Warning: long article ahead!
Somehow even with a garage-building project going on and with a 7-month-old baby at home, I've managed to get in a lot of long bike rides and get in the best shape I've seen in several years. "Somehow" means via the immense generosity of my wonderful wife Carol. Even though she works her full-time job as a mom all week long (a job for which I have tremendous respect) she's still willing to let me take off for a six-hour bike ride every couple of weekends.
I've commuted to work by bike almost every day since Christmas. That has also helped my conditioning, even though it's a short ride (6 miles to work, about 10 coming home if I go the "long" way). The ride home has a steep hill no matter which way I go, so that has helped my strength.
Given the good form I've been able to achieve this year, I was ready to repeat last year's longest ride by completing the Seattle to Portland (STP) 200-mile ride in one day. This year I even knew what I was getting in to. Everyone has a different range of experiences during a ride this long. Steve W says everybody suffers at some point on the ride. So this story only relates my own personal experience. Your mileage may vary.
The "team" I rode with was composed of people who come from the loose "club" I ride with often on Saturdays. Several are former racers. This year the crew included Steve Schock, Steve Wyands, and Darby Lippincott all of whom I did the ride with last year. We were joined this year by Peter Kellogg-Smith, Steve Clark and friend of friend Anna Jurgens. Anna is a former racer, but it took a brave woman to jump into a group of strangers at the last minute before a 200-mile ride.
Anyway, on to the ride. We left the start line at 5:40am. We managed to survive the 24 miles of carnage to the first food stop. It's amazing how many people one passes at the start of this ride who seem to have spontaneously fallen off their bicycles. In the first 100 miles we saw about half dozen people laid out on their backs on the road side waiting for an ambulance. Perhaps they try riding in a paceline for the first time but they don't know the primary rule of paceline riding: never let your front tire overlap the rear wheel of the rider in front of you. You will crash. The second rule is never hit your brakes.
Once past the first food stop the route enters the Kent Valley and transitions from urban to a mix of farms and industrial parks. It opens up enough that we could start getting a paceline going. We were able to cruise along at 23-25mph. I took a couple of good strong pulls at the front of the paceline, feeling a lot stronger than last year.
I pulled into the first few food stops with a very full bladder, which meant I was adequately hydrated. Steve W and I decided to stop at the bottom of the only big hill of the ride (at 43 miles) because we didn't want to climb the hill having to pee that badly. Then we chased back, managing to catch the group just as they reached the second food stop at 54 miles.
The next 20 miles cruise down the "back" (east) side of Fort Lewis. This year the route was changed a little and miles 72 to 86 were on a relatively new bike path from Yelm to Tenino. This was an immensely enjoyable part of the ride. The bike path was shaded by trees and passed by a lake and we were flying along so smoothly. Near the end of it, one member of our group forgot the aforementioned primary rule of paceline riding. Anna was leading, the unnamed rider was second and I was third. He touched her wheel and hit his brakes and veered right. His braking brought his wheel back, overlapping mine, and his veer to the right almost took my wheel out from under me. Somehow, purely by instinct, I got my left foot unclipped and skidded it along the asphalt like an outrigger and pushed down on my handlebars which stabilized my front wheel and next thing you know I was still rolling along instead of sprawled on the trail with a broken collarbone and a bunch of road rash. That would have had a negative effect my mood.
I expected a big adrenaline rush, but I didn't feel one immediately. Although when we rolled into the Tenino food stop at mile 86 I noticed my legs were shaking a little. That was close.
The Tenino food stop, by the way, is where I was seriously bonked last year. This year, the adrenaline rush notwithstanding, I was feeling fantastic.
As we were leaving that stop, Darby noticed that a tandem crew she knew had left just ahead of us. I didn't realize it, but we were on a mission to catch them. Next thing you know we were sustaining 27mph on flat ground - that's very fast. We pretty much maintained a pace above 25mph for the remaining 14 miles to the halfway point at Centralia at 100 miles. Our time was 4:53 (fastest century I've ever done) and our average speed was at about 20.2.
In Tenino we ran into friends of Peter named Chris and Adam. They were a couple of strong young bucks who stayed with us the rest of the ride and did a huge amount of pulling.
Anna decided in Centralia that she had had enough of a 25mph pace in the flats. She told us she would separate from the group if she needed to. Steve Clark bonked at the same place I did last year, and like I did last year, caught up to us in Centralia and departed with the group.
Once the route leaves the city streets of Centralia and Chehalis it turns back into rural roads through farms. Just before Napavine, at mile 112 is the second hardest hill of the ride but it isn't too bad; only 1/2 mile long. At mile 122 is a food stop at Winlock. To my teammates' amazement, I ate a hot dog and a Mountain Dew. Most sports foods (Power Bars, etc.) focus on carbohydrates. My body doesn't tolerate a pure carb diet very well during long events. I have to have some significant protein occasionally. Hot dogs seem to work just fine.
Then back in the saddle and powering on. Various members were now starting to suffer a little. When we pulled into the Lexington food stop at mile 145 we all sprawled out on the grass. Then we tried to choke down the ham & cheese sandwiches, nectarines, grapes, fig newtons and oreos provided at the stop. Anna was still with us at this point, but she left the stop before us with the intention of keeping her own comfortable pace the rest of the way.
When we left the stop everybody was feeling a little sluggish. I was in the front and felt like I couldn't go faster than 17. But fairly soon my legs were spinning more freely and soon I was leading out at about 21-22mph. Not too fast for tired riders, but keeping our average above 20 as we'd hoped. Soon I was feeling quite good again and I led for most of the 6 miles into Kelso.
Kelso and Longview feel pretty urban, but traffic was pretty light. At mile 153 the route crosses the Lewis and Clark Bridge over the Columbia River and enters Oregon. The bridge is a fairly significant hill, both up and down. Steve W hit his high speed of the ride at 47mph going down the other side. I didn't check my max speed but I don't think I went that fast. The friendly locals in their oversized pickup trucks threatened to run me down as I was passing slower riders.
The group got split up approaching the bridge because there was a lot of rider traffic. On the other side we each kept our own pace for a while. Peter bonked a little at the bridge and Steve W and myself shortly thereafter. My bonkage was relatively minor. I slowed down to about 16 for a few minutes but soon I was back up at 21. Steve W found a tandem to tag onto and caught back up to me. Steve S and Darby had left us in the dust by now. At mile 166 we pulled into a convenience store for drinks. As we were coming out, Peter pulled in. The three of us felt better after that and we were able to get up a good pace again into the last food stop at mile 175 in the town of St. Helens.
Since Steve W and Peter and I had just stopped recently and the others had been at the St. Helens stop longer, we took off soon. We were all feeling pretty good again at this point. Then, at mile 190, a fast tandem passed us. Whoever was leading our group (I was at the back at the time) decided to chase the tandem and get a free ride into Portland. I got gapped by about 50 yards by the acceleration. I hammered as hard as I could and just about caught up to the group when I blew up and had to back off. I was doing 29mph, which is a record-setting speed for me. The group was riding away from me at 30mph. Amazing. I watched them disappear into the distance knowing I wouldn't see them again until the finish line.
I took a few minutes to recover at about 17mph and then got back up to 21 pretty comfortably. I was starting to get tired, though. I ate a banana I had been carrying, but my body was done eating and moving at the same time. Then at mile 199 the route turns hard right and goes up a steep little hill for a block or two. I bonked completely at that point, climbing the hill at 6mph. Fortunately I was well into Portland now with only a couple of miles to go to the finish. I plodded along and came rolling into the finish about 15 minutes behind the group. I found them all lying on the grass relaxing.
Ironically, Anna had beat us all to Portland. She had already met up with her friend and left the finish area by the time I got there. I guess slow and steady (well, actually just '“not-so-damn-fast" and steady' Anna was by no means slow) wins the race.
My ride time was 10:04 with an average speed of 20.2mph on my computer. The rest of the team did 20.4mph
Overall I was pretty happy with my ride and how I felt during it. The very most important aspect of long endurance events like this is good management of food and liquid. I did really well for the first 140 miles. I think I got overconfident about my hydration and subconsciously started drinking less. That caused me to bonk after the effort of the Longview bridge. I'll have to focus even more on that next year. I was very pleased that I felt quite good until about mile 155. I also had a little breakthrough in that I felt confident enough to eat and drink on the bike while traveling at high speed in a paceline. I used to find that pretty terrifying so I wouldn't eat or drink enough between stops. When the stops are 30 miles apart, one must eat on the bike. Of course, the main thing that contributed to my ability to do that this year was the confidence I had in my teammates and their paceline skills.
Hopefully I'll get enough miles in next spring to do it again next year. Especially with this great group.
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