Lisa and I rode together for the most part until after Winlock. I was
feeling fresher and she said it was ok to go ahead. I was able to catch
on a great pace-line for a good stretch of the way from Winlock to
Longview. They did a great job of signaling potholes, tracks, etc... We
even had someone throw tacks on the bike-path and luckily no one flatted
as everyone signalled the obstacle.
In Longview, we had to queue up again to cross the Lewis and Clark
Bridge. Everyone was in good spirits and excited to be back in Oregon.
Lisa caught up to me here and joined me in the lineup. We joked with
other riders and even started the wave for a brief moment before we got
to cross. You can see the excitement on my face here:
Lisa again said not to wait for her. I think she was more tired than I
was, but I appreciated the offer, so I took it. Crossing the bridge was
fun, but we weren't allowed to stop for photos as we were already
holding up traffic as it was. The descent off the bridge was a lot of
fun and after a short traffic stop, I sprinted to the head of the pack.
Well, maybe not sprinted, but I got ahead of the group and soon started
catching up with the previous bridge crossing group on the next set of
climbs.
I caught onto another good pace-line and rode that most of the way into
St. Helens, which was the final official rest stop. I took a longer
break here and waited for Lisa. I ran into some more friends from
Portland who were on the ride. Again it's always fun to see people you
know on a ride. I sent Lisa a text letting her know when I left the stop
and checking in with her. As I was leaving, we passed each other. She
looked pretty tired, but said to go on. I was about 20 minutes ahead of
her at this point.
This final leg of the journey had its own challenges. Having had some
great pace-lines, I caught onto a bad one. They set a great pace, but
the couple who lead the way didn't signal for anything except
stoplights. I was lucky to miss most of the potholes they didn't call
out, but those behind me weren't always so lucky. I should have pulled
ahead, but was glad to just draft for a while. I did this until the St.
Johns Bridge coming into town and then I'd had enough and passed them on
the descent.
Back in Portland, seemed like everyone slowed down a great deal. I guess
we were all tired, I know I was at this point, but I just wanted to
finish. I kept my speed up pretty well until the Rose Quarter. ODOT
decided to close I-5 South for repaving and so there was a lot more
traffic in this area. That combined with the riders made it difficult to
go very far, very fast. Most lights you were lucky to get through on
the first try.
I was able to get a head of the pack and made the last couple of lights and came to the finish with a big smile.
I met Jamie at the finish line and it was a great feeling to be done.
I'd accomplished one of my big goals for the year, completing STP.
We were able to find Barry in the mob of people at the finish line. I'd
told Lisa that we'd wait for her to come in and I relayed texts to Barry
about Lisa's location. She came in about 30 minutes after me, tired but
happy.
Having completed STP, I'm already thinking about doing it again. Maybe
not next year, as we're talking about doing RSVP (Ride from Seattle to
Vancouver BC and Party!), but I hope to do STP again. I don't think I'm
ready for the one day assault yet, but I'd like to see how much more I
can improve over the next year, both with my riding and my weight (I've
lost over 15 lbs since I started riding).
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