STP write up, Day 1.
We didn't sleep too badly the night before the ride. I think much of our anxiety had been used up the day before for our "can we get up and actually bike at dawn?" trial ride, and we got to bed early, slept well enough that we didn't hear dh's aunt G getting in at about 11.
Up, shower, and breakfast. My usual Greek yogurt, blueberries, and Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal.
And miracle of miracles, Perry is coherent.
They closed the 520 bridge into Seattle that weekend, so we had to drive down to I-90, adding extra time to the drive in. We'd left the house at about exactly the time we'd hoped. It was still dark, and dawn came nicely as we were driving in, peeking in over the Cascades behind us, but the morning was misty, very misty.
The traffic to get to the parking lot at the start line was pretty bad. We crawled along, my stress levels mounting. Though to be honest? One of my biggest fears for the ride was getting up on Saturday morning, the sick feeling of OMG I need more sleep, and that didn't happen, and I felt good and strong to start.
Perry was chirpy and chattering away. Perry is not a morning person. This was different. He does chatter when he's nervous though, and he definitely was. Not bad nervous, I think, anticipation nervous.
Parked, and got gear on the bikes, and G, who'd be driving our car home and then later with AC down to Portland, via camping in Winlock, dh, and Perry waited by the mush of a start area while I went to the porta-potties.
Waiting in line for potties is a fact of life of STP. Some rest stops are well organised when it comes to potties and potty lines. Others less so.
Anyhow, that done, I got back to the others just in time to catch a departure wave, they let people leave every 10 minutes. Perry and I clipped in, we cleared the bike computer, started the tracking program on my cell and...
We were off!
The beginning of the ride is through Seattle, some nice areas too, through the Arboretum, around the lake. The first unofficial rest stop is 10 miles in. You can take it, or you can take a right. Right before that right there are is a BIG sign spray painted on the road: GEAR DOWN.
It's the first hill! It's teeny and short, but OMG, straight up. That done, there is a long upslope and we continue on towards points south.
We had our first incident at a stop light. Perry was still getting used to his clip shoes, I think and didn't unclip fast enough. He went down, he was fine, and we were alone, so no danger. I picked him up, bike and all, he and dh grabbed their first snack of the morning and we went on, hitting, it seemed, every single light red.
Before we knew it we were 25 miles in, at the first official rest stop, at REI headquarters. The theme was 80s, the volunteers were wearing head bands and leg warmers, and Juice Newton, really? On the loud speakers. It was fun, full of energy, we got to the bathrooms, Perry started eating and eating and filling his jersey pockets with more food, and we refilled waters.
We were making good time. We felt like we had to hurry, but not terribly so. See, to do STP in two days, we needed to average about 12mph, including stops, and I wasn't sure we could it. We planned a long first day, 120 miles, and I didn't want to get into camping too late. Yet here we were at the REI stop, in the thick of the crowd.
I'll say this now. We averaged much better than I'd expected, much better than last time, and as a result, instead of being in the lagging group, we were in the thick part of the python! There were always lots of people around us, and it made for a very different ride.
More points south. The next planned stop was Spanaway for lunch.
Perry was doing fine. He was cheerful, riding well, and safely. I was very proud of him!
And you know what? I need to start more last minute stuff for Yellowstone. Dh and I were up until 2:30 am, and the cat woke me up at 6, so I've gotten quite a bit done. Still more to do, and the kids have lost their DS car charger. OF course, like the library (see yesterday's whine), they knew they were supposed to get their DS stuff together days ago, but chose to sit on their butts in front of Sonic (crap) Shawn the sheep (double crap), Gloomy Ruby (I think) and bad anime. They can't use the DSs in the park at all, but they'd have liked to have them to and from, but no dice. Because they never listen to anything I have to say!
Anyhow!
Up, shower, and breakfast. My usual Greek yogurt, blueberries, and Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal.
And miracle of miracles, Perry is coherent.
They closed the 520 bridge into Seattle that weekend, so we had to drive down to I-90, adding extra time to the drive in. We'd left the house at about exactly the time we'd hoped. It was still dark, and dawn came nicely as we were driving in, peeking in over the Cascades behind us, but the morning was misty, very misty.
The traffic to get to the parking lot at the start line was pretty bad. We crawled along, my stress levels mounting. Though to be honest? One of my biggest fears for the ride was getting up on Saturday morning, the sick feeling of OMG I need more sleep, and that didn't happen, and I felt good and strong to start.
Perry was chirpy and chattering away. Perry is not a morning person. This was different. He does chatter when he's nervous though, and he definitely was. Not bad nervous, I think, anticipation nervous.
Parked, and got gear on the bikes, and G, who'd be driving our car home and then later with AC down to Portland, via camping in Winlock, dh, and Perry waited by the mush of a start area while I went to the porta-potties.
Waiting in line for potties is a fact of life of STP. Some rest stops are well organised when it comes to potties and potty lines. Others less so.
Anyhow, that done, I got back to the others just in time to catch a departure wave, they let people leave every 10 minutes. Perry and I clipped in, we cleared the bike computer, started the tracking program on my cell and...
We were off!
The beginning of the ride is through Seattle, some nice areas too, through the Arboretum, around the lake. The first unofficial rest stop is 10 miles in. You can take it, or you can take a right. Right before that right there are is a BIG sign spray painted on the road: GEAR DOWN.
It's the first hill! It's teeny and short, but OMG, straight up. That done, there is a long upslope and we continue on towards points south.
We had our first incident at a stop light. Perry was still getting used to his clip shoes, I think and didn't unclip fast enough. He went down, he was fine, and we were alone, so no danger. I picked him up, bike and all, he and dh grabbed their first snack of the morning and we went on, hitting, it seemed, every single light red.
Before we knew it we were 25 miles in, at the first official rest stop, at REI headquarters. The theme was 80s, the volunteers were wearing head bands and leg warmers, and Juice Newton, really? On the loud speakers. It was fun, full of energy, we got to the bathrooms, Perry started eating and eating and filling his jersey pockets with more food, and we refilled waters.
We were making good time. We felt like we had to hurry, but not terribly so. See, to do STP in two days, we needed to average about 12mph, including stops, and I wasn't sure we could it. We planned a long first day, 120 miles, and I didn't want to get into camping too late. Yet here we were at the REI stop, in the thick of the crowd.
I'll say this now. We averaged much better than I'd expected, much better than last time, and as a result, instead of being in the lagging group, we were in the thick part of the python! There were always lots of people around us, and it made for a very different ride.
More points south. The next planned stop was Spanaway for lunch.
Perry was doing fine. He was cheerful, riding well, and safely. I was very proud of him!
And you know what? I need to start more last minute stuff for Yellowstone. Dh and I were up until 2:30 am, and the cat woke me up at 6, so I've gotten quite a bit done. Still more to do, and the kids have lost their DS car charger. OF course, like the library (see yesterday's whine), they knew they were supposed to get their DS stuff together days ago, but chose to sit on their butts in front of Sonic (crap) Shawn the sheep (double crap), Gloomy Ruby (I think) and bad anime. They can't use the DSs in the park at all, but they'd have liked to have them to and from, but no dice. Because they never listen to anything I have to say!
Anyhow!