Long Tom

I need to decide soon if I'm in or out. One concern is that accommodations in Chehalis or Centrallia look a bit dicey... do Lycra-clad cyclists just shack up...? Lots of little Lycra-clad babies 9 months later?

Seriously, I'd love to hear any experiences with doing the STP.

Carbonfiberboy 

Well, this is the LD forum. The STP one-day is a pretty easy LD ride as those things go. IMO & E it's the only way to go. Just get 'er done. Decide YES now and start ramping up. It's not too late, but it will be soon. You want to hit 200 miles a week all June, including some rides in the mountains to build endurance.

Dfrost 

There are lots of other places to stay than Centralia and Chehalis. Look for the various luggage drop locations. (FWIW, I haven't ridden the STP in 10 years.) I stayed in St. Mary's south of Chehalis twice and it was very quiet after about 9:00 PM. Last time I did it, my son and I stayed in a motel in Kelso, 150 miles out, on the suggestion of my wife who had ridden the STP many times before we met. Son and I had not trained as well as we should have due to other summer obligations, but Day 1 was quite manageable when treated as three 50-mile rides. The short 50-mile second day made for a more refreshing finish and much earlier time home.

lhbernhardt

I last rode STP in the early 80's, the year after Mt. St. Helens exploded. Wayne Phillips (a famous ultramarathon cyclist of the time) and I rode together and finished in under 10 hours, but it's a pretty flat route and I was in my early 30's. Southwest WA is a fabulous place to ride a bike. It's really nice until you cross the Longview Bridge. Then you've got the long homestretch along busy US30 into Portland. Very boring.

That said, things might have changed in the last 30 years...

Yes, I would also suggest the one-day ride. Most people book their hotels in Centralia or Chehalis a year ahead. You also have to get registered as early as possible. You might want to consider taking out a membership in the Cascade Bicycle Club, which will give you an earlier chance to register.

Luis

Carbonfiberboy 

More advice on the one-day:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-(STP)-in-2014
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...P-one-day-tips

david58

My son has been riding the better part of a year now, commuting to work in Seattle where he is finishing his final year of college. He works at an outfit that puts a "team" on the road for STP in one day, and is inspired to do so this coming summer. I am trying to get him to consider all the minuses since he is a fit young man that only sees the plus sides. But he is pointing himself to the ride - my hope is that he doesn't find it a death march, since going from 20 to 200 in just over six months is a tall order. Personally, I hope he can pull it off, since he's wanting me along, too. I just look at the idea of sleeping on the ground after 100 and getting up and riding another 100 being more painful than just riding it all.

The numbers, as well, push me to wanting to do it in one day. Even at "only" 3000 one-day riders, that is a HUGE crowd, especially given that the one day folk are going to try and burn it out of town. Even if the kid and I don't ride amongst the team, I think we can latch on to someone to work with - and, even if we ride it as a pair, averaging 15 puts us in Portland with about 13 or a bit more hours in the saddle. That's not a problem for me, as I ride a lot and have done long days (slow climber, Mt Shasta was a loooong day), but again trying to avoid the death march factor for the kid.

We'll see where this goes - if STP isn't the ticket this summer, there's 2015. I haven't ridden any in WA, but will get several Centuries this spring with the kid, as he has no car and I get to go to his place to ride. In the end, it will be fun - if not, at least we'll have a story!

VaultGuru

Changeable weather is a consideration when making a decision to do it in one or two days. We rode it in 2009 in one day. Absolutely perfect weather 75-80º and light wind until the headwinds kicked in after the Longview bridge. Those that decided to do it in two days were met with heavy rain, thunder and lightning on the second day. Not a nice way to end such a beautiful ride. Of course, the weather could be bad the day of the event too, so it is a crap shoot. We had a backup plan and were going to decide the last minute to either ride the STP, or, if the weather forecast was bad, pull the plug and do the Death Ride. That didn't happen, so we sold our slots to the DR at the last minute.
Just a thought.

cccorlew

I just found this: My audio report from a few years ago. It was used on the FredCast.
https://home.comcast.net/~cccorlew/hosting/STP.mp3

Carbonfiberboy 

Did our first century prep ride on the tandem last weekend. We'll do a double metric (brevet) in March. Then we'll start doing speed and climbing intervals on shorter rides, with a few centuries, etc. here and there. We have enough endurance for this time of year. We'll start focusing on speed in April.