STP 2016

This is our fifth STP together, and my sixth with Jules.  As Jules said, it is more of an event than a ride.

Our pattern has been to leave for the ride about 4 miles from the start line, in the early morning dark.

Here we are, riding away from Jules and Jess's home about 5:00 a.m.  Heading for the start line.


 
 At the start line.  Such excitement:



 Jules, who is in a different class from us in terms of speed and power, typically goes on ahead by himself at this point.  It is almost impossible to ride that distance at anything but your comfortable speed.  For us it is about 13 mph, and for him it is between 16 and 17 mph.

 A common experience on the STP:  waiting in line for the porta potties.

There is a sort-of big hill, at Puyallup.  For my first STP in 2009 I was awfully worried about it, having read a lot about how steep and long it is.  Now, it is a nothing--we do hills like this about every day on Whidbey Island.  And, like on Whidbey Island, Vicky is stronger than me on the hills, so gets to the top first and takes a photo of me.





A rest stop along the way.  On the trail from Vader to Tenino:


 

At 105 miles we reach Centralia, and have our yearly Creamsickle.  Tastes sooooo good:



Centralia is the official half-way point.  But fortunately I found a place to stay in 2009 in Napavine.  We stay with a family, along with a number of other riders, who have become important to us.  As Vicky said, seeing them each year is like coming home for Christmas.  They are warm, friendly people who make a great dinner and a great breakfast to start our next day. 

Napavine is 15 miles beyond the mid point.  It is perfect because, although the first day is awfully long (120 miles), it means the second day is much shorter (90 miles.....although as I am writing this I am not sure why 90 miles on a bike when your butt is already hurting is something to celebrate just because it isn't 120 miles). 

Here we are the next morning, getting ready to do those final 90 miles. The excitement is hard to describe.  Even after all of these times doing the ride:

Heading out to the main road to start day 2:



Perhaps our favorite part of the ride is the first 15 miles on Day 2.  There are typically few riders at that point, and the farm land is stunning:

Our first stop on Day 2.  See me?

At mile 40 we cross the Longview Bridge into Oregon.  Always a big marker for the ride.

A friendly person took our photo after crossing the bridge:



Forty miles later we cross the St. John's Bridge into Portland.  At this point we are about 9 miles from the finish line:

And then we are there--the finish line.  About a block of people clapping.  We don't see them.  Nobody needs to clap.  We know we have done 210 miles in our late 60s over two days.  

We are looking for our family:  Jessica, Jules, Ian, and Adam are there, somewhere.  Hard to see when you are so tired and there are so many people. But they are there (off to the left), cheering for us!!!!

Such energy at the finish line.  Everybody is happy!!!

The three happy riders.  Our fifth STP together.