I first heard about RSVP when I rode the STP (Seattle to Portland Ride) years ago. I decided then that I had to do it. I mean, it has the word "party" in it! Back then, the rider registration filled up early on. It was such a popular ride that a second one was offered. Even though there were 2 options, the dates didn't work in with my schedule year after year. This was my lucky year. The Wooleaters decided to do it again (several of them have done the ride before) and I jumped in. There's something better about finishing a ride that just happened to be on your 'bucket list'. 

• Distance: 189 (over 2 days)

• Pace: enthusiastic tight riding team

• Mechanicals: We had a list of strange, but not debilitating 'mechanicals'. I lost my gloves in the rest room at the Lynden rest area. After looking for them I assumed all was lost, but Jessi suggested I check the food table again. After that recommendation, I saw them at the mechanic's tent. Yay! Bryant left his sunglasses in his luggage and had to buy a cheesy gas station pair. They were fabulous. Jessi's fender decided to rub on her tire weirdly. She stopped at a mechanic and they fixed it. Bryant stepped on his fender flap and it fell off. I decided it was due as well, considering all he did was step on it. Abby's fender also made a weird noise for some reason. Then at the very end of her ride her bell fell off the bike and she had to loop around to look of it.

• Flats: I got a flat riding out the gate. Literally 2 minutes in. A thorn. Guess I was due.

• Wildlife: There was much, but most notable were the black squirrels of northern Washington and at the Canada border. Not much road kill to speak of.

• Weather: Smoke from nearby fires made the air quality dangerously poor, with the index over 150 in places. News mentioned breathing Washington air was as unhealthy as smoking 7 cigarettes and that the air was worse then Beijing. But. It lifted Friday morning just before the ride started and sunk again in full force Sunday after the ride was long over. In fact, the drive home Sunday exposed me to some of the worst air I've ever breathed. The temperatures were cool. I wore my new little jacket all morning both days. I could have been more heavily dressed, but I was also fine as I was. I've been inordinately lucky in weather lately.

• Snacks: ride stops early on treated us with delicious muffins, scones and hard-boiled eggs. Each stop had stuffed Cliff bars, some sort of dried fruit and fresh fruit option. One stop handed out entire sleeves of Oreo's. Water was aplenty, but some of the spigots ran very slow. Overly sweet Nuun was available at every stop; I took some for the last push of each day. The Canada stops boasted a cookie in a Kiwi box. I excitedly grabbed several, curious what a Kiwi cookie would taste like. Turns out they were ordinary chocolate chip cookies that happened to be packed in a Kiwi box. I grabbed a Rice Crispies treat to save for Bryan. But I ate it at the Chuckanut viewpoint and it was delicious. The best stop wasn't a sanctioned one. Hosted by a family as a fundraiser, perfectly poised that the top of the last hill on Chuckanut drive. Known near and far as the lemonade stand, signs preparing us for the stop started cheering us on miles early. "Clap! Clap! Clap!" they said, and other comments about how awesome we were and how much we needed lemonade. They were raising money for college. I guess in years past they raised money for various camps, back to having their kids, back to getting married, and then on. This family grew up with RSVP going by their house every year.

• Meals: RSVP had a clever option for lunch on day 1. Several local businesses offered a "ride meal" that you could exchange with a coupon attached to your bib. You could also exchange the coupon for $7 of food inside the restaurant. We chose this option at the Stilly Diner. Kreg ordered pancakes. I ordered French toast. My meal appeared, a tiny pat of food on a gigantic plate. Kreg's order arrived, massive pancakes bigger than his head. It was not clear how to options priced the same could be so different, but Kreg kindly shared his. He gave me way too much. I drank several cups of coffee from the coffee pot. This is a new thing I never used to do. Once we arrived in Bellingham, we ate at the Brewery. I had a too-sweet cider and delicious poutine. The hotel we overnighted in offered a breakfast in the waiting room of the front desk. It was pretty good. I ate Trader Joe's style hash browns, an English muffin, sausage, and a hard boiled egg. I did not have enough caffeine. The party portion after the ride in Vancouver boasted a beer garden. We sat there for a spell, but they only offered beer so I drank nothing. After that we had another food ticket for the food trucks at the park. After waiting in line for a long time at the choice food truck, they ran out of food so we grabbed some corn on a stick at another, but they wouldn't accept the meal ticket so we grabbed some hot dogs too. After eating all that food, we ate more at a lavish Italian joint in downtown Vancouver.

Videos of the Ride

Photos of the Ride

Many photos credited to The Wooleaters

Ride Details

Note that a programming error from Garmin made day 1 appear to happen on Thursday evening when really it happened Friday morning.