Seattle to Portland is a 3 hour trip in a car. It's going to be much longer on a bike. As some of you know, each year I pick a new "thing" to keep me physically occupied. Last year was the Ogden Marathon, this year it's the STP! The STP is a bike race that usually attracts close to 10,000 participants. About 8,500 complete the trip in two days taking a mid trip slumber overnight near Centralia. The other 1,500 attempt to make the trip in a single day. That is my white whale.
About a month ago I paid a king's ransom for an all carbon fiber bike seen here. My wife is not impressed. Since starting my training at the end of December, I have been officially labeled a disturber of the peace. (Me and Gandalf share that distinction.) A neighbor of mine who was training for a triathlon has decided to join and there are two or three others heavily considering it. Their wives are also unimpressed. I will post my training program in the next few days so you can follow along with my progress. I went about 27 miles on Saturday, and although I was a bit tired and sore on Sunday everything went well for a solo ride of that length at this stage in my training. I'm no Lance Armstrong so don't expect any world records to fall, and the only performance enhancer I am guilty of using is Gatorade.
I've been averaging between 17-20MPH on my rides, but those are only for 30-60 minutes. The entire race will be closer to 15 hours so I've got some work to do.
