Seattle to Portland 2013

Kelso life has been crazy!!!!!  I just finished the Seattle to Portland bike ride, but I still have a little catching up to do.   :)  So, here's a little back story to what has been going on.  Last Wednesday, I went down to Portland with Pammy to hang out with Jordan for a bit and then wait for Royal to fly in from Wichita.  His flight was originally suppose to come in at 9:45pm, then it got moved to 11:45pm, then it got delayed again 12:57.  Awesome.  Can I just say that we are never flying on United again!?!?!  But he got here and the kid's were thrilled!

Thursday was busy with out of town family around for Lisa's wedding, which also meant we had to pack up and move the trailer to an RV park because all these people took our beds in Norma's house.  And while it might of been inconvenient to have our stuff a mile down the road, it was nice to have a quiet place to escape too. :)  And we also had the rehearsal for Lisa's wedding, which both of my kid's were in.

Friday was wedding day!  And holy chaos, how is there always so much stuff that doesn't get done until the day of the wedding?  There was lots of work to do and people to organize and a time schedule to keep and cars to figure out who was going to be taking them and which onces we could load stuff in.  Then we get to the wedding site and do lots more work, setting up, finishing flowers, getting kids dressed and ready for pictures, finding missing family that needed to be in pictures, cutting pies and cheesecakes, etc.  Pammy and I were doing most of the loose ends wrapping up and I guess I might of been bossing people around a lot because people started calling me "mini Norma" behind my back.  I'm sure it's because I knew all the information or knew where to get it, and because Norma left me in charge, and because I was so organized, right???  Then there was the wedding, which was really great.  Both Jayden and Willow did so good as the ring bearer and flower girl and they were so cute!   I had my camera with me but so was busy with everything else going on, that I only managed to get a few lame-o pictures.  :(

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Dan!

Guess I'll have to buy some from the wedding photographer.  By the time I was able to wrap up my wedding responsibilities and pass off the leftover stuff to Norma, find all of our stuff we brought and and get it and the kids and Papa loaded in the truck and drive us back to the campsite it was 11:00pm.  I then started organizing my stuff and getting my bike ready for the STP ride.

I was ready and in bed at 11:30, but had a hard time falling asleep.  I couldn't stop my mind from going over and over the list of things I needed for the ride and what I might be forgetting, and my feet hurt so bad from running around in big shoes.  Probably not my wisest move to wear tall wedges the night before the STP, but they made my outfit cute and made me not look like a complete midget in the Lovingfoss family picture.  So I fell asleep in bed with my feet propped up on pillows trying to get the puffiness and soreness to go down.  I figured I probably fell asleep around midnight, and then my STP wake up alarm went off at 1:00am.  One. Hour. Sleep.  Not sure that was going to be enough, but it was just going to have to do.  So, I got up and started getting ready and Royal walked in the door around 1:15.  We got my bike loaded, my breakfast made, water bottles filled, bio-freeze applied, sunscreen on, energy drink made, all my STP bibs and stickers and were on the road at 1:45am.  We made it to Olympia at 2:45am, where I was meeting Jessie (my STP riding buddy!) and her boyfriend, Ian who was giving us a ride to the start line.  Ian just happens to be a bike mechanic, which came in real handy as he checked my tire pressure since I couldn't quite pinpoint the last time I filled them with air(oops) and put my wheels back on my bike for me. 
Here is Jessie and I at the start line.

It was still quite dark out and we were there in time to start with the first wave at 4:45am and we planned to try and position ourselves in the back of the wave.  They release about 500 riders at a time and we missed being in the back of the pack by 1 rider.  So we became the head of wave #2.  We were on the road by about 5am and heading through Seattle.  The first part of the ride is, I think, one of the scariest.  There are super aggressive riders going way too fast, it's still dark out, people have these blinkies on the backs of their bikes and helmets that are flashing and if you manage get a flash in the eye it totally blinds you for a sec.  The blinkies are so cars will see you out on the road, but do you really think they are necessary when you are riding with 10K other riders?  Pretty sure the cars know you are there.  Anyway, riding through Seattle is brutal.  You are surrounded by lots of other riders (they tell you to ride in single file, but that so doesn't happen), Seattle's roads have lots of cracks and holes and corners and people slowing down really fast and I try and keep a bit of a pocket of space in front of me to avoid any crashing.  At mile 1.5, there was a bad, bad wreck.  I didn't see it happen, but we rode past it soon after it happened.  We had to ride down a hill and then take a sharp left.  In the middle of the road was a small curb-sized median splitting the lanes and it looked like some guy came down the hill too fast and didn't make the corner and hit the median and flew off his bike.  He was totally unconscious in the middle of the road, laying on his face.  There were people digging through his jersey pockets looking for his emergency information and a cop was radioing and we heard him say, "We have a bad one.  Send an ambulance."  It's enough to make you want to ride 5 mph through the rest of the city.  Around mile 4, there were a couple bikes that collided on a curvy downhill portion.  And then at mile 7, we passed a wreck where a firetruck was already on the scene and had the guy sitting up and holding his head steady, and his legs, arms, and face were all bloody.  It looked terrible.  The Seattle gauntlet had claimed a few victims and I was so grateful to not be one of them.   The rest of the 24 miles to the REI free food stop was pretty uneventful.

Jessie's boyfriend, Ian, was working as a volunteer at this pit stop, so we had our own escort to tells us which port-a-potty's were the cleanest, walk us to the food, check our tires, and send us on our way.  Between Kent and the next Food Stop in Spanaway, we ride through some really pretty country and Mt Rainier was out in full force!  So, so, so, so pretty!  I wish I could take a picture while riding, I mean I could of pulled over and taken a picture with my phone, but that would of meant stopping.  And I had 200 miles to conquer and stopping just meant that it would take that much longer to do it.  :)  Around mile 35, I had a minor water bottle malfunction.

See that green topped one?  It should of been tucked in nicely in line, but thanks to a loose screw my cage was falling out and hitting me in the leg.  So we pulled over and luckily Jess had a hex tool in her bike bag and I was able to get it screwed back into place.  Guess that was one more thing I missed on my bike check the night before.  :)  Then it was onto Puyallup and "The Hill".  A 1 mile, 7% grade hill.  For all the hype that this hill brings, I don't think it's that bad.  You still have pretty fresh legs, I just pick a gear and keep pedaling up and I usually get to pass a bunch of people and I think the hill gets less steep as you get to the top.  Then 10 miles later, we arrived at Spanaway Middle School for our 2nd Food Stop at mile 53.  This used to be the Jamba Juice stop, but Jamba Juice wasn't there this year.  I was totally bummed!  I was so looking forward to drinking some!!! Mile 53! And as Pammy texted me, "1/3 of the way done for day #1"  I felt pretty good, other than the whole 1 hour sleep thing, I knew if I laid down I would probably fall asleep, so I just made sure I stayed standing. :)

At mile 53, I was starving.  The day before, I knew I wasn't going to be able to have a carb loading dinner, but I knew there would be food and I tried to pick less salty foods and ones I thought would help me during the ride.  I really was concentrating on drinking water and I set a goal to drink 6 liters of water because I knew how much I was going to be up on my feet and I wanted to be hydrated and not retaining water because of dehydration.  I managed to drink 2 liters.......  And the next day while riding, I discovered I was plenty hydrated because of all the bathroom stops, but I did NOT eat enough food.  My stomach was growling most of the day.  Not good, since we had 150 miles to bust out.  So at each food stop, I tried to grab enough food to help me make it to the next stop, but it totally wasn't enough.  Note to self : don't try and do the STP the day after a family wedding.

So, moving on!  From Spanaway, the next 50 miles to Centralia were pretty uneventful.  Spanaway to Roy is another scary part of the ride.  We are on a busy road and there are lots of big trucks and campers and motorhomes driving past you, and you don't really have much of a shoulder to ride on, let alone pass on.  So, I feel pretty darn relieved when we get to the Yelm Tenino Trail, which is part of the trail I get to ride on while doing my long rides here in Washington.  It is so nice to be off the road and away from cars, but the trail has tall grass on each side of it, which made my allergies so, so bad, my eyes were burning and on fire.

Jessie and I roll into Centraiia and are immediately handed a creamsicle.  It's like they knew I was coming!  Free creamsicles!  As many as you want to eat!  Obviously, my creamsicle didn't want me to eat it because when I tried to take a bite off the top, it broke in half and landed on the ground.  Lame-o.  And I never did go back and get another one.  Last year, Centralia was a critical point in our ride.  Jessie had made a sad choice on some toppings for her baked potato and she suffered the next 50 miles, feeling like she had a brick in her belly.  This year we stayed far, far away from baked potatoes, even though I totally wanted one.  :)  And we found the Quinoa King and had quinoa, sauteed veggies, chicken, and cheese for extra calories.  It was so delicious and I probably could of eaten 5 platefuls!

We tried to not spend too much time in Centralia, since we knew we had another 3-4hours of riding and we wanted to get to Kelso ASAP.  We had made some pretty good time so far on the ride.  The first 50 miles took us 4 hours, the 2nd 50 to Centralia only took us 3 hours, so we decided we both felt good enough to try and do the next 50 in closer to 3 hours than 4.  We also decided that we would stop and reassess our bodies and legs every 10 miles to see if we wanted someone to come pick us up.  100 miles was a long way to ride, I mean, we could fall apart at any minute.

So, we roll on out of Centralia, and this is where the story gets a bit, um, well, interesting.  Obviously the drama of the falling water bottle cage just wasn't enough....

I am riding ahead of Jessie, but keep looking over the my shoulder to make sure she is still there.  We are riding through Historic Chehalis - and I should note that the number of riders on the road is significantly less, because the majority of them are camping in Centralia.  So, like I said, I am riding ahead of Jessie, she's not directly behind me, but I can see her,  and we are riding through historic Chehalis, and following the STP signs on the road I make a sharp right hand turn down a hill, but I notice a lot of riders continue to go straight through the intersection.  So a few blocks down the road I pull over and stop to look to make sure Jessie makes that turn too.  I didn't see her right away and thought that there's not way she'd miss it, so I clip back into my bike and keep riding.  We start going through some big curves on this country road and I'm looking back behind me looking for her and I don't see her.  So at mile 106, I pull over in some shade and decide to wait for her to catch up.  I wait.  And I wait.  While I usually don't have to wait longer than about a minute, I've been standing there for over 10.  So, I start worrying that maybe she crashed and I'm debating on whether or not I should turn around and start riding toward Centralia again.  I wait a few more minutes and then I text her.  Nothing.  So then I call her.  Nothing.  Finally, she calls me back and I'm all, "Where are you?"
Jessie : "I'm across from the bingo hall"
Me : "The what?" (I've seen no bingo hall) "What mile are you at?"
Jessie : "110"
Me : "What???  I'm at 106.  How did you pass me and me not know?  Stay right there, I'll ride fast and catch up to you!" 

So, I ride a few more miles and up this huge-ass hill into Napavine.  At the top of the hill, there's a mini stop for water and I see Jessie nowhere among the riders stopped there and my computer tells me I'm at mile 111.  So, I pull over and call her again.
Me : "I'm at mile 111"
Jessie : "What?  I'm still across from the bingo hall"
Me : "Did you climb up the huge hill into Napavine?"
Jessie : "No"
Me : "Did you take that sharp right hand turn in Chehalis?"
Jessie : "No. I think I got off the route.  I haven't seen any riders for awhile"

And here is a little excerpt from Jessie herself : 

"The oddest part about getting off course during this year's STP was the reoccurring dream I've had about getting lost since the first time I did it in 2008.  In my dream, I always find myself alone on an empty country road, just aimlessly riding and riding.  Which is actually kind of what happened. 

I'll explain.

Really, all the stars lined up just right.  In a way, it reminded me of this documentary I watched not long ago about an airline crash.  There was something like ten critical factors that contributed to this crash.  Had any one of the ten not occurred, disaster would have averted and that flight would have been safely executed.  But chance, fate, the universe, or God had other plans, as though this horrific event had been orchestrated perfectly.

Rachel and I had just gotten back on our bikes after a dinner break in Centralia and we were headed toward Chehalis.  Since this was my fifth STP, ending up lost makes me feel especially like a boob because I'd gotten fairly familiar with the route.  But last year, they'd changed this particular section, and that stood out in my mind because it had been one of my favorite parts.  I remember being sad not to ride through this one really lovely neighborhood of historical homes with massive oak trees that had to be at least a hundred years old.  So I was riding on this new route, annoyed that last year’s riders hadn't demanded the route be changed back, or they did and the officials hadn't listened.  Either way, my surroundings felt foreign to me. 

While Rachel and I rode the STP together, we weren't always, technically, together.  Since her pace is naturally a little faster than mine, slowly a great deal of distance would grow between us.  When that would happen, she'd pull off to wait for me and then we'd continue on together.  So, I was riding along this unfamiliar stretch and Rachel was far enough ahead that I could no longer see her. 

Most of the riders (as I like to call them, the smart ones) had called it a day and stopped in Centralia to spend the night, so there were very few cyclists still out on the road.  Rachel and I had another 40 miles to go at this point.  There were a few bicycles ahead of me, and as I rode through Chehalis I blindly followed them.  Quite a bit of time passed and those cyclists, too, had gotten far ahead of me and soon I was riding out in the country alone, in a part of our state you may nickname Mayberry. At this point I had little tiny nagging feeling that I'd missed a turn somewhere, because I knew I was on the east side of I-5 when I knew I needed to be on the west side of it. I pulled over when my phone rang.  I figured it was Rachel, given I hadn't seen her in close to an hour.  "Where are you?" she wanted to know.  "Um....." Really, how the heck was I supposed to know where I was?  I was so tired I was down to about two firing neurons by that point. I scanned for a landmark.  "By the bingo hall." 

"No, what mile are you at?  What does your odometer say?"

"Oh.  110."  Confused, she said she was at mile 106 and we both wondered how in the world I'd gotten ahead of her.  "Have you gone up the big hill yet?  In Napavine?" I hadn't, and with that we both knew I was not in Kansas anymore.  We continued to talk and tried to come up with a plan.  I told her that if I saw another cyclist I'd ask for help, and she said she'd ask a ride official, and then we'd call each other back. I told her to keep riding. While I waited on the side of the road, I pulled up Google maps on my phone.  With my toasted brain, I concluded I'd ridden 10 miles out of the way.  Which meant 10 miles back to where I'd missed the turn, then another 40 to Kelso.  This only made me feel defeated.  And then I'd have to somehow find Rachel.  Mind you, the temperature was in the mid-80s at this point and already ridden 110 miles, plus I'd been ready to dive face-first into any relatively soft surface hours before and stay there for a really, really long time.

After a while, I flagged down a solo rider and pelted him with very direct questions, such as, "This road we are on is not on the STP route, correct?  Why are you off route, too?  Do you know where to get back on the correct route?  When do you plan to do so and how?"  But unfortunately for me, English was not this person's first language, and patience with lost riders was not his virtue.  When I realized he was unable to help me because I could not understand him, I thanked him and told him to go on ahead, that I'd be fine. 

This was starting to feel like STP 2009.  I was so tired; I no longer had any problem solving skills.  I was hardly capable of scratching SOS in the dirt with a stick. When I pulled my cell out to call Rachel back, I discovered my battery was almost dead.  "I'm calling Ian." I told her.  "He'll help me."  Ian is my sweetie, and has ridden bicycles for most of his life, even competing on the cycling team in college.  He was planning to come to Kelso later that night to stay with us anyway.  "I need your help.  I'm lost" I blurted into the phone when he answered.  Bless his heart, he is so good to me.  He immediately hopped online and tried to figure out where I was and where the real route was and how to get me there.  After even more troubleshooting over a dying cell phone, I interrupted, careful to not sound like I was on the brink of crying (I totally was). "Will you please just come pick me up?"  Of course he would, he reassured me.  I shot off a text to Rachel, telling her I'd see her in Kelso.

By this point a solid hour had gone by, and I had another hour to wait for Ian, so I sought refuge from the sun in a small patch of shade behind a sign.  There I sat on the ground and justified skipping all these miles between Napavine and Kelso.  I wasn't having fun anymore.  I've completed the STP before.  My children would still love me.  And at least I wasn't in front of the TV, elbow deep in a box of Cap'N Crunch.  When Ian picked me up I rattled all these reasons off to him because I feared I was letting him down.  "Jess", he said, grabbing my face and forcing eye-contact.  "You did the right thing.  Now let's go get some snacks, find a park, and then we'll head into Kelso and you can finish up tomorrow."  Snacks?  Soft grass?  A lap to lay my head in?  Yes, please!

What I didn’t know at the time was that I hadn’t gotten that far off route.  The cyclists who inadvertantly led me astray were riding to Toledo High School to spend the night in the gym, and while this was off the official path, it was paralell to it.  The next morning they would have taken a side street that served as a connection to the correct route.  Too bad I hadn’t been privy to that information. "

 But before she had Ian pick her up, I had an encounter with an STP Service Vehicle.  STP Service Vehicle #1 to be precise.  I am still a little peeved about STP SV #1.

So,  I had Jessie on the phone and we knew she was lost somewhere on the border of Chehalis and Napavine and I spot a service vehicle parked on the side of the road.  Now I know that they are mainly for mechanical help with bikes and stuff, but I thought that maybe they could help me.  So, I knock on the window of their truck and explain that my friend is off route and would he be able to help me find her and bring her back.  He's all, "I'm only allowed to go where they tell me", motioning to his walkie-talkie thing.  I'm like, "I understand that, I'm just asking for help finding my friend."  He's all, "Well you don't even know where your friend is."  So, I grab his map and say that I've got a good idea where she is, and I know she's not far away, and if he gives me a few more minutes we'll be able to pinpoint her location and would he please help me, I'm on a bike for goodness sakes on legs that have riden 111 miles and he is in a truck with a walkie-talk connected to some headquarters of some sort and will he PLEASE help me???  He gets radioed that he needs to head towards Kelso and he looks at me and says, "Well, I've gotta go"  I'm like, "Are you serious????"  And he says, "Well, what are you so upset about, I'm not sure what you want me to do?" And I am dropping some serious f-bombs in my mind trying my best to not let them come out my mouth because I know if I get him all mad and defensive there's no way he's going to help me.  I say, "My friend is lost.  I'm asking for your help.  How would you feel if it were you and your friend was out there and you were asking me for help and I was all flippant and 'Oh, sorry!  Gotta go!'"  He just looks at me, shrugs his shoulders and drives off.  Guess me withholding my f-bombs didn't help and perhaps I should of let him have a few....  So, I call Jessie back and am like, "what do you want to do?" and she says that she's called Ian to have him pick her up and for me to keep riding and she'd meet me in Kelso.

I. Was. Furious.  Not at Jessie.  At the guy who wouldn't help me, and at myself for not staying right with her.  I was really tired (that 1 hour of sleep was really catching up to me), extremely hungry, and now all alone and I had 36 more miles to ride, and all of that combined probably made me a little sensitive and I was probably over reacting a bit to my situation.  So while I just wanted to sit on the curb and cry, I instead took it out on my bike.  I rode the next 10 miles at 22mph.  I usually try and average 15ish mph on the STP for the sake of saving energy in my legs but still feel like I'm making good time, so 22mph sustained was a little extreme.  And the whole time I kept telling myself, "slow down, you're going to kill your legs", but the conversation with STP SV#1 kept rolling through my head and I was really letting him have it in my made up conversation in my mind, and I pushed it all the way to the Vader mini-stop.  I downed 2 bottles of water and 1 bottle of Nuun and I filled up my water bottles again for keeping on my bike.  Good news is I wasn't so angry any more.  Bad news is my legs and body and mind were done and I still had 20 miles left to go.  I get back on my bike and head out of Vader for what I think is the absolute worst part of the whole ride.  Everyone talks about "The Hill" in Puyallup, but I think West Side Hyway is way worse.  It's just huge rolling hill after huge rolling hill.  And on finished legs, it was brutal.  My short-term goal was to keep my speed at least as fast as I could run up the hills, which for the most part worked, and I set a new land speed record for myself of going 29.7mph on a down hill (which I promptly broke the next day when I got up to 30.2!), and I limped it into Castle Rock.  I had finished the last of my food on West Side Hyway and at Castle Rock I was starving.  They had concessions, but I was going to have to get off my bike and walk to go get them and that was just asking too much.  So, I just turned my bike back onto the road and suffered in the last 10 miles.  Those miles were the most mental miles I've ever riden.  Every single road and driveway and pull off I rode past, the tired part of my body kept saying, "Stop right there.  Unclip your feet.  Call Pammy, she will come get you.  You can't ride up any more hills.  You're tired and hungry and you killed your legs awhile ago, so just stop and rest and it will be all over"  But the mental part of my brain that I have trained during all those long miles running, and long miles riding my bike, and the boring miles riding my bike on a trainer kicked in and said, "Just a little farther.  You can stop in just a little bit.  You will get there faster if you ride it, than if you wait for a ride, so just do one more hill, it is probably the last one!"  And eventually it was the last one.  I rode past the Lexington Unincorporated sign and I knew I was done with the hills and it was flat and all I had to do was make it 1 more mile to Pammy's house.  It's always a fantastic feeling when you can mentally make your body do more than it thinks it can.  You usually pay for it later, but it lets you know that you can do more than your body will tell you you can.
I rolled up to Pam's house and knocked on the door.  Kacy, her husband, answered.  I was like, "Pam here?"  He says, "Nope, she'll be right back.  What can I do for you?"  I say, "Got any food????"  And I proceed to go in and gorge myself on animal crackers and peanut butter.  Kacy was wise to get out of my way and just open the pantry door for me and let me at it.  He suggested a spoon when I was digging my animal cracker in the bottom of their peanut butter jar and got me some water when I was having trouble talking because my mouth was so full and sticky with peanut butter.  He's a good guy that Kacy.  Eventually, Pammy showed up and they loaded my bike in their truck and drove me the 2 miles to Royal's parents house.

I met Jessie there and proceeded to eat a bunch more food and then proceeded to sit my legs and tush in an ice bath.  Yes, an ice bath.  It was brutal, but I knew it was probably the best thing I could do for my legs since I had tried to destroy them in my angry ride from Napavine, and I was going to ask them to ride another 55 miles the next day.  Then it was onto a hot shower and more food, Norma rubbed my neck since it was hurting so bad I could hardly lift my head up, then bed.  Ah, bed.  A bed has never felt so comfortable.  And I got a full 8 hours sleep.  8 hours!  It felt like 88!  I felt so much better when I woke up.

We ate breakfast and headed out.  Since Ian, our trusty ride support was around, he took our bikes for test spins to make sure that everything was working alright.  I had been fighting a few sticky gears and he fixed it in like 30 seconds.  It was awesome!  And as you will notice for the rest of the post, most of the pictures are way better and that's because Ian followed us around and took our pictures and Jessie edited them and gave them to me.  So much better than my lame-o phone pics.  :)

Here were our hosts for the night - Royal's parents, and Willow the best cheerleader around.  (Royal and Jayden were off fishing)

And here's me and Ian, my new best friend!

Finally, we got on our bikes and started to ride through Kelso.  It's always a little tough to sit back down on my bike seat, but it feels good knowing there is only 50ish more miles to go to the finish.  After the day before, I swore to stick by Jessie no matter what, if she took a wrong turn I was going to take it with her!

Just having crossed into Oregon!

We ride 10 uneventful miles and stopped at our first pitstop in Goble, where Ian meets us and forces us to eat apple slices and drink more water.  I'm tellin' ya, it's nice having some race support.  :)

What I want to know is where was my race support 10 miles down the road when this happened????
Flat. Tire.

It's really hard to ride a bike with one wheel.  And I asked Ian later where the heck was he and he replied, "Well, somethings you just need to be able to do on your own."  Tough love.  So I changed my tube and got on my way.  This part of the ride was pretty darn awesome, because there were some pretty good hills, but we had a good strong tail wind and we rode 18-19mph up the hills pretty easily.  I love when wind makes you feel like this super awesome cyclist.  :)  We cruised into the St. Helens food stop to refill water, but we didn't stay and eat, we just wanted to be done so we kept riding towards Portland.

And eventually after more long climbs and one extremely brutal hill, we are rewarded with seeing this bridge!  The bridge that will cross us into Portland!  St. John's Bridge!  Woot!  Woot!

After crossing the bridge, it is the most happiest and frustrating part of the day.  So, so happy to be in Portland and to be so close to the finish line.  So frustrating that it takes us 50 minutes to go 9 miles because we hit Every. Single. Stop. Light.  But eventually we turn a corner, go down a hill, and because it was just mine and Jessie's day, get stopped at the stop light 10 feet from this sign.

Ahhhhh, so fantastic to get a green light and finally cross this line.

And get off our bikes and not have to get back on!

I just love riding with this girl.

And then I had to walk to get some food.

And had the most delicious hamburger, fries, and fresh raspberry shake I'm pretty sure I've had in my entire life with my dad, Royal, Jordan, and Jordan's friend Michael.

It was a hard and fun ride.  And before this STP, I swore that this was going to be my last one.  The training is brutal and boring and I never feel prepared for the ride.  But now that it's done and I have another finishers patch, I can see myself riding it again.  It is just such a beautiful ride.  The same ole scenery I grew up seeing, but it just looks so much different from a bike seat.  I just love the PNW, so we shall see.....

Days at the Beach

I love, love, love the ocean!  Love it!  Well I really love, love, love, the Pacific Northwest and the fact that where we are staying is just an hour drive away from the ocean is extra fabulous!
I spent Sunday morning riding 45miles on this bike path.

It was awesome.  Well, once I convinced myself that a serial killer was not going to jump out of the woods and grab me.  The first 20ish miles was pretty darn lonely, I didn't see another soul on the trail. Guess I should of known, people here don't have to get up and ride at 6am to beat the heat!  But I like to get my rides done early so I can spend the rest of the day with my family.  I saw a bazillion bunnies and almost crashed twice because a rabbit came screaming out of the woods so fast and almost under my front tire, and I saw a deer, and a snake, and what I think was probably a pile of bear poop.  Glad I didn't see the bear.  :)

Kaylee and I had been stalking the weather at the beach trying to decide if we wanted to drag us and all our kids and dogs and stuff down there for a couple days.  Royal's parents have a tiny cabin about a block away from the beach that we could stay in if we wanted.  On Sunday (Father's Day) we looked at the weather and it looked like Monday was going to be a really nice day at Long Beach, so we just decided to do it.  We went back to her house, packed clothes and towels and blankets and pillows and whatever food we could find.  We invited my dad to come and he brought his trailer (a.k.a. extra room for hauling stuff and extra bed to sleep in!) and my mom too, and all 10 of us, and our dogs,  crammed ourselves into what was probably about a 400 square foot cabin.  It was cramped, especially when it started raining (luckily there wasn't too much of that), and we slept about as well as we could of expected, but it was warm and it was a place to be!

We drove down Sunday evening and got there and pretty much put people to bed.  Monday proved to be an awesome weather day!  It was sunny and warm and low wind.  Perfect!

Unfortunately, Sam, who normally runs like a crazy-dog around the beach but always comes crazy running right back to us, while we were setting up blankets and chairs and unloading sand toys and watching who was heading to the water, took off like a rocket down the beach without anyone noticing until he was way far away.  My dad and I started walking down the beach after him and found his paw prints in the sand and tracked him probably a good mile down the beach before he headed off the wet sand and into the dunes where we could no longer see where he went.  So, we searched the dunes and after not finding him, headed back.  Sam is microchipped and tagged, so I wasn't too worried that we wouldn't get him back, it was just a pain.  I actually figured he would find his way back to us, he is a hunting dog after all, and while we ended up picking him up at the Humane Society later that afternoon, he was picked up by a man 3 blocks away from where we were staying.  But while Sam was off flushing birds out of the dunes and playing with other people's dogs on the beach, we had fun in the sun and sand and water!

The tide went out pretty far and while the big boys were out doing some body surfing, there was this awesome little tide pool that warmed up that was perfect for Easton and Willow to play in.

The best way to warm up is to roll around in the warm sand!

The weather changed that evening and wind and some rain blew in and Tuesday wasn't showing to be as nice as Monday.  So after one last trip to the beach to get wet, and getting out and having your cold, wet legs sandblasted, we packed it up and were back to Kaylee's house that afternoon.  It was a fun, crazy, couple days and all I can say is I need a nap and can't wait to go back!

Seattle to Portland

This past weekend was the Seattle to Portland (STP) Bicycle Classic.  204 miles on a bike over 2 days.  You can do it in 1 day if you want, but there was no way I even thought that was possible for me.  I rode with a friend of mine from Washington, Jessie, who had done this ride 3 other times, stopping in Centrailia, the half way point each time.  We set a bit loftier goal for this ride, because my in-laws happen to live on the STP route in Kelso.  The thing is that Kelso is 150 miles into the ride, but it meant we could sleep in a real bed and eat real food, instead of sleeping in a tent and eating vendor food.  Although vender food sounded pretty good.

I was really nervous the week or so leading up to the ride, because I really felt like I wasn't prepared enough.  I only managed to do a long bike ride up to 60 miles once and I was only riding my bike 2, if I was lucky, 3 times a week.  And I only rode my bike 2 days in a row occasionally.  And then there was the fact that I was training around Wichita, a land with no hills and the ride was going to take place in Washington, a land full of hills and mountains.  The only thing I had going for me was that I was having to train in 15-20mph winds, but I just wasn't sure how well that was going to simulate hills.  Eventually, I just started telling myself that it didn't matter how fast I went, I just had to keep pedaling.  I didn't really set a time goal, but for time estimation purposes, I figured if I could ride an average of 15mph, that would be doable.  That would mean 10 hours on my bike the first day and then add in all our breaks and stops, so maybe 12-13 hours,  but if I could somehow manage to do that it would mean only 50 miles the 2nd day, and 50 miles felt possible!

The night before the ride, my plan was to go to bed when my kids did, like around 8:00, since I had a 2am wakeup call.  I managed to go to bed around 9, but thanks to the thunder and lightening going on outside and the rain/hail pounding on the top of the trailer, I didn't get to sleep until around 11.  And for good reason!  Check out what the lighting hit right next to Kaylee's house!  So, on 3 hours sleep, I got up, got dressed, made a bagel with peanut butter, grabbed a banana, and my caffeinated energy drink, tried not to mentally freak out on myself, and waited for my ride to pick me up around 2:30 and drive Jessie and I to Seattle

The first wave of riders left the start line around 4:45am, and we positioned ourselves in the second wave.  I mean the more time the better, right?  Let's just get the pain over with sooner, right???

Getting our overnight bags to the truck that will drive them down to Kelso

 We took off from the start line around 5am

It was a crowded mess and people were flying.  We were going about 19mph with people all around us acting all crazy swerving in and out trying to pass.  You know how the beginning of races are, but it's just a tad more scarier with your feet locked into your bike pedals and wondering if you have reflexes fast enough to slam on the brakes. Then all of the sudden, right around mile 8, a bike right off the left side of my back wheel totally crashes.  I have no idea what the heck happened, but Jessie said she saw a big crack in the road that he dropped his front wheel in.  There was no recovering for him, he was flat on his side, still locked into his bike sliding across the road.  I could literally hear the skin being scraped right off his leg.  Luckily, the people around/behind him managed to swerve out of his way because I didn't see/hear any more bikes going down.  We managed to witness 4 other crashes during the day and saw a guy in the back of an ambulance.  Jessie said it was the most crashes she'd ever seen before.

We made it 25 miles to the Kent/REI Food Stop, where we stopped to eat peanut butter tortillas, bananas, this super delicious coconut cashew energy bar, and drink Odwalla.

The weather was really quite cool.  I had thought about not even wearing my long sleeve shirt, because the previous days the weather had been getting really warm a few hours after the sun came up, and then I wouldn't have to try and cram it into one of my bike bags when I warmed up, but I am so glad I didn't do that!  It stayed cool for the majority of the day, even sprinkling on us a little bit.  It was cloudy and probably in the low 60's and while it felt a little cool when not on my bike, I'm pretty sure it saved my legs and body from getting too tired.  We weren't dripping with sweat and trying to replace a ton of water and sugars and salts.  The problem came when we were getting ready to leave the Kent food stop.  Jessie looked down at her hands because she said they felt funny.  Her fingers looked dead!  They had no blood in them and felt numb and tingly.

We stopped by the first-aid tent on our way out of the stop to see if they know what was wrong with her, and they said she had Raynaud's Syndrome.  They said she just needed to warm up her hands, and didn't we have gloves???  Uh, no....  The first-aid station didn't even have a heat pack or anything and they couldn't get us in the building to warm up her hands with warm water, so the only thing we could do was keep pedaling and hope that the Jessie's body would get warm enough to finally allow blood flow back to her fingers.  It took awhile, but her fingers eventually turned back to a more normal color.
We rode right along and came upon the first horrible hill of the ride in Puyallup around 40 miles and then onto the Spanaway Food Stop at 54 miles.  The Spanaway stop was sponsored by Jamba Juice so we stopped and ate veggie wraps, the most delicious cookie I'd ever eaten, and Jamba Juice!

Then, we were on the road again headed towards Tenino, only a mini food stop, but where some of my support crew was hoping to meet up with us!  My legs felt surprisingly good, I was really quite surprised because I totally remembered what my legs felt like when I had done 60 miles, and I was pretty much toast, but somehow I looked down and saw 75 miles on my bike and my legs felt just fine!  10 miles later, 85 miles into the ride, we rolled into Tenino where my mom, Kaylee, her kids, and my kids found us!

We laid on the ground, stretched our legs and backs, rested for a bit, ate some food, refilled water because the sun had finally decided to come out and we were starting to get a bit toasty.  Eventually, we had to get moving because we still had 65 more miles to get done.

 I'm not sure what the heck happened, but on the stretch between Tenino and Centrailia, something lit a fire under Jessie and she started riding so fast.  It was so much fun, I pretty much just sat on her back wheel and let her pull me the next 15 miles into Centrailia, our halfway point! 100 miles done!  Centrailia would of been a really fun place to stay.  Tons of food, live music, beer garden, lots of people, not to mention they were handing out all you can eat creamsicle.   And you all know how I feel about creamsicles, right???

 Here is a small picture of all the tents that were being put up.

I was super excited to use a real bathroom, one that had soap and water.  I washed my hands like 3 times.

 We took a pretty long break in Centrailia and we went to the cafeteria and loaded up a gigantic potato.  I was so freaking hungry!

We laid on the grass for awhile, stretched out our legs and backs, and then threw up a couple headstands because we could.  :)

Then right before we left, we ran into Jessie's friend and turns out my blog stalker, Melissa!  (that's right!  I'm totally calling you out!  let this serve as a warning for all you other stalkers who never leave me any comments!!!!  :) just kidding....well, sort of....:D)

Then, we were back on our bikes trying to convince ourselves the next 50 miles was going to be a good idea.  I actually felt pretty good, I should of realized there was going to be a problem when Jessie was starting to fall asleep while eating our potatoes.  Jessie was quite the trooper, and I feel quite guilty about dragging her the next 50 miles,  I was just so sure she was going to catch a second wind!  She was so tired and her food was just sitting in her stomach making her uncomfortable instead of giving her energy, and I think mentally she knew what we had in front of us, while naive-rookie-me figured it would just be like what we had been riding, so let's just get it over with!  The next 50 miles were some of the worst hills ever and while they were rolling hills, it seemed like the uphill parts were so much longer than the downhill breaks.  It was some of the prettiest scenery during the whole ride, but holy cow was it hard.   We decided we'd take the ride in 10-15 miles increments, that seemed doable.  We'd stop, reassess, and decide if we wanted my in-laws to come pick us up and be done for the day.

We made it 20 more miles down the road to Winlock.

 We took a short break and decided we could do another 15 miles to the mini-stop in Castle Rock.  15 brutally hard miles, because of the hills, very tired legs, and had I mentioned that the 3 little toes on my left food had been numb and asleep for a good 75 miles, and I had shooting pains going from my wrists down to my fingers???  And it was about at this point I'd look down at my speed and realize I could run up this hill faster than I was riding it.   I was really feeling like I could be done at this point, but mentally I knew Castle Rock was so close to Kelso.  And I really felt like we were getting close to Kelso and my in-laws, when we actually made it to Castle Rock and saw a fishing boat parked on the side of the road and this shirt.

I'm pretty positive Jessie was ready to be done riding, however she wasn't ready to be the one to call it quits.  So I said I knew that Lexington was pretty darn close and that Lexington was right before Kelso, and if we couldn't make it past Lexington, I had a friend who lived there and we could ride to her house.  So, we pushed on and I prayed for downhills.   We finally made it to Lexington and we both decided that this was far enough for one day and we were toast.  We were only a few miles outside of Kelso, but we needed to be done, so we rode the short distance to my friend Pam's house and called my in-laws and asked them to come pick us up.
This is the picture we posed for

However, this is how I really felt

144 miles in 1 day, definitely a new distance record for me!  We left Seattle at 5am, and arrived in Lexington around 8pm, 15 hours of fun and 11.5 hours of actually sitting on my bike pedaling.   We made it to the Lovingfoss house, ate a bunch of food like chicken teriyaki, ice cream, and pie! Then took showers and then I didn't see Jessie until the next morning, but I managed to stay up talking with Pam and Norma, called Royal, rolled out my legs and back on the foam roller, and tried to get a few knots worked out of my back before I finally went to bed around 11.

My alarm went off at 5am.  Way. Too. Freaking. Early.  I was so tired.  But I got up, got dressed, ate a bagel, banana, scrambled eggs, drank another caffeinated energy drink, took a handful of advil, and bio-freezed my legs, before we finally were dropped back off in Lexington around 6:40, in the pouring down drizzling rain.  Lovely way to start the morning.

While I was so tired from the distance that we had done the day before, 50 miles felt totally doable, and I was excited to get across the finish line.  The only good thing about doing all those hills on Saturday was that we didn't have to do them on Sunday, because it turns out pretty much the last half of this darn ride is all very hilly.

We made it across the Lewis & Clark bridge and crossed into Oregon!  And rode in the rain to the St Helens Food Stop.

We ate sandwiches, grapes, pretzels, and the best darn tasting rice krispie treat I'd ever had - well probably not really, but it tasted like it was!  My legs were sore and tired and so were my knees, and everytime we stopped it seemed to take a good 5-10 minutes to get them warmed up again, but once I was going, my legs felt pretty darn good!  We rode more uphill and more uphill and more uphill until finally we crossed into Portland city limits!!!  Sadly, we still had 12 miles to go, but after riding a total of 190 miles, whats another 12???
Here we are, about to cross the St John's bridge into the city of Portland!

We still had to wind around and through the city, and the last few miles were extrmeley frustrating because I seemed to hit EVERY red light.  Stop. Go. Clip in. Clip Out.  It was like a freaking bad dream where you are running and running and can't ever seem to get to whatever it is you are trying to reach.  But finally, FINALLY, there was the finish line!

And Jordan was there waiting for me!

It was a fun ride.  I'm pretty sure I'd do it again.  Not like tomorrow or anything, but another time perhaps.  And I'm pretty sure I'd do it the same, with riding 150 miles the first day and 50 the second.  Because for one, I'd get to sleep in a real bed and not in a tent on the ground, and after finishing that 50 miles on Sunday, I could not imagine having to do another 50.  It just felt so good to be done.

 And, um, not to be too nit-picky or anything, but the STP brochure said it was going to be 204 miles, and I only logged 203.15, I feel kinda jipped....