Butcher

Well, How did you all do? My daugher and I finished our 1 day ordeal with our tandem. At 16 she was beat at the end. At 49, I was too. The next day was not as bad as I expected and much better than last year. My daugher is still relaxing making her brother assist her in everything. I thnk some of it is pay back since the rolls were reversed last year when my son and I did the one day STP.
The weather was much colder than I expected and the tail wind never did occur like I was hoping for on the first half. The second half was much faster, probably because of the tail wind and sun we had. The rollers were much easier than I expected and the hill by the hospital was just as bad as last year.
Overall the weather was good, the volunteers were excellent, and the motorcycle support staff did not help me but it was nice to know they were always near by in case I needed help.
Cascade Bicycle Club should be proud of the program they provide and it was well worth the cost of the ride [and all the hotels to keep my wife happy while we were riding].

Jasper Storm

Made my 12 hour total time goal.

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/40834293

With the cool weather and three bottles aboard, I was able to limit my refuelling stops to:

MP 44 (gas station at the top of "the hill"): bought 3 bottles water from the Boy Scouts
Centralia: refilled bottles, ate 1 banana
Lexington: refilled bottles, ate 1 banana, took another with me (which saved me when I blew up at mp 190.)

I brought some bagels w/ Nutella in a ziploc, which I ate while riding. I had four bottles of cafe latte Perpetuem as I rode.

My goal was to ride solo, which I did save for a stretch along the rumble strips between Spanaway and McKenna. I got caught up in a group doing 23-24mph for probably 9 miles. There were also a few miles with a group after the Vader climb, but I let them go. Without this, I still could have achieved my goal. The route through downtown Portland was a red-light fest that would have made the West Valley Highway through Renton/Kent jealous, and this added some time.

I actually felt pretty good at the finish line. The crowd was fairly small at 4:15-ish. Only when stopping at a gas station in Centralia on the way home did my legs cramp up.

Today my ass is a little sore, but other than that slightly "run down" feeling, I am quite o.k.

Grimace 2/9

I rolled across Sunday morning about 10:30'ish. I was disapointed as I wanted to do it in one day. I have been sick and the antibiotics just killed my stomach in terms of being able to eat my "regular bike food", I rode from mile 35 to 100 able to only keep down plain water. A turkey sandwich at Centralia was a life saver but I think the cheeseburger I got at one of the next mini-stops let me get to Longview. At that point I decided that I really needed to stop and the Travel Lodge had a room so I grabbed it.

After some normal food last night I woke up and the ride from Longveiw to the finish line was pretty much a non-event, I felt really good. It was much colder on Saturday than I aniticipated, luckily I had listend to the weather people and was shivering until the sun finally came out. I felt too weak to grab anybody's wheel so I rode the whole thing alone, which was just as well, some of those pace lines were really hauling! Congrats to everybody that made it.

stringbreaker

Congrats to all the STP riders. My wife and I didnt' make it this year and have decided that I'm going to do it solo possibly next year but for sure the following year. She is gonna be my personal SAG and we are planning to take it as the start of our vacation instead of heading back north after the finish, we will spend a couple of days in Portland and then on to the ocean for a couple of days. That way I get to finally do STP and she doesn't have to worry about riding all that way on the road.

Kamala

Had a great day out there on Saturday, rolling into the finish just as the sun set. Was hoping to get in around 7 pm instead of 9 and looked good to do that through Centralia where I arrived just after noon. Don't know what I ate/drank wrong, but spent the second half of the day stopping at damn near every portapotty I could find. Still had plenty of fun, just need to dial in that long distance nutrition.

I thought I was going to be done with Cascade events after this, but the one-day ride was great and I'll be back!

Roland Owens

Rode it in two days on a fixed gear bike. Left Seattle about 5:30 and the first 10 miles were very sketchy with all the folks seemingly learning how to ride bikes in a big group. Saw three almost wipe out due to concrete expansion joints. Calmed down a little until a stretch around mile 60 where one guy went down right in front of me (not paying attention, just ran into the person in front of him as the group was slowing) and there was another crash just down the road where it looked like a woman had broken her collarbone and apparently just missed getting run over by a car. Made it to my overnight spot in Napavine around 1 after stopping for lunch in Centraila.

The second day was much more mellow, at least until I got close to Portland. Left about 6 and rolled into Portland around 1:45 as I spent more time hanging out at rest stops. The groups were much smaller, but the traffic in the last 15 miles was a bit much. I was really surprised there was not traffic control for riders in downtown Portland and getting across the Steel Bridge was interesting with the mix of pedestrians and other cyclist. Kind of a stressful end to the ride.

Overall it was a lot of fun but I'm not sure I'd do it again. If I do it again I'll definitely leave later on Saturday to let the go-fast 1 dayers get on down the road before I start. The mix of slower folks, folks like me running at a middle of the road pace, and the go fast folks was not a lot of fun. I'm not complaining about the go-fast guys and gals, but when you have pacelines going 22-25, other pacelines going 18-20 with folks like me and then other folks just riding along at 14-16, there is an awful lot of opportunity for accidents. I'm also spoiled when it comes to traffic. Where I live and ride in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia it's a whole lot mellower even on out busiest roads.

Hats off to the Cascade Cycling Club folks. I know what a pain it is to help the organizers with our simple little club century back home for 300 where we have the start/finish in one spot and a single rest stop that you keep looping back to. I can't imagine trying to organize something like the STP with 10,000 people over 200 miles.

abarth

Great ride, first STP for me and I did it in 2 days. Total time on bike was 12 hr 24 min. I like my pace and it was very enjoyable. I rode 137 mile the first day and 67 mile today. Felt great at the finish line. Met some great people, made a few people laugh along the way with my off the wall comments and had a few laugh myself. I love the energy level of the event. I wondered if I did it in one day, would it be as enjoyable.

MisterAngular

Nice work. What kind of power meter do you have? Are you saying you rode back home from Portland?? Man... after 200+ miles, I was DONE for one day! My moving average was about 18.4 MPH. Stopped way more than I planned to, though. But no cramps, flats, or crashes and didn't bonk. (Had a bottle with 12 scoops of Perpetuum in it but hardly drank any of it.) Left knee hurt like hell at the last 60 miles or so but otherwise felt pretty good. Rolled out at 5:05 AM and crossed the finish line at 6:35 PM.

Jasper Storm

I rode back from Portland-in a car.

I have a Powertap Pro+ on a DT Swiss 465 (the old RR 1.1 rim.) It's nice to have as it helps me stick to a game plan and not work too hard in the early part of the ride. That benefit far outweighs the additional xx ounces the wheel weighs over my other wheel w/ Record hub.

MisterAngular

Cool. 200 watts average for such a long ride is awesome.

I have a PT Pro+ hub in a Mavic Open pro wheel but this year rode a new-to-me bike with a Quarq Cinqo crank based power meter. Training Peaks WKO+ says 175 watts for the ride (which includes zero-averaging/coasting, but does not include pauses/rest stops). I spent nearly 11 hours on the saddle. Stopped too much/too long. But can't complain. Everything went smoothly and I was significantly faster and stronger than last year.

K.Katso

I did it on Saturday and my total time on the pedals was 10 hours 6 minutes, not counting the food breaks I took in Centralia and Lexington for about 30 minutes each. I left Seattle in the second wave at 4:55am and arrived in Portland at around 4:15pm. It was my first STP and I'm happy to say that overall it was a good experience. I met a lot of nice people out on the road and there was no shortage of drafting partners available. I would have had a much more difficult time without the help of others.

moleman76

Got up at 3:15, quick oatmeal breakfast, drove 45 minutes to the start (eating more, drinking strong black tea on the way). Parked, unloaded bike, dropped off bag, visited portapotty, met up with friends.

Rolled out at 4:45; faster friends went their own way ahead of me (I saw a few of them at a few other stops, due to mechanical issues they'd had). Had to put a wind jacket on after cooling down at the REI stop, and wore it until halfway between Chehalis/Napavine when the sun started to burn through.

Lots of other folks riding at what was for me a comfortable pace of 18-20; not pacelines with rotation, just lines of riders. I probably rode on someone's wheel for 165 or more miles of the whole ride. Lots of "on yer lefts", only a few sketchy riders (no-hands, sitting up to stretch/flap arms like a bird flying, in the middle of a group?); didn't see any accidents but saw a lot of flat tires being repaired.

Drank about 5 or 6 bottles of Spiz and Perpetuem, ate a rollup or cookie or sandwich at each stop; came home with some of the energy bars I'd packed, still in the seatbag.

Cool weather was definitely better than the upper 80's/90's like in 2008.

Had a low-back massage in Centralia, and felt better on the bike after that than I had at the start line.

Finished at 8:20; about 12:23 riding time, 16.5 mph; would have liked to have been faster/earlier, but had time for a heaping plate of yakisoba noodles and lemon chicken, and rode the bus back up to Seattle. Home by 1:15; slept like a log.

century0fakers

finished my first STP. it felt goooood. attacked those hills and had a blast. at mile 110 near winlock (where we spent the night) i got some fatigue and had to stop mid-hill and rest. the last 10 miles the first day were exhausting. did better the 2nd day. only 85 miles or so and tore up highway 30. the last 10 miles were challenging, but picked up with a guy (shout out to *****) who made the last 2 hours a lot of fun. "attacko!!" - which is italian for attack that hill like you mean it!

thanks to everyone on the forum who helped out with advice along the way.

redspoke

NorCal rider here who has done this in 1-day 3 years in a row. Rode it with my brother and our total time was 12:38. My brother is a lot slower than I am but fuels and hydrates a lot better than me so it was a tortoise/hare compromise day. Beat my solo time last year by 10 minutes but I was 100% at the Mt. Ranier stop and pulled us both at 28mph (nice tailwind) for about a mile before he crapped out, so who knows how well I would have done... I know next year he'll drop about 20# and we'll both cross the line before 12hrs. By far the best day of riding I've ever had and it was by far the easiest double I've ever done.
Drove home 12 hours yesterday and other than just plain tired I feel great. Cannot wait for next year.

djwid

I did the one day STP. My first. It went well and I was pleased with the weather. Next year I may actually train a bit, my base mileage was too low but I finished so I call it good
-Duncan

Sapling

Schedule too full to ride at all Saturday, so parked near Dupont and rode to Yelm to pick up the normal routing. Started passing late starters just outside Centralia, then caught up with the supported stops a few miles later. All in all, rode 144 miles on Sunday on the "DTP" and really enjoyed it.

klondike300

2 dayer here. Apparently I need to add riding to my BBQ, beer, vodka and dirt biking training regiment.
I did this back in the 90's when we started at the Kingdome (RIP). I noticed a lot of different routes this year from back then. The bike path on day one before Centralia was awesome. Plus the rolling countryside just after Centralia made it worth it. Much better route than in the past although the last few miles to the finish was a PITA.
Next year not riding the cyclocross bike though but felt since I was bringing two rookies who had never ridden more than 25 miles at a shot I better load up on survival stuff.
My buddy and his kid did great. They even experienced their first official "bonks". I bonked from 160 to 170 but Lee pulled me through.
Already recruiting for next year!

Kamala

I posted my loooong one-day ride report (both day and report were long) over in the Clydes forum... https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...iles-of-Thanks!!!

Seattle Forrest

How do you get the temperature data into your track log?

Also, I hope you don't mind if I keep the lat/lon data and possibly use it to navigate a solo or small group ride? I think I'm up for the STP, but I'd like to test myself before I buy a ticket next year...

MillCreek

Now this is the sort of training regimen that I can fully support. I have done STP four times (three times two day and once one day), and this sort of training may tempt me to do it again.

magohn

My wife and I (newbies) took two great days to do the STP - we had a blast and I will do it again. My wife's not so sure...

robertc3

I rode the STP in one day with a friend I met here on BF. Maintained the average speed I had hoped for, but spent more time at the rest stops in doing so. I have some knee pain that took a bit of the fun out of it, but I would do it again. Butt felt better than expected. I rode with my family the next day and didn't cry. By STP +3 I was back to normal.

MisterAngular

The Garmin Edge 500 has the ability to record temperature, unlike its "big brother" the 705.

RabidBikeMonkey

I did my first STP in one day. Similar to one of the other posters I was able to maintain a decent average speed while moving but took a bit longer at the rest stops. I took about 14 hours from start to finish but less than 12 hours of moving time. I thought the weather was ideal. I enjoyed the second half of the ride more than the first as the crowds thinned out a bit (note to self, start earlier next time) but the whole event was a great experience and I'll do it again.

MisterAngular

Same here with the knee pain. At some point between Castle Rock H.S. and Longview my left knee really started hurting and it just got worse the rest of the way. Thankfully it didn't get to the "excruciating" level so I was able to keep on turning the crank and actually increased my average speed over the last 50 miles. A bit of tailwind on Highway 30 helped too.