Jeff: STP Day 1

This past weekend, I accomplished one of my goals for the year. I rode and completed the GroupHealth Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. My friend, Barry, had challenged me to ride with him this year. He'd rode last year, wanted to finish as his ride was cut short due to injury. His wife, Lisa, also accepted the challenge. Barry, unfortunately, injured his knee again and didn't make the ride. However, he and my wife agreed to provide support during the event. Having survived the traffic getting into Seattle on a Friday, we were lucky to stay close to the starting line on a boat. You can see Lisa and I ready to go early Saturday morning.

We were able to ride a few miles to the start. This was a big help as I was able to determine a rear derailer issue and have the onsite mechanics fix it before the ride. I'd been having a lot of issues with the components in the weeks leading up to STP and thankfully, the tech figured it out quickly and I didn't have any issues the whole ride. We had to wait for one group of riders to leave and then we queued up.

It was really great to start with a large group. The other rides I'd done this year were loosely started or you just took off on your own. After the start we found our rhythm and speed and rode through Seattle. The first day Lisa and I rode together for the majority of the day with Barry meeting up with us on his motorcycle to take photos or give us extra water or snacks beyond what was available at the rest stops. The event had official rest stop every 25 miles or so, with unofficial stops more often. The unofficial stops were put on by the small towns we rode through during the events. All the stops were well planned and staffed and had the usually fare of bananas, water, PBJs, etc... I wish there were some more protein options, but I'm being picky. The ride was fairly uneventful, but we kept hearing about "The Hill" outside of Puyallup. Everyone said it was a killer and that we should rest up before the climb. But the story was better than the climb. Having done a lot of hill intervals as part of our training, "The Hill" wasn't much. Yes, it is a Cat 4 climb, but slow and steady conquered the day. I felt less plodding as I was able to pass a lot of riders on the climb. I got passed also, but it was a nice feeling to pass people on a climb. We were lucky the first day with the weather. It had been forecast to be sunny and in the mid-70s, but ended up being overcast and in the high 60s for most of the day. We did get some misting at times, but it was quite refreshing and kept us cool.

One of the highlights of the ride was running into a friend from high school on the ride. I hadn't seen Sean since high school graduation, but we'd kept in touch in recent years on Facebook. Sean and Darby, another friend from high school, have ridden STP several time and we'd discussed meeting up. Logistics didn't work out, so it was great to hear Sean ride up during the last third of the day. We rode together for about 15 miles and got caught up. We rode together until the Tenino rest stop and then he took a longer break and we continued on to Centralia.

Centralia never seemed to get closer, but we finally made it around 1:30pm. There was a midpoint finish line and there were Creamsicles waiting for us to cool off with. They were awesome! Here's an Instagram of Lisa and I enjoying them.

After that we took advantage of another bike repair service and got the bikes ready for another day on the road. Then it was off to the motel, food and rest and lots of water for our tired bodies. But a great first day of STP.