2 days, 200 miles

At the beginning of the year, Mark and I decided that we would set a new goal for ourselves.  In the past, we have done several centuries (100 miles in one day) on our bikes per year.  This year we decided to try 200 miles in 2 days.  Back to back centuries.  And so we began training and signed up for the *Seattle *to *Portland (otherwise known as the S*T*P*) that would take place in July.

We began our adventure by driving to Portland and staying overnight in a downtown hotel next to the park where the ride would end.  We could see Mount St. Helens:

And Mount Hood:

The next day we left our car in the hotel garage, loaded our bikes in the transport truck, and boarded a bus with other cyclists which took us to Seattle.  We spent the afternoon walking around in downtown Seattle.  We also went to the top of the Space Needle.  Mark had been in Seattle for the World's Fair in 1964, so it was a walk down memory lane for him.

The next morning we started our ride around 7 am.

It is interesting to note that there are 10,000 spots available for this ride and all of them sold out within the first 3 days of signups.  Of those 10,000 cyclists, 2,000 of them do all 200 miles in one day (as did one of my cycling buddies a few years ago--she is also 10 years younger than me!)  The other 8,000 rode with us.  It was an amazing experience with SO many riders that we were always passing other cyclists or being passed.  Mark and I were pleased that we passed more people than we were passed by.  There were all ages and fitness levels.  A few cyclists were pulling trailers with kids in the back.  One guy had his black lab in a trailer behind him.  There were a few very young cyclists--about 11 or 12 years old.  I was surprised how many people were out to watch the cyclists go by and cheer us on.

There are lots of rest stops and at the halfway point many people camp.  We chose to stay in a hotel with a soft bed and a hot shower.  We were pleased that we felt really good at the end of each day's ride and our overall average was 17 mph, so we were happy with that.  Our total riding time was about 11 hours 40 minutes or so.

Coming into Portland at the end of the ride was a real kick!  As we got nearer to the park where the ride ended, there were tons of people along the street cheering and encouraging us to the finish.  There was a balloon archway and you really felt like you had accomplished something!

The next day, we drove to Crescent City, CA and saw the coastal redwoods.

They are enormous and beautiful.  Our hotel room had a bay window with an ocean view if you looked out one way.

We also had another view.  Two for the price of one!

We walked through some groves and it was amazing how tightly packed the trees were.

And how beautiful the ferns were:

We enjoyed the scenic drive:

And saw some elk in Elk Meadow:

Just when things seemed so idyllic and picturesque, we rounded the bend and saw this:

It was a great trip.