Seattle-to-Portland, not all that it's cracked up to be...

So. Some time ago Shelley expressed an interest in riding the STP and I of course eagerly accepted. I LOVE riding our tandems with her and figured that we would be peaking fresh from two weeks of riding in Portugal so this would be cake. As a bonus, I invited Andy G from work to come along and he accepted. Nice.

Well. That was then and this is now and Martin is much wiser than he was prior to Saturday morning. But let me break it down for you.

 

This was my first time doing this ride in two days. In the past I have just rolled down from my house to the start with a messenger bag, tossed it on the Portland truck and then picked it up at the finish. This time we had to drive the bike and duffel bags to the start (luckily I was able to park on campus 'cuz I work there), walk the bike and bags to the start and then put them on the Centralia truck.

The start window for cyclists is from oh-dark thirty (people were rolling out at 4:45!) to 7:30 AM on Saturday morning so we opted for the incredibly sane departure time of 7. Seemed like a super smart choice, right? Wrong. When you leave as 'late' as we did, you are mired in countless people who are going to average 15 mph at best and even if you pass one or two packs on the road, when you stop for a light they are instantly replaced by hundreds or other cyclists just like them.

Here we are before we started. All smiles.

As is my nature I had been hyping the best parts of this ride for weeks (months?) prior to the start and by now Shelley and Andy had both had their fill. I had intimately described each rest stop and stretch of road and hill based on my wholly inaccurate recollection from my last ride which was around five years ago. Typical.

At the top of my list of misinformation was my description of the REI food stop about 25 miles in. I had solemnly assured everyone that this food stop was the bomb and that we could assuredly fill our pockets with enough treats to last all the way to Centralia once we got there. What did they have? Peanut butter wraps, fruit and Odwalla juices. Oh yeah, I guess there were some Clif products around if you could find them but the crowds were so massive it was almost scary to go anywhere! And there were cops, err... volunteers everywhere to ensure that you only took one of any item. I lied, said one juice was for my wife and got the hell out of Dodge. Who need solid food anyway. Shelley got even less – here she is with her one juice.

And here is Andy showing us that undershirts do indeed conceal your bib shorts suspenders.

Next up was my assumption that this would be bike ride. Oh sure, the vast majority of people rode bicycles but the STP has turned into a bit of a circus and people seem to be outdoing each other in their efforts to ride the most insane mode of transportation down to Portland. Like these ElliptiGOs.

ASIDE – these ElliptiGO people are obviously dedicated/nuts...

Or on a skateboard. Not sure which one of these guys was there this year but damn if they didn't do it again. 200 miles in two days on a long board, holy leg piston Batman.

Or the three hippie looking people on a side-by-side-by-side triple bike. Sorry, no pictures of this one... And in case you were wondering, this rig DOES take up the entire shoulder/right lane of traffic so good luck trying to pass them whenever there is any traffic. Or there is any sort of incline. Or at any intersection. You guessed it, we had to pass them several times.

Or the dude on his crazy three-wheeled, upright, sway-it-back-and-forth-to-keep-it-moving thingy... I was not even sure how to Google that. But it quite possibly took up even more space as it wagged back and forth down the road than the triple thing. Thanks goodness we only passed him once. Not even sure he finished to tell you the truth, his forward progress was not so impressive...

I also had no clue what massive amounts of people we would encounter on the road. When you do the ride in one day and when you start at 6 like I usually did in the past, you 1) have lots fewer folks to pass and 2) after you hit the half way point there are WAY fewer people on the road. This time that was not the case – it was almost claustrophobic from the start all the way to the finish.

And what is with all the 'mini' (read: pay-for) food stops?! I paid good money to do this ride and never have I had so little support. There were literally TWO free food stops each day. Two stops in 100 miles? C'mon. Compare that to a ride like the Seattle Century where you get food around every corner and then a f'n fabulous dinner and beer at the end all for no extra and it makes me wonder what's going on. Sure, the scale of the rides is not really comparable but still, I remember more food...

Did I mention standing in line? By the end of the ride we were experts at that; EXPERTS I tell you. We had to wait in line at every stop for everything from the food to the drink to the bike coral to the well, you know.

There are never enough.

Technorati Tags: Seattle to Portland,Cascade Bicycle Club,STP

back of the bike

Thanks to Shelley for being much more creative than me and for taking the time to splice together this compilation from our ride at the Travessia de Portugal and for finding the perfect song to accompany all the images.

back of the bike

The song is: LCD Soundsystem - All My Friends

Technorati Tags: Travessia de Portugal,CICLONATUR,back of the bike

Travessia de Portugal-part 18

I wish we had taken even more pictures.

Not much left to report. We had to get up at 4:30 to catch a taxi at 5 to make our 7:30 AM flight. I will say that checking the bike box with KLM was a freaking dream compared to when we left Seattle and had to deal with Delta… We simply walked up to the counter, told them we needed to check our bike and they charged us 55 Euro. Compare that to the $500 we paid going the other way; doesn't it just make you sick? Why the airlines can't pull their collective heads out is a mystery to me.

This ride will forever be a part of me. Having ridden the route twice I am amazed at how much I remembered from the first time. Almost every day we would ride past some small feature and I would blurt out, "I remember this from the race!" You can't do something like this and not be changed forever. Judging by Shelley's lunch selection in the Schiphol airport on our way home that goes for her as well.

Bread, meat paste, and beer. Sometimes it's the simple things.

If anyone reading this is considering doing this tour for the first time here is what I learned.

• Take a CamelBak. You will need it. Not just for the water bladder (don't get a cute little small one!) but also to carry some spare clothes and tools and food.
• Bring spare parts for everything. We brought along a spare tire, one chain, a complete set of chainrings, and spare cycling shoes. It was not enough. I also needed a cassette and should have brought spare cleats and spokes and more tools. I also brought spare derailleur cables and a spare rear derailleur but luckily did not need them. Bring an extra derailleur hanger if your bike uses one.
• Disk brakes – you will need them. Any rim brake (cantilever or V-brake) will be inadequate and you will go through several sets of brake pads. Hydraulic is better than mechanical but disk is required.
• In the Pacific NW tubeless tires with sealant are not so crucial. In Portugal they are. Each day you will ride through thistles, thorns, and sharp stones not to mention all the glass and bits and pieces of crap and metal on the farm roads. The best (and messiest) sealant is Slime. Second best is Magik Seal. We used straight latex but were told it does not seal in extreme heat. Luckily it never got too hot.
• Pack lots of oil for your chain. And some rags to clean it with. Pouring on the lube will only accelerate the demise of your drivetrain as it collects dirt and sand.
• Bring a real pump. CO2 is fun and racy but what will you do when you need to just top off your tires? Or when you get your fourth flat because you did not bring tubeless tires with sealant?
• Two words: chamois cream. Bring enough.
• Get a real mount for your GPS and forget about the plastic one you can buy in cycling stores. Touratech is the only way to go. Then ask Antonio for the adaptor so you can attach this mount to your handlebars.
• Use rechargeable batteries and bring a charger – it's the green thing to do.
• A pre-paid SIM card that works in Portugal might be nice. All the staff carry mobile phones and if you are alone and have a problem what are you going to do? At least bring an international phone and be prepared to pay the long distance fees if you need to. Oh yeah, don't forget to put it in your CamelBak each day!
• Sun block – need I say more? I love the sun, had a base and was needing to coat myself in SPF 15 for the first several days.
• Bring a camera and put it in an easy to reach spot. Ours was in the back of my CamelBak and I wish it had been in the front. When you are tired it's amazing how difficult it is to just get your camera out. A water-resistant camera is also a huge bonus; when it rained we did not take any pictures…
• Do yourself and everyone around you a favor and bring along some Sport-Wash. We did and it really works. If you do laundry every night you can survive on two sets of cycling clothes. We still brought three just in case.
• Bring some of your favorite ride food. We did not thinking we could subsist purely on what we packed at breakfast and purchased at cafes and it would have been nice to have more for variety and emergencies.
• Leave your attitude and expectations at home. Long rides will usually mean that you encounter some sort of adversity along the way and if you can't deal with it you are done.

This was an amazing journey. Thanks to Shelley and CICLONATUR for making it possible.

Technorati Tags: Travessia de Portugal,CICLONATUR

Travessia de Portugal-part 17

Here are all the pictures.

Ah… the day-after blues, the physical relief and the drive back to the big city.

After sleeping in I boxed up the bike. We don't have any pictures or movies of this but as I was trying to box it up outside of the hotel the wind was really blowing. After thrice retrieving objects from the underground parking garage where the wind was blowing them Shelley suggested we just move down to the garage… Genius. Once down there we were able to finish up without interruption.

Breakfast was yet another example of how the organizers go all out to make your experience special. By now most of the clients had left. They invited those few clients that remained INTO THEIR HOTEL ROOM where we had bread, butter, jam, cheese, cold cuts, cereal, yogurt, juice, tea and coffee. I mean c'mon, where else can you get this kind of service? Nowhere, that was rhetorical.

Then we loaded up the van (which had the seats installed again now that all the duffel bags were gone) and headed north.

A car ride is a car ride for the most part. Sure the scenery was nice but Antonio did us a huge favor and instead of taking the freeway all the way to Lisbon he stayed on the coast and we took a ferry over to Setubal on the mainland. Beautiful! The ferry connected an idyllic, sandy peninsula (obviously a wildly popular vacation and summer fun spot) with the main land mass. They had passenger only ferries and car ferries – all of which were painted a very high-visibility green. 

Once back on the road we drove across a massive, 16 km bridge on the A12.  

I felt like I was on the set of one of those build it bigger shows.

Kevin and Lesley Anne were getting dropped off at the airport so we took advantage of the 'left luggage' office and paid them to store our boxed bike. That was the best 8 Euro ever spent. From here it was back to Hotel Barcelona and then off to the market below the bull fighting arena for beer and breakfast food.

Finally we indulged in what has become a Lisbon tradition for us (if you can call doing something two times in four years a tradition); we went to the Pizza Hut next door to the hotel and ordered a large pie. Armed with this and our beer we watched television in bed and relaxed. Truly, there was nothing I would rather have been doing at the time.

Technorati Tags: Travessia de Portugal,CICLONATUR