STP - Day 2

After a good night's rest, we woke up at 4:45 to hit the road by 5:30. The start this time was from where we left off, so there was no cluster at the start. We actually hit the road closer to 6 I think by the time we geared up and went potty. People were of course already on the road, starting before us and further north (like Centralia), so we joined in mid-stream. Another vocal command "coming over!" which means I'm merging and I'm going to be in your way, like it or not. The first minute back on the bike was like HELLO bike seat and OH my legs, but after a mile or so, everything settled in nicely.

Start of Day 2

Heading off!!

Now we get to the "rolling hills" portion of the ride. These were fun - big enough down hills to get some momentum, and short enough climbs to be "easy". We averaged about 20mph I think on this hill section and made great time the first hour. My hands and feet were frozen, but I knew it would be warming up. I guess his is why they give you a weird jacket as part of your packet - I opted to suck it up and freeze. We hit another big hill, which everyone failed to mention...but we pressed on!

Heading into staging area for bridge crossing.

40 miles into day 2, we came to the Lewis and Clark bridge - entering into Oregon. They provide a motorcycle escort over the bridge - it's a long bridge, fairly steep, and a little bumpy. They grouped us together in a pack, let traffic through, then stopped traffic and let a group of us go, as if we were cars. (Picture is while I was riding again, shhhhh...you can see the bridge in the distance, and the staging area on the side road we were riding on). Over the bridge, there was no passing room, and it was slow and steady. Just had to go with the flow. As you though you were cresting, it just seemed to keep going! The downhill was fun - except for the large girders that looked like your tires would slip right through. Lots of lost water bottles on the down hill, but we all managed to keep ours.  The bridge was not as hard as it had been made out to be for me, so you win some and lose some I guess. Then onto the highway off ramp (also fun) and more HOT straight aways. Along Hwy 30 was horrible traffic and horrible roads and seemed to go forever. Cars were not very nice if people were in the lane attempting to pass (the shoulder only allowed single file). The rolling hill climbs got longer and steeper, but this meant the downhills got longer as well - going about 30mph on the downhill is a rush! I am more cautious down hill than most...I envision the person in front of me wiping out taking me with them. But, luckily, we had no mishaps!

Lunch break with less than 30 miles to go! We made slower progress due to the heat (and tired legs), but still averaged the same bike time...just more resting time.  Again real food tasted good! Slice of a turkey wrap and frozen grapes! We all took turns being the person who was ready to keep going and the person who was ready to be done. It was a great dynamic and we made a good team! We enjoyed the misters that were set up.

we found a shady spot to rest a few

I don't remember what I was thinking the last part of the road...other than "I can't believe I am actually doing this, and doing OK" and "ok, only 9 more miles until the next stop". I passed a guy who asked me if this was my first STP, and I slowed a bit so we could chat. This was his 21st STP!!! He told me I had passed him a while back too and he thought I looked like I knew what I was doing and that he's seen lots of riders and you can tell the "good, strong" ones. Yes, yes....this did help my attitude. I don't care if it was true or not, but I felt like a rockstar. I also got a "good job, Pinky" at one point from someone. Now, as people pass you and say "you're doing good, keep going" I get pissy...I feel like they are patronizing me instead of helping. I am probably just pissed they passed me. I did the same thing though to a kid I passed, and I wondered if he felt the same or if it helped him. Side note: there were LOTS of 11+ year olds doing this race on their OWN bikes. Incredible!!! Lots of tandem bikes, lots of 3, 4, and even 5 seaters. Even a unicycle! We saw beach cruisers, mountain bikes, old rickety bikes, racing bikes, everything in between. The people watching was fun.

Continuing on...There was a 1/2 mile STEEP hill getting up to the St John's bridge, marking 10 miles to the finish. That hill was my least favorite. It was heavy traffic and hard to pass. I wanted to just GET UP it!

Across the bridge and making our way into Portland. Then slow going with traffic and stop lights. But we could use a cool down I guess. Occasional people cheered us on and that was nice. Gave a few high fives (which made me realize my hands were hurting!). I got a little teary eyed - like, HOLY CRAP this is real. I'm almost done.

My cleats somehow decided they didn't want to release any more, I guess they were tired. So, I stayed unclipped the last 3 or 4 miles in...last thing I wanted was to fall on my face at the end. There was a stop light before the finish I guess so you don't go racing through...kind of anti-climatic if you ask me  - but we came across the finish and DONE!! We finished at about 4:50pm.  Total for the day 90.1 miles and 6 h 39m ride time.

It was kind of odd to me, compared to a marathon finish, there was no food for us. Good thing I packed snacks! I bought myself a finishers shirt, took my lovely finisher's patch, and hit the road (After using camping no-rinse bath wipes and changing clothes in the car). Grabbed a Burgerville burger on the way home. Do you know it takes like 4 hours to DRIVE home??? That's a long way :)