Seattle To Portland (STP)

Well, as many, if not all of you, knew that I was going to do STP again this year. STP is a 204 mile bike ride, from, you guessed it, Seattle to Portland.

Weaver and I have been training for this six months, and we were ready. For me, my only concern was that with the temps getting over 100 degrees the week before STP, I was concerned with the heat and being able to stay hydrated. This years STP was 14 degrees hotter. Last year was 74 degrees and this year it was 88 degrees.

Weaver, Kristin and I drove up to Seattle to day before and due to some scheduling snafu's we couldn't leave until 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday. That, in hind sight, was a horrible choice. We ended up in rush hour traffic the entire way up, and it took us two hours longer to get to Seattle. Then there is this entire other story about the tickets, which I won't get in to, but I will remember to never wait until the last minute to buy tickets.

Because of our scheduling snafu, we only got five hours of sleep, which was not ideal, but I don't think it had too much of an effect on the overall result.

Last year my average speed for STP was 17.1 mph, and I was hoping Weaver and I could beat that speed and I didn't really care by how much.

Weaver and I started out the morning a little late (again the tickets came back to bite me in the butt!!!). We started at 6:00 rather than 5:00. As I would find out later, this probably had a fairly large effect on my end results.

The first 100 miles was pretty uneventful, nothing exciting, everything went as it should. Kristin was doing a great job running support, and being our cheerleader, and we loved it. We liked it so much, at times we were counting how many miles it was to see Kristin, rather than talking about the next stop.

At the 109 mile stop, Kristin met me there with my Dad and Nancy. It was great seeing Dad and Nancy there, and getting their support too. At the 109 mile stop, Kristin met us with some fresh watermellon, which was AWESOME and a great treat after only drinking liquid nutrition (think Gatorade, but 10 times better!!!). It was a nice snack and I think we both ate a little too much because we both had a little bit of gut issues after this stop, but it was well worth it.

On the way to the next stop the heat really started to increase. As we were riding along, it was hot, but there were sections where it felt like someone put a big engine in front of us. I swear it had to of been at least 5 to 10 degrees hotter in some spots, and it really felt like that radiant heat you get off of cars exhausts (minus the smell). To top it all off, it was a really humid day, so sweat was not evaporating very well, so keeping cool was a little bit harder. At the next stop Weaver and I took a break under a tree in the shade to cool off. Kristin's car said it was 91 degrees at that stop. We took some of the ice cold water and poured it over our heads and body to try and cool down a bit, and then we were off to meet Kristin, Dad and Nancy in St. Helens.

We made it over the bridge in to Washington and we only had 54 miles to go. That is nothing, my legs were feeling strong considering I had gone 150 miles, and things were going okay. This is where it gets interesting. At about mile 160 things went south really quick for me. I started feeling really hot and I told Weaver I had to stop. I pulled over and got off my bike and I felt like I was put in a oven. I sat there for a minute or two and then got back on the bike and started going again. At this point I couldn't get my heart rate (HR) above 130 bpm without feeling really hot and sick. So I just soft pedalled for a while and then we pulled over at an unscheduled rest stop where I took some water and poured it over my head, and tried to cool down. After that I wasn't feeling any better, and I was still having issues. A few miles later I had to pull over again and this time when I got off my bike I felt like I was going to collapse, and I laid down on the ground for a good 10 or 15 minutes on some grass on the shoulder of some side road. Weaver said I was walking like I was ready to collapse. We got back on our bikes and rode in to St. Helens, about 10 miles, to see Kristin, who I had already called and said to turn on the car and get that AC cranking so I could cool down. That was a very long 10 miles to get to St. Helens. I was in bad shape, but it was funny, I was still passing a lot of people, and I was keeping a pace of 18 to 19 mph. It was a little frustrating for me knowing I was so strong, but I was suffering so badly. I knew that I am a heavy sweater, at 90 degrees I sweat at 4 pounds per hour (I know this from previous tests I have done), so I knew I was a candidate for hydration. I was drinking as much water as my stomach could handle. My stomach was so bloated I couldn't take in any more water. After making the long and dreadful 10 miles to St. Helens, I immediately got in Kristins car to cool down.

I was feeling very sick, I was having problems riding in a straight line, and walking straight was a challenge as well. After sitting in the car for a few minutes I realized that if I continued on I took a very real risk of wrecking, and considering the last 29 miles was along a very busy and fast highway, followed up by crossing downtown Portland. Anywhere I wrecked had the possiblity of hurting me worse with all the cars, and other cyclists, as well as putting other cyclists in danger. So I made the decision that finishing the last 29 miles was not worth putting my family to deal with a situation like Ryan McKnab. I got out of the car and announced that I was dropping out of STP. I made it 175 miles, but STP was stronger than me this year.

One of the interesting and most revealing things that came during this long ride, where I have lots of time to think through things, I realized something about true friends. True friends are the people who are there for you when you need them, even if it is at their own personal sacrafice or discomfort. When I was suffering, Weaver never left my side, never got in front of me and dropped me, he was there with me every second, when I stopped, he stopped and waited for me and gave me words of encouragement. This meant so much to me and really just goes to show who your true friends are. I know if I would have chose to try and finish, Weaver would have stuck with me all the way to the finish as well, even if it turned dark, he would have hung with me the entire time, which is so cool.

On that same thread, Kristin was awesome to be there for us and run support for us. She was a great face to see at every stop and she is a great cheerleader and a great supporter. She did awesome and I can't thank her enough. I am very lucky to have Kristin in my life, not only because she runs support for me, that is probably the easiest part. I have spent over 200 hours on the bike this year, which means lots of weekends and evenings where I was missing. She has never complained, and if I was slacking she would get concerned. It is so great to have someone like her around who supports you and tenderly kicks you in the butt when you start falling behind. She is great in understanding me and the goals I want to achieve and making her own sacrifices to help me acheive and exceed those goals. I can't even begin to say how fortunate I am to have her in my life. Actually, I have been very fortunate in all of my life. I have a great familly and my friends are awesome as well!

So, this is where my ride ended, I dropped at 175 miles. Up to that point, I was beating my previous best time significantly. Last year I averaged 17.1 mph, and this year I averaged 18.0 mph, which I know with weather like last year I could have easily finished.

After Weaver left us, we went down to the finish line, as he had 29 miles to go. We waited at the finish line for him to Finish with Dad and Nancy and we met Amy (Weavers Fiance') and Samantha (Weavers Daughter). It was great seeing weaver get to finish STP and achieve his goal, that was awesome. He worked very hard for it and I am glad he was the one who finished. After Weaver finished and he got his feet under him we all went to our cars and headed to go get some real food and had some Mexican for dinner and then Weaver and I went home and slept.

So, since I didn't acheive my goals for STP, I have picked a "punishment" for myself. More to come on that, but this weekend, I promise I will hurt more than I did at STP. Three lashings for me! Of course I will enjoy it too! I have been told I am sadistic. :)