Because this is yet another of my long write ups, here are the requisite stats. BTW, if you use motionbased.com, don’t ever combine stats over 24 hours. ’cause if you do it will muck up things like your average heart rate which becomes like 27. Or your speed. So ignore those.

And pictures.

Anthony asked Ruben and me at lunch after the ride what the best part of RSVP was.

I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Was it that Ruben rode with me on an almost double century? That was pretty great. Was it that Anthony also rode with us and was riding strong? Also good. Was it the beautiful ride? Coffee in Snohomish? A great stop in Mt. Vernon? The lack of rain? Chuckanut drive? A massage at the mall in Bellingham? The fun crossing the border? The ferry? The water park in the heat of the day? Seeing Vancouver from the hill in Burnaby?

I think the best part was that I completed the whole ride “with dignity” on an injured leg that didn’t get re-injured in the process.

I hurt my left glut and piriformis muscle a few years ago playing softball. Last year it got bad enough I did PT. It got better but not 100%. I played softball again this summer, and was careful as I could be until our semi finals, then finals when it was completely pulled a mere 6 days before the ride. Then I went on a 50 mile ride around lake WA on Monday with Anthony the next day. Maybe it was a bit much. So I got a couple of quick appointments to get some PT because as I said to Anthony in email “not riding is not an option.”

The with dignity thing: Ruben said he had 3 goals for RAMROD: Finish, Finish without cramping, Finish strong. He felt he did the first 2. Anthony said the only goal should be “finish with dignity” - meaning if you finished so hard you make yourself throw up, you at least have cleaned the vomit off your face.

Day 1, After a false start and running back to the house for my cycling gloves, Ruben and I rode down to U village and around rather than going over the 65th street hills to get to Magnusson to give my leg time to warm up. We met up with Anthony, got our “Sherpa service” to have our bags sent to our hotel. We were on the road by 6:50, up and over the lake, through Woodinville. We climbed the first hill where Ruben saw Wendie and cousin (?) Megan. Ruben waited for me and Anthony, then we wound up passing Megan, looking for Wendie. Turns out Wendie had just made it up and down her first big hill - a tough part for her and she was ahead of us!

Our next stop was Snohomish for coffee. MMM. Then onto the Centennial trail where we passed Wendie and Megan. We took a slight diversion into Lake Stevens for a food stop, then continued on. I was really looking forward to the downhill part of the trail, but the route took a right just before we started our descent. We continued to climb through some very pretty areas, although some of the roads were not-so-fun chip seal. It was also starting to heat up and I was having some problems with my front deraileur rubbing - something I tried to fix at one point and ALMOST made it really bad, but only made it slightly worse.

I had to down shift very low for most of the hills so I’d lose Anthony and Ruben… which was frustrating, but I could really feel exactly where my leg could and couldn’t go. As I explained to the guys, it was like biking on one leg - I wasn’t really having any pain on the flats, but I had absolutely NO power on the uphills from that leg.

We flew down a hill into Arlington and tried to decide what to do. We were hungry (and I think I was starting to bonk and I wasn’t drinking enough again)… but stopping for lunch didn’t seem quite right yet. So we stopped at a 7-11 and I introduced Ruben and Anthony to the joys of eating corn nuts on a ride. They each got a Rock Star energy drink - none for me thanks! Oh and bummer to the guy who lost a chain and was looking for a bike shop or ride support. I hope he was able to complete the ride.

Onwards we went and got to Mt. Vernon with very little trouble except it kept getting hotter and hotter. The stop at Mt. Vernon was great and I was introduced to Dave’s Killer Bread with peanut butter. I’m hooked. I also stood in a long line to have the one bike mechanic tweak my deraileur. It still rubs, but I’d rather that than have the chain fall off. At least I hadn’t lost my rear brake pad like the guy on the tandem. At least he found a replacement.

The next part of the ride was through the north part of the Skagit flats in the mid-afternoon. Can you say WINDY? Terrible cross and headwinds. As bad as going up a hill for my leg. Fortunately I had Ruben “legs” Ortega in front of me - I’d say breaking wind, but really he hadn’t had the spicy corn nuts yet (those came later).

We made a turn to the north onto Chuckanut drive at Bow WA, and I took some advil knowing the hills were coming. Interestingly the wind just completely died as soon as we hit the hilly part. But it was hills. Again I was slow, but steady, I was noticing that I was having a little less pain, but then again, I had taken the advil.

Chuckanut drive is just beautiful - the views, the park up there (I really want to go camping there with the kids). I met back up with the guys at the top of the last hill where there is always (apparently) a lemonade stand. The lemonade was just ok - not as great as the stuff that one high school kid was selling as a fund raiser for Matthew’s beach park on the Burke Gilman trail a few years ago, but satisfying, hydrating calories.

We took the hill down into town, passed the first two bag stops. We had to come off the route by about 1/2 a mile to get to our hotel. Little did I know the other official bag drop was literally two blocks from our hotel - had I known that I wouldn’t have paid for the Sherpa service. oh well, it did go to benefit some really cute Rugby college boys.

We wound up finding a Rite Aid with a massage chair, a TV, a water fountain and a blood pressure machine - we were hungry but this was quite a draw for about 5 minutes. Ruben got low score on the BP/heart rate. We crossed the parking lot and had dinner at India Flavors - a passable Indian restaurant. Ruben and Anthony ate voraciously, but I wasn’t so hungry…

We crossed the street and checked out hte movie theater - not much was there, so instead we found a woman giving massages in the massage chairs. I got a 15 minute massage that did just the trick on my neck and hip. Anthony got one too. In between I got some ice cream (’cause there is always room for ice cream in the separate ice cream stomach). We closed the mall and went back to our rooms for the night.

The next morning we had a barely passable breakfast in the motel, chatted with a few other riders and left around 7am. We took the 1/2 mile jaunt back to the route and wound up on a fantastic stretch of road. It was still cool, the roads were beautiful and there was no wind. Interestingly enough, the leg was better! Well not perfect but about 75% as opposed to just not functional the day before.

One bit we saw: We were coming up to a stop sign and saw a guy go down. He was still for a moment, then started writhing around holding his arm. It was a total “stop and drop.” I thought we were going to need to wait for help with him, he looked really hurt. He got up and started swearing up a storm at the woman he was with - presumably his wife because who else would put up with that?!??! In no uncertain terms she apparently needed to learn how to tell people when she was stopping.

Umm, dude? Didn’t you see the big red octagonal STOP sign? It said STOP. No one else is in front of you except your wife and the STOP sign. Perhaps it’s time to prepare to STOP before casting aspersions. Having had enough of his tirade, we left him and his poor ride partner and headed on towards the border.

On the cue sheet there is one cue that says “Do not cross the ditch into Canada”. I was wondering about that. There’s a great picture in the gallery of Anthony commenting about the ditch and the border and I’m cracking up.

The border crossing was fine, except that Anthony didn’t have a bib number, but she let him through anyway.

A bit later we hit the “wall” - a steep 1/3 mile climb. Again I lost them. I had been feeling pretty good up until then, but that hill made the ache come back. There was a woman walking here bike up the hill - holding the rear wheel up. She was going to wait for support at the top of the hill because her rear deraileur had completely broken. Bad news on that one! Ouch!

I did make it to the top and slugged on for a while until I caught up with the guys again. We did a quick pit stop at a gas station somewhere in here and the guys got more rock star and Ruben got spicy corn nuts and decided this was the breakfast of champions: spicy corn nuts and diet Rock star. I decided not to draft him quite so closely.

There were a LOT Coming up to the ferry that crosses the Fraser River that we skirted around. We did boogie a bit and managed to be just about the last people in line they were letting across for that ferry. We were on just after the motorcycles - one of which back fired just as she fired it up. That was loud.

The ferry took only 15 minutes or so, but then we got stuck behind a big dump truck backing onto a construction site for about 5 minutes.

The next bit of the ride was a bit “functional” - kind of like route 30 in Oregon, and getting as hot. No shade. Ugh. But we did get into a fantastic paceline until I hit a hill (which of course I lost the guys again). I was good about catching up on the downhill/flats after a hill - I don’t think they were holding back too much. The next bit was stop and go as we hit the next food stop - and a much needed water refill in in Haney/Maple Ridge.

Oh should I mention I got Oreos on each stop?!??!? There were oreos here too. MMMM oreos.

I’m not recalling much of the next bit, except that it was very hot. There was one section where we were on this gorgeous bit of trail by some water in the middle of the city. Some guy had 3 dogs loose on the trail and we had to stop to pay homage to the dogs. Oh there was one mis-step with the cue sheet where the road was under construction and just had been turned into a cul-de-sac - so we had to walk our bikes over the curb.

By the time we got to the Port Moody stop, I needed more water again. I found the water fountain on the other side of the bathrooms and there was nirvana. A water park. I immediately took off my shoes and socks and went through, - then called Ruben and Anthony to come down and have a look. We spent longer there than we expected, but it was SO worth it.

The next bit was excruciating - along the Barnett Highway (7A) in Burnaby. It was just like route 30 only with a horrible headwind. Even Ruben was having trouble with it. We managed to pass a few guys, then got passed by a great paceline with a guy in a U of M (Go Blue!) jersey and another guy in an Illini Jersey. We hooked on and things became a bit easier (amazingly it gets easier the more folks on the line) - But again, I lost them on the hill. Ruben stuck with me, but Anthony pushed to keep up with them - and asked a question I was curious about: how do they get to push so fast on hills? What kind of training do they do? The answer? A lot of interval training. As much as I hate it, I’m going to have to start to do more interval training.

The next part of the ride was more annoying than anything. We were on a bike route but it was one where the cross traffic has the right of way. We had to stop every couple of blocks. We knew we were within 10 miles so didn’t stop, and tried to keep hydrated and fed. I just was looking forward to “real food.”

The thing that kept me going was when I saw the Vancouver skyline! Then we were in the Asian district - where one of the other riders asked if anyone wanted to buy heroin (apparently we were near a street notorious for that). Then we went through the Gaslight district - and it was shady and cooler. I knew there was one more “small hill” which a few riders said really wasn’t anything. I also knew we were ending in Stanley park - so I expected the hill IN Stanley park. We went up one or two small hills (and my chain fell off twice so I had to stop and fix that)… I lost Ruben behind me at a light or something.

I turned right and saw some people cheering. I thought “oh we must be getting kind of close”. Then I hammed it up for the photographers. I didn’t look for Ruben because I thought we ended in a park. Suddenly I see some some guy tell me to make a right turn into a garage?!?!?!? I’m thinking “This is some weird way to get to Stanley park”

That’s when I realized “this IS the finish. we’re at the finish hotel”

It was over.

HUH?

Well as weird as that was, I got over it. First order of business, I collected my bag, then took a wonderful shower. We got our free beer/wine and left the “party” which really seemed a bit lame actually - although Ruben and Anthony did spot a very nice looking girl giving out the drink tickets. I could totally tell why they liked her - long hair, she ahem, presented, well… and she had these great glasses. Nerdy and yet cool all at the same time. I mean even I understood why she was stunning.

After we tore our eyes away from her, checked “out” with the finish line folks (and had grabbed our finish line badges (yea you pick those up at the party), we asked the concierge for a good sushi place - Tampopo. We had a quick bite to eat there, picked up some coffee and munchies that never made it out of the coffee place went back to the hotel to collect our bikes. We met up with my sister Jacki who had arrived with perfect timing, loaded the bikes and headed south.

Jacki wins the iron butt award for 6-7 hours total driving to Canada and back to collect us.

We arrived home close to 7pm, safe and sound and ready to ride again.

I’m mourning lost data again here, but this time it was totally user error. Oh well. (Last time it was because I didn’t delete old rides and ran out of memory on the machine. You’d think it would warn you of that!)

Highlights:
- New Sidi shoes rock, but when you get new shoes, remember to tighten the cleats after a few miles.
- The food on this ride was good and plentiful.
- The support was good - although not many support vehicles seen, there was a number you could call for pick up.
- The route markings (dan henrys and signage) weren’t so good - I talked to the ride officials about that.
- Maybe 1000 people rode? something like that.

Long story if anyone is interested:

I left the house at 5:50 - 5 minutes than I wanted, but it was because it had ran back in to get an extra pair of socks and my waterproof pants. There was a light rain when I left.

I got to Magnusson about 15 minutes later after going across 68th street and all those hills. I was impressed I started out that way.

At Magnusson I found out that I could have easily gotten my bib number there - instead of running to REI yesterday. They had a nice array of bananas, bagels, PB, Jelly, etc. And marshmellows for hot chocolate. I had just eaten and was ok, so grabbed 1/2 a banana. I left a bag (and my waterproof pants) in case I wanted to change clothes at the end and got on the road around 6:20.

It was kind of a lonely bit of trail - I saw a few other bikers, passed a few, but it was early. It was still rainy all the way up there, but the road didn’t have puddles yet. First stop - Bothell Landing (across the bridge) - the only reason to stop was to use the bathroom - 4 nicely cleaned port-a-potties. I grabbbed another 1/2 banana and 2 orange slices. Oh they also had hard boiled eggs.

Back on the road I kept up for a while with a guy who works at REI. It was coming down even harder now and the road was wet. My legs were a mess and my new shoes But at the next stop (Marymoor) - he took off quickly. I looked at the array of food options - which included Fried chicken. Somehow that just did NOT seem appealing at 7:45 am. I think I had a banana and peanut butter here.

Big problem was that it was so wet I didn’t drink hardly at all. In fact I don’t think I refilled a water bottle until Stop 4.

After you leave Marymoor you go east, across a housing development to 202, then down the historic brick road (annoying) and across to Duvall. The hill climb here was gradual and nice. At some point a guy named Andre commented about my music, so we chatted ab it. He was with another guy (Chris) - and they were a bit faster than me. Andre was a monster on the hills - I was very impressed. Chris (as I later had found out) had run 5 miles in the Torchlight parade the night before. They’d go on ahead, then I’d catch up, etc. I was taking downhills slower because of all the water on the roadway.

We crossed the valley into “backwards” from the Flying Wheels route, then UP the hill to stop 3 at Cherry Hill Elementary. I saw Andre and Chris here, had a few pretzels, and a 1/2 a PB&J - and topped off my hardly drunken water bottle.

Shortly after I left Andre and Chris caught up again, and we wound up riding the rest of the ride together. The rollers through the back part of Cherry Hill were nice - and the only thing to note here was that we think some trickster was switching signs around on us. Not cool. We put them back.

Down 203 (not my favorite stretch) to Carnation (almost though about stopping at a coffee shop) and tucked in behind Andre who was behind a few other folks. Really nice pace line going until Remlinger farms. Fortunately the rain had stopped so pace lines were an option (the rain was kind of stop and go all day).

There I couldn’t get my left cleat out. Turns out I now knew why I wansn’t getting a lot of pull on that side - one of my screws came out of one that cleat! Andre kindly helped me tighten things up (and Chris helped me stay upright) - then we got PIE ala mode! AWESOME! MMMMM. I wanted two or three, but kept myself to 1. Filled my water bottles (I was finally drinking), I changed my socks (and only teased them a little bit) and we headed on the road.

It took us a second to realize we needed to cross 203 on Tolt Hill Road, but then we followed W. Snoqualmie River Road - one of my favorite stretches. We wound up following the Flying Wheels route, but cutting off on Issaquah Fall City road. (There were other folks doing another ride on the same route - the Tour De Peaks) This we took to Preston where Chris’ wife was a DOLL and brought us each a latte. The folks at Gregg’s greenlake (including a repair guy I recognized) very very very kindly gave me a new screw for my cleat (I heart Gregg’s) and they had pasta salad. I had 2 cookies and a fruit bar thing here.

The next stretch was kind of cool - some people didn’t like it but I thought it was a hoot. We rode on I-90! One exit only, but it was COOL! I hadn’t done that before. We got off and wound up in Issaquah, then went up the killer hill for the day: Sunset Way. OUCH! Many people were getting off and walking here. Chris stopped, so I did too to take off my jacket. Andre powered up once again.

We were supposed to go up by the Issaquah Zoo and the kill “Lakemont” hill that Ruben was a little excited I was going to go on. But the folks at the Preston stop said they had to cut it out because of construction, so we went “straight” to Factoria, then over to Luther Burbank park.

First, Chris’ wife also met us there (more coffee, but a hot chocolate for me). I had to fill my bottle so we went over and there was strawberry shortcake! MMMMMMMMMMMM Happy Happy!

This is where I must have hit my pause button. Oh well. WE left there and crossed I-90 back to Seattle, and I realized that I was missing data by Madison Park. At this point we were passing many 50 milers.

They had us not follow the standard bike route through the twisty turnies- instead we went “straight” to Madison Park and up Madison - then caught up with the bike route.

At Marymoor they had a ton of bike racks set up, they had a whole dinner with roles, salad, grilled asparagus, chicken, salmon and brownies. Oh and an ice sculpture. We ate at the ampitheatre, got our goodie bags which included coffee and 2 beers (I skipped the beer garden). Andre said his good byes, then Chris and I rode back to U Village (turns out we live about a mile from each other - Andre lives in Alaska but comes down here to visit the in-laws and get in all his yearly outdoor riding in about a month.)

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!

My pal Nick Craswell was in town, which means he was up for another attempt for me to prematurely end his life by doing something “fun.” Last year about this time, he went with me on Chilly Hilly while I trailed Laura. This time around, he opted to take my Bianchi Veloce that I use for commuting (and trailing) and I hopped on the Trek 5900 race bike, as Laura would be unable to join us this year due to a birthday party. Now, for those thinking I just set Nick up because I gave him a heavier bike, you’re sort of right. However, the lighter bike doesn’t have a granny gear like the Bianchi, and has a maximum rear gear of 27, as opposed to the 25 on the race bike.

We decided to bike down from my place after MK got back from church, meaning we started out about 10 AM for the 11:25 ferry. For some reason, I thought that “Course open until 3 PM” meant they’d have day-of registration until noon… silly me. We got down there about 11 AM, couldn’t find anyone, so paid our way on the ferry and started off with about 15 other random riders.

This turned out to be a brilliant idea, as the course was generally unoccupied, allowing us to wind our way up some of the bigger climbs and letting us bomb down the big down & ups. Also, the fog and clouds parted for a beautifully sunny day for the last half of the ride. We also didn’t feel terribly guilty at the VFW hot cider rest stop as they were pushing the late-comers like us to eat everything left over lest it go to waste.

Last year, it was a typically cold and rainy Chilly Hilly, so Nick and I bailed at the VFW and headed straight home. This time around, we decided to go up the extra big hill - Anderson! This must have been my first time up it, as I don’t recall it being that bad. Ah well. I got up it pretty well, Nick was dying. Here he is near the top:

Sadly, the decent down isn’t nearly as rewarding, as it curves a bit and ends at a T, forcing the use of brakes. Bah! Anyway, we trucked around the south end of Bainbridge, and then grumbled up the final sets of hills to the finish. Why do we keep forgetting about those final hills? Ah well, Nick kept his composure… here he is cresting one of them:

We decided to skip the finish chili and just head straight home as we were spent… plus all that was left were the dregs. We realized at this point that biking down was foolish given we had to bike back. It took us about an hour for what really should be 30 minutes… yeah we were tired! But all in all, a good day. We ended up totaling 50 miles and for me a bit over 3500 calories burned, so a full pound! The beers at the finish were also quite tasty!

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!

Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. We hit them all (and decided to add the 6th stage which often occurs in breakups: Revenge) as we mourned our lost GPS data.

Overall I have to say it was a very very very good STP for team Pastry Powered. None of us got injured (although the sad hit and run - Greg/Ebeth - I heard it might have been a .83 guy?), and I only heard about Anthony’s flat just outside Scapoose, OR.

Leaving at 5:30 is WAY different from leaving at 6:30. First, you’re at the tail end of the “bell shaped curve” for the 1 day riders. Most of those who leave that “late” are actually fast one day riders, and hooking onto one of their pace lines is hard. But you’re at the front end of the two day riders. This became VERY apparent as we went passed Centralia.

One bonus of leaving early - you get to see a gorgeous sun rise over Lake Washington as you head south on Lake Washington Blvd. AND you actually can find good food at the REI and Spanaway rest stops, and the other rest stops aren’t nearly as crowded and (at least the first stop) the port a potties are less “used.” And you beat more of the heat. All in all - worth getting up for an earlier start.

Joanna and Linda left very early - Linda even before the 1 day riders. Joanna bypassed the start. The rest of us met up by the espresso stand around 5:15 and kept an eye out for Erik - who apparently left around 5:25. I guess there were so many people we missed him (or maybe because we were looking for a pastry powered jersey). Looking at what GPS data I have, we left in the 5:35 wave.

One huge negative - the Dan Henrys (the signs on the ground) where INCREDIBLY hard to see as they used eco-friendly red paint which didn’t show up well on the black pavement, and I think it wore off since last weekend. It made it hard to find the route until we hit Oregon (I think the Portland club marks the route down there).

We saw our first injury just as we got on the University bridge - not sure what happened (it has just happened), but reading the cascade bulletin boards - she was apparently being taken away on a backboard later.

We bypassed the Seward Park stop, and made good work of the hill there. I saw the unicycle on Rainier Ave. I never did see the skateboarder, but I heard rumors he made it.

At some point down in Tukwila a chain of very fast riders passed us - and I could just tell Ruben wanted SO bad to pace them! So I told him “but it’s PRETTY - go follow them and I’ll see you at REI” and with a bit more convincing (good husband), he was off. That became one of our code words on the ride: “oooh pretty” meant a nice pace line to follow…

We stopped at REI which had yummy tortillas with peanut butter, fruit and small Odwallas - very helpful for me who was having a lot of tummy upset from some antibiotics I was taking. Ugh. I didn’t want to eat. That made it harder later in the day when I was just simply running out of energy.

Not a lot to say about the next stretch, including the “Hill” - which quite frankly I did better this year than last. I actually managed to pass a few people!

At the top of the hill, Ruben discovered his GPS wasn’t recording since REI. At first there was Denial - “NO I DIDN’T HIT THE BUTTON.” Then there was Anger - he got pissed off that his tech got screwed up… Bargaining - “I’ll go back and re-ride that part of the route, anything, just to get the data” (and yes, Ruben thought about it). Depression - not much more to say there, and … well I’m not sure he’s accepted it yet. Ruben said there’s one more stage if you’re breaking up with someone - Revenge. So they started thinking about ways to get revenge on the tech. I believe Anthony came up with the best: “I’m going to turn you on and put you in a box with the LID CLOSED!!!” I was laughing so hard I was crying.

By Spanaway, it was starting to get warmer and the group fragmented a little bit. We still hadn’t caught Joanna (who apparently did see Erik at the REI stop around 7am)… Ruben, Anthony and I left Spanaway first… then Greg, Elizabeth and Rich did a bit later. Ruben spotted Joanna in the line for the port a potties in Yelm, which is at mile 72.

The Tenino trail was nicer this year than last - hotter, but fewer people trying to do side by side lines on those squeezed in small bridges. Anthony had left yelm a bit before us, Ruben and I stuck together and took turns out in front up.

By the time I got into Centralia (the century mark), I was sick of “non food nutrition” - I could not get myself to eat another sportsbean or drink more Accelerade - my usual nutrition of choice on long rides. I needed a latte and a turkey sandwich, which we found at the student center in Centralia. (They were also showing the Tour De France in there. )

Oh let’s not forget the creamsicles - I think Anthony had 3. Joanna was the next to arrive, all Smiles! She knew she was done - well given she only had ridden 150? miles for her own training this season - making a century on the first day was really impressive. Elizabeth and Greg must have followed shortly after, but we didn’t see them - they found a spot on the other side of the “compound” but we eventually all got back together in one place. Then Rich came in.

We got a chance to all touch base and meet up with our heroine Joan. Someone was giving out packets of the Anti-Chafe cream (it was also in our packets from the packet pick up)… so I ran to the bathroom and lathered up. I figured I had used the Chamois Butter in the morning and it was probably all worn off, so I might as well. Now you know how they say you should never try something new on “race day?” - I have never felt this more than 20 miles down the road. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Anthony left first, Ruben and I left like 15-20 minutes after him. Megan thinks she saw one loan Pastry Powered shirt on the overpass - I think that was Anthony. Elizabeth and Greg also left, Joanna and Rich got a ride to Kelso and Joanna sacked out in blissful sleep.

I was dog slow those next 20 or so miles, even drafting Ruben (who 25 lbs lighter is much less of a wind-break if I must say so). The cross and head winds were just killing me, even though it’s largely flat all the way past Chahalis. At mile 120 I suddenly felt like I had a blister that had popped right where my leg meets my butt cheek. It was so painful I had to ride sideways a bit. I realized it was that (@)*#$ Anti-Chafe cream- which I would recommend no one uses. I think the Tea Tree oil in it is an irritant.

I did find some mole skin in my first aid kit (not just the ouch pouch - I got a new one from REI- small and well stocked). I was able to use that on one side (both sides were hurting at that point). We blasted through Napavine. I think that’s where I noted the Napavine Jail (1913-1935 - right on the train track to stuff the criminals on the train). At Winlock we stopped for more water and to see if the volunteer Gold Wing riders had any more mole skin (nope). It was really HOT and humid, and we did feel some drizzle as we left. I took a picture of the espresso stand we tried to get espresso from last year, but forgot to get a picture of the egg! That’s 2 years in a row I’ve missed that damn egg. (Who knows how I can miss the world’s largest egg.)

We stopped at the Vader store and I put the mole skin I had on my butt. We also ate a really yummy chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwich. Ruben ate an Egg. That just sounded nasty. But I have to give kudos to the Vader store for having a misting thing up… that felt awesome.

Somewhere in there a really really sweet family had a lemonade stand set up - REALLY refreshing lemonade and water… Oh it really really really really (did I say really?) helped. Kudos to those guys.

We made it up and down the rolling hills - my legs were sore, but still functioning - in fact since it was cooling down I was doing much better. Ruben was still as strong as ever. I caught Ruben and his secret of how to get up hills - he found an Oar on the road - a truck pulling a boat had just recently gone by. We had heard it bouncing around. A few blocks later he found the oar in the road. I figure that’s his secret of how he gets up hills.

We did one more stop in Castle Rock at 5:30 - they were just about to close down the stop. The Lexington stop was closed by the time we got there. Ruben and I made it into Kelso and the hotel around 6:30 that evening. I don’t know what time Linda made it in, but it was before us (starting early and taking no stops was her strategy). Anthony was probably there 30-45 minutes before us). He had powered his GPS with a nifty battery powered charger once it got down to 1/4 of his battery power left. I found that my GPS unit made it all the way to Kelso - all 13 hours and didn’t run out of battery. I think that’s the longest it’s ever gone.

I should also mention one other person: Ruben’s friend/co-worker Scott wound up riding with his friend Sally. They were also staying in Kelso. When we arrived in Kelso the front desk at the Red Lion first surprised me by saying that they had overbooked - I thought they were going to tell me I didn’t have a room. On the contrary, they upgraded us to a suite. Ruben had already invited Scott to shower our shower, so we invited Scott to share floor space… and he joined us for dinner.

We washed off the salt and jumped into the pool, then met everyone for dinner at Azteca. Ruben and I went on a walk afterwards to find more moleskin for my poor butt for the morning.

Elizabeth and Greg got picked up in Castle Rock - it was just getting a little dark and given the headwinds Ruben and I were hitting, they made the right decision.

I think we all slept like a rock.

In the morning Joan drove Elizabeth and Greg back to Castle Rock to get the good breakfast grub and continue on their journey. Rich and Joanna left from Kelso around 9:30. Linda left much earlier apparently, we saw her at the finish line alllll cleaned up. We had our crappy breakfast at the Red Lion hotel (Rich and Joanna’s choice of Shari’s would have been better, we decided the only thing the scone (pastry) would power would be a gas powered car - it had to be a petroleum by product).

Anthony, Ruben and I left close to 10am… We stood out in front of the Red Lion acquiring signal with our GPS units. Anthony had re-set his GPS back to 0 (the other data saved in memory), and I told him “it’s all one ride!” His comment “two days, 2 rides”. Ruben… well his GPS once again crapped out on him by not charging the battery the night before. More of the 6 stages of grief ensued, but acceptance came quicker this time.

I bumped into one of my softball cohorts on the approach to the Longview Bridge into Oregon. I didn’t even know he was riding. He’s a group health “medic” on the ride. His first ride - he was all smiles.

The Longview bridge was uneventful, save for the plethora of water bottles on the expansion joint on the downward slope. Anthony, the king of found treasure, had a field day. He missed the walky talky that dropped off of someone though.

Route 30 was hot, noisy and windy - as always. Worse this year was that we had a headwind. I don’t know which is worse: a tail wind when it’s sunny and hot, or cloudy weather that’s cooler but with a headwind. This was the worst of both - a headwind and 80 degree cloudy weather.

At Goble we heard rumors of the hit and run accident further up the road. There was some talk that the road was closed for a while but that cyclists could get through. I didn’t know much more than a cyclist was hit. Later we found out the cyclist was hit by a guy who had once been convicted of murder, it was a DUI (at 9:20 am?!?!?!?), I hope they throw the book at him. I’m pretty damn steamed. (There was also talk on the cascade site about a guy in a white truck in Vader backing out of his driveway recklessly and hitting cyclists. Very nice considering it’s the one time of year Vader gets any amount of tourism. )

Anthony kept to his own pace, the wise man that he is, Ruben and I kept finding pretty drafting lines and I pushed myself a bit harder than I should have. In the end it was fine, but I think I’m more sore than I would have been had I held back. We passed Rich and Joanna at one point.

We stopped at St. Helens and I jammed on the cookies there. Rich and Joanna showed up next (NOT missing it this year like they did last year). Erik sent me a text message to look out for him and yet when Ruben and I took off, I thought to look for him AFTER he had passed us. Suddenly he came up from behind and said “HEY Great Jerseys” or something like that.

Apparently he had passed by Anthony near Scapoose, he was changing a flat but was in the ditch. Given the noise was so bad on 30, Erik couldn’t hear Anthony call to him.

We all connected back up at Scapoose where we got a very long rest. Check out the pictures of Ruben and Anthony! Rich bought a Creamsicle. Oh here’s where we saw the “Bat Woman” - it was a woman dressed in black lycra pants, and black tank top, with OBVIOUSLY manufactured breasts practically falling out of the top. She had tatoos on her back. I think Anthony came up with the term “Bat Woman.” I actually managed to snap a shot of her when I was trying to get Rich coming into the rest area - here’s the shot:

This also prompted the discussion about other folks we’ve seen on various rides, including one woman on a couple of cascade rides completely decked out with scary Hello Kitty paraphernalia.

Joanna took off and Anthony asked if we’d regroup once more. I told him that I KNOW Joanna will wait for us - it was her idea to cross together in the first place last year.

Ruben stuck with me through most of the trip, even though he could have ridden MUCH faster. One of the other running themes between us was every time a rider would pass him, he’d say so only I could hear - “I could take him”… This would happen over and over “I could take him,” “I could take HIM” etc. At one point on the trail, a guy passed us and Ruben said under his breath “I can’t take him.”

Once in Portland, there was this train paralleling our route. The train was going pretty slowly - maybe 20 mph… probably waiting for a track to change. So I told Ruben… “You could take that” - and Ruben did. He raced the train and managed to “beat it” … Then the conductor slowed the train down and started waving - he got a wave from both Ruben and from me. Then he sped up and took off.

Other than that, the last 14 or so miles were pretty uneventful, until the last major HILL - very short, very steep and very very very annoying. There at the top was Joanna, waiting patiently for all of us to meet up with her. I put Maltby at the front of my bike at this point, so he could ride in with us.

The rest of the ride was pretty annoyingly slow because the BULK of the 2 day riders arrived at the same time.

Still, they announced a few of our names (including Rich - and they butchered the pronunciation of Chappaquah)…

Joan, Paul, Megan and Josh were all RIGHT on the corner smiling and waving to us. Linda and Mitchel joined us in the recovery area for a bit, we got our requisite swag (Whole Food Green Bags!!! WOOT!), and headed over to Eric Koldingers for a quick shower. (Most of us rode our bikes there - Greg was kind enough to drive the van - I think Joan had had enough of the behemoth after 2 days in it :)) After that we had a great dinner at the New Old Lompoc, where I was fully embarrassed by the generosity of my fellow riders - thank you all - I will be silk screening stuff for all of you with the gift card!!!!

When we got home it was my turn to go through the stages of grief. I uploaded my GPS data only to find it lost 22 miles of mapping data from the beginning of the ride! I am still not to acceptance yet. I am still thinking revenge.

ARGGGGHHH!!!!!!!

The final tally did say between 15.4-15.6 mph average which is slower by a bit than last year (I did 15.7). However, I met my own personal challenge of making 150 miles in a day - a huge feat given that I had only trained to really make 120 or 130. Next time I will train for further distances and think “it’s only 50 miles more?!??!?!” Training for 100, vs training for 150 IS different. We trained for 100 each day.
Anyway, lesson learned.

I have to once again than Joan, Paul, Megan and Josh for helping to ferry us and our stuff. I have to thank Eric and Kirsten for letting us crash and trash their place and shower in real porcelain. And I have to thank Linda for her fore thought to book extra rooms in Kelso!

Next year?

P.S. Scott did the STPTS - he biked home from Portland on Monday. I heard from Ruben he did it in just over 11 hours? Amazing.

204 miles, 1 day baby!

About another hour and a half