STP - The Prequel

I wanted to write down thoughts from my experience, both to share with friends and family, and to remind myself in a year how I felt. Terra and I decided to do the STP last year after our 3 day walk - another "big" goal....we started training in the spring. 20 miles was our "typical" ride. I met up with Kim (after not seeing each other in quite a few years), who thought it sounded fun, and she joined in on the adventure.

This event sells out every year, so we signed up the first day it was open. It was official!!! I attended a STP prep seminar at REI which was GREAT in understanding what we were in for. We came away from that overwhelmed and decided it was time to get our butts in gear!  We also had to plan logistics of where to stay overnight - which, btw, midpoint hotels all sell out when the dates are announced...oops. We were NOT camping, so we had to figure something else out (which was Steve and Sherri meeting us where we stopped on day 1, shuttling us BACK to Olympia to overnight in a HOTEL, and then taking us back to our start on day 2). Later on, I attended a clinic on how to change a flat tire - very good thing to know. The hands on was great (though I don't know if I'll remember it when I need it!).

I made tweaks to my bike - a new seat (thank you, ladies specific saddle), a bike fitting (shorter stem to bring my hands closer and help my back), clipless pedals (though intimidating at first, really increase power), adding a second bottle cage, adding a couple of bags to carry essentials, etc.  I made tweaks to my gear - a nicer helmet, bigger shoes (my toes kept falling asleep even though they were "my" size), different shorts (that didn't ride up), SPF arm and leg coolers (to keep the sun off), etc. I tried to figure out nutrition and hydration - which bars melted in the heat, which flavors of Nuun I didn't like, how my stomach reacted to different things at different times in the ride, what to eat for breakfast, etc.


We rode a LOT on the Burke-Gilman trail. South of Marymoor park to University of WA round trip was 60 miles, so that ride we got really quite tired of, but it is easy, safe, and close. A few rides on the Centennial trail from Snohomish past Arlington, also 60 miles RT. We did a ride around Brier to get in some hills and practice road riding. I also did a ride with my friend Sara in Carnation, which was great experience on roads and HILLS. Giant HILLS. All in all we were riding our bikes 2-3 times a week for about 3 months. Our longest ride was 45 miles on a Saturday, followed by 80 miles the next day. Also I took a spin class once a week which really helped my endurance and hill prep.

Could we have trained more, YES. Did we train enough, YES. Probably should have done an organized ride as well as getting more comfortable with road riding, but we went for it. The hills we were nervous about, but doing one big hill as a training ride wasn't going to help us much at this point.

The week before the ride, I practiced getting up early. I knew we'd have VERY early and long days and I am NOT a morning person. This was a hard part of training for me!!!!

We put in the miles, it was time to go!!