Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic

The Seattle to Portland bike ride takes place every summer in July. Up to 8,500 cyclists pedal from the UW to Holiday Park in one or two days. We have developed some traditions over the last four years, and one of them involves stay with K's cousins near the UW in Seattle. Of course there is massive carbohydrate loading!


Here we are at the University of Washington for the start of the STP. For J, K, and A this would be our 4th consecutive STP. Notice that three of us have new helmets!
STP Rookie B took on the role of "crooked helmet wearer". How kind of him!


Saturday's weather was wonderful. We were worried about rain, as the forecast called for "am showers" but as we started, at approximately 6:00am, there was blue sky and excellent temperatures: cool yet not too cold. Arriving at our first rest stop in Kent, B examines an energy drink with curiosity.
K enjoys an orange slice despite the warnings from A and J about citric acids and sideaches. Check out the new helmet!
We had decided to race up the four main hills on the route. A and J had a great spirit of competition as they bolted to the top of a steep hill near the south end of Lake Washington. After pedaling through the Auburn Valley, skirting the edge of downtown Sumner, and riding into Puyallup, we climbed the second hill of the day, a long grind out of the Puyallup Valley. After riding into Spanaway, we were ready for another rest stop. K and J use the cell phone to call our lifeline: our awesome support drivers. You can see in the background that there are lovely patches of blue sky showing through some high clouds. In other words: perfect biking weather!

S and AB were accompanied by B and met us in Tenino. How nice it is to see friendly faces after pedaling for 86 miles. We enjoyed some great cookies and snacks, taking some time to recharge ourselves.
A was wearing his CSC jersey in honor of David Zabriskie, who unfortunately abandoned the Tour de France after wearing the Yellow Jersey for a few days.
After getting back on the road, we cruised through Centralia and Chehalis, stopping for a quick break, and then plugging away toward our destination of Vader, Washington. J takes a moment to draft off K while biking though some lovely farmland. Who took this picture?
Ah! Yikes! I suppose this is the self-portrait of the photographer.
One of the hills on the route south takes us to a small town known on maps as Napavine, but to us as "Banana Bread Hill". These fine folks start baking and freezing banana bread during Spring Break just for the STP weekend. Here is a testament as to how popular their banana bread is: when we arrived they had served 96 people in the previous hour.

"What are you smiling about! Get more banana bread out of the car!"

After a race up the hill, we have one biker who is pointing to himself as the winner, and one who is pointing to himself as, well, um, you can decide for yourself.

"Are we in Vader? We must be, if my cell phone doesn't work." K relaxes at our camp site. Vader is almost 130 miles from the University of Washington in Seattle.
"Wow! Look at that cool creek!"

Another tradition we have established over the last few years is eating at the Mt. St. Helens grocery/deli/pizzeria. S gets a tour of the town, courtesy of one of the friendlier locals. How better to see Vader than from the bucket of a tractor?
"Don't blow up! Call Mt. St. Helens!"
Vader does offer some really nice sunsets. Although the sun is just barely setting, it is time for bed! Another big day of riding coming up tomorrow.

We woke up on Sunday morning to the sound of rain falling on our tent. Not exactly a sound that inspires one to bike, yet we had planned ahead and had plenty of rain gear. As you can see, the long sleeves are on.

We unexpectedly but happily met an old friend as we pedaled into Castle Rock. It is worth noting that A changed his front tire because it had a slow leak, but other than that we had 0 flat tires. Amazing!

The Longview Bridge is not a part of the ride that anyone looks forward to. Going up the bridge is not so bad, but coming down is not fun because of the expansion joints built into the road surface.
At the final rest stop of the STP at Mt. Saint Helens High School, we played a little game called "Where's B?" It is just like "Where's Waldo" and your goal is to find B among all the cyclists at the rest stop. Hint: click on the picture to make it full screen.
After a windy and rainy ride into Portland, we finished!


As we were hanging out after the finish, many great things happened. The sun came out and the weather turned extremely nice. We also ran into some friends. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend!
That's all there is! Bye for now!