Deb & Cathy Pedal to Portland

Submitted by team members Cathy Nelson and Deb O'Connell

The short version…
We made it! We had no mishaps, not even a flat tire. Our host families were great. Yes, we were hot, thirsty, tired, and grimy at the end but no major pain.

For those that want ALL the details…
We left our house at 5:30 am to drive to the UW. It took us about 30 minutes to get to the 45th Street exit and at least another 30 minutes to get into the UW parking lot. My back brake was rubbing so I made a stop at the repair tent for a quick adjustment. We skipped the port-a-potties because the line was too long. After about 1200 training miles in the last 4 months and a 10 minute wait for the next wave we headed south as part of the STP.

We had remarked earlier, “Who needs a pit stop 10 miles into a ride?” That would be us. We made our first stop at Seward Park where there was no line for the port-a-potties. :) From there, we made it another 15 miles before stopping at REI in Kent for the first free food stop. It was well organized, lots of port-a-potties so no lines, and decent snack foods. While we were reapplying sunscreen at the first aid stand a volunteer came and asked how to contact other rest stops. Apparently there was a dad who hadn’t seen his 9 year old son in the last 15 miles and had no way to contact him. We saw several seemingly unattended children over the ride… As we left, I commented to Deb that it actually wasn’t as crowded as I expected.

From that point on, the ride was swarming with bikers. We had done a few group rides but none were as crowded as this. I knew we’d have to watch out for car traffic but some people on bikes are crazy drivers too! We really learned the value of calling out and signaling to other riders. Usually we are getting passed by everyone and just have to stay right but we passed a fair amount of people.

Over all our training miles, we had never broken the 14 mph average mark on a long ride. I think that just shows how many hills we trained on! The STP is relatively flat and we averaged the lightning fast paces of 14.4 mph on day 1 and 14.1 mph on day 2.

The next free food stop was at a school in Spanaway. It was lunch time for us, we were low on fluids, and it was hot so we were ready to stop. We hadn’t passed any place recently that had lunch potential. We grabbed some food on our search for water. They had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or rice and beans in a tortilla, grapes, the ubiquitous bananas and bagels, and Cliff bars. Not wanting to take chances we went for the dried-out PB&J. We then stood in the water line for at least 20 minutes. Luckily I wasn’t wearing my watch to know exactly how long. We were able to eat our sandwiches and drink the final swallows of our water bottles while we waited. One hose for 5000 people was very poor planning! From there, we headed to the port-a-potty line. It actually moved faster. We made good use of this time by reapplying sunscreen. They had “Standing Room Only” port-a-potties that were popular with the guys because there was no line for them. We left the rest stop not really rested, still hot, but with full water bottles. A few blocks later we came to a Safeway and restaurant row. Had we only known! We could have sat down to eat a real sandwich in air-conditioned comfort and used a real bathroom. It would have cost us a few $ but taken half as long. Lesson #1 learned!

Not long later, a Wilcox Farms truck was handing out ice-cold chocolate milk, yum! Or maybe not… Deb learned quickly that Gatorade and chocolate milk do not mix well at 95 degrees. Lesson #2 learned.

The second half of the day was HOT. I have no idea what the actual temperature was but we were in the full sun a lot of the time. Between the hot sun, and the hot pavement, we were cooked. We saw several riders taking a break in a lake we passed but we pedaled on. We passed a guy with a STP jacket and number on a skateboard. Rumor has it he does the ride each year. Judging from the size of his calves I believe it.

Had some dicey riding on highway 507 near Tenino: a busy highway, and a smallish bike lane (one rider wide). The problem is, there are the “slow” people, the medium speed people (like us), and then the people who think they should be in the Tour de France and “own” the left lane. The slow people mostly stay to the right, and the crazy people mostly stay to the left, which in this case, is in the highway. There are those perforations in the road on the white line (driver reminders), that you had to cross over and back. So, people are cruising along at 20 miles an hour, jumping in and out of the right lane. We did that for about ½ hour, and that was a bit stressful.

We rolled into Centralia about 3 pm and headed straight for the beer garden. After a cold one, we made another quick stop at the repair tent for a new end cap. The guy waiting behind me in line had a cracked frame that he had repaired with duct tape. His repair job had lasted 50+ miles. I’m not sure what he thought the mechanic could do for him! We passed all the campers pitching tents on any spare patch of grass and continued to Chehalis. They were handing out creamsicles, and I tell you, that is the best Popsicle we’ve had in a long time!

Our host families live right on the route in beautiful historic homes. They had our bags in our rooms and lots of snacks and cold drinks. Dinner was delicious, dessert was awesome. Met some interesting other riders, and had a nice visit.

We were up early the next day; bags had to be on the curb by 6:30. Even at 5 AM, you could hear the bikers going by already. We were on our bikes and riding by about 6:45. The weather was perfect on Sunday, overcast and cool. Started out with some gentle rolling hills that weren’t too bad at the beginning. Reached the lunch stop, and saw the huge crowds (again), and decided to skip it and head to a mini-mart for some store-bought food and water (remember lesson #1 above). We felt good, strong and thinking that this wasn’t so bad…

Well, after about 3 hours of those rolling hills, that was starting to get old! It did sprinkle on us a bit, but then just got warmer. Stopped at the 75 mile food stop, and decided again to by-pass the huge mob and go to Subway, where Deb learned lesson #3: a sandwich on a queasy stomach isn’t always the best thing. Deb spent the last 30 miles of the ride to Portland feeling about ready to hurl. Told Cathy to not ride on my right! One amazing sight was the escort over the bridge from Washington to Oregon, full of cyclists.

The arrival in Portland was a bit anti-climatic, with a small hill climb up to the main street, then a bunch of stoplights and hordes of bikes. So, we walked our bikes across the finish line. Someone near us was playing the theme from Rocky. That got everyone cheering. We made it! After putting those pain-machines on the bus to Seattle, we headed to the beer garden for a cold one, we had earned it! While Cathy got the bags, Deb headed over to Macys to buy some shoes: lesson #4—don’t leave your shoes at the host families’ house! On the other hand, how better to reward yourself than a nice new pair of shoes?

Lesson #5: Stay in Portland! A dip in the pool, a long shower, a good dinner, and a quiet hotel room with a 9 PM bedtime were just what the doctor ordered.

What an amazing experience!