woodway

Indeed - last year descending the bridge on a on-day ride, a guy several bikes in front of me lost his water bottle going over an expansion joint and suddenly jammed on his brakes so he could go back and get it. It was hairy for a few seconds till everyone got it under control. The guy who lost his bottle was called more four-letter names than he had probably ever heard in his life. He deserved them too.

By far the biggest danger on STP is the other riders.

century0fakers

By far the biggest danger on STP is the other riders.[/QUOTE]

when i did the chilly hilly this year, my first group ride, i was very concerned that i was going to be "the moron" a big lesson learned for me was there will ALWAYS be someone more stu-stu-stupider. i was so busy trying not to be the idiot i forgot to be looking for the idiots! this gal decided, without warning or signaling, 2/3 up a steep hill that she was going to stop and dismount her bike. yikes. i was super pissed. i had to walk my bike up the hill. she was a large gal, and i learned not to ride behind large gals up steep hills. no offense to large gals who signal or can make it up those hills. put i am playing the odds here... hahahahahaha...

sequimboy

If you want to see what the approach to the St John's bridge in Portland looks like just go to Google Maps and on the map locate the start of the approach. Then move the little guy on the upper left hand corner to that spot and move the little guy up the road. Compare it to known hills to get an idea of the grade. Using Google Earth's elevation data I calculated that the grade averages around 4% which means probably a max spot of 6%. The P "Hill" is supposed to be 7% to 8%. Anyway it is pretty flat the last 10 miles.

abarth

Well using Mapmyride.com, doing a small sampling the approach to St John Bridge is about 17% grade. It is going to be fun getting up to the bridge.

sequimboy

It will be interesting and I'll be really surprised if it is 17% since that bridge supports a lot of truck traffic going over the the docks on the east side. The Google images are closer to the p "hill" than Holland road which has some 17% spots here in Sequim.

Shifty

Weather is looking REALLY nice for this weekend, should be a perfect ride, have fun!!

MisterAngular

MapMyRide is notoriously inaccurate as far as elevation profile and grade goes. That said, usually it underestimates the grade because it's averaging over large segments of the route. And 17% seems like way too much for a ride like the STP (and the majority of people that ride it). Weird.

Kamala

I checked it out on Google Street View. Doesn't look too terrible. But I'll let you know after 190 something miles if I think differently.

MisterAngular

I'll be crossing that point myself... hopefully around 5:30 PM on Saturday if all goes well.

CliftonGK1

There is no section of the STP approaching anything near 17% grade. Even if the route follows the same turn off SR-30 into the residential section of downtown PDX as it did in 2007, the steepest section of that little S-curve climb was barely 9 or 10%.
Sure, it was a pain in the butt after putting 195 miles down to do that little 0.3mi section, but it wasn't near 17%.

If you're familiar with eastside Seattle climbs, consider this:
- The steep side of Union Hill (from Cadman Concrete) is only 9%
- 208th Ave from SR-202 up to Redmond Ridge isn't quite 15%
- Even the worst hill on the Summits of Bothell (Brickyard, IIRC) is just over the limit at 18%.

LesterOfPuppets

St. Johns bridge approach is a pretty mild grade, indeed. I don't even think it's 5%.

And...
Queen Anne - 18%

MisterAngular

FYI... apparently there's been a last minute change to the STP route eliminating the St. John's bridge.

https://twitter.com/cascadebicycle/status/18577019394

Late breaking #BikeSTP update: the St. Johns Bridge is OUT. Going over the Steel Bridge. Revised route info tomorrow. Tell friends please! about 11 hours ago via HootSuite
cascadebicycle
Cascade Bicycle Club


Here's the route change just posted by Cascade:

https://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/pdf...ge_7-15-10.pdf

Kamala

Revised route is out. Sunday could be some ugly bike/pedestrian conflict off the pedestrian lanes on Steel Bridge. Hey, let's be careful out there. Map My Ride elevation change dropped about 40 feet, FWIW.

Link to new cue sheet and map page for Portland area: https://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/pdf...ge_7-15-10.pdf

Link to entire new route map: https://www.cascade.org/EandR/stp/pdf...e_Map_2010.pdf

Updated map my ride: https://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/wa...27492133653674