That was an awesome ride on a perfect day and perfect conditions. That’s what I could say about STP bike ride 2011.
Carpooled with Ganesan a fellow asha biker starting from home at 3:15 AM and along with one another friend of his by name Anand, reached UW at 4:45 AM.
It was 46 F then, I could see most of the riders with a windcheater or some layer over, I was just with my new glowing Asha Jersey, didn’t want to hide that :).
Dropped bags onto Portland truck, and joined our other fellow one day riders Ashish,Ansu and Hardik.
Carpooled with Ganesan a fellow asha biker starting from home at 3:15 AM and along with one another friend of his by name Anand, reached UW at 4:45 AM.
It was 46 F then, I could see most of the riders with a windcheater or some layer over, I was just with my new glowing Asha Jersey, didn’t want to hide that :).
Dropped bags onto Portland truck, and joined our other fellow one day riders Ashish,Ansu and Hardik.
4:56 AM -Mile 0
- Started our long ride with many other ambitious bikers.
- Sneak past UW, get past madison, entering washington loop.
- Happy enough to go down the hills with 100+ other bikers alongside
- It was bright enough that we could have a beautiful sunrise across Lk Washington
Cruising along lake Washington blvd starting with our mini hill at seward park and cruise on to rainier ave
- Reached Kent/REI First food stop @6:40, had our breakfast, odwalla protein shake, bagels,banana,orange
- Did not have to refill water, quick use of honebucket and we leave after 15 minute break
- Cruised past Puyallup hill, did couple of times during out training rides and previous years, rejoined with ansu and ashish on top of the hill
- Reached Spanaway at 46 mile, Jamba juce being the sponsor had some of it, start of PBJ:), and some fruits
- Refill water/electrolyte, use Rest room left after 30 minute rest there, 10 minutes more than planned, still we were good
- By then we saw ganesan and anand,they were maintaining slightly slower pace but was taking less rest, hence he was constantly curising ahead of us with his friend Anand.
10:00AM - Mile 74
- Reached mile 74, a mini stop by the trail along side. Quick refill of water, a shot of GU gel and we go.
- By then ashish had a fall and a rider crashing onto him , while he was trying to collect his water can which dropped due to bumps, luckily just small bruises, cleaned and had a plaster and we went on.
- Also had seen three ambulances , helping out crashed riders with face bleeding and scratches along.
- Reached Centralia the official midpoint for STP riders, many 2 day riders take rest here, camp, lodge and continue on their 2nd day.
- Tasty creamsciles, Quino lunch with tofu and veggies and an icecream was good to fill up, a great relief to our taste buds :)
- Filled in water/electrolyte, lubricated butt :) and there when we were about to go, we see our first set of 2 day riders varadan, Manohar reaching Centralia along with 1 day rider Hardik.
- Had our first and only photography of the ride there and we leave after 40 minutes break, 20 minutes more than what we had planned.
- Stopped at a unofficial mini stop with vendors selling water and gaitorade as hot cakes, it was hot enough to bother our riding. Hydrated enough with 15 minute rest and set go.
- That was already start of our rolling hills, starting to take a toll on us, but we were steadily pacelining with three of us taking turns
4:03 PM - Mile 145
- Reached Lexington food stop, we were almost exhausted by then, but that’s only ¾ of the ride, had to refuel ourselves, First taste of Dave’s killer bread, some pretzels was like a heavenly taste !
- Refilled water/electrolyte, had a gu gel shot and started on looking forward to Lewis and Clark Bridge
- By now we were already 1.5 hours behind out planned schedule, but we were still doing good to reach well before closing time.
It was not too steep, but was a long hilly and rough ride up the lewis and clark bridge and its part of the freeway entering Oregon. - Here we come Oregon State!! Going down the rough patch and scary downhill our maximum speed clocked at 36 mph down the bridge, entering Oregon.
- Stopped at a mini stop at mile 160, we thought we wouldn’t stop here but we had to stop due our soreness, we ended up resting for 20 minutes, refilling and having a gu shot.
- Last official food stop at St Helens, delicious watermelon and salty chips was great to taste at the end of the day, enjoyed the water spray after a hot and exhaustive ride.
- We knew that there was a small stop in between 173 mile and end point, we almost spent 40 minutes here at 173 without noticing, we were almost fearing if we would make it by 9 PM to finish to board the bike onto the truck
- Stopped at a mini stop which was closed by 7 pm, just to use honeybucket and stretched a bit, not realizing we had 20 more miles to cover, I always wanted to finish strong, hence decided to have the last Gu Gel and give it a blast
- Even though our body didn’t want to go any faster, mentally I was all prepped up to give a strong finish.
- I told ashish and ansu that I would like to have a strong finish.
- We knew that there were two more significant hills coming along to finish our ride
Couple of rolling hills, - I start to take off, starting with a 12mph uphill and then on going down at 22 mph and kept going, ashish was keeping up and we were riding together then on. Ansu was little behind after the penultimate hill.
- We take a right turn after a long ride onto to Portland town, starting with a decent long gradual hill, which I was always expecting
- We overtook every other struggling riders on that hill, we could hear enough people remarking holy xxxxx, that was a good moral boost, we kept going at the best pace we could.
- We were doing 18-22 the last 8 miles, and the end point was never coming,
Stopping at all the traffic signals along the streets to holladay park
- With all the cheers of numerous supporters and will power and awesome support of pacelining with Ashish and Ansu and ganesan, we made it to holladay park at Portland!!
STATISTICS
•Rolling Average - 17.2 mph
•Maximum Speed - 36 mph
•Rest Time - 3 hours 10 minutes
•Start Time - 4:56 AM
•Finish Time - 8:41 PM
•Riding Time - 12 hours 34 minutes
WHY DO THIS?
- Sheer Challenging of body over mind.
- Sense of Satisfaction and to reinforce the fact effort brings success
- Help spread the message "Educate a Child" and raise Funds
