2wheeled

The good, the bad & the ugly

Deanoldo

It was a beautiful day....... I did the one day with my wife and two female friends from work. We hit the first start time and came up to our first crash a couple of mile in on the bridge with the metal grate. The guy was face down and not moving. There were a couple of the motorcycles there. I hope the guy is okay, it looked pretty bad..... One thing I noticed this year was a TON of ejected water bottles... People really need to invest in some better cages. I had to dodge several that came out from people in front of me after some of the railroad crossings. I counted 10 bottles just coming down the Longview bridge. It was a long day, I pulled about 140 miles and the last 50 straight, but we made it before the finish closed..... It took us 12.5 hours ride time. Oh, and thanks to the train blocking the road in Portland, I even got to climb the stairs from Front st. to the deck of the Broadway bridge with my bike..... Fun stuff..... Hope everyone had a good time. If you passed a guy in a blue and yellow North River kit with 3 women behind him, that was us....

Dean

oldblue

It was my first time riding STP in one day and I had a great time once we got out of Seattle safe and sound. Saw the aftermath of the accident on the bridge. Then going down a curvy hill section this guy right in front of me decides to turn out to the left with out letting anyone know. I missed him but 2 riders behind me did not. Heard allot of yelling and bikes hitting the ground. I hope there where no serious injuries. I rode with a friend who is a strong rider and we hooked up with a couple other guys so we made good time. 10 hours 33 min riding time. We got slowed by the train at Centralia but that was okay we had a good time chatting with other riders while we waited. I also was amazed by how many water bottles where laying on the ground and the number of people fixing flats along the way. Also the number of people that would hook up with us and then just before there turn would come to pull they would some how end up back further in the pace line. Oh well maybe we where better off that way. Big kudos to the guy on the single speed Schwinn comfort bike. He was doing the ride in a day and making great time. All in all a great day and it was sure nice to shower at home and sleep in my own bed instead of camping and getting on the bike the next morning.

MIN 

I was a in a 4-man paceline for the entire ride. The first century was 4:50. We finished in 10:30 - so we slowed a bit for the second half. Unfortunately my friends bonked towards the end so I ended up pulling them in for the last 40 miles.

iansir

I'm sure feeling it today, ouch...
Nice day, I didn't start feeling rotten until the highway 30 section...those last 40 miles are nasty - hot, humid, lots of cars buzzing by. Didn't help that I was by myself most of that time, but still managed a 10:30 finish so I was very pleased for my first ride over 100 miles
Anyone know what happened to the guy that was laid out just out of the food stop at 50 miles? He looked pretty bad - I went by and they had a blanked on him and he wasn't moving much on the ground.

mutantdunk

Saw the guy after the food stop. Also a bloody accident 200 yds. before that. Talked to a #1-100 rider and he was there for both the crashes and said they were not badly injured. I heard of many accidents on the route and one women who broke her collar bone coming down Queen Anne at 04:00AM and never made the ride.

I had 2 flats. The first one happened at the ministop at Tenino, the one on the bike trail. A patched tube blew. My BRAND NEW replacement failed as soon as I tried to pump it up. Thank goodness there was a mech. with parts right there. Put in tube #2 and the valve failed at about 90 lbs. So in goes third tube and it worked and the guy gave me another new tube. I needed that later after picking up glass on the Longview bridge.

Rolled into Portland at about 07:15. The thing I liked best was putting my head under the water at the various feed stations.

2wheeled

You guys made really good time. I can't imagine how much water you all drank as it was still pretty warm from during the week.

oldblue

I almost forgot the best part of the ride. Sitting in the grass under a tree with my shoes off at the Lexington rest stop. Eating a peanut butter cliff bar and grapes. Maybe it felt so good because I had just done the toughest part of the ride for me. Riding from Winlock to there. Those rolling hills sucked.

merlinman

I has a 10:00 hour ride time and total time of 11:05. Needed a lot more stops to refill water - I sucked down way more than I expected those last 70 miles. I used HEED with dextrose for energy and electrolytes as well as two Saltstick tabs every 1-2 hours so avoided cramps late in ride when others were fading. I was really happy all the local communities had small stands and food - especially the one in Vader manned by the local Lions - the whole town made banana bread and the water was cold. The last 1/2 I rode with a couple guys I ride with regularly. Regrettably they both tapped out due to cramps and heat at mile 170 so I gutted it out in the heat arriving at 3:55pm. I thought the food support was excellent. I liked the arrival in Portland and the shade! I got into a number of pacelines in the first 1/2 which helped me get a 4:45 first 100 (esp. given the slow first hour due to conjestion, spills [I saw the guy at University Bridge sitting up but he was covered in blood]). What was wild tho was how scary some of the pacelines were - with all the turns early on there were a few missed turns and jam ups and at one point I bailed on one group because of the lack of skills.

All in all tho I thought it was well organized. The weather was great in the morning. The afternoon was hot and that part of the ride is the most unpleasant. Well done to all who participated!

MillCreek

I went for a ride the length of the Centennial Trail in Snohomish on both the Saturday and Sunday of STP. It was a lot less crowded without the 22 mph paceline packs in training for STP!

Congrats to all who rode this year. I have done it four times and enjoyed it each time.

Daveyboy

First time STP, thought I'd try the one day. The ride from the start to Centralia was great, we fell into a paceline of 5 or 6 guys and each took long turns at the front. So we made pretty good time arriving in Centralia at about 10:30. We probably hung around there a little too long, leaving by close to noon. Things slowed down after that until I got to the Riverside food stop - had a hard time eating anything (reeeaaallly sick of Clif bars after 6 hours) but chugged alot of water. I think taking the electrolyte pills in the heat helped a bit also.

It was nice to see people who weren't riding the STP encouraging us up some of those 'rolling' hills.

Other than two flats, the bike worked fine. I passed a few people that looked to be in serious pain going up the rolling hills in the heat. We stopped for one guy that had had a migraine headache the last 90 miles or so. Someone came and took him to the next rest stop, hope he made it ok. My favorite sight was the woman with the bunny tail on her shorts - I passed her a few times I think.

I thought that the St. Helens stop (mile 176) had the best food (big ham sandwhich and fruit bowl). Newly rejuvinated, I felt strong and flew in to Portland - so that was probably the best part of the ride for me. Finished in 10' 53" riding time. By the way, I have 10 or so clif bars for sale, cheap - you can have 'em.

Daveyboy

Just saw this over on the Cascade board. https://www.komotv.com/news/local/8519482.html

I hope they throw the book at this idiot.

MillCreek

The story says that he was amongst other things, arrested for DUI. My worst fear when bicycling on the road: run over by a drunk or someone texting on a cell phone. I hope there are some cyclists on his jury!

2wheeled

Hi Dave,

Glad you made it & with a very respectible time. I bet the legs are a little tired today. How did that tire hold up? Did you run into Dave & his buddy Eric?

Derek

daver42

The good: finished my first one day with decent speed/time.

The bad: rolling hills after Napavine.

The ugly: the fallen riders on University Bridge and right after the 50 or 75 mile stop. Hope they're both okay. After Longview, it's pretty much an ugly ride until downtown Portland. The only redeeming thing is that you've got no more rolling hills - phew!

Daveyboy

I never did see Ironhorse Dave, I was looking for him though. When I peeled off the tire after the first flat, it was fine on the inside, so as they say, it was only a flesh wound. I must have run over some glass.

My legs surprisingly feel pretty good - my backside's a little tender if you know what I mean. The only real hard part for me was between miles 100 and 140 just after Noon. That's when it started to cook outside, and the rollers didn't help. But it felt really good coming across that finish line knowing I could finally get off that saddle for a while. Figuring out what I can and can't eat is definately a key factor. You'll have to do the ride next year.

tomatl411

Had a great ride on the one day STP. I went out way too fast on the first 100 miles with a couple of large pacelines (4:50)--I was really beat and my right knee was flaring up. I did the last 106 miles alot slower, I really did not see any pacelines after Centralia, I hardly saw anybody after that, at one point I rode for 30 minutes without seeing another rider. I'd see small groups of 2-3 guys, either they'd blow by me at a speed I couldn't mantain, or I'd ride with them a bit, drop them on a climb and they would not catch up. I finished at 10:30 or 10:40 (a small group of us that arrived in Portland lost the route before finding the bridge to cross the Willamette river--and I rode my bike around to a nearby parkin lot before I checked my time).

I also went through a ton of water. I weighed 146.6 the night before the ride and I weighed 140.2 the morning after; I must have weighed 138 or 139 right after finishing the ride--thats alot of water loss. I was tossing water onmyself every 5 minutes. I was glad I had 3 waterbottle cages. My strategy was to stop only at the free food stops at 50 miles, 100, and 140. I had to stop at 176, and then at 189 for a coke and any icecream cone (I needed the psychological lift-I was really struggling).

I had to shift up and stand every 3 minutes or so to take the pressure off my butt. My left hand kept going numb, I rode in the drops 90% of the time. Today its still a bit numb, a little weak, I have trouble twisting the lid off a can of juice--it should go away in a couple of days......I hope.

Next year I will travel at a more sedate pace, the wife and I will ride together for the two day.

Mash Master

I only saw one person from bikeforums, I can't remember his login but it was nice to see you. Sorry I had to take off my friend waqs ready to roll.

My STP story, We ended up starting around 5:15ish, It sounds like that was a good thing since it was less crowded at the start but I was amazed in the first few bumps water bottles were ejecting all over the place. I managed to avoid them but one came really close to me nailing it. I thought that I was a goner for sure. We were making good time, I couldn't beleive they called the hill in Puyallup a rite of passage. But there were a bunch of people dying on that hill. I must have been with a mix of one and two day riders. We were going pretty good until yelm, found a few pacelines at 22 and we were sailing along. Then after a natural break at yelm we get a mile out and then my friends spoke breaks. ugh... So he tightens the other two around it to get te wheel straight enough to roll. We limp back to the mini-stop and the mechanic replaces the spoke then when trueing the wheel another one breaks. So the mechanic trues up the wheel without one spoke and we get back on the road. 45 minutes later!! oh well it happens.

The hardest part after that was finding a decent pace group. Most were too slow for us but then a bunch would be too fast. We got the big heat of the day which took a big toll on us. My legs where definatly feeling it after mile 150, the last 50 were pretty ugly. I made it with no flats, yippee! total ride time 12:20 (averaged 16.9) Finished before dark and got the patch.

The Good: finishing and seeing my family at the finish line

The Bad: Highway 30, god it goes on forever...

The Ugly: the heat, and a guy that came in with a wheel with three shattered spoked from an accident and a story about how the other rider endo'ed and got her hand caught in her spokes in the crash. She had to go to the hospital.

The Ugliest: Hearing the story on the radio on the way home about the rider that was hit on Highway 30. I hope he recovers fast.

Not bad for a first time STPer who started riding in March. I have a patch which matters to me. reminds me of the story my dad would tell me about what do you call the last in the graduation class of medical school ......"doctor". Congrats to everyone that finished one or two days.

Funniest story (in a sick way) The cars that were crashed in spanaway. The car that had slammed into the truck with the airbags deployed was standing behind the car resting against the truck. At the ground next to the passenger side door was an empty liquor bottle. I'm sure the cops are going to say nice try but you are going down.

Mash Master

I had to climb the bridge as well. When did you finish? I might have been in that same group. When initially attempting to wait for the train was there someone that had a tire spontaneously blowout? If so, I was in that same group. I finished about 8:30

Deanoldo

Yep, we were in the same group. My wife and one of the other women I was riding with were standing right next to the guy when the tire blew. Man that was loud.... When I went around the train I cut to the right and almost ran over a guy who went down on the tracks. Climbing the stairs sure made for an interesting and memorable finish......

Mash Master

That might of been me you almost ran into. Someone swerved into me and I reacted and almost took out a girl in blue. I rode with her and deeply apologized profusely. Yeah it was load. I have no idea why his tire blew out. I was about 5 feet away at his 5 o'clock

Deanoldo

I remember you now.... The woman in blue was one of the women I was riding with..... You two were talking when y'all came rolling up to me. She completely understood the whole thing. It was close quarters going around the train.... It sounds like you had a good ride. It sure was nice to roll into the park and get off the bike......

Dean

Mash Master

Cool, no hard feelings. I was sure hoping that train wasn't going to move and kill anyone

2wheeled

Nice write up, I'm glad you made it Dave. The thing I'm most surprised about, is all the crashes. It sounds like a Tour de France finish. Is it because of so many people or inexperience?

Bekologist

riding to portland with 9,000 other bicyclists. no thanks.

did a solo seattle to portland about three months ago. much more pleasant. the rolling hills outside of napaville are actually kind of fun if you're not trying to 'beat the clock' or some such quasi-competitive nonsense.

30 is pretty nice as well.