Race Report: STP One Day

2013 Group Health Seattle to Portland One Day Ride

Strava Part One
Strava Part Two
(my Garmin didn't start until ~3 miles in and then the battery died at mile 180 wherein I turned on the Strava app on my phone to capture the last 20 miles)

~206 miles
~3,500 ft elevation
12:42 time in the saddle
3:45 taking breaks
15.9 mph average

Random thoughts on the ride:

• The weather was perfect, I kept my layers on until the halfway mark in Centralia.
• Jed was awesome, seriously such great support (see braid photo below).  He kept morale up, great attitude and took care of us fabulously.  So much appreciation.
• I pulled the entire ride except for about 10 miles where Kim pulled or I picked up the back of a pace line.  It was hard to find pace lines the second half of the ride and many times I had to slow down to go on a pace line just to give myself a wind break for a bit.
• Terrible headwind.  Especially on the highway portion (miles 130-190).
• We left UW at 4:30am and arrived in Portland around 9pm.
• Got passed by my friend Guido, it was cool that amongst 10,000+ people, we were able to see each other on the course.  He finished about 5 hours before we did.
• Miles 130-175 were the longest miles ever.
• Miles 150-175 = world of hurt.
• Miles 180-200 = Garmin died, felt so lost and confused at not knowing speed and distance left.
• 1 mile out from Finish Line, Kim's back tire totally blew out.  Put in another tube and hoped for the best.
• 1/2 mile out from Finish Line, Kim's back tire blew out again.  Good samaritan that worked at local bike shop gave Kim his tire.  Gave his tire.  Meanwhile, Jed thinks we have died 1/2 mile from finish line and frantically calls/texts me. (He had a GPS tracking on my phone to know where we were all day).
• Good bike samaritan saves my sanity and I tell him that we will bring a 6 pack of his favorite beer to his work the next day.
• Finish Line, finally.  
• Hotel, where I had pre-packed a couple of Blue Moons in a cooler for much needed shower beers.
• Overall, I had a really good time but for now, this is a one-and-done situation for me.  I would happily do support for friends in future.
• TMI: while at home on Sunday, inspecting 'damage' done to my body, I found two huge bruises on the bottom of my booty cheeks.  No wonder they were hurting so badly during the ride.

4:30am Start Line

Around mile 150 - legs are hurtin'

Jed's sweet braiding skills at 100 miles in.

Finish Line action shot

Finish line with 1 Day Rider patches

Lake WA Loop Plus Some

 

On Saturday, Kim and I completed the our longest ride yet for this season, 60 miles.  Our original plan was to do 80 miles with a group of Kim's friends but we quickly realized that their speed was much quicker than ours and that trying to keep up for 80 miles would be no fun.

 

 

So we ended up backtracking from Montlake to I-90 and back, watched some of the UW vs Cal races on the Montlake Bridge above the cut, went back and forth a bit in Kirkland, got caught in downpour rain for about 10 miles in Renton, but overall had a good, adventurous ride.

 

 

My Thoughts on Boston

I still feel in shock when I think or read updated reports of the Boston Marathon yesterday.  I feel more struck and more affected by this act of terrorism and hate than I have by other senseless and cowardly shootings and tragedies.

I feel connected to the athletes and spectators hurt by the bombings because I am an athlete.  While I have never ran a marathon, I have ran a couple halfs and have done various other endurance events.  We are athletes.  We have the same goals, same lifestyles, same feelings of pushing our bodies to accomplish events.

I am horrified at what happened, to hear about amputations and worse of the athletes and spectators.  I can easily place myself in their shoes with my family and friends at the finish line.  These cowardly attacks leave many questions in its place: why?  who would do something like this?  These questions have been asked before with  no answer.

This one struck much too close to home.  Pray for Boston. Pray for the athletes.

Attempting Seattle to Portland in One Day

This year, Ashley, Kim and I will be attempting to complete the Seattle to Portland bike ride in one day.  It is going to be a doozy.

Total distance: ~205 miles
Total elevation gain: 4,828 feet

 

Post-Holidays Juicing Update

I know I stopped posting about juicing a while ago, so as a wrap-up, I juiced for all meals for 7 days and lost a whopping total of 3lbs.  Sigh.

However, the juicing is clearly not sustainable as I was miserable (did I mention cold?) and bored with my meals for the full week.  The secondary week I switched to juicing for breakfast and/or lunch and although that was much more do-able, I wasn't enjoying it much.  I am not sure how others have juiced for multiple months.

After a lovely holiday back home I am back to reality today.  My juicer currently sits forlorn on the counter and I eyeball it once in a while, contemplating a return.

For the next two months I will be busy studying once again so while I may make a juice once in  a while (a lot of the recipes were really tasty), I will not be regularly juicing again in the immediate future.