Well I made it! Seattle to Portland 2015! Yeah we cheated a little and left from our house instead of the start line to spare ourselves from all that chaos... but 197ish miles isn't too shabby.
Here we are ready to roll out at 4:30am...
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| Me, VK Sista' and Husband in our driveway |
I started out in the dark following VK Sista' and Husband. And I won't lie... I was freaking out since I still have something like cycling PTSD from my crash. It was hard to see and they were zooming down the hill and I just held on to my brakes for dear life and hoped nothing was in the road that would cause my bike to flip over or something. I was crying.... seriously.... 3 miles in. I almost said screw it and stopped at my work to pick up a company van and go home. And then all of a sudden, the sun started coming out a bit and we turned right and we were on the STP route with tons of other cyclists. I instantly felt like I could do this. People passed me and said good morning, and I dried my tears and thought, "Yes, it IS a good morning!" Not too hot, not too cold, and we were on a route with 10,000 other people. It felt safe.
VK Sista' and I skipped the first stop at REI but Husband went in to fill his water bottles. We had some miscommunication and he thought I was at the stop so he was waiting for me. He found the other guys (they started at the real start line) and they caught up to us on the "big hill" (that isn't very big) in Puyallup. We took a selfie at the top of the hill and exchanged Fres Bars for ride spuds. Love my husband's baguette and Elvis glasses...
I figured that would be the one and only time we'd see the guys. They planned to do the ride in one day, VK Sista' and I planned to do it in two. But we were keeping an awesome pace and ran into them at the next mini stop. And then again at the base...
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| Still gotta love that baguette! |
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| Kittens flyin'! |
Being able to ride through McChord air force base was sooooo cool! It was so much better than riding along the scary, narrow shoulder on the highway, single file for miles through Spanaway and Yelm that we did last year. And how cool is it that we got to check out airplanes and tanks on the rest stop?! I hope no one did anything stupid and we're able to go that way again next year.
The guys zoomed off ahead of us again and we carried on through. VK Sista' was always faster than me and way up ahead too. I didn't get much seat time at all this year and I just couldn't keep up no matter how many times she joked that she was my carrot. I told her that I wanted this year's ride to be enjoyable. I wanted to stop a little longer at stops, and even stop at a Starbucks along the way if I felt so inclined. I saw there was a Starbucks up ahead and there she was, waiting there stopped on the side of the road pointing at it. YAY! Starbucks!! Did you know that a venti iced coffee fits perfectly in my 32oz water bottle? :)
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| Starbucks!!! |
After swinging in for a coffee, we spent the next several miles on a trail. I don't remember what the trail is called but it's nice and big and I remember it being one of my favorite areas last year because you can actually ride two abreast and chat. There's also lots of photographers along the route so we goofed off and made stupid faces, and pretended to have cat claws, etc. It was fun. We stopped at the Clif Bar stop in Vader and my iced coffee was still amazing and totally hit the spot. Coffee makes me so happy. I mean, I love AdvoCare Spark on rides too but... coffee..... ah!
We made it to the halfway point in Centralia and I got a text from my husband saying they were at Subway. Turns out the Subway they were at was less than a mile down the road. I even stopped for coffee (and the line wasn't short either)... How were we keeping up with the guys so well? Kicking ass I tell ya! We grabbed our halfway point creamsicle and a chocolate milk and walked through the festivities to the other side and hopped back on our bikes to meet the guys. They were just getting ready to leave when we arrived. Gave my Husband a kiss, wished them luck, and they were off. VK Sista' and I went inside to eat a sandwich. Food always tastes so much better than usual when you're really working for it.
The route was a little different than last year after this point too. We were on another trail instead of the road again. At around the 120 mile mark, it started to sprinkle off and on. Then around the 130 mile mark, it started to pour. I did not think to bring fenders and since it hasn't rained in forever, I was worried about the roads being slick. I slowed way down. When we got to the high school at the 140 mile mark VK Sista' and I were both muddy and disgusting....
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| Eww |
I was freezing which was quite a bit different from being at that rest stop last year. It was so hot last year we stayed in the air conditioning in the cafeteria as long as possible. This year I wanted to stay longer to dry out and warm up. I thought that Kelso was around the 140 mile mark but a lady there who was also staying in Kelso said we had about 11 more miles to go. Ugh. We chugged right along, cold and wet, wanting to be done for the evening. At one point VK Sista' kicked the bucket.... yep. (You'll just have to ask me what I mean by that.)
By the time we got to the turn-off for our hotel in Kelso, we were getting our second wind (well, maybe third or forth at this point). But we planned on stopping so we stopped. We showered, which felt amazing, and changed into comfy clothes. BFF met us there to say hi and chat, before going the rest of the way to Portland to pick up the guys. And then we went to a salad/pizza buffet. And.... we went to Walmart to find a charger for VK Sista's Garmin... and some sort of cream that would help our aching vaginas. Haha! Seriously! We were exhausted and delirious wandering through Walmart trying to think of the best most soothing thing we could think of to slather on our lady parts to prepare for getting on our bikes the next day. I was serious when I said I didn't get enough seat time in this year. My vagina hated me for it. We settled on some diaper cream which worked amazing in case you were wondering.
I tried to sleep but I was worried about my husband finishing. He was having a pretty rough time the whole day really. He kept getting cramps in his legs and he felt terrible. Here is he finishing though!
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| Good job Husband |
So he got back to the hotel and about midnight and I was finally able to fall asleep and had to be up at 6am to finish the last 57 miles. I was very jealous that he was already done. I was kind of regretting my decision to do it in two days at that point. We drove to Starbucks to fuel up before our day and changed into fresh cycling clothes and took off around 8am. My legs did not want to move. They said, "What the heck!? We had a break all night! There's no way I'm going to keep peddling for you!" And there was a horrible head wind too so I was peddling like mad and it felt like I was standing still. I also felt sick to my stomach and started eating rolaids like candy. There was only 12-14 miles in between stops but they felt like an eternity apart. I chose random strangers to draft behind. Yeah.. Me. Drafting. That's how tired I was. And wow those guys were lifesavers and I told them so. VK Sista', again, would zoom so fast I couldn't keep up with her, and she'd wait for me for a couple minutes at each stop.
At the last stop before Portland, I turned up my music and we had a little rest stop dance party. We tried to get others to join in but only one guy danced a little. It was hilarious. Let's see if I did this correctly and added the video to blogger...
Then Husband text me saying he was at the beer garden drinking all of our beer and he'd see us soon. That was motivation to get going again. 18 miles from that stop to Portland. The hill going up to the bridge wasn't nearly as bad as I remember it being from last year. And it was really easy getting through Portland to the finish line besides having to stop at all the stoplights.
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| Woo! |
It was definitely more fun going through the finish line when it was packed with a cheering crowd. They even had bubble machines going! And the finish line festival was really energetic too. We got a free meal, and got to pick out a finisher prize too. (We chose stainless steel cups)
I'm glad I tried it in two days because I really do feel like we missed a lot of the fun. Some of the stops were closed when we reached them last year, and there was almost no one at the finish line. This year I got to stop for coffee, lunch, and take my time at the rest stops. I feel like I talked to a lot more people too. But I don't think it was any easier. If anything it was harder since my body did not want to start over on day 2. I already went 150 miles, what's 50 more at that point? It wasn't as emotionally difficult as it was last year either. I freaked out leaving my house, but after I made it to the route, it was like my brain felt like I made it all the way to Portland. I'd done it before, I'd do it again. I think our plan next year is to do a combo... Do the whole thing in one day, stay the night in Portland, sleep in, and then go out to the finish line festival for beers and celebration. Who is joining us next year?? :)
