STP: Once is Enough

Jul 19, 2010 22:24

Cascade Bicycle Club's Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic ( Read more... )

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Comments 13

gfish July 20 2010, 06:48:14 UTC
I felt very similar after I finished STP. Proud of the accomplishment, happy for the experience, no desire at all to do it again.

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encapsulate July 22 2010, 03:50:22 UTC
I remember you posting about doing it, like... 4 years ago?

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gfish July 22 2010, 05:09:00 UTC
Good memory! Four years exactly.

Fundamentally, it was a cultural conflict for me. I'm a messy urban rider. I carry a lot of crap around, on a weird, somewhat beater bike. I didn't have my family following me in an SUV all day to feed me cold electrolytes. And I'm not eager to make a big deal about following every car-oriented traffic law in the hopes of sucking up to motorists so they might build another couple miles of rural bike trail from nowhere to nowhere. Ahem. :)

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encapsulate July 22 2010, 03:49:50 UTC
Oh certainly!

The ladyfriend is talking about riding a century in October, so I think I'll go ride and act as her windshield.

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mutaytedjoe July 26 2010, 23:59:22 UTC
It is pretty impressive how far you have come since starting to seriously ride. What has it been--3 years? Less? Well done, sir!

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encapsulate July 27 2010, 21:53:08 UTC
Thank you! And Congrats to you! Sorry we couldn't make it!

How'd you been?

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mutaytedjoe July 29 2010, 14:42:35 UTC
I'm doing better than ever! Work is busy and profitable and home life is the best. Heck, a friend even just gave us her king-sized bed...

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aprilstarchild July 29 2010, 06:33:12 UTC
Yeah, I keep thinking I should do the STP, but after reading this (plus the stuff on facebook)....fuck it.

There's a few lovely century rides I could do, if I want to. Other than that, I think I'll stick with bragging about touring.

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encapsulate July 29 2010, 17:05:26 UTC
Daks is totally up for doing the Harvest century this year.

I may end up doing it with cyclocross tires on my bike. She hit a 70mi a few weekends ago and was tired but up and about after it. That's pretty much the sign that she could hit a decent paced century, and it is just a matter of how wrecked she'll be after it.

But yea... I'd avoid STP unless you absolutely want to do it as a rite of passage.

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aprilstarchild July 29 2010, 20:18:40 UTC
Y'know, "rite of passage" really does describe why I've wanted to do it at all. I mean, I could ride from Seattle to Portland any time I had the two days available and planned it. But it's not the same as doing The STP. And so many of my hard-core cycling friends have done it, that it does feel like it would be some kind of initiation--see, I'm hardcore too!! I mean, I could even buy one of those cheesy Tyvek jackets that tells everyone I finished it and advertises stuff I never buy, like Darigold. *lol*

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aprilstarchild July 29 2010, 20:23:59 UTC
Also, keep me updated on the Harvest Century thing. If I'm capable of dragging fifty lbs of stuff + me + bike up and down Highway 101 for thirty or forty miles a day for ten days in a row....a hundred unloaded miles should be doable, no?

Of course, this will require me getting off my butt to ride longer distances more often in general. It's not like the fitness I gained over the last two weeks is going to magically stick around.

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