The Old New Thing

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 4 of 4: St. Helens to Portland and beyond

July 27, 2007 Jul 27, 2007 07/27/07

Raymond Chen

Note: You probably want to start with Part 1. 1:33pm: S and I arrive at the St. Helens High School food stop (mile 175) just as J, M, and A are on their way out. S is pretty wiped out by this point and heads over to the nearby McDonalds for a cup of Coke and an order of French fries. "What I need is fat," she explains. (And she was ...

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 3 of 4: Toledo to St. Helens

July 26, 2007 Jul 26, 2007 07/26/07

Raymond Chen

Note: You probably want to start with Part 1. Sidebar: There are a lot of groups that wore matching jerseys to build team spirit. Here are a few riders that caught my eye that I haven't already mentioned: Our detour to Toledo bypassed the towns of Napavine and Winlock, which meant that we missed out Napavine night life, the banana ...

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 2 of 4: Spanaway to Toledo

July 25, 2007 Jul 25, 2007 07/25/07

Raymond Chen

Note: This story makes much more sense if you read Part 1 first. It won't be any more interesting, but at least it'll be a coherent sort of boring. 12:20pm: We arrive in Spanaway for the lunch break (54 miles) [pic]. The consensus among seasoned riders appears to be that the Saturday lunch is pretty lame this year. It consists of a...

Seattle to Portland (STP) 2007 trip report, part 1 of 4: Seattle to Spanaway

July 24, 2007 Jul 24, 2007 07/24/07

Raymond Chen

Note: I found some other riders who blogged their experience on the STP, and I've slipped in links to some of the more interesting ones. All statistics are approximate. Prologue Biking to and from work the Monday before STP, I noticed that I had more saddle discomfort than usual. Could it be residual effects from that training ride? Am I ...

Tips for doing the Seattle to Portland (STP) in two days: What I learned in 2007

July 23, 2007 Jul 23, 2007 07/23/07

Raymond Chen

Two weekends ago, I participated in the 28th annual Seattle to Portland bicycle ride, wherein I joined up with 8999 of my closest friends for a friendly ride through western Washington and Oregon. Earlier this year I provided tongue-in-cheek bad advice for preparing for STP. Today I restore the balance with proper advice. This was my first ...

Apparently some people consider this a vacation; I consider it insane

July 20, 2007 Jul 20, 2007 07/20/07

Raymond Chen

One of the little cards that came in the STP information packet is an advertisement postcard for Epic Cycling Climbs of France. For $3299 (+airfare) you receive the "privilege" of cycling up the Alpe d'Huez and other notorious mountains. I'm sorry. If I'm going to go up l'Alpe D'Huez you're going to have to pay me, not the other way around...

The dangers of conversation fragments: Overheard on the Burke-Gilman trail

July 13, 2007 Jul 13, 2007 07/13/07

Raymond Chen

This past weekend, a group of us went on one last training ride before the STP, which begins tomorrow. The Burke-Gilman is a multipurpose trail, with bicyclists sharing the path with walkers, joggers, inline skaters, sometimes even people on horseback. (Inline nitpicker's corner: The horseback riders are on the Sammamish River Trail, which is...

How not to prepare for the STP (2007 edition)

June 6, 2007 Jun 6, 2007 06/6/07

Raymond Chen

I signed up for the annual Seattle-to-Portland bike ride, known to Seattle-area bicycling dorks as STP. My bicycle riding is mostly just commuting to and from work, nothing even approaching the 200-mile trek that STP entails, but one of my friends who recently started bicycle-commuting inspired our little bicycle commuting group to sign up. ...