonderful time.

Not to push yourself early is great advice, there is a large hill coming up off of Lake Washington at the very start of the route and then a hill in Puyallup at about mile 44, but besides that the biggest challenge is a very dangerous set of railroad tracks right in front of the REI in Kent, where I've seen two major wrecks during STPs. Once you are past the Puyallup hill, it's pretty flat all the way into Centralia and a lot of it is on the Tenino rail trail, which is one of the really boring parts the poster above is referring to.

Second day has a big climb in Vader and another in Napavine and then the Longview Bridge, but after that rolling hills on hideously noisy chipseal on route 30 into Portland. Chipseal can shred soft tires so make sure you have good resilient ones on your bike.

I strongly recommend you wear something that makes it obvious you are from Texas. The best part of the event is all the people you will meet along the way and if you wear something like that it is sure to start conversations.

My first time on STP I passed a man three times with no legs and only a right arm, on a flat board with four wheels, turning the crank with his one hand. The fact that I passed him three times means that he must not have bothered stopping at any of the rest stops I did. Makes you reconsider whether your life or your ride is really all that tough after all!