Originally Posted by
magohn
Depends on your definition of 'flat'. If a rider has only trained for the ride on bike paths then he/she will struggle on the STP. The ride is 80% on actual roads with all that comes with that. There is a decent hill in Puyallup (40 miles in) and day two has a series of 'rollers' for 30 miles or so.Then you have the regular ups and downs of any road.
I was very glad I focused on hill-training because there was much more climbing than I expected. My Garmin put the climbing at around 5400ft - not much at all over 204 miles, but also not 'flat'.
STP DAY 1 - 2400ft climbing
STP DAY 2 - 3000ft climbing
What's that steep looking climb at about 45 miles in? That looks daunting to me. I climb Capitol Hill/First Hill every work day or school day, but that still looks tough.
I'm toying with the idea of doing the STP this year, but it's more likely I'll do it sometime in the next few years. It didn't appeal to me before last year. When I caught a little coverage of it on the local news and they mentioned that 10,000 riders were taking place my interest was piqued! I had no idea it was that it was that large. The thought of riding with that many other people sounds like quite the experience! I understand there are downsides with so many riders and it being so crowded and lots of them being new, rusty, or inconsiderate, but I'm thinking it is something I'd like to experience. It'd definitely be a two day thing for my slow, heavy self, but I think it'd be nice to camp with a bunch of other cyclists doing it. I tour a little bit anyway, so I think I might do it fully loaded for an overnighter.