At 4:45 AM tomorrow about 1,000 cyclists (including me) will start a 206-mile journey: the Seattle-to-Portland ride. The fastest will do it in 10 hours or less, while the slowest will take 16 hours, and of course some will give up. The one-day finish festival closes at 9 PM, so that gives us 16 hours and 15 minutes to 'officially' complete it. I think my riding partner and I will make it in about 14 or 15 hours, but we'll see how it goes. I really hope we make it before the close or we won't get our special one-day patches!
I think the hardest part about the day will be getting up so friggin' early (roughly 3 AM!), but I'm probably wrong and the hardest part of the ride will be after 150 miles or so, when I'm dead tired and way sun-burned. In total I'll do about 209 or 210 miles, since I'm riding from my apt on Capitol Hill to the start in the U-district.
My cycling log's graph shows the spike in my mileage over the last few months:
As you can see this will be my longest ride in quite a while! I hope to top it one day with an even longer ride.
Check out an approximation of the STP in 3D using Google Earth. (and turn on elevation exaggeration!). Don't have Google Earth? Here's what the route looks like, but you can zoom in and see the elevation profile in 3D!
Friday, July 13, 2007
STP starts in less than twelve hours!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Partial STP - Seattle to Spanaway and Back
Yesterday I set out (and did) the first 60 miles of the STP, following the spray-painted symbols all the way to Spanaway, and then rode back for a total of about 120 miles. There's only one notable climb in the whole first 60 miles of the route, which made it a quick ride; I was holding 22-25 mph on the flats, and made it down there in about three hours.
As a side-note, why oh why did they choose dark purple for the spray-paint color? It's on dark asphalt after all! I'm sure there's a reason, but those symbols aren't the easiest to see if you ask me. Maybe neon green would be better next year...
Just past Puyallup (yes that's really the name of a town around here!) there's 'The Hill', a one-mile ~7% grade, which is talked about as if it's the Alp d'Huez f-in climb... I saw people walking up it during the 2005 STP! Come on folks, that hill isn't even as bad as climbing 10th ave up Capitol Hill.
The way back from Spanaway was a totally different ride; 20+ mph headwind, tons of traffic (especially around Kent, which I now officially hate), and I was starting to tire a bit. I can't wait to roll with 1k other riders, that'll keep the traffic at bay!
