Friday, July 17, 2015

Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic 2015 (mid-July)

Another year, another STP!

Since this post will cover several days, I'll do my best to jot down notable events from my journey and stay in Portland, rather than listing every last thing that happened. The tweets will have a lot of the details.

Stormy Skies at JBLM
  1. STP Day 1
  2. STP Day 2
  3. Portland Day 1
  4. Portland Day 2
  5. Return Home
Collection of Geotagged Albums

More after the break…

Throughout the entire trip, I was slowly raising my saddle straight up (correcting for the seat tube angle). I had a lot of foot and knee pain at the start, and it gradually became less. I more or less got it right during my first day of riding in Portland.

STP Day 1

Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic 2015 (Album)

Despite my rush to pack, I ended up leaving a half-hour later than I had hoped, but joined the wave only fifteen minutes after the one last year.

STP Starting Line
STP Starting Line

I rode with a front rando bag and a rear saddle bag, and left the panniers with my overnight stuff on the truck to Vader. I did have tools and a good amount of food for the ride, so I was able to at least skip some stops.

STP Starting Line

However, throughout the first part of the trip, I needed to use the restroom a lot.

I saw one of my coworkers on his bike with aero bars who was doing the ride in one day in southeast Seattle.

REI Rest Stop
REI Rest Stop
REI Rest Stop

Unlike last year, we were routed through Joint Base Lewis McChord rather than along SR-507, as a lot of folks really hated the latter and someone got into a collision with a car last year.

Deviation 0: JBLM: The route along SR-507 has been the bane of many cyclists' on the STP, as it's a bit narrow and there's a lot of traffic. After past incidents along that route, we went via Joint Base Lewis-McChord this year.
JBLM Rest Stop
JBLM Rest Stop
Deviation 1: Yelm: Rather than going around Yelm to get to the trail, we cut right through it.

A few folks still ended up being carried away in ambulances, unfortunately.

Tenino Rest Stop
Tenino Rest Stop
STP Midpoint
STP Midpoint

Similar to last year, there were folks riding unconventional vehicles such as skateboards and ElliptiGoes. There was also a dedicated group riding single-speed beach cruisers, who didn't walk the route at all. They stood on the pedals up the hills!

Beach Cruiser Cabal: They never walked hills!

Unlike last year, however, we were routed on a new bike trail that took us along the other side of I-5 rather than along the highway between Centralia and Chehalis.

Deviation 2: Centralia: A new bicycle trail opened since 2014, so the route was tweaked to use it instead of the more direct highway overpass.

Folks started dropping off for their midpoint lodging starting at Centralia, and the cyclist crowds grew thinner and thinner. I, however, got a caffeinated soda after the big climb to Napavine to shove me the last of the way there.

Winlock: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Winlock: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
World's Largest Egg
Vader Church Bicycle Storage

After climbing out of the saddle a bunch to get to Vader, I made the left to where I was staying for the night.

Vader Church
Vader Church Bicycle Storage
Vader Church Midpoint Lodging
Vader
Vader

Dinner for me was spaghetti, garlic bread, pie, a root beer float, and a couple brownies.

Vader Church Pie Table
Vader Church

STP Day 2

Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic 2015 (Album)

Day 2 got off to a bad start:

The first rest stop at Lexington was also closed when I got there.

Lexington Rest Stop: Wasn't open when I got there in the morning.
Lexington Rest Stop: Wasn't open when I got there in the morning.

So I just kept at it until after crossing the river. I did pass the rando group after a while.

SR-4 Bridge in Longview
Kelso: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Kelso: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Kelso: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

The local police gave us the entire southbound lane and shoulder on the Lewis and Clark Bridge in waves this year, which made passing everyone else on the uphill part much easier.

Lewis and Clark Bridge
Lewis and Clark Bridge
Lewis and Clark Bridge

I stopped periodically for food when on US 30, as I hadn't eaten since breakfast.

Goble Rest Stop
Goble Rest Stop
Goble Rest Stop

I saw some of the same folks over and over, such as a guy on a beautiful-looking gold Soma Double Cross Disc (the disc version of my frame).

Just like last year, I stopped for a big triple mocha in Saint Helens, and ended up zipping along at high speed despite my saddle's less-than-ideal height at that point.

Rocky Point Rest Stop
Rocky Point Rest Stop

I ended up getting to the finish line at just before 13:00 and used the food and merchandise voucher to buy some stuff.

STP Finish Line
STP Finish Line
STP Finish Line
STP Finish Line
P7124136: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I grabbed my luggage and headed to the hostel where I would be spending the next few nights. My phone finally turned on when I got there.

Fremont Bridge

I spent the evening chilling at the adjacent coffee shop for a while.

My aunt, my cousin, and my cousin's girlfriend took me out to dinner at one of their favorite places for some Mediterranean food.

Portland Day 1

Portland 2015 (Album)

The next morning, I headed out to ride for a while. Before that, though, I chatted with an older woman for a while in one of the common areas in the hostel.

Steel Bridge
Burnside Bridge
Steel Bridge Closure
Steel Bridge Closure

I took the Broadway Bridge and the annoying switchbacks instead.

I ended up riding around quite a bit, dealing with detours and whatnot, but did eventually make it to Tigard to meet my aunt at one of her workplaces.

Westside Trail

And then went back into town, stopping at Jamba Juice along the way.

Portland
Portland

I ate at a couple more places before heading over to Bike Gallery to see about doing something regarding my slipping seatpost. They used some carbon grit, as my post is aluminum and my frame is Steel.

While heading back to the other side of the river, I was coasting down in a lane to the right of the right turn lane and had to emergency brake as a driver who was sitting there started moving to make the turn. My front wheel locked and I went down a few feet away from her car, but I just got a scraped knee.

Hawthorne Bridge
Portland
Portland
Portland

I made it back to the Springwater Corridor to return to the other side of the river.

P7134160: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
P7134161: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

I did stop by Splendid Cycles and chatted a bit, but one of the employees and I got into a minor argument over headlights: B&M (which spread the beam across the road) versus Supernova (which has a light that's not road-legal in Germany due to brightness, but has a very narrow beam). I left in a slightly sour mood.

Splendid Bicycles

When I got to the other side of the river, I headed up to the Fred Meyer near the hostel for fried chicken, fruit, beer, and a salad. My front back was so stuffed that I couldn't even fit my sweater in, so I had to wear it.

The chicken was good, but not special. Not sure why he wanted the recipe so badly.

Portland Day 2

Portland 2015 (Album)

I headed out early again on my second day in Portland.

Steel Bridge
Steel Bridge

I ended up riding out along the Springwater Corridor, which was rather nice.

Springwater Corridor
Springwater Corridor
Springwater Corridor
Springwater Corridor
P7144176: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
P7144177: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Stormy Skies
Springwater Corridor
Springwater Corridor
Springwater Corridor

I couldn't spend all day out riding, though, as I had plans to meet up with my aunt again. We first headed to the Pittock Mansion. You can see the large album for more photos of the rooms and interesting features like the ancestors of today's thermostats and mixer shower taps. It even had an old internal telephone system!

Pittock Mansion
P7144203: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Overlook of Portland: From the Pittock Mansion

After that, she took me out for Greek food, a doughnut, and some ice cream. Of course, I'll have to treat her when she next visits Seattle.

Portland
Bike Racks
Blue Start Doughnuts
Salt and Straw: Ice cream!
Nigel Thornberry Art at Salt and Straw
Salt and Straw: Ice cream!

After we parted ways for the last time on this trip, I headed out to Rivelo only to find it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays like the other things around it.

As Grant Peterson, the founder of Rivendell, created and is a proponent of mustache bars, it would make sense that they are popular in a city with a Rivendell dealer.

Rivelo: It was closed when I got there.
Rivelo: It was closed when I got there.

Since it was closed, I just headed back to the hostel.

I was delighted to find that there was a live show that night.

Amanda West Performance: At the Northwest Portland Hostel.
Amanda West Performance: At the Northwest Portland Hostel.
Amanda West Performance: At the Northwest Portland Hostel.
Amanda West Performance: At the Northwest Portland Hostel.

Return Home

Return Home(Album)

It was a quick jaunt to the train station that started my return home. It was painless and I only had to pay extra to box up some of my bags as only two would be free.

Fremont Bridge

The ride itself was rather uneventful, aside from freight train delays.

Interstate Bridge
P7154332: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Olympia/Lacey Station

There were some other folks leaving the train with their STP bikes (complete with bar numbers) at major stations along the way, including the end at Seattle.

Return Home

I only stopped at my LBS and post office on the way home.

In the end, my saddle was nice and broken in, and it was mostly high enough!

P7154346: OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Posted by at
Labels:

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)