The Tunnel Ride

Last year’s Emerald City Bike ride was kinda cold and a bit of a slog. I worried another ride on the viaduct in cold February might be the same. The weather cooperated well for The Tunnel Ride, however. We stayed cool and dry. And the snow waited for everyone to get home before it started falling.

Check out my Video

Relive 'Tunnel Ride~ Seattle says goodbye to the Alaskan Way Viaduct and Hello to the infamous tunnel of doom'

Check out my Photos

many of these photos are compliments of the lady Wooleaters. Thank you for being such great photographers! This was more a day to document history than it was a ride. What will this same spot look like in 5 years? Ten years? It won’t be the same.

Check out my Stats

RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) 2018

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

Relive 'RSVP (Ride to Vancouver and Party) 2018 day 1'

Relive 'RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) 2018 day 2'

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. 

Kitsap Color Classic September 23

I'm thinking about doing this ride. I've heard nothing but rave reviews about it. And having just ridden through the area, I am excited to ride it again. This might just be the year to do it! We've had an amazing summer so far, and I am looking forward to a long and warm fall. 

Emerald City Bike Ride 2018

When you start riding at 5:30am in a heavy downpour with 30mph wind gusts...on a Sunday, you know you are going to an organized ride. When you see dozens of other riders on the streets with you, you know it's because they are going to the same ride as you...and that they are only going because they paid for it. 

Beautiful start to #EmeraldCityRide! A little light rain isn’t gonna stop us! pic.twitter.com/UDQ0CrvpJq

— Cascade Bicycle Club (@CascadeBicycle) April 8, 2018

We started out wet and chilly. My Showers Pass jacket lost its waterproofing, so I layered another rain jacket underneath...that also lost it's waterproofing. My right arm has streams of water running down my sleeves within moments. I tried to prevent my Reynaud's fingers from acting up by lining my thick winter gloves with hand warmers, even though the 45 degree temp didn't call for that much warmth. It didn't work. Water soaked through to my hands and my precious shifting digits went numb before I even got to the start. Abby didn't have shoe booties and struggled having the same disappointing jacket as me. Bryant had a better jacket, but didn't seem to be any more comfortable. The cluster of a start line didn't know anything about our "souvenir" tickets and lacked the breakfast-y food options I planned for. What were we doing? 

The the road started. Riding up the SR-99 viaduct opened up into quintessential Seattle; rain, ferries, the big wheel, The Space Needle (complete with construction), construction cranes as far as the eye could see, sea gulls, Elliott bay. We reveled in the glory of riding on a wide, smooth carless road. What would it be like to commute to downtown, safe from hazards and with views of the Olympic Mountains? 

We rode up Aurora Avenue, crossing the Aurora Bridge. This infamous bridge is known for the tragic tour bus collision of 2015 and the bus driver shooting of 1998. Judging by it's outdated design, I can only assume many more died less sensationally over this bridge. On a bike, the bridge felt pleasant and delightful. The road seemed more accommodating on a bike than it does in a car. 

Then, it was onto the I-5 express lanes. As we rode of the ramp during Emerald CIty's inaugural ride, I only felt tingling sensations of splendor with increasing magnitude. Today's express lane experience couldn't have felt more opposite. The cold wind howled. Water dumped in regular breaks from the breaks in the bridge above. The dismal view gave nothing to the spirit. And it just kept climbing. The deafening sound from cars on the freeway hurt to listen to. 

Then we hopped into the tunnel. Fun again! Hoots and hollers, call and response, bells dinging. I even caught a guy writing graffiti in the soot of the tunnel walls. The day increasingly improved from here. The spirits of each Wooleater lifted. We crossed the finish line, and started the ride all over again. More people seemed to be starting the ride than when we started the first time. The sky got a little brighter, the air got a little warmer, and we started having a lot more fun.

Relive 'Emerald City Bike Ride 2018'

Emerald City Bike Ride Sunday

The Wooleaters and I rode the first-ever Emerald City Bike Ride. It felt so epic being part of a first, that I felt no interest being part of the second. The route enticed me this year, however, and I feel compelled to do it again. We'll be riding over the Aurora bridge, which seems novel, especially since the bf once suggested it as a commute route. More exciting is the route taking us over the viaduct. The viaduct! Can a bike takeover in Seattle get any more epic than that? I don't think so. 

Join me in getting pumped for this ride by revisiting posts I made about the first time. And for all of you non-cyclists in Seattle: don't get in a car on Sunday. Period. Especially if you have any interested in getting downtown, or out of town, or anywhere really. 

Bike Everywhere Day!

Today is #bikeeverywhere day! The warm, spring air and sunshine blessed all cyclists this morning in Seattle. I got up early with grand plans to ride by 10 stations on the way to work. This is one of the greatest advantages of working downtown and commuting along a major (if not the most popular) bike corridor in a large and largely bike-friendly city. 

The first 2 stations I planned to visit couldn’t be found. Either I read the map incorrectly, or they simply weren’t there. I began to wonder if getting up early was such a good idea. Then I stopped at the F5/Cascade Station. I danced around to some fun tunes from the DJ and filled my face with energy food. I passed the PEMCO station across the street, but made it to the Facebook Station. Facebook nonchalantly handed over a high quality bag full of high-quality goodies. I made a point to engage with other riders. This is community building, right? I’m usually rushing into work. The sooner I get to work, the better the day! The harder I ride, the better the work out! No time for chatting! Today, I had to concentrate on kicking bakc in pointless banter. Then I got some fun snacks at the next station. Kilroy made my day, though. They had a large banter that said something about “Bike to Work Day”! Sometime back, the name of this celebration changed to “Bike Everywhere Day”. But I’m biking to work! I’d I were simply biking everywhere, I wouldn’t need doughnuts to entice me, the ride in itself is reward enough. Biking to work everyday is a different kind of hard. I stopped at Oculus Eye Care and entered a raffle to win a pair of sunglasses. I could really use a pair of prescription glasses for biking, so I am secretly crossing my fingers for the win on that one. I veered one block off my route for the SubPop stop. They tried to give me a CD and I instantly didn’t feel cool enough to get a free CD from SubPop. But they gave me one anyway. All in all, it was a wonderful morning. I could have veered even more off course and gotten cans of cold brew coffee and other wonderful things, but I am happy that so many people and businesses are out there supporting cycling and cyclists. Thanks for the loot, Bike Everywhere Day!

Washington Rides

Cascade Bicycle Club sent me a newsletter that listed major rides throughout the state. I was pretty proud to see I've already done a number of them! I circled the rides I did in red; a total of 15 of Washington States' quitensential bike events. I added up 4 more I'd really like to do, and highlighted a couple that look like viable options to do this year. 

Traffic Calming

I had a scare to top all scares while riding my bike downtown a last summer. The experience has left me mortified and biking hasn’t been the same since. In fact, I avoided biking downtown entirely for 2 months after that horrid day.  So, when Cascade bicycle club sent me an email, I felt like they were talking to me:

Anyone who has ridden a bicycle in the street understands the anxiety of being passed by a speeding vehicle. For some, it is enough to keep them off a bike for good

Yikes! My scare wasn't a speeding vehicle, but still, I don’t want to be off my bike for good. What is this all about? It’s about lowering Seattle’s speed limits. This change may result in improved safety, but I don’t like it. Seattle is growing rapidly and the roads are getting more clogged and more difficult every day. And the city’s focus is on “traffic calming.” I hate this word. Seattle is already too calm. The only improvements I’ve seen to roads since I’ve moved here are more roundabouts, more stop signs, narrower roads, and more potholes. As a cyclist, I should be thrilled with the new bike infrastructure that’s been added. I am, but it doesn’t take away from this focus on “calming” for vehicles. How much more calm can we get? The Seattle driving collective comes across as passive aggressive to me. Drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians alike seem to have this slow, it’s all good, demeanor where they allow everyone to go their way. Until. They’ve had enough. Then they are honking and yelling and blocking off as many people as they can. I get the data that says driving slower is safer, but this overall calming effort rubs me the wrong way and I wonder how many Seattleites will comply. Seattle is growing. At some point it's going to take forever to get from point A to point B if our only solution is to drive slower.

“Non-motorized and trips taken by transit continue to increase and rose 7 percent and 5 percent respectively between 2012 and 2014 in the City Center.”

— https://www.cascade.org/blog/2016/09/hey-seattle-let%E2%80%99s-prioritize-safety-over-speed

I would much rather see a focus on the inattentive and distracted driver. While I've had a co-worker killed by a texting driver, I think the issue is more complex than making laws against texting (texting is ubiquitous in our culture. Telling people they can't text is like telling a dog it can't eat the food in front of it. Sure, you can make it stop but it takes constant vigilance). Also, texting is only one method of distraction. People are often exhausted, emotionally drained, attending to children, unsure of where to go and so on. All of these are facts of our life and aren't going to easily go away.

“In Seattle, inattention-related collisions increased 280 percent between 2011 and 2014.

...the likelihood of injury is high for pedestrians or bicyclists involved in collisions. The injury rate for pedestrians involved in collisions is 77 percent and 83 percent for bicyclists involved in collisions”

.

Ride in the Rain Challenge 2016 Results

The results are in! I am happy with my participation in this challenge. I ranked first in distance out of all the other co-workers on my team and 2nd for number of trips. I am happy to rank first in distance. The challenge itself looks at numbers of trips. I assume looking at number of trips is more inclusive, because folks who are not cyclists can still ride their bike here and there. I am all for including more people, but when it comes to commuting, I think distance should be just a commendable. The shorter your distances the more trips a rider can make. There is a direct socioeconomic correlation with how close people are able to live from work and the grocery store, etc. I looked at the rankings, and the people who made the most trips did so by logging several quarter and half mile trips every day. I look at them and think, “lucky duck! Can I be your roommate?” When I looked at the participant who logged the most miles, I felt real respect. This guy had a 25 or 30 miles one-way commute to work depending on which route he took. And he biked to and from work every day. Respect, dude, respect. 
It was a good month. November gave me decent weather and decent drivers. Yeah, it rained, but it wasn’t crazy Noah-gets-PTSD sort of rain. It was just rain. It was cold. But not so cold. It was dark, but I am not yet tired and blind to daylight. I actually like riding in the rain better than most of my other options. Rain means fewer people out on the road and more cautious drivers. During the beautiful sunny days of summer, I am often stressed by the congestion of bikes on the road, the wayward tourists and overall distracted state of people in general. The people who come outside in the rain mean business. These are good people to share the road with. 

Fremont Bridge bike count: 129

Now that the Ride in the Rain Challenge is over, I am down to “winter numbers” on the bike counter. I likely won’t have more than 250 people riding  before me until February when people start training for Chilly Hilly. On rainy days, I’ll be in the low 100s. Good days ahead. Indeed.

Just a nice time

There is something infinitely splendid, peaceful and relaxing about being outside. While not exactly "out in nature", a bike ride can connect you to nature’s beauty in a uniquely invigorating way. 

Snohomish photo from Cascade's Bicycle Club at Meetup.com

I expected rain to fall all November long, so I doubled over with joy when the sun came out on this ride. Not only did the sun shine, but it warmed the roads so much that I rode in a short-sleeved jersey for a couple of hours! Something to be thankful for!

Photo from Cascade's Bicycle Club at Meetup.com

Emerald City Bike Ride Recap

The Wooleaters crew. photo courtesy Chris/Wooleaters

I pedaled my bike down through the lovely Green Lake and Ravenna neighborhoods on a dark and early morning to meet the Wooleaters at the University of Washington. Every cyclist I met along the way was going the same place as me. That comforting sense of camaraderie among strangers is one of my favorite, most powerful feelings. A sea of people, hundreds of people deep flooded the start line in the chilly morning. We waited a while for the whole group to get together, then stood in line for an hour to get to the start of the start line. From the start we walked our way all the way to the SR520 bridge ramp because the roads were so congested with riders. You would think spending so much time moving so slowly would be frustrating, but it's one of the best ways to be waiting; waiting to do something you love. 

Waddling the Montlake Bridge Emerald City Bike Ride, Seattle, Washington. 

Once we got going on the 520 Bridge, the ride go really fun. The best thing was seeing families out with their children. There were plenty of tweens and school-aged kids, unsteady and insecurely trying to pedal bike that were a little too big for them. The cutest thing, though, was the tiny, tiny children. Children so small the didn't look like they were old enough to walk. Children that barely came up off the ground. Children covered in pink or blue and streamers and helmets, coats, light-up shoes and bikes all color-coordinated and matching. How did they even do any of this? How were they even pedaling? I tried to imagine myself at that age, not only being on a bike, but being able to navigate around some 7,000 other riders. 

Crossing the SR520 Bridge Emerald City Bike Ride, Seattle Washington, April 3, 2016 by SheRidesToday.com

Then it was on to the express lanes. Over a bridge, down the center corridor between both directions of Interstate 5, and into the expressway tunnel. This was the highlight of the ride. 

Jessica, me, and Abby on Interstate 5. Photo courtesy Chris/Wooleaters

Me with my rear-view sheep. Photo courtesy Chris/Wooleaters

I am not sure which part of being on Interstate 5 I liked better. Was it hearing the cyclists cheer in unison when we got to another cool part of the ride? Was it the amazing views of the city? Was it having the time to absorb Seattle in it's full glory from a vantage point usually seen behind a windshield? Was it the colorful, crisp and sunny day that this first Sunday in April was turning out to be? Maybe it was the strength felt by riding down a center road, straddled by rushing freeway traffic on both sides. The din and fume-riddled stench of all that traffic contrasted against the simplicity of legs silently pumping up and down created a sensation that cannot be described, only experienced. I took out my GoPro and held it in my hand. I wondered if some time in the future, one of the photos from this ride would be taken out of context, perplexing people for hours as to why so many cyclists pedaled on a desolate Interstate. Sure, I've ridden on Interstates before on bike rides like this one, but never before quite this way. Being surrounded by speeding traffic on all sides is pretty incredible. 

Biking the I-5 express lanes downtown Emerald CIty Bike Ride, April 3, 2016. Seattle Washington 

This post is late in coming because I spent some time trying to piece the video clips together. I used iMove which has changed considerably since the 5 minutes I used it 2 years ago. The video editing software was easy enough, but I had a hard time figuring out where to click and getting my mouse to click where I wanted it to. I am actually impressed with how well they turned out considering how barbaric the editing felt. 

Personal stats for this ride vary quite a bit from the sanctioned ride. Less than half of my ride that day was on the actual course, due to getting there and back and following along on a quest for brunch. 

Stats:

• 29.7 miles

• 3 hrs elapsed time

• 9.7 mph

• 26 mph max

• 61 rpm average cadence

Photo courtesy Chris/Wooleaters

Are you ready for Bike Everywhere Month?

The first 2 years I participated in Bike to Work month, I reveled in riding more miles than everyone else on my team. While I couldn’t compete in number or percentage of trips, I easily shot over everyone in miles. I consider myself only mildly competitive, but I was pretty proud of this fact. It made spending 40 hours a month commuting worth something. Then, the focus changed from “Bike to Work” to “Bike Everywhere”. Inclusiveness is the goal, and it doesn’t make sense to exclude those who don’t work or they do and have a job that is flat-out not bikeable. That’s cool. I’ve had those jobs before and admittedly felt like I was missing out. But now, I can’t compete. Nearly all my miles are commute miles, and while I have a long commute, it doesn’t compare so the single joyride ridden by my peers. I like to blame this on me working more weekly hours and having half the vacation of most of my co-workers, but that probably isn’t actually true. Needless to say, I look forward to this year’s Bike Month with more trepidation than I had in the past. The biggest hesitation is the timing of my ride. Now that I commute during rush hours, I am leery about the increase in bike traffic. More riders and newer riders add hazards that can be a hassle. However, I still endeavor to make the most of it. Because free bagels! 

Getting ready for the Emerald City Bike Ride

I have a feeling that there will be something magnificent about the inaugural Emerald City Bike Ride. Assuming I ever get there. At the moment, my bike is clean and shiny, but my brake cables aren't behaving. Hopefully I will get them in line before tomorrow morning!

I am surrounded by the Emerald City these days, between the anticipation for the Emerald City Bike Ride and going to the Emerald City Athletic Club. I wonder what  L. Frank Baum would think if he knew so many real cities would adopt the name of his bright, lustrous, and utterly artificial city in Oz. I wonder why any city would so ready adopt a name the is synonymous with smoke and mirrors? 

Well, wish me luck on these brakes, because I won't stop until I get to the Emerald City!

Ready for Chilly Hilly

I registered so early that I got my rider number and route map in the mail! I am so gonna crush this thing! Bring it, Bainbridge! Show me all you got!

Waiting for all the riders

Nobody here but me

This how the employee bicycle cage looks in mid-February at work. It’s how it looks on most days in February….and January, and December. Granted, not all commuters use the cage, and not all work the same shift I do, but just wait until I post a picture of the cage in May! It will be full! May is Bike Month, and everybody comes out and rides. What is it about Bike Month that gets so many people pedaling? Why don’t they keep doing it? A big, organized competition comes with a lot of social pressure, so that must me it. Maybe someday I’ll really understand. 

Emerald City Bike Ride

On April 3rd Cascade Bicycle Club is hosting the first-ever Emerald City Bike Ride. It boasts the first-ever ability for cyclists to cross the SR520 bridge and the I5 Express Lanes here in Seattle. Honestly, the ride sounds kind of terrible. The 20-mile urban bridge ride reminds me of the Portland Bridge Pedal. I rode the Bridge Pedal several times, with each year getting worse that the last. You simply can't fit 15,000 cyclists on Portland's streets. The last year I rode it I started later in the morning at peak ride time. I don't think both feet left the ground once. I had to keep stopping and balancing on my bike to avoid swerving kids and overly congested riders being pushed in my way. On top of that, I can't really support an event that closes down Seattle's major traffic ways. Sure, I love biking. The advertisements for this event say:

"Ever imagine biking through a car-free Seattle? You’ll have your chance in 2016! "

The problem is, Seattle isn't a car-free place. And Seattle seems more than willing to shut down major highways willy-nilly at the expense of it's thousands of commuters who depend on the roads to get around. Sure, the sports event closures only happen on Sundays, but there are still plenty of people who work on Sundays. A part of me feels like the city's eagerness to close down its roads is a form of wage discrimination. Closing roads discriminates those who can't afford to live close in. The farther you live away from downtown the lower the rent and the more people depend on roads to get to where they need to go. Also, people at lower incomes are more likely to work on weekends and less likely to have the option to telecommute. 

I just couldn't say no. This is the first time there is a ride like this in Seattle. I feel like its a part of history, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to be a part of it. I may never do a thing like this again. Also, I have never intentionally ridden across the 520 bridge. This toll bridge costs $4 to cross, and me being the cheapskate that I am would rather drive an extra hour than pay that amount. Sadly, I have found myself accidentally driving across the bridge those few times I got lost and disoriented downtown and next thing I know, there I am DRIVING ACROSS TOWN ON AN EXPENSIVE BRIDGE WITH NO WAY TO TURN BACK! So, I'm kind of excited to explore this area by bike. I imagine riding the express lanes on the freeway (which are shouldered on both sides by actual freeway) will be louder than all damnation, but it will be an epic experience I will remember and think about every time I go on the freeway afterward. 

I plan to mount the go pro on my bike or helmet to capture the experience on video. The views one gets on a bike are so incredibly different than in a car it's worth capturing. Check back in April for a full report!

I won! I won!

The other night I attended Cascade Bicycle Club's Ride in the Rain Finale celebration. I sat with some work buddies and one of them won an individual membership to Cascade Bike Club. They were really hoping that they would win the family membership so their whole family could be members. I am glad they told me about the raffle, so I ran up to the ticket takers and entered my name into the final drawing. They called my name (even pronouncing it correctly! That's a big deal!). I ran up to the stage to collect my award, take a bow (on the stage no one was looking at), shake hands with the important people (handing out chips) and pose for the photographers (who were taking selfies).

I won a family membership! I offered to switch with my friends- I am happy to be a member, but there is no one else in my household who'd benefit from a membership. It turned out so perfectly! Thank you, Cascade!

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2005

My STP adventure began Thursday evening when I dropped my bike and luggage off at the Amtrak station. Afterwards I biked over to the Hollywood Theatre to watch first ever MS 150-sponsored movie night. A group of MS 150 Coordinators showed up, promoting the ride and handing out buttons. We watched “Breaking Away” from 1979. It was a subtle and wonderful film. Before the movie the lead coordinator talked and showed us a film from last years ride that brought me to tears! I boarded the TriMet bus bright and early Friday morning and then transferred onto the train. I had a pleasant ride up to Tacoma, with nice overcast views of the area. Many passengers were also going to the STP. They were easy to spot, with their bike jackets and jerseys, ride day tee shirts, and helmets. I felt so incognito, with only my conservative bike fleece to give me away. The rain fell heavily when I got off the bus in Tacoma. A headache started to brew from not drinking enough water. The water I brought to drink had floatie chunks and I dared not to drink it. My aunt Geri picked me up and we drove to her family’s huge house in Puyallup. I rested my headache away at their house while they ran errands. For dinner, the 4 of them treated me at a cute Italian restaurant owed by the family of one of my cousin Emerald’s friends. The food tasted divine and the service was fabulous! I choose my meal based on the waiter’s recommendation. I ate chicken piccata with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, and an Italian sauce over fettuccini. It hit the spot, but put me directly to sleep. I slept all evening, making myself the unexciting guest. Geri woke up at 4:30 Saturday morning to drive to the start line in Seattle. With all the traffic, I still didn’t get to the start until 6:00. When I tried to air up my tires, the gauge got stuck on my valve and I ended up blowing the tire trying to get it off! It was my first flat with this new bike, but luckily the event did not set the tone for the ride! I met up with Jo and Brian’s friends, Kenny and Michelle, before the ride. We started the ride off with another Denver couple and a friend of theirs from Seattle. It took me a while to get used to the bike traffic, and even longer to realize the group never really would spread out. It is hard to perceive 8000 people on bikes going the same place at the same time. I was pleased to find every rider to be courteous and alert on the ride. Although I expected the STP to be swamped with ‘hot-shot’ riders, it really was a ride just like all the others. There were babies pulled by trailers, tots on tag-a-longs, racing bikes, fat tire mountain bikes, families, tandems, triple tandems, quads, recumbents, tandem recumbents, home-made bikes, tricycles, big wheels, and a unicycle. Yes, someone rode 204 miles on a unicycle! I saw older folks, dressed up folks, chubby folks, and bikes so old I marveled at their functionality! The first day went pretty smoothly. The food was okay. Free handouts consisted mostly of fruit, Cliff Bars, and Ultima Drink. I am not a big Cliff Bar fan and I found the Cotton Candy-tasting Ultima drink repulsive. Luckily I did not need too much sustenance and I was able to buy Gatorade to drown out the Ultima taste. I rode a mph faster than I expected! I didn’t get really tired until mile 75. We rode from Seattle to Renton, then Kent, Auburn, Algona, Pacific City, Sumner, Puyallup, Spanaway, Yelm, Rainier, Tenino, Bucoda, and finally to Centralia. I slept overnight in Centralia. The place was allright, but I was not impressed with the organization. I got the feeling that there were too many people to make the facilities feel special. Several eating places had long waits or simply ran out of food. There were about 1/3 as many massage therapists as there could have been. Still, it was a beautiful night and I felt great! I woke up Sunday morning earlier than I wanted to. The sounds of riders getting ready penetrated my earplugs. I slept terribly. The night consisted mainly of frequent uncomfortable wakings and horrid nightmares. My butt complained agonizingly, but somehow I managed to get back on the bike. The first 10 miles I began to wonder how I would ever finish amongst all the soreness and fatigue. But, by mile 130, I knew I could do it! Sunday brought a light rain for several hours. I cut up a plastic divider sheet and strapped it to my handlebars with twisty ties to hold the ride map. It kept the map dry for the most part. One rest stop was hosted by high school FBLA members, to which I hollered out, “Hey, I used to be in FBLA!” They didn’t seem impressed. At the St. Helens rest stop I really caught my second wind. That one was hosted by band members and boasted popcorn. I blasted through the last 30 or so miles, passing rider after rider as I tireless pushed on. My driving force, knowing the faster I rode the sooner I’d get off the bike, kept me going. On the second day we rode through Chehalis, Napavine, Winlock, Vadar, Castle Rock, Lexington, Kelso, Rainier Oregon, Lindburg, St. Helens, Scapoose and then Portland, at last! I met up with Kenny and Michelle just before the finish and we wheeled into Portland together in a huge group of finishers. The after party yielded lots and lots of freebies, some yaki soba noodles and all things bike. I am now planning my riding goals for next year! Zoe, exhausted from Teething-baby sleeplessness, picked me up at the party and my night ended in delight. I did it, I rode not only farther than ever before, but faster than I ever thought possible. On top of that, my body felt fine! There is an amount of saddle-bottom soreness, but my muscles feel fine, even without a massage! I am now taking requests for people who want to ride with me next year!

DAY 1: start: approx. 7:15AM, 6.41 hrs. ride time, 10hrs. elapsed time distance: 100.2, av 15 mph DAY 2: start: approx. 6:45AM, 7.22 hrs ride time, 9hrs. elapsed time distance: 103.8, av 14 mph