I’m totally mourning lost data here. The data on my Garmin and in the Garmin Training center says 216 miles, Ascent: 4397, total BIKE time 15:51 hours. Average speed day 1: 12.5. Average speed 13.5mph overall (meaning we were probably averaging 15.5 day 2) and total calories burned on 2 days: 10461.

However, it appears that if you try to do something SO large and cumulative, you run out of memory on the device, so without telling you, it just drops old data - like the latitude and longitude. So according to Motion based: I’m missing about 50 miles! It only recorded from Spanaway to the end: missing “THE hill” in Puyallup.

Pictures are here

Ruben and I used twitter to keep track of where we were and when. Examples:

brickware frantically trying to get everything done and get to sleep early. 09:43 PM July 11, 2008

rubeneortega trying to do “one more thing” before going to sleep and riding STP tomorrow. 09:29 PM July 11, 2008 from web

Day 1: Amazingly got up just minutes before the alarm at 4 and started to dress after a restless night sleep. Ruben said he was up every 7 minutes all night. It’s still dark and we get into gear: Sunscreen, Chamois Butter, clothes (Pastry Powered Jersey and arm warmers, short pants). Amazingly we got Elias up and dressed. So Challenge Number 1 was tackled.

Challenge #2: Getting the cars all moved around and getting us down to the start line. Ruben left just after 4:30, Ericka and Tristan arrived shortly there after. Lupe woke up just to say goodbye and we were off. My skinny go fast bike was in the van, along with the rest of the gear. The only things I feel like I forgot (but weren’t critical) were a sleeping bag for Elias and some books on tape on an iPod for him.

rubeneortega Watching the first wave of riders roll out towards Portland 04:51 AM July 12, 2008

brickware Leaving home 04:52 AM July 12, 2008

1 cold mile down the hill we were at the starting line looking for Ruben by the espresso stand. He claims he looked for me, but left after they “Shut” the starting line at 5 (to start the waves). Anthony with Dylan showed up, then Joanna and Rich. Erik forgot his bib and had to go back - we knew he could catch up. We left on the next wave. I was feeling pretty good and chugged along with most of the group. Anthony said he was a little slower to start out, so he and Dylan were a bit behind.

Challenge #3: Getting up the hill in Seward Park. STEEP hill. LOWEST gear. Elias actually kicked in and helped. Made it up the steep part and just chugged along on the shallower park on Seward Park Drive. Just keep spinning just keep spinning. I couldn’t believe made it up there. The rest of the route was a matter of chugging along to REI. I was being passed by a LOT Of people though - that was hard to see. But I was maxing out at about 144 bpm at 14 mph or so on the flats. Erik caught up and passed us at this point. I got a text message when he got to the REI stop.

Elias was REALLY cold on this stretch - my first indication he wasn’t working that hard. He had his shirt, and a jacket. Then I pulled off my arm warmers (losing my livestrong bracelet in the process) and he put them on his arms over the jacket. He already had the other pair of arm warmers on his legs. Finally I had to stop so he could put my other jacket on.

rubeneortega 25 miles in at rei food stop downing superfood and thinkg. about 175 to go. 06:35 AM July 12, 2008

brickware At the REI food stop 07:29 AM July 12, 2008

REI was great - LOADS of food (we were early - Odwalla, peanut butter on whole wheat tortillas, oranges, bananas and clif bars) and the port a potties were relatively good still. I saw Brandy there! We also found Anthony and Dylan, took some pictures. Elias loved the volunteer T-shirts the REI folks were wearing: What happens on STP, stays on STP. Total Vegas themed stop. It was great. Elias started to warm up after kidding around with Dylan for a while. Onward:

My Grad school advisor (Steve Tanimoto) passed me on the next stretch along the Kent Valley. We chatted for a while. I told Elias what an advisor was - how he helped me get a PhD. I told Steve a few tips about what was to come, etc. Elias said that I was giving him a PhD in biking. Somewhere in here I also got passed by Scott Neilson, who had started over an hour later than us.

rubeneortega Flat tire repair. 9am is a fine time to start a 150 mile bike ride 09:01 AM July 12, 2008

brickware Puyallup 09:03 AM July 12, 2008

I texted the latter AS I WAS BIKING (bad cyclist) - hence the brevity. But if you note, I was NOT that far behind Ruben at this point. His flat happened 2/3 of the way UP the hill.

Challenge #4: The hill. I MADE IT UP THE HILL with Elias on the back of the tandem. My fear was having to get off and walk. I wanted to be able to do it and I did. WOOT!.

brickware Mile 44 and made it to the top of puyallup hill 09:33 AM July 12, 2008

We regrouped at the gas station at the top of the hill, and Elias and Dylan went off to the shop and bought some treats (ice cream and such). I couldn’t really eat much - Tristan finished the cone that Elias kindly bought for me.

I had forgotten Spanaway was 10 miles down the road and was bummed when I realized this. But we trudged on.

rubeneortega Mile 73, making up time, legs feel great. 10:10 AM July 12, 2008

Challenge #5: Seeing a head on collision and having to carry our bikes over broken glass etc. (I *think* this was before Spanaway). We think someone tried to pass a group of cyclists and hit someone else head on. Not a pretty sight. The big challenge for me was lifting the heavy tandem over the glass.

brickware Eating lunch in spanaway 10:58 AM July 12, 2008

Spanaway was good (at mile 50 ish): Grapes, Bagels, REALLY fantastic nectarines and vitamin water. Still in the wave of folks. Here I filled up my water bottles and noted Elias wasn’t drinking enough. I started nagging him about drinking and eating after that.

Elias was getting a LOT of attention from people who were passing him. They’d kid him about making sure he wasn’t doing all the work (being the stoker), or say “good job buddy!” or some such. When they did that, he’d actually kick in a bit more which was nice!

rubeneortega 85 miles. Glorious tailwind, hope it keeps up until portland 11:05 AM July 12, 2008

rubeneortega Creamsicle! 100 miles down 100 to go. 11:53 AM July 12, 2008

So obviously by this time the hills were getting to me and Ruben was really finding his legs. I got a text message from Erik that he had arrived in Centralia just after noon - just missing Ruben. So Erik basically did the 100 miles in 4:45. Amazing.

This was the year I was going to (finally) stop for the free chocolate milk in Roy - Wilcox dairy would always set up a chocolate milk stand. Well this year they closed their milk dairy and are focusing on eggs. So I didn’t see any chocolate milk. Oh well.

brickware Pit stop in McKenna 12:36 PM July 12, 2008

I always forget McKenna is an unofficial mini stop (aka, you have to pay for goodies) just before Yelm. We stopped, used the INDOOR toilets (long line), got advil for all those who needed it (including Dr. Advil, Rich - who was having problems with his right leg and me, who was having problems with my left toe pinching already). We took a couple of pictures by a tree. Onward:

Elias loved the fact that there was an “Unofficial mini stop” along the road where someone was spraying us with water. I don’t think we stopped in Yelm after all. We did, however note that both Elias and Dylan had just beaten their record 70 mile rides at this point.

rubeneortega Winlock. 120 miles 80 to go 01:41 PM July 12, 2008

rubeneortega Afternoon iced mocha and head under the faucett 01:54 PM July 12, 2008

The trail from Yelm to Tenino was really nice - slight up hill grade for a while, then down. . We started playing the game where someone in the front would call out “Marco!” and we’d all say “POLO” - to mark where the posts (or Poles) were in the middle of the trail. For a little bit I let Elias clip out and found (again) it was easier for a while to pedal without him - meaning he wasn’t working much. After a while I couldn’t keep up with the group, particularly since my toe was really hurting. One of the problems with the tandem is that you can’t really stop pedaling unless you get a good head of steam up first - our tandem looses speed very quickly. Occasionally we do this when we need “butt breaks” but that doesn’t help with the toe problem. I need new shoes for long rides.

Oh we also saw the two skateboarders on this stretch. I can’t believe they keep doing this ride. I didn’t see the unicyclist this year, although heard he was on the ride. I didn’t hear if the guy on the big wheel was there - I suspect not.

Getting weary from the ride, I noticed a couple of places where the river is right next to the trail. I lamented that I would love to stick my foot in there and cool it down - maybe get the swelling down so it wouldn’t hurt so much. But I didn’t want to hold up the group - and Elias was getting tired and just wanted to get to Tenino. (I did keep reminding him to eat and drink). Someday I’d like to go on a bike ride where there is no rush to get someplace and I could stop and stick my feet in the water. We caught up to the rest of the group at the end of the trail in Tenino. (somewhere in here Erik gave up waiting for us and went onto the hotel).

brickware Resting our toes and eating really awesome cookies in tenino 02:38 PM July 12, 2008

I remembered this from last year: whoever sponsors the Tenino mini stop makes cookies. I filled up 3 water bottles (so we were drinking- I’m not sure if it was enough though). I got 3 cookies, gave a donation and gave one or two to Elias. We chowed them down and he had chocolate all over his face. He and Dylan played like mad (again). It was weird to let Elias wander around a bit on his own - I kept thinking he’d get lost but he just kept coming back.

Tenino is the last stop at mile 86 before Centralia at mile 98.85. We started back on our way at 2:56, I got the Centralia at 3:50. Meanwhile

rubeneortega Castle Rock. 60 miles to go 03:09 PM July 12, 2008
rubeneortega Lexington. 55 miles to portland 03:57 PM July 12, 2008
rubeneortega Best tortilla hummus sandwich ever 03:57 PM July 12, 2008

brickware In centralia eating the two best creamsicles ever. (Actually posted at 4:03 pm - twitter has the time wrong).

I had been telling Elias about the mister and the creamsicles. Then we saw the Centralia sign. That gave him a boost. Then we saw Lupe waiting on a corner and called to her. Then we went under the misters… OH DID THAT FEEL GOOD. I was so happy - Elias had made 100 miles (if you include the 1 mile down hill to get to the starting line). I had 2 creamsicles, Elias had 1 and immediately started playing his gameboy which I had lugged in the pack. Dylan looked on. Ericka was grinning ear to ear- no crashes! Rich’s leg had made it. Joanna - who had only trained up to a 40 mile ride was all smiles. Tristan - quiet, but also all smiles.

We did some coordinating: Tristan’s folks came to take him up to Olympia for the night. Anthony and Dylan rode 1 more mile down the road to their hotel. The rest of us went to my car, where Joanna, Lupe and Elias hopped in, and I switched bikes. Joanna wanted to get up to see the kids at the hotel and give the babysitter a break. Rich, Ericka and I rode the 6+ miles to the Great Wolf Lodge in Grand Mound.

I got on my skinny go fast bike and I couldn’t control it! It was too light! I wiggled all around and couldn’t help but take off! The route along old highway 99 was nice - a headwind, but a large shoulder and not too many cars. The legs suddenly felt strong! However we did hit a patch of glass. Rich said “I’m stopping to check my tires!!!!” I was thinking “oh foo, I don’t need to, I have puncture resistant tires and haven’t gotten a flat yet!” But I stopped - because Ericka HAD gotten a flat by going over glass on one of our rides. Lo and behold, of the three of us, I had a small shard of glass wedged in my tire. Rich claimed that was a flat in 5 miles. Ericka had a great pair of tweezers (tiny! - I have to get one for each bike now!) and I got the glass out. So yeah! for Rich and Ericka.

brickware At great wolf lodge in grand mound where the air conditioning alone is worth the cost (posted out of order, actual time 5:52pm)

rubeneortega 175 miles done, 25 to go. Portland at 91 degrees looks good. Should I have this much salt on clothes and skin? 06:34 PM July 12, 2008

brickware Great wolf lodge is surreal. After a not so bad buffet, now I’m going in an indoor water park wit elias 08:10 PM July 12, 2008

Then I got this!

rubeneortega 205 miles. Moving average 18.5 welcome to Portland 08:30 PM July 12, 2008

It was right about what he expected! After a shower and a nap, he also go to see/hear the last 1 day rider come in around 12:30 am and that Portland was having some kind of Night Ride (15 mile ride at dark).

All the families went to dinner at the buffet. Ericka and Lupe found a quieter bar to eat in … I think I would have to under their circumstances. Anthony and his family (who had come up to the lodge to pick up our tandem and have dinner with us) left around 7:15. Ericka and Lupe went to bed early. I picked up some food at a cafe (banana bread, a croissant and a banana) and got into bed. Sleep was a little hard to come by, and getting up at 5 was a bit hard. We were out the door at 5:45 - Elias never stirred. He slept until 9am, had breakfast and played with Lupe at the water park.

I missed posting about our leaving with Ericka and Rich, but according to the GPS it was at 6:05 from the hotel. We hooked right back up with the ride route (gathering other cyclists along the way). Joanna had left MUCH earlier and we knew Erik would have a chance to sleep in and catch up. We met Anthony at his hotel. Tristan’s dad dropped Tristan off there and we left around 6:50 am. I texted this while cycling

brickware Leaving chahalis 07:11 AM July 13, 2008

The small breakfast I had started to catch up with me and I was very hungry by the first of the rollers, just north of Napavine. The first hill of the day is just north of Napavine and as we’re chugging up the hill we see this one guy go by, then eventually another girl barely calling out “Dad!??!?!” He screamed back holding his hand to his ear “Speak to me” but kept going. She pulled to the shoulder and had to stop. Someone else on the hill called to “Dad” to tell him that his daughter had stopped. Eventually someone (Anthony?) called out the color of his shirt and told him that his daughter was having real trouble and was by the side of the road. FINALLY he went back for her.

brickware Napavine and free banana bread. riding with Tristan, anthony , rich and ericka. Joanna leftearly, erik is leaving late and will catch up 07:47 AM July 13, 2008

I put $5 in the pot for the school who was doing the fundraiser and bought some REALLY good banana bread for us. Onto Winlock! This part of the ride is BEAUTIFUL…

On this part of the ride we saw “Dad” changing a flat tire with his daughter. They had apparently not stopped at Napavine and leapfrogged us. Karma is a bitch.

I think this was where we saw the first Mile marker that said mile 1 on it. Rich commented something about Ground Hog day and that we’d keep seeing Mile Markers with a 1 on them….

I saw this one rider from behind and guessed it was an old employee Adrianne - and I was right! We said our hellos in Winlock - apparently her husband was up ahead someplace, he a racer now and she just goes at her own pace. The did RSVP last year, but I had seen her on STP two years ago.

brickware Taking a picture by the world largest egg 09:45 AM July 13, 2008

I never told Ericka or Tristan about the Hill We Don’t Talk About - in Vader. That’s the hill the first year on the ride that I yelled at Rich and Joanna - “YOU DIDN’T TELL ME ABOUT THIS HILL!” It’s the secret hill.

But Ericka powered up it and we turned onto the next road: West Side Highway - and there it was… another Mile marker that said ‘1′. I almost died!

I got a text message from Mary Kaye (Erik’s wife) that Erik was leaving around 9:45, his phone was dead, but he expected to be in Scapoose at 1:30. Anthony did the math and thought we could get there averaging 15mph with a few breaks.

brickware Last post not sent at right time. Just did another 17 and having. Great smoothie at castle rock. Rollers as bad as last year 09:46 AM July 13, 2008 from txt

What I meant was “Rollers NOT as bad as last year” - First off I was better trained for hills having ridden to work all winter long. Secondly, I wasn’t trying to do 150 miles in one day. This was only mile 25 or so for the day - as opposed to 120! I think we stayed too long in Castle Rock though, particularly since the next stop was an official one with free food. But here my toe was really starting to hurt - I could do about 1/2 an hour of riding without pain, but then the numbness or pain would start…

brickware 10:30 at the free food stop in Lexington. Next stop Longview bridge 10:34 AM July 13, 2008

The bummer here was by this time I think we were behind the big wave of folks. Not sure why - I thought we were making good time. Average speeds were MUCH higher than day 1. We had our free food, but no oreos. I was bummed, but hopeful for my sandwich cookies in St. Helens.I got this from Ruben the show off

rubeneortega Eating at Crush and trying not toinhale the food. I am not biking today. 10:35 AM July 13, 2008

I shouldn’t be so callous. He was being very supportive in private emails.

Lexington was also where we saw the guy on the really tall bike with the viking helmet. We passed him a few miles down the road on route 30…

We were off again and did the flat part through the industrial towns of Kelso and Longview.

brickware Got stopped at the front of the line for the longview bridge. Oregon in 1 mile 11:46 AM July 13, 2008

Anthony was funny here. We got caught by the light just before our left turn to the bridge. He could see we were not going to make the current wave of riders going over the bridge - and said he wasn’t going to be stopped. He blasted RIGHT through the flagger, but Ericka, Tristan, Rich and I didn’t feel comfortable doing that. We were the first in line for the next wave. It took them at least 15 minutes (probably longer) in the hot sun to let us go.

I tried SO hard to power up the bridge, but by this time I was getting tired. And hot. I was drinking and eating but I had no reserves. AT first I was hoping to be one of the first across, then a whole bunch of guys passed me. Then I hoped to be the first girl across. Nope, 2 girls passed me. Eh, I was still pretty close to the front. I didn’t see nearly as many bottles ont he sides of the road near the expansion joints as last year. I pulled off at the bottom and took pictures of my other fellow weary travelers.

brickware Rainier oregon 12:16 PM July 13, 2008

rubeneortega Getting a haurcut 01:15 PM July 13, 2008

Passed Rainier it started to get really hot and I was really starting to lose steam. After passing Rich and Ericka who had leap frogged me on the bridge, I tried catching up with Tristan - I felt a little like I kind of had to keep an eye out for him (since he’s 16). I’m pushing and pushing and still getting passed, no Tristan. I stopped briefly at Goble just to see if I could see Anthony, Joanna or Tristan, but no. I didn’t want to wait in the long water line - I figured I could get some down the road and headed off. Suddenly Tristan rides up next to me panting and says “I Caught you!”

I laughed and said that I was trying to catch him! Apparently he had stopped at the side of the road, I hadn’t seen him. Ericka and Rich told him I was going on to look for him so he tried to catch up. It was funny - like two years ago when Ruben though I was ahead of him and was catching up only to find I was way behind. Trudging on:

brickware Stopped in St. Helens where they have run out of Oreos. I am truly bummed.

Truly bummed. Particularly since I thought Anthony was probably already in Scapoose. I saw a message on the board from Joanna that she left St. Helens at 1pm… so we just sat and ate the popcorn and somehow lame sandwiches.

(Slow and steady undertrained Joanna does get the moral victory for beating all of us to Scapoose!)

Then I got the call from Anthony. He skipped the stop and found a cafe that had frozen yogurt. He had only gotten there a few minutes before! Apparently he had stopped a couple of places to get some food along the way, but said we must have been making some good time.

Still, it was already almost 2 and I thought Joanna and Erik were probably bored in Scapoose - not the nicest of rest stops.

We did get in touch with Rich and Ericka and had them come to us at the shop. SO MUCH NICER to have porcelain toilets! And espresso! over vanilla frozen yogurt! Ahhh!

brickware Found a most excellent air conditioned cafe near a bookstore in st helens. Having frozen yogurt with a shot of espresso. Mmmmmmm 02:06 PM July 13, 2008

Coordinating we estimated we’d bet at the finish around 3-4. We were off by a quite a bit.

brickware Over heating in Scapoose. 90+ degree heat on the open road 03:25 PM July 13, 2008

I started to feel really gross on this last section - very very little shade and it was over 90 degrees. Water bottles that we filled at the cafe with ice water were hot within 1/2 an hour. My toe was killing me. Even Anthony said he was feeling a bit puny. Was it the dairy? Or just the heat? I hate this section of the ride. The cars were well behaved though. I didn’t, however, find my really good chains of drafters like last year. Tristan and I took turns riding front just to keep going. I told him all about aerobic heart rates and VO2 max, and power output. He still doesn’t believe that true racers don’t really sit on their seats much.

rubeneortega Waiting at the finish line, cheering the bikers 03:03 PM July 13, 2008

Erik had arrived about 10 minutes before us. After taking our requisite pictures and regrouping, Joanna took off about 10 minutes before the rest of us. One high schooler was taking donations to be sprayed with a water hose from their yard. Best $2. spent.

No respite from the hot weather, Tristan and I tried to keep up with Anthony and Erik who took off. More hot weather, the water bottles getting really hot and hard to drink (particularly the ucky electrolytes). I warned Tristan about the “Rookie hill” - the last really big hill of the ride. We made it up, and I figured Rich would warn Ericka.

brickware At the top of the last hill 04:52 PM July 13, 2008

When Ericka and Rich showed up, she said she was very glad Rich had warned her and I had never mentioned that hill before she got there. More requisite pictures.

Anthony had to leave at this point to catch the Max to his friend’s house out in Hillsboro. He had another 15 miles from the end of the Max line to his friend’s house. Amazing.

We made it to the line at 5pm (although I posted this later).

brickware Made of in to the finish line with Rich, Joanna, Tristan, Erik, and Ericka. (Anthony had to leave early) 06:41 PM July 13, 2008

brickware We got in at 5, and now had a really fantastic shower! 06:42 PM July 13, 2008

I saw Elias, Ruben and Lupe with a sign made by Maryanne! (She had to leave early). Elias and Ruben were decked out in their Pastry Powered shirts, Tristan’s folks saw us too. We hung out in the finishing area for a while, I got my requisite SWAG (including a Whole Foods green bag), then Rich, Joanna, Erik and the babysitter had to head back north to the Great Wolf Lodge and their kids. Ericka and Shel went to their room, and we went to ours so I could shower. Tristan’s family had to leave (work in the morning adn we had gotten in later than expected) - so I think he showered in the STP shower van.

I totally started to fade on the walk to dinner. I told Ruben later that this was one of the hardest things physically I have ever done - harder than STP the first year, harder than my triathalon, etc. Dinner was at a nice Italian restaurant, and I even treated myself to a mojito. I totally passed out exhausted around 9:30… only to wake up at 5 to head back to Seattle.

One more Elias-ism. On the way home I was explaining how I saw a heavy set older woman who had just finished the ride. She was bawling her eyes out - obviously overwhelmed with exhaustion and emotion. Elias said “It’s like Dr. Pepper” - Ruben and I are completely confused and he continues “Dr. Pepper has 23 flavors.”

Makes total sense to me. 23 flavors. 23 emotions. Damn smart kid.

I got home and noticed my milk box on the front porch had moved. I was curious, because Tuesday (not Monday) is milk day. Elias found them first: a secret someone had left a package of Oreos with a note on the package but no name! So thank you to whoever that was (probably someone reading facebook or twitter ;)). So there’s where the Oreos come from if you have read this far!

So, 2008 marks my fourth STP. I’ve done it on El Destructo, a heavy Univega Alpina Uno mountain bike. I did it when I was in decent shape 2 years ago. I did one day last year.

This year, the 2 days of STP was probably the hardest ride I’ve ever done. Kudos to everyone who did it and finished!

I started a bit later than everyone - 5:15 AM, instead of 5:00 AM. I forgot my bib so I had to turn around to get it… not a big deal as I live a few blocks away from the start. I caught on to a fast moving train lead by Steve S., who raced for Wines of Washington about 4 years ago and was wearing the old kit of blue and yellow. Around the Arboritum, I caught up with everyone, chatted with Erika for a bit, and then seems to just break away from everyone. I caught back up with Steve and his crew at the REI food stop, and hung with them for a while. They were on a tear - averaging between 20 and 25 MPH, for an early 1-day finish. I suspect this was my downfall… I kept with, and around mile 70, the beginning of the trail section of STP, I was done. I called out and said I was dropping, mostly as my legs were beginning to hurt and I didn’t feel like speeding down the trail dodging root balls and bumps on my nice friendly bike. But I really haven’t trained at that pace for that distance… it seems as soon as I hit “road race max” - about 70 miles - my legs were done. Youch!

Anyway, I still made fantastic time to Centralia, as I was cruising at my own pace which was still 18 MPH or so. Got in at 11:30, hung out chatting with people for a bit (found some Winos and chatted with them), and then headed to Great Wolf Water Park about 12:30. Got there about 1, waited for quite a bit in checkout, and yay! our room was ready. Grabbed a shower and waited for the kids to arrive, which was about an hour later. All good.

Next day, I got up to a very late start. And I was still _tired_. I got out about 9:00 or so. I anticipated arriving at Scappoose about 1 PM.. heh. I was barely pushing 16 MPH to Centralia on flat road. I looked in, as I needed some sunscreen, and it was deserted. Wow. So I turned around, hit the Chevron for their last bottle of cheap crappy sunscreen, smeared it on for my lifeguard look, and headed out. Shortly after Centralia, I was picked up by three riders - Ryan, who had done STP in 1 day and was doing another 100 miles for fun, Rick, and Erik? or Eric? Luke. Ryan was gassed and not doing any hills quickly, so we kept dropping him. The three of us had a good pace and maintained about 19 MPH down to Scappoose, which I hit about 2:30, a few minutes after Joanna. Then perhaps 10 minutes later the rest of the crew arrived! Wow, timing worked after all. Here’s the Scappoose pic, from left to right: Lauren, Rich, Joanna, Tristan, Erika, Anthony, and Erik. Tristan, 16, rode a random bike he found on the street with a “free” sign that he fixed up. Old 12 speed with suicide brakes and as near as I can tell original components that are older than he is. Great job!

We rode the rest of the way more or less together. Joanna left Scappoose 5 minutes early, but Anthony and I caught her on the final hill into Portland. We waited at the top for everyone, and got the obligatory picture:

OK… so, doesn’t seem like anything all that bad, right? Well, the kicker was both days were HOT… and the second day was very hot - 90s, and I did next to no riding in the cool morning hours. That means I stopped at every rest stop and usually filled both bottles. I could feel the dehydration. When I arrived back in Seattle, I weighed myself… I was over 2 pounds lighter, and that’s with pigging out Saturday night and eating breads and other salty goodness during the day. Wow. Rain is annoying, but distance in the heat… just saps the energy.

As I said, my toughest ride ever… which makes finishing all the more worthwhile. Congrats to everyone who did it, as this was one tough STP!

Obligatory stats

The ride was HOT… Very very very hot. Did I mention the heat?

Ericka came over at 7:30 and we got on the road shortly after that. We hooked up with Anthony at Magnuson and chose to ride in the green group. It was a really large group.

The ride was mostly uneventful at first - we didn’t see the 1/2 marathon at all. Just before Leschi I heard Mitchel call out my name and I hooked onto their purple gravy train for a bit. They stopped, I continued on, then when they passed I managed to hook back up with them. I always had wanted to be one of those screaming fast riders on Lake WA Blvd and today I was!

Well just after they (wisely) cut off to follow Seward Ave, I thought that the green group was supossed to stay on Lake WA blvd. So I did. Only to get ushered OFF the street and onto the sidewalk by a policeman.

Good thing too. This WAVE of the Shore Run came running down the path.

Now I didn’t know where the Cascade ride is but I was assuming they went a different way than this. Ikes. So I started to wonder as I climbed Seward hill if I was in the right place. I caught up with another guy who had started at Leschi who didn’t know. We stopped at the park across from Ranier HS (alternate regroup point - instead of Seward park which was dealing with the Shore run)…

A bit later the hoards showed up, including Ericka and Anthony. After helping the tandem dude with his front fork, we were off again.

The route we took involved the green river trail on and off again. Weird route. Why not take the Interurban which is straighter. Admittedly this was nicer, but the on-again-off-again dealing with strange hairpin turns with so many people was sub optimal.

At one point the green river trail was closed and we had to get off and walk our bikes across a field.

I can’t remember if the green group split up into the A and B group at this point or earlier. Suffice to say, we were in B. And I had a raging headache -either from the lack of caffeine, the heat or not drinking enough. I could only fix the latter, so I tried that. Eventually that plus food helped.

At that point I thought Ericka had gotten in front of us. Turns out she was behind and trying to catch up. And she was behind the sweep. Then she fell, behind the sweep (but way in front of the yellow group), and got some road rash on her face. She called but I didn’t hear my phone and I kept expecting we’d just see her at the next rest stop.

Wehn I got there I found out she wasn’t there, and saw the message. I called her back. Unfortunately she was banged up and shaken and decided to call for a pick up. I told the sweep guy what had happened, he said he was keeping an eye out for her, saw her disappear, had gone back to see what had happened, but never found her. I’m a tad bit dubious that he went back far enough. I decided to go on with Anthony - feeling a bit guilty but as Anthony put it: if I was in Ericka’s shoes I’d totally want everyone to continue on.

We finally got to Flaming Geyser and some of the group split off at the first bathrooms. We went to where we had hung out the previous year and ate and drank and refilled our water bottles. Someone said we were leaving, I asked if it was the A group and he said yes, so we hung back longer.

Turns out by the time we left, everyone had left 5 minutes before. Including the so called sweep. Sigh.

We did see the yellow group about 15 minutes after we left the park still heading inbound. And passed a few other people who just realized they couldn’t continue the pace with so few stops on a 90 degree day.

So Anthony the biking machine managed to pull us at 18mph for about 30 minutes until we caught up with them. At the park we hooked up with the A group and continued on thinking we’d stop someplace for a cool and frosty something or other and hook back in with the B group. We didn’t see anyplace to stop, and eventually we were in a group of less than 20 people. The ride leader was such a sweetie, and took us to a Tully’s so we could get something to drink adn took the rest of the folks who just wanted to trudge on the route. She was awesome.

Tully’s was closed, but we got a bit of a break and a refill of our water. Anthony, Pete and this other guy and I took off - there were about 3 others still waiting for a Quiznos sub… We stopped at the Leschi starbucks… MMMM! Frappacino! My first coffee of the day.

We hooked up with the tandem dude again, and eventually saw some other green riders in need of another repair. Anthony to the rescue with his tools. THe Sweep guy showed up then and helped the other folks (other than Pete and Anthony and I) get back to Magnuson. We split off and headed home ourselves and got home around 5pm.

Flying Wheels on a tandem with a recalcitrant child is very hard. That said, we averaged around 11mph. Maybe a little less because that last hill I swapped out with Ruben (Ruben took the tandem, I took his bike which was VERY weird and felt wayyyy too light after 50 some odd miles on the tandem).

Flying Wheels is a tough course with the 65 mile route having 4 hills. It was the first supported ride for Ericka and Elias. (They both approved of all the goodies, Elias particularly approved of the toaster PASTRIES they were handing out. I approved of the Sweet and Salty bars. MMMMM!) Ruben did the 100 mile route and caught back up with us the 2nd time we hit the stop at Nestle farm.

We had 2 people say they wanted shirts! Eye catching for sure. Good thing I ordered a few extra this year.

Requisite data is here, although I’m missing 5 miles because I pressed a button I shouldn’t have at the first stop . Still 65+ hilly miles, approx, 3500 feet of elevation gain. I must now mourn my lost data and stretch.

Erica, Heidi, Elias, Ruben and I made the trek to the Skagit Valley this morning. First to note, with the front wheel off we can put the tandem on the back rack without having to get a wide load permit. In fact, it doesn’t even stick out more than our side view mirrors. But we can’t fit 4 bikes on the rack that way… so we took the wheels off Ruben’s bike and it fit in the way back no problem.

So all of us managed to fit in the van… Heidi was borrowing my old Allez… sporting a jersey from a century she did down around Gilroy, CA.

After hitting The Old Grind coffee stop (in Mt. Vernon) for a fresh baked chocolate chip cookie and their bathroom, we were biking around 10:15.

There’s a lot of smell of manure - a lot of farmers working the fields. There was one loose dog, but the owner made sure to come out after him. Oh and on Best Road (the busy road just before Dodge Valley) there was a whole slew of motor cyclists who were giving us peace and hang loose
signs as we plugged up the hill and over the bridge. It was awesome.

We didn’t see any Herons, but we did wind up seeing some hawks and what looked big enough to be an eagle, but wasn’t a bald eagle. We also thought we saw a black deer in a field, but it may have been a sculpture ’cause I didn’t see it move.

We wound up at the LaConner Brewing company around 12:15, and parked our bikes on the side, much to Ruben’s nervous chagrin (we had 2 locks, and locked pairs of bikes together, but he was nervous for his bike)….

Anyway the road back was MUCH more crowded - and this isn’t even the bad week (next week is the tulip festival street fair). We were totally dusting the cars… and loving it. There’s definitely color - the daffodil field on Calhoun is nice, plus there are some tulips getting nice and purple and red at Calhoun and Brashaw. We didn’t stop at the Roozengarde ’cause it was crazy, but they had some nice displays
outside. Plus a nice daffodil field across the way. The prettiest daffodil field was just north of the Roosengarde - they were the light yellow ones with darker centers I think. We didn’t stop though - Elias was getting ready to get home. We also didn’t go north of McLean road - we just headed right to Mt. Vernon from there.

Kudos to Elias who made it 30.11 miles AND did a top speed (with Ruben on leading the bike) of 27.5. Afterwards we went back to The Old Grind for more coffee and cookies. I found out they’re going to be closed Sunday, so make sure you know of some place else to hit the bathroom before starting on your journey.

Pictures are here (first are my picture, then Ruben’s)

Info from my garmin is here (ignore the data down I-5 - I forgot to turn
off my GPS and I also thought I had deleted this data, but alas, no).

At Greg’s behest Elias and I did a ride to protest the fact that the city went back on their promise to have a bike lane on Stone way

Which quickly got written up on the Strangers blog Comment: I saw the “Bike Bullies” guy they mentioned here.. I had to laugh. Elias and I slowly chugging along on the tandem is SO DAMN SCARY. We’re SUCH BULLIES!

When we got home and I was watching the news to see if there was anything about it… No mention of it on the news, even though a helicopter hovered over head for about 15 minutes - I guess we we didn’t clog up traffic enough. Elias did hear the word “protest” and got all excited - ’cause he knew he had protested something today (we had been
talking about it this week).

As a note, Elias biked this route to get from camp to the protest, then around the protest loop once, then back home. He did 12.5 miles, a new
record for him. I did an extra 2.5 miles to go pick him up by going from my house up and over 68th to Magnusson park where his camp is on the tandem with the stoker
position empty. I know it looks odd. I get many weird looks (like “did
you forget someone??!?!”) That’s a big heavy bike and I had to go up and
over hills with it. I don’t know what’s worse, the bike with out him on
it or the bike with him on it… he does help, but does he help 57lbs
worth?

Good evening ride fans,

I took some time off yesterday in the middle of a busy month to ride in the RAMROD 2007 event. Typically RAMROD is (Ride Around Mt Ranier in One Day), however due to the road closures from rainstorms this past winter they modified the route to be 3 out and backs starting from Enumclaw, up to Sunrise, down and up to Crystal Mountain and then up and back forest route 70.

The ride is advertised at 143 miles and 10K feet of elevation gain.

The ride start was at 5am in the dark, but with so many riders and the sky just starting to grow light there was a lot of safety in numbers and an endless chain or red blinking real lights from 300 (of 850) riders who started at that time. The slight uphill climb from Enumclaw to Mt Ranier was not that bad but you really didn’t need a jacket after the first 5 miles as it gets warm enough from the climbing.

The ride up to Mt Ranier and the arrival at the top is just gorgeous. Sunrise is a long 20 mile climb to get to the top, but the last mile is flat to slightly downhill pointing straight at Mt Ranier. After the endorphin high of 2 hours of climbing, (and being slightly out of breath at 6,000 feet) you feel fantastic free-wheeling into the food stop. The ride down was even better with a 20 mile ride down averaging 25-35 MPH the car traffic was light and all you really had to worry about was the crush of bicyclists still climbing up the mountain. If you only do this as your one hill of the day its worth the ride.

A photo from the peak wearing Pastry Powered:

The climb up to Crystal is less notable only in that it is 6 miles of up, and 6 miles of back down. The road was really chewed up and I did lose a water bottle on some of the bumps coming down. The cruelest climb was Route 70 which was 10 mile out and back. At mile 5 of that section there is a 12 % grade and when you get to the top of it you think “Hey, I am done” but then you see a sign that says 12% grade downhill and you realize that not only do you have to go down, but when you turn around you will have to do a 12% grade coming back. Heading back towards the highway I didn’t have the heart to tell all the people heading out what they were getting themselves into.

The ride back to Enumclaw ended up having lots of headwinds, but by that point you just find a group of people to draft, and socialize with, and talk about your next ride. Its slightly downhill all the way back to Enumclaw so that compensated from some of the headwinds. I caught up with several people at the finish line including Mitchell (Linda’s husband) and several other riders, ending the ride at 3:20pm. After 10+ hours of riding I was done.

The most dangerous part of the trip was the drive home because I almost fell asleep at the wheel with some extra long blinking and fighting to stay awake as apparently I was more tired then I thought.

Food notes:
The food on the trip was excellent simply for the slight variety at every stop. Each stop (at the top of each climb) had the basics of Bagels, cookies, peanut butter, fruit and cream cheese. That said one stop had the little brown potatoes, another was entirely of chocolate croissants, another was a deli food sandwich and sodas, and the Finish line had an ice cream truck where you could pick out your bar of choice. (I chose the Oreo ice cream bar.) Given that my watch indicated I had burned 14,000 calories it was OK.

I highly recommend the ride and the support, and I look forward to when the route changes to actually circle Mt Ranier, which is when I will try to ride it again. Also, wearing the jersey people are starting to recognize pastrypowered.com from the other rides.

Yours,

-Ruben

P.S. I have video of the view of Mt Ranier as you circle the top and ride in if you ever want to see it.

5:25 AM, I left with a pack of riders for my third STP, sporting the ever popular Pastry Powered jersey. About 13 and a half hours later, I pulled into Portland, exhausted but triumphant. 204 miles, 18.8 MPH average moving time, 10,000 Calories burned, 1 broken spoke. The day started early, and I found myself in a paceline towed by some BBTC riders and then by some Byrne folks. In both cases, the team was rotating in the front, leaving the bandits like me behind to sit in. While I know what I’m doing, I wasn’t sporting my Wines jersey but my PPTM colors, so no reason for them to know that I knew what to do. And hey, I’ve got 160 miles to go or so…. no problem sitting in for me!

The morning progressed without much event until near Centralia, when I broke a spoke. Fortunately, I was able to make reasonable time and get into Centralia, where the fine folks from Gregg’s got me a new spoke and trued the wheel for the everyday low price of two PB&Js — turns out they hadn’t had any time to get some food for dealing with all the riders pulling in!

The afternoon I went a bit slower. Pacelines were a bit harder to find, so there was a decent amount of solo riding. This was fine, as I could keep to a good heart rate and still push the gears and hit about 20 MPH pretty easily. About mile 125 or so, I started to feel it — I had only done one century so far this year (Flying Wheels), and while I had nearly twice the miles under my belt this year as last year, it was lots of 40 and 60 mile rides and 3 hour races. So about hour 7 or so, the legs started to hurt. Badly.

I ran into another Wines teammate in Castle Rock and rode with him for a bit, and then at St. Helens ran into a guy I worked with at Real. We rode together with another co-worker of his, until I caught a paceline he was unable to. However, a few miles to the end after the paceline had disintegrated he caught up to me with another group, and we all rode in together — exhausted, but exhilerated!

Here’s my HRM… fairly consistant heart rate and speed, which is good.

I was talking to another 1-day rider who left at 4:45… apparently, leaving earlier means you’re on some bigger, and faster, pacelines. Apparently he found one that was led by a well organized, rotating paceline with two riders acting as sweep, preventing anyone from entering the group — but also allowing everyone to sit in and enjoy the pace between 23 and 25 MPH. He made it down in under 10 hours, if I recall properly.

All in all, a good experience… although we’ll have to see if next year I try for 1 day again, or just put a big pastry cart on the Bianchi and do more of a fun ride!

According to Greg, “they” say that if you can ride a century and you can ride 150 miles in a weekend then you’re ready for STP.

My century was already taken care of by biking to and from Marymoor and doing the Flying Wheels metric century in between, but I still hadn’t come close to 150 miles in a weekend, nor riding two high mileage days in a row.

With weekends running out, I chose to take the Tuesday before the 4th off and follow the cue sheet from the previous Saturday’s CBC ride to Flaming Geyser. (Thanks, Lauren, for the cue sheet!)

The scenery was wonderful, but the ride really sucked for me. It was hot, and hydration was a struggle. My legs felt like lead and I was thinking that I would not be doing STP since this sucked so bad. I took several long rests which made the whole ride take more than an hour longer than for Lauren’s crew, even though I started from downtown.

Eventually I figured out the problem — my front brake was rubbing. I did not have the proper tools to fix it, so the ride home went like this: pedal, pedal, pedal, whap the front brake to the right, pedal, pedal, pedal, whap, …

I arrived home sweaty, exhausted, and cursing.

(This was, however, a fantastic route. I’d like to go to Flaming Geyser again, with a car load full of inner tubes once Omar is waterproof again. I also loved Lester Burrows park — it’s got big, big, shade trees and a good breeze coming through the river valley — a great place to hang out on a hot day.)

After a few tries, Greg (with “help” from me) got the brake fixed the morning of the 4th. Emmett really wanted mommy time, and Greg and Omar had some important not-suitable-for-pre-schoolers video watching to wrap up, so I hooked up the trailer and took Emmett up the trail.

I was tired enough that I couldn’t go very fast, but I could tell that pulling Emmett was substantially easier than biking with the rubbing brake had been. Lauren may be very proud of her stereo set-up but I was treated to live music much of the way. Bet she doesn’t have “One, Two, Three, Four, Five. Once I Caught a Fish Alive” on her i-pod!

We turned around at the twenty mile mark and headed back to Bothell Landing for lunch at Ivar’s and were delighted to find a 4th of July celebration with musket men, women spinning wool and several bouncy houses. I’m hoping next year Omar can ride a bike solo so I can take both boys.

We finished the ride with a stop at the View Ridge wading pool. My feet shrank two sizes.

In short: it wasn’t the weekend, and it was only 142 miles, but I’m going to check that one off the list.

Sting relief stuff.

After our camping trip, Ruben dropped me off in Arlington at the head of the Centennial trail. It took a little longer than expected because the valve broke off on my front tire… So I’ve been pre-flatted for the STP I guess.

The trail is really nice. It’s very wide, very few bumps and at least today there weren’t too many people on the trail until I hit around Lake Stevens. It was really wooded and pretty… the only annoyance are these obnoxious gates to slow people like me around.

I boogied my way down to Snohomish, knowing Ruben was going there with the boys to get Pie. I got into town, Almost got a little lost, but found the pie shop. Just as I was about to give up on finding Ruben, I saw him pulling out and caught up with him!

I went back (not to the pie shop) to find something to eat (wound up with ice cream)… and then left about maybe 20 minutes later.

Just as I turned onto Airport road to head back a flying insect (probably a hornet or wasp) got under my helmet above my right eye. Unlike the other 3-4 times this year this has happened, this one started to sting me. Still on my bike I tried to move my helmet off to the side to let it out, but it got wedged in there - stinging at least 3-4 times above my eyebrow. Then it fell into my glasses and stung me a few more times just below my eye (near the corner).

I somehow got off my bike without crashing and started to throw water on it. After finding out I didn’t have any thing int he Group Health Ouch Pouch that I carry, I realized I at least had paper towels folded up in a plastic bag - I got one out and could use that as a compress.

I had to call Ruben back (who was in Bothell by this point) - the swelling caused my eyesight to blur. The pain was pretty intense too. I was still in pain 1+ hours later when I got home.

What was really annoying was how many people drove passed me (including 3 walkers) who didn’t even ask if I was ok or needed help. Just one person asking would have been NICE - not to mention I was a little too shakey to go get ice - getting some would have been helpful. I’m not so much a fan of human nature at the moment.

So in short: having paper towels in the bike bag == good. Water in at least one water bottle == good (better to have ice in said water). Not having sting relief - really bad.