Offical STP Pics

STP was a blast! Lee McCarley, Doyle Kimbal, Roy Stevens, Al Coons, Ron King, Kevin Beeson, Mitch Stoutin, and Dave Sinner made the trip. All finished and reported having a great time.

Most of us stayed at a dorm at UW near the start line on Friday night. Some of us visited the REI in Seattle Friday afternoon and also walked over to the Performance bike shop near campus that evening. It was open 24 hours for the start of STP and they were doing plenty of business.

When I parked my car at Husky Stadium parking lot on Friday, I was one of the first cars there and the lot was practically empty. At 5:45am when I rolled down for the start the place was transformed into the largest mass of cycling humanity I’d ever seen. RV’s, vans, cars, bikes of every description were all milling around and converging on the starting line where a loud speaker broadcasted recorded greetings and instructions. As cyclists massed at the line they were sent off in waves every ten minutes.

We managed to get our group off at 6:30. Dave Sinner was a last minute addition. He was able to get Lyndal Stoutin’s ticket but they had to do some paperwork at the start line in order to transfer. Lyndal had an injury during training and Dave made his decision to go the night before, but he’s an STP veteran so he new what he was getting into.

The start is probably the trickiest part of STP just because there are a zillion bikes and you don’t have to have a license to drive one. You really have to be alert and ride defensively. But soon we were cruising around the west side of Lake Washington enjoying a perfect morning in Seattle, 67 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! Shortly after leaving the lake we were treated to a magnificent view of Mt. Rainier all the way to Puyallup.

The food stops are something else, especially the first day when cyclists are fairly bunched up. The organizers do a fantastic job but there is a long line for everything, sometimes 50 yards long for the Honey Hut. But it’s all part of experience and the carnival atmosphere that makes this ride a must-do event.

I must mention “The Hill” which everyone talks about and is marked on the STP map as “THE HILL.” It comes at the 40 mile mark and causes quite a bottle neck as cyclists bog down, walk or grind their way to the top while others try to skirt around the side and pass. It’s maybe comparable to Peaslee or Scenic Way in Clarkston, but it’s the only incline on the STP except for the bridge at Longview on the second day which ferry’s you across the Columbia to Oregon. By local standards this is a flat ride.

Our group stayed at the Nazarene church in Centralia and they were superb hosts, treating us to showers, an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner and pancake breakfast. They even had a big screen TV in the basement running the Tour de France.

The start for the second day was at Centralia Community College which looked like a tent city on Saturday morning. Thousands of people camped there Friday night. But again the organization shown brightly as Ron & I found complimentary Starbucks coffee near the start line to send us off happily for our second 100 miles.

Much of day two followed a shady bike path and was very pleasant riding away from traffic. At the Longview Bridge, cyclists are stopped and sent across in waves by state patrol direction. Going over the bridge is pretty cool, fortunately our group was at the front and we didn’t get bogged down, but it was impressive to see hundreds of cyclists swarming over the bridge like a massed military charge.

I didn’t enjoy the Oregon side of the ride at all until we reached Portland. Lot’s of traffic, no shade, no scenery. I had been riding with Roy, Ron, Al and Mitch that morning and we were clipping along in the 18-22 mph range. I ran out of steam when we hit Oregon and dropped off. I skipped the next official food stop where there were hundreds of bikes and went instead to the McDonalds next door where I saw four bikes. That was a good move for me, especially the chocolate shake instead to Gatorade…you know how you kind of get sick of Gatorade after awhile…or sooner.

Recharged, I hooked onto the next pace line to Portland and the finish line extravaganza. This is really cool, hundreds of cheering people waving and clapping, showers, food vendors, ice cream, beer garden (1554 is my new favorite and I got one for each hand), live music…and yes there is a line for everything…but it’s worth the wait!

Everyone else in our group had a ride waiting for them back to Lewiston, but I needed to go to Spokane because my son Brian was scheduled for oral surgery and I took time off to stay with him for a few days. So I had purchased a bus ride back to Seattle and put my bike on a truck early so it would be waiting for me when I got there. I had made arrangements at the dorm at UW to stay Sunday night and was planning to drive to Spokane Monday morning.

My Post-Ride Adventure began on the bus ride home when I-5 traffic came to a dead stop and then crept along for miles and miles at about 10 mph. It took over five hours to get to Seattle…I could have been home in Clarkston, had a good night’s sleep and driven to Spokane the next morning…but instead I’m standing in the parking lot at Husky Stadium and 10pm wondering where my bike is. One of the four bike trucks had broken down and was blocking two others. Only one had arrived and my bike wasn’t on it. I went to the dorm and was informed that I had gotten misinformation earlier and I couldn’t stay there that night but they could give me hotel information. I had left my car keys and cell phone in my bike bag on my bike…you know…so they wouldn’t get lost…so I was stuck in the parking lot at Husky stadium. Two more bike trucks arrived at 12:30 dark…and though I watched with eager anticipation…my bike wasn’t on either of those trucks. The last truck, I was informed was on it’s way and would be there at 2:30am. “You can hang around here,” the UW student heading up the bike detail said, “or you can come back at 9:00 tomorrow morning.” Having no place to go I pulled out my sleeping bag and thermorest pad and crashed on the parking lot until 2:30. At 4:30am my bike finally came off the final truck. It was third from the last at the far end of the 42 foot trailer stacked two-high. I retrieved my car keys, loaded up and headed for Spokane. I will say that as a Cougar, I gained some parting satisfaction knowing that, during the long night, I had the opportunity to mark the premises of Husky Stadium as Cougar territory!

This is a long story and somewhat belated but Corrie was threatening to make something up if I didn’t get it posted so I hope this will do. We all had a great time and I think the STP is an event every cyclist should experience at least once. Lee is talking about doing it in one day next year. I’ll have to think all winter about that.