ngateguy

Well Saturday morning Khuon, TouringwithTi, ngateguy and his brother Mike and friend Bill, departed from the University of Washington on the 2-day, 200-mile Seattle to Portland Classic. This was forum members Khuon, TouringwithTi, ngateguy’s 2nd STP, our first together. And we had a blast, mechanical problems plagued me in the morning (REI support fixed it for free the tech didn’t even take a tip) and while pace lining with my brother and another rider we got cut of by an amateur after warning her we were there ended up in the middle of Hwy 507, thank God no traffic! She didn’t stop :irritated, being the awkward teenager I was I learned the art of tuck and roll which is what I did. A small bruise on my knee caused by the bike and no road rash. Everybody was worried about me, all I was thinking about is the bike. The head set was knocked lose and the front wheel out of true again support was there in minutes made sure I was ok and offered a lift to the mechanic. I was glad I didn’t need it I wanted to ride the complete ride. Stopped at Yelm, home of the New Age cult, support trued my wheel tightened the headset and we set off again. The rest of the day was head wind and some rain coming into the half way point, Centralia Washington. We split up there to find our accommodations and 4 of us, Khuon, ngateguy, Mike and Bill met up at the local brew Pub, The Olympic Hotel, a cool place they have a movie theater there where you can eat your dinner and have a couple of pints while checking out a good movie. We opted for dinner, a couple of pints and good conversation. My brother, Bill and I slept on the floor of the local health club. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. Woke up at about 530 finally got up at 6 and got ready for the next 100 miles into Portland. Then it started raining, Mike and Bill live in San Diego did not relish the idea of pedaling in the wet. I didn’t really want to but would but didn’t want to ride in it for 8 hours. It stopped raining so the 5 of us set out. It rained on and off all morning we stopped in Winlock Washington (home of the worlds largest egg) for breakfast, it is an un official food stop that the local FAA puts on and it is the best. I had a sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwich, my first latte in 2 days (I was in serious violation of the law here in espresso land) banana, oj and GU. We rode another 8 miles to Vader where TouringwithTi had to get some mountainous done on his rig. We stopped again at Castle Rock to get out of the rain, our San Diego riders wanted to wait it out. We talked with a few drivers the big talk was about the knuckle head that spread carpet tacks on the route yesterday there had been 20 to 30 flat tires. We had gone through late enough that the locals had cleaned up a lot and the car ties picked up the rest (won’t damage a car tire will take out a bike though). Finally us North westerners saddled up and made the SD guys hit the road in the rain it had slowed down and it had stopped by the time we hit our lunch stop in Lexington After lunch we set out for Longview Washington where we were going to cross the Columbia into Rainer Oregon. The Gull wing Motor cycle club act as our support group and they escort us across the bridge into Oregon it is an awesome site when you reach the top and look to the West or the East then looking down onto the Oregon side watching a hundred bikes speeding down the bridge around the on ramp and blasting on to Hwy 30 at full speed. There was a sign that said you are in Oregon, not Portland, 52 more miles. The rest of the afternoon the five of us ran a pace line until out side of Portland where we broke up a little but had gathered back together and all crossed the finish lines in minutes and seconds of each other. There were people clapping and cheering, some held out their hands for high fiving and we got our ride patches. Then it was off to park the bikes, find our luggage, change our shoes and find the beer garden. We lost Bruce, his wife and kids were meeting him. But the rest of us hit the beer garden had a couple Fat Tire ales while we waited for our rides. My nephew Mike drove down Bill’s truck he wanted to get a start back to SD. My mom and sister in law Barb followed down to give brother Mike and I a ride back. I missed Khuons departure I was ordering my ride jersey when his wife showed up. My group had a nice dinner at the Lloyds Center then hit the road to Seattle where I spent the night with my Brother and Barb. Bro gave me a ride home to Everett this morning after breakfast with him and the folks. He flew back south this afternoon. It was by far the most fun I have ever had on a cycling trip and one of the most fun weekends I have ever had. Thanks to Khuon for being our ride photographer. The warm and fuzzy about it was that I got to be with my brother who rode is first 2 centuries only after taking up riding again last January, It was very cool to share that experience with him, the first time in 20+ years we had done anything like that together. Bill invited me down to do a Baja ride; maybe we will be able to pull it off when I drive down next Thanksgiving. Sorry this went on so long but I could just go on an on about this trip :sleep: :sleep: :sleep:

khuon

If anyone is interested, I have pictures posted here. I know there are quite a few blurry ones and some shots of the inside of my jersey's pocket as I accidently triggered the shutter while stuffing the camera into my pocket. And there are some shots with the strap flying in the way of the lens. And there are other shots where things are a bit tilted. Some things are unavoidable when shooting one-handed while moving at 20MPH. I promise to put up some real descriptions of each image later.

Davet

Congrats on your STP! I did mine in 2001, but my weather was perfect! The STP is a great way to ride with 8,000 of your closest friends and have a blast.

oscaregg

We rode in what my wife calls "1 1/2 days;" staying the night in Longview, and missing all rain except for a few sprinkles Saturday afternoon. My tenth STP and her sixth; my first ever sighting of (swear to Goddess) a ***** lying on the shoulder of the road, many, many recumbents--seems like they multiply every year--BTW, the very best bakery in Portland is 2 blocks off the route for next year's reference; it's the Pearl Bakery at Couch St. and 9th off of the North Park Blocks.

iamlucky13

Glad it was a good ride. I like to watch the 8000 bikers come through Winlock, but I couldn't this year, as one of my best friends was getting married.

Thanks for the glowing review of the Winlock FFA burger shack. We try our best and I can guarantee you supported a good cause.

For those of you who didn't get to go on the ride, here's a pic Khuon posted of midway point's feature attraction...the giant Winlock Egg, in front of the old grain elevator and egg co-op and in its independence day glory! (sorry, STP is the biggest thing that happens in Winlock )

Kodama

Congrats guys! I already had a trip to the midwest planned when I learned the dates, so no STP for me. But I'm going to try for next year to do my first. Sounds like a good time was had by all this year, minus some rain and tacking incidents

ngateguy

I was reading on the Cascade web site that they have arreasted the punk that was shooting riders with a bb gun and they are looking for the tack people. You will have fun if you do it next year it is the best ride experiance I have had!

khuon

Wow! Was this in Yelm? I got the warning from the cops about the tacks but didn't hear anything about the shooting.