Stumbling Through Adulthood

That's a... distinct possibility.

We're considering doing STP again. 203 miles, two days, two kids? Actually, Perry is of course game (*) and I'm trying to persuade Linnea. Anne-Chloe has become an out of shape lump with an out of shape loser BF, so I don't think she'd be interested.... and none of dh, Perry, nor I would want the bf tagging along, so not happening.

(*) Perry is always game for anything physical. Hikes, bike rides, snow shoeing, whatever. It's one of the reasons, I think, we miss him so much. An adventure? Sure! He's on it.

The part I hate the most about STP is waking up the day of, at 3am, usually after not having gotten enough sleep. So there is that.

There is also the difficult part for me, the condescending people who tell the fattie "good job!" and stuff like that. That always breaks me a bit.

Still, overall, it can be fun. And the training is fun.

It was great family time, and I have to say, put a very strong foundation on both dh's and my bond with Perry, when he was an adorable 11 year old on his very little road bike.

If she does it, Linnea will ride that very same road bike.

EEEK!

ETA. OMG. Linnea is doing it, she says, and she's busy getting together the @s and #s to make sure her ride ends up properly indexed on Instagram. OMG.

A bit of a recap and some reflections on the ride....

Man, 10000 cyclists. That's a lot, and they ranged the gamut from safe and good riders to OMG, who the hell let you on a bike. It's always interesting to see the asshole cyclists because when you do, you start to feel sympathy with motorists who complain about cyclists. :P

As for the motorists. There was a apparently one incident with the one day riders (nobody was hurt), and as I wrote we passed two accidents that may have had vehicle involvement, but aside from that and two or three assholes? Most of the motorists that passed the ride were polite, careful, and drove to maximize rider safety. That was quite nice.

For anyone who wants to see photos: if you know our last names, MarathonFoto had them up. :P

Since we didn't have sag support (my MIL or dh's aunt) following us this year, we took the bus back from Portland. OMG. The guy behind me ate at least 4 bananas. I about died. I LOATHE bananas and I'm very sensitive to their smell, it was so gross. I mentioned this one a forum I'm on and someone -bless her heart!- suggested using muscle balm or some such on my upper lip. I knew this from crime novels, where everyone carries Vicks VapoRub for icky crime scenes, but it had not occurred to me. I borrowed some of AC's chapstick and aaaaaah, the minty smell pretty much drowned out the disgusting banana!

AC, for the second year in a row, won STP Bingo overall. She had the lowest number (1), second lowest number (2), the lowest support rider number (S1). I won on pallindromes (I saw 2002 and 7007), we all independently saw highest number, I saw rider 5205, so the closest to any of our numbers, and dh saw rider 2014! Nobody got their birthday years. Heh.

So there are various groups who sponsor small teams who've fundraised (oh man, their catering is so much better than official stuff!), and just small teams. I passed a support group for "Team Nietzsche", with the giant slogan "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Thank you for the earworm, Team Nietzsche and my strength class teacher!

I still cannot beleive how well the weather turned out on day 2. From expected record highs to a high of maybe 72F!

I so enjoy my teens! They're nice kids.

I love Dave's Killer Bread. We eat it loads at home. But, um, pbjs on it? NSM. Too dry. A few places had those Costco roll ups, thank goodness. The ride is pretty much Catered by Costco!

It's Wednesday, and I'm feeling pretty recovered by now, mostly. I was able to go to spin class yesterday without too much trouble, I wasn't sore much at all. Where I still feel off: I'm more thirsty, and my sleep cycle still feels off.

OK, guys, this might be TMI for you. I'll white font! I have one of those proverbial 28 day cycles. I usually start bleeding Saturday early afternoon, every freaking four weeks. Which I was expecting to do Saturday. Which did not make me happy. BUT. This was a rare occurrance of a 29 day cycle, and I didn't start until Sunday evening AFTER the ride. I was SO freaking happy about that!

Port-a-potties in July. OMG, right? No, not really. They were mostly clean... the only real problem is that it was so hot, and they had hand sanitizer in them, I'm still shocked nobody got drunk from inhaling the alcoholic fumes! :)

Perry wanted to go to racing Monday evening. It was hot out and dh and I nixed that idea. Not because we didn't think he could do it physically, but because he was still mentally tired, and no, I'm not sending a mentally tired kid to race at a velodrome on a bike with no brakes!

Monday afternoon, we cleaned our bikes. They were covered in grit! Removed wheels, cleaned pretty much everywhere except we were too lazy to remove the chain. The gear train is pretty clean aside from that, everything was at least wiped down.

Next year Perry will be in a full size bike. We will never catch up with him. Oh wait. I'm not doing this next year. Never mind!

And of course, as per tradition, both kids "turtled" once, ie fell with their feet still in their pedals. They both managed to get up by themselves. Ah, how fondly I remember the time when I'd pick up Perry, bike and all, still clipped in and right him. Yeah, NOT!

Ah well. It was fun. It was a good time with family, we'll probably do it again.

Next up: hiking trip to the Enchantments!

First I must set the scene. As the week progressed towards STP, the weather reports, especially those for Oregon went from bad to worse. It was... worrisome to say the least. The thought of biking US 30 in temps in the mid 90s was actually frightening, and I had doubts as to our ability to do it at all.

Dh and I talked a bit about circumstances in which we'd call off. Since we were doing the ride unsupported, we had no good plan for failure, which is never a good thing. Though I suppose, with a credit card, there is always a solution, right?

Friday was a day of frenzied getting everything together. Dh had checked over the bikes already, so that was done, and I'd gotten camping gear together, so that was done, but there are always a zillion details to attend to. We also went into Seattle to pick Perry up at rowing camp, and to get our rider packets at REI.

At rowing camp, the instructor, who teaches PE at his school, as well as crew, told us that Perry just did not stop. Always full of energy. Which, um, we know. I mean... at his middle school continuation ceremony, the teacher who roasted Perry said exactly that. That just keeps on and on, high energy. Until, not. And then he showed a photo of Perry on the way home from a day of noxious weed pulling, sound asleep with his head on the teacher's shoulder. It was so funny. Anyhow, we took our not exhausted yet child to REI.

Picked up packets. Bought t shirts, and a key chain for Linnea who was quite vexed that, yet again, she didn't get to go.

We got to bed Friday night, tired, and for me, dreading the 4am wake up. Once the wake up is done, the only thing I really dread on the whole ride is the hill into Napavine!

I ended up waking up at 2:45, and not being able to get back to sleep. Sigh.

4am. Since I'd been awake for a while, at least I didn't feel nauseated or anything. We got out reasonably fast, with -it turns out- nothing forgotten, which is always good. Of course the Dept of Transportation had to close the 520 bridge over the lake so our trip into Seattle took a lot longer than it otherwise would, and of course the traffic to get to the starting parking lot was long and took forever.

In parked. We were leaving the car there, and it didn't take long to get the pre-ride stuff done: potty, numbers on bikes (we do that last minute in case they don't stay on for the drive!), luggage dropped off on the truck to Winlock, selfie taken...



and....

Off we go!

It was about 6:30 am. And it was already hot. Most STP starts we've needed jackets in the early am. Not Saturday.

We passed by a bad accident even before we reached the University Bridge, on Eastlake Ave. I know there was an accident there last year as well. Anyhow, she did not look in good shape. :( I wasn't able to find any report on her condition. I felt sick to my stomach.

Onwards.

The beginning of the route is beautiful, though the Arboretum, then down next to Lake Washington, to Seward Park. Then you make a right. Straight up a steep, though short, hill. If you haven't already geared down, it's too late! Good thing we know this, we were already geared down, so up we went.

The REI stop, at 25 miles in, is the first stop. Before that however, was our first encounter with a dangerous rider: Mimi's dad. Mimi is -according to the sign on her recumbant trail-a-bike- 7 years old and she was doing her first STP. Which is awesome. Her dad's name, judging by what people were calling him, is "Asshole!" He clearly had no idea of how long his bike + Mimi's tag-along were, and it was only the skillful riding of others that prevented him from knocking two cyclists over that first time I encountered him. We saw Asshole and Mimi several times, and his riding didn't get any better. I also heard several other riders commenting about him, so it wasn't just us.

The REI stop is always fun. Two years ago, it was The 80s, so everyone had leg warmers and 80s music was playing. Last year has faded, but the theme was... polka. So yeah, when we got in the live band was playing a polka. Then they played Edelweiss, which isn't a polka, they admitted, but hey, it fits the theme! Thanks for the earworm, guys!

We made the stop short, and got out quickly. Temps were going up and not wasting any of the relatively cool morning time was important.

After the REI stop, there is a short bit of semi-rural area. That's when we saw another guy. The call of "Car BACK!" which means... car coming, get out of the effing way would sound and... he'd pull into traffic. He did this several times. A gal right behind him finally shouted at him, "Dude, don't be an asshole! Car versus you, car wins!" Everyone laughed, but it really isn't funny.

Then there was The Hill. It's not that bad of a hill, all things considered, but I think it's... the first big challenge of the ride, so has taken on mythical proportions. Conquering The Hill is an STP milestone. I suspect that has happened because that's where many people realise HOLY FUCK WHAT THE HELL DID I SIGN UP FOR? We all did it ok. At the top, dh had to stop because the clip on his shoe was stuck to his pedal. He managed to get it off -phew!- and re-tightened. He only had one screw in, but was able to get a much needed second one later in the day.

We got to Spanaway, 50 miles in, the traditional lunch stop. The Spanaway stop sucks rotten eggs. It's too hot, the lines for the potties are epic, and the food isn't always great. It was worse than usual this year in that the water lines were about 20 minutes long. That should have been remedied right away. It was awful. The temps were probably already in the 80s, the sun was beating down, and waiting for water was no fun. I had a splitting headache.

I was really worried about Perry at that point. He was whiny, which is not typical of him, he looked tired and red. Dh and I got a bit more hands on at managing his food and water, ie we started reminding him non stop. Eat, drink, whatever.

After more sunscreen and ibuprofen, off we went.

The area around Spanaway is an area we call the "Military stupid zone". On I5, or on these smaller roads, the whole area around JBLM (Joint Base Lewis-McChord) is an area of bad traffic, and bad drivers. On I5, typically the traffic stops for no reason, only the right lane moves, the accidents are more numerous, and it's not a fun area to go through. On STP, it's a scary area. It was around there that a truck threatened Perry last year, and where the asses downshift their diesels in front of cyclists most often.

As we're biking... an emergency vehicle passed us, sirens blaring. Shit. Then a second. We passed the accident a few minutes later. Cyclist down, though this gal was at talking, and the situation didn't look as bad. Still, gulp.

Wanted to fill up water at McKenna mini-stop. They are out of water. We have enough to go on with, but still disconcerting.

After a bit, we got on a 14.5 mile section of bike trail. It's always hot, there is very little shade, but no cars, this year most people who were not part of the ride stayed OFF the trail. Last year there were parents with small kids, and that's always scary when you're going even slightly faster than walking speed. Which, of course, we all are.

Perry got a flat on that section. Grrr. It looked like, and this was verified when I fixed the tube after we got home, that that brand of patches isn't that great. Sigh. The other brand we have was great, but I can't figure out what it was, since there is no name or anything.

Anyhow, fixed the flat. The heat is awful, it's bright, and the water in our bottles is warm enough to make tea.

The Tenino rest stop was up next. It's run as a fundraiser by the high school basketball team, and this year? I suspect their forethought saved quite a few people from medical problems. The water there is cold, and there was plenty of it :) . There were no lines. In addition, they'd set up a line of pvc piping shooting water up 6+ feet into the air. Cold water. Many people got soaked, finally cooling down. Damp and in the shade, I felt SO much better, my headache subsided a bit.

It came back within minutes of being back out in the sun and heat, but still, I felt better.

This section was where Perry had decided he didn't need us any longer and taken off. AC did that this year. Only unlike Perry, she didn't stop to wait at the gas station at the entrance of Centralia. Sigh.

100 miles done. 20 to go. Temps are apparently around 95F. Fucking HOT.

Centralia mid-way point. We found AC waiting for us (sigh...). We got creamsicles. This is the only time I'd ever eat a creamsicle, because things taste very different when it's hot, they are cold, and you've just biked 100 miles.

We spent a bit too much time in Centralia, doing various things. We didn't feel in a major hurry, it was still brutally HOT, and we needed the rest. Eventually we headed out to Winlock.

After Chehalis, we stopped for some energy gels. Those things are gross, especially warm, but do they ever work! Dh's knees were bothering him and while I was having zero issues with fatigue, my head was still in pretty awful pain. We told the kids to go on up ahead to where we were camping, and they zipped on up ahead, soon out of sight. Gulp. My babies!

My personal bugaboo, the hill into Napavine, was next. I made it, if slowly.

Last six miles to Winlock. Rollers. Which are hills following each other, the idea being that you use the speed you get on one downhill to help you up the next. We were just outside of Napavine, about to hit the first hill when....

Flat tire. Crappity crud. It's late, we now had to change a flat, and we may not make it to Winlock in time for dinner... and who knows what is open in Winlock this late?

But then...

My phone rang. I picked up the call, thinking it might be AC or Perry in trouble, but it was my brother...

Standing by the side of the road, temps still in the 90s, I'm hot and sweating, and my poor spouse is changing my tire as...

I squee with excited excitedness because I have a brand new niece!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd have missed the call without the damn flat.

There are truly few bits of news that are as incredibly wonderful as people you love having a new baby that you get to love too.

The next six miles literally flew by. Still concerned about dinner, it's still hot, and I hoped the kids weren't worried about us, since the flat repair took some time.

When we got in, we biked to the elementary school. A quick look at the field showed our red tent set up.

Instead of finding what we could have, ie two teens flopped on the grass eating the free pretzels, we found a tent all set up, sleeping pads blown up, and sleeping bags fluffed. And the kids, having done that, eating pretzels. I am so proud of them, they thought to pick up our luggage and made camp. It may seem obvious, but with teens? You never know.

120 miles, 13.4 mph average, 9h18min on the bike.

But we have a small problem. AC had a cushy gel seat on her bike. Last Tuesday -note that STP is Saturday- she points out that the lycra cover of her seat is torn. The seat is too old to find a direct replacement, and that's a pretty major equipment change very late in the game. We decided to just go, after all, it was just a tear in the lycra. However, now, we have a problem: the lycra continued tearing, and she lost the hunk of foam at the front of the saddle, straight down to the plastic frame. We need to figure something out, because the bike is not ridable under those conditions. Still, first, dinner.

Dinner presented a challenge. We went down to the Senior Center. I'd purchased dinner, breakfast, and camping vouchers for all four of us last February, but... huh. They show dh, and the kids paid for but not me. We have no cash (long story, but dh swapped out his wallet and didn't put the cash in the bike bag), so no way to buy me dinner. I'm looking at these old ladies and going I did this for three people there is NO WAY I didn't get it for all four of us. Since they'd apparently had LOADS of problems this year, she let me in. I checked when I got home and yes, I had paid for all of them. They marked me as paid. I did, but I'll still send a thank you note with a donation for letting me in, on my word that I really had paid. Which I think they did because....

Mine wasn't the only effed up registration... they ran out of food, both that evening and breakfast the next day. People were quite pissed, but it seems like there was some serious miscommunication between the Senior Center and the guy from the school district who arranges everything. The ladies didn't want to feed anyone from the elem school, saying we hadn't pre-registered, but only the people from the HS had. Which was not the case. It was a bit of a mess.

It was hot, people were testy, but they managed to get people mostly fed. Alas, unlike previous years (we've eaten there 5 times), this year they put bell peppers in the tomato sauce, so ew gross, I got as much sauce off the pasta as I could and ate the pasta as plain as possible with loads of salt.

And during dinner, bro texted a photo of my niece!

Cold shower after dinner, brr, then off to collapse in the tent. Perry opted to sleep outside. It was still hot, there was barely a breeze, but we were so tired we all feel asleep quickly, having set the alarm for 4am. The plan was to get up early and attempt to beat the worse of the heat into Portland.

Packets are all picked up, last minute REI purchases are made.

In a superstition be damned move, we bought ride Tshirts. Normally I get those AFTER the ride, so I feel very concerned about getting these. :P

The ride jackets are UGLY as sin. We'll be wearing last year's, I think. Yech, and very male-centric to boot.



OMG. I'm freaking starting to majorly panic. What the FUCK possessed me to think this was a GOOD idea?

This weekend we planned -and did, yay us!- two rides back to back: yesterday we did a 50 mile or so (the exact mileage is unknown because of device and app issues, but around 50.). It went well, and we had a good time. Linnea had had a sleepover with my MIL, so we were even able to get out reasonably early.

Then today the idea was to do another ride, though only about 20 or so miles. We thought we might have to split up, since Linnea can't come, but MIL said she'd keep her another day. Linnea was vexed at not being able to ride with us, though.

Problem is, she can't really ride on the road. She's too slow to be safe on any real road riding. So we decided to go on the bike trail: we left the car at one location, did our 20 or so miles, and swung back to about 7.5 miles from the car to a park where we met up with MIL and Linnea. And Linnea rode back with us (most of the way. She, dh, and Perry split off to drop of their bikes at a local bike shop, and AC and I took the opportunity to ziiiiiiiiip the rest of the way back to the car.)

It was... different biking with Linnea in our paceline. Obviously, she has less experience, her bike is smaller, she's much slower etc. Still, it was fun. Lots of people encouraged her as they zipped by us. Two guys followed us for a while in a busy area, and when they prepared to pass one of them said to me "Nice paceline!" and I called to him "Wait til you see who is pulling!" As he went by he told her good job, and gave me a wave and a thumbs up! It was so funny.

We must have looked quite incongruous on the trail. I'm fat, but aside from that, four of us have clearly put some money and effort into our gear, right: road bikes, real bike jerseys, clipless pedals.... and there was Linnea: so very small, on her tiny old old old mountain bike, her pink helmet, in regular clothes, though carefully chosen for biking, and looking so cute you could eat her! :-)

It is very hot, and Linnea got discouraged for a while, but we told her how well she was doing, gave her some more water, and she finished what we'd intended her to do, claiming that she was "roasted" or maybe it was "toasted", though she was a bit soggy, but clearly cooked. That conversation was so totally Linnea!

I got up feeling quite sick this morning: headache, nausea, a bit of a fever, and the awful combo of congestion and runny nose.

However, I really felt we needed to get the experience of riding in a group of four among lots of riders, so I decided to take 3 Motrin, ie one more than my usual, choke down some toast with marmalade, and attempt the ride.

There is a decision point about 15 miles: left, you're opting to go 65 miles, whereas right, you only need to go 45. Since I knew that, I decided I'd make a decision there which to do, figuring that I'd be able to go 45 unless I was really feeling icky, in which case, about 10 miles prior, I'd been within 10 miles of home and could just bike back there.

So two possible ejection points planned, we headed out.

Here's the ride, mapped by someone last year, same course: Flying Wheels 65 mile route.

I was feeling ok by then. Only one problem. I'd forgotten to bring Kleenex. So I had my pockets stuffed with crappy toilet paper from the port-a-potties. Ooops.

Started out feeling pretty ok. My ears were bugging me and my throat was sore, but still, on average, who cares? I could ride! And ride I did. Until Inglewood Hill, which is nasty, straight up, and still very crowded because it's the beginning of the ride. After a while, granny gear didn't feel too safe, too many people, walking, hopping off their bikes, going to slow, and zig-zagging, so I hopped off too and walked a few hundred feet. That, I'll say now, was the only walking I had to do all ride, yay me! AC, dh, and Perry made it up the whole hill.

Next is down. And then back up. And down. And... you get the picture.

First decision point, and I felt fine, so continued: that was the "ride home point". Um. I should mention now that while I had it in the back of my mind that I could do this, I hadn't actually brought my house keys, so it wouldn't have been the best decision I could have made! Hee.

Continue on towards Carnation, and the second decision point. I was feeling good, dh and the kids were doing great, so we turned left, and committed to the 65 miler.

Note: it's the same ride as last year. Just read that description, add in AC, and you've got this year's ride: Flying Wheels, 2012.

AC did fine. She had a bit of a hard time on the last hill, which is killer: you've already biked a long while, it's long, and the temps are up. She used her inhaler several time, positive that she was having an asthma attack, but I'm pretty sure it was a panic attack again, she's gotten these before at hills, I'm not sure why. It's not asthma in that if she does calm down enough to actually breathe, she's fine. I do need to discuss that with her doctor.

Food stop funny: Perry has found a new method for collecting food. He takes off his helmet and piles it full of stuff to eat and brings it back to the bikes. AC sarcastically called it a cornucopia, I said it was the helmet of plenty. That kid cracks me up. And eats, OMG.

He got a lot of kudos, as usual. The biking community really is encouraging of younger riders.

It was long and hilly, but eventually, we got back to Marymoor Park. We were a bit faster than last year, but in the same range, which surprised me. AC has now done her first metric century, yay AC!

Photo of us, we're done:


Such fun, sharing that with my kids! Can't wait until Linnea can join us on longer rides!

And then I went home and pretty much crashed. Actually not feeling too tired from the ride but this cold is kicking my sorry ass. Heh.

One thing to come from this: it's not a question of want, I need a new bike. My gearing is off, and I think my derailleur may be on its last... legs? Cogs? Anyhow, it's not a question of it, but when I will have a bike failure. I need to get my act together and start making choices and decisions about what to get and when.

Looking at getting a new bike.

Let's just say that I'm so totally outclassed in this arms race between dh, son, and daughter, that something HAD to be done.

I decided on a budget.

I went to one of my fave bike shops first. They were having a sale.

But oh, they didn't have the bike I'd wanted, but why don't you try this one, it's "a bit" better than the one you were looking at... yeah, a bit. $1200 vs $700. But oh, it's 20% off! And see how nicely it fits, and how good you feel on it? Yeah, all that.

The good thing? It's ugly as hell, white with -ugh- teal "Hawaiian theme flowers" which I am not fond of. So while the ride was nice, it wasn't love at first sight.

Tabled the decision and went to bike shop #2.

I wanted to see a Dolce compact. Still in my price range, and a beautiful black and purple colour scheme.

Only they didn't have it. They had the slightly more expensive and slightly more ugly Dolce Compact Sport. And not in my size.

But in my size, they had the bottom of the line bike of the Ruby line. Yeah, I'd looked at the Ruby line. The top of the line -same frame- costs $8500. Yes, eight thousand five hundred dollars. Full carbon fibre frame, which ended up being a crosshatch of deep purple and almost-black grey in full sunlight. Beautiful. The purple is called blackberry satin. Even the colour name is gorgeous....

They put it on the bike trainer and tell me to get on.

Perfect fit, straight out of the gate. All the angles just... fit.

There is a reason I have vintage early 90s mountain bike, also by Specialized: something about their geometry just works with my fucked up weird body.

But I don't want the Ruby. I mean... Too expensive, folks!

Go ahead and take a ride, they said.

I should have said no. I should have left and gone elsewhere.

Three pedal strokes out the door, I'd fallen in love.

The bike felt perfectly. Just... everything. I'm not fond of the new type shifters, but all the bikes have them, but everything else? Perfect. I felt properly balanced, upright and in the drops. I felt in control, at speed, and when going slow. I went up a hill that I've done before. It was... easier. And doing back down it? I was going so fast I was almost scared.

I'm in total love.

Now just to persuade my spouse I want to spend that amount on a bike.............

Wow, it's been a while. I'm hoping to write up STP and our trip to Yellowstone, plus a few spectacular hikes, over break.

So where was I? Oh yeah. At the lunch stop at Spanaway.

More food, and then I saw a triplet, a triple tandem come in. Dad with his two kids, young teen boy, younger teen/tween girl. They parked it right next to us...

Dad and the son wandered off, and the girl stayed. I was waiting and I saw people come up to her and ask her questions about the bike, the ride, etc? She literally turned her nose up and her back at them. It was... jarring. Friendliness is pretty much a standard for most bike rides, and seeing this little brat was bizarre. Later on, their triplet passed me to the RIGHT. I was not near the curb because... oh, the curb turned in and being near it at that point would have you running straight into it in a few moments. The dad realised this, of course, seconds after he passed me on the wrong freaking side, and cut me off to get out of the way. I yelled something rude at him, because he barely missed my front wheel. I saw several more assholish moves by him that afternoon, so I can see where the kid comes by her rudeness.

Anyhow, we headed out from Spanaway. We were making good time, I was quite impressed with how good, actually. After Spanaway is the long stretch of road that goes through the military base. It's flat, and boring, and yeah, it was flat and boring. AC and Greta met up with us at a pullout. We swapped some snacks and other gear around, and headed back out. They were having a good time, and were headed to Portland to have Greta's piano tuned up, then back north to Winlock where they'd meet us for dinner and camping.

We pedaled on.

We'd biked many of these roads before, so Perry wasn't unfamiliar with them. He was doing SO well.

And then... the incident. OMG. I was a bit behind dh and Perry, having slowed for a hill. I could see the group of cyclists at the light ahead of me and... someone went down.

I couldn't see, but I just knew it was Perry. I got there, confirmed that it was him, and I was out of my clips, my bike tossed onto the sidewalk SO fast it wasn't funny. Dh had already hauled him out of the road, from the tangle of two or three down bikes. He was ok. As were the two guys. What had happened was that one car lane and one bike lane narrowed down to just a bike lane, adjustments needed to be made, and someone negotiated something wrong. Nobody blamed anyone else, but Perry felt bad because one of the guys had a mechanical issue. He was SO relieved when it turned out to be nothing. Me? I was in tears. That was my little boy, tiny little boy, on the ground in a mess of moving bikes. Shudder. The guys decided that this the incident had happened in front of a Starbucks, that it was time for coffee. We dusted Perry off, he was fine except for a scrape and a small cut.

Onwards. But wow. Those are the moments when you wonder WTF you are doing, letting a little boy like Perry ride with SO many other people?!

We biked on.

Shortly after Yelm, we got on the bike trail. We'd ridden most of the trail before, so it was familiar and safer than roads at any rate. It was a bit warm and... I was starting to get worried about Perry.

He was clearly tired. Speeding up. Slowing down. Weaving a bit too much. We'd talk to him, he'd be ok for a while, and then get back babbling like he does when he's overtired. We finally made a long stop by the side of the trail, pushed some extra water and some gel and food. It was, at least for me, a last ditch effort. Had he not settled after that, I was going to call the ride for him. It would not have been safe for him to continue. This was, I might add, about 75 miles in, his longest ride ever. And we still had... gulp... 45 miles to go, though it wasn't that late and we weren't concerned about time.

He recovered nicely and we headed on out. We met some people doing STP with their 12 year old, on a bike that was MUCH too big for him. I hope they finished!

We stopped at the Tenino mini-stop and Perry ate more food. The water there was nice and cold and I refilled bottles and we all drank. Mmmm, water! I thought, btw, that Perry would take to energy drinks but no, he, like us, preferred straight water. We called my MIL and got to talk to Linnea and she was so sweet and encouraging!

And I stepped on an energy bar that someone had dropped. OMG, getting that sticky stuff out of my bike shoe took for freaking ever, and there is still some there, hard as cement and impossible to chisel out, almost 6 months later!

From Tenino, we headed out towards Centralia. That'd be 100 miles, and the ride half-way point, and the stopping point for many riders, though not ours!

Centralia was great. Since we were making SO much better time than the previous time we'd done it, we were getting to stops in the middle of the events, rather than trailing in laaaaate. At Centralia, there was the mid-point festival, with an arch, a row of sprinklers -that was SO nice- and volunteers handing out Creamsicles. I'm not usually much of a Creamsickle fan, but that one was DELICIOUS.

Again, since we had time, really, we hung out for a bit, dh and Perry shared an order of meatballs wrapped in bacon with bbq sauce, and we enjoyed a break before the last part of the ride.

Our camping was to be in Winlock, twenty miles out from Centralia, and out we headed. Since so many people stopped in Centralia to camp there, there were very few people on the road, and we were often alone. Nice, rather flat roads, few cars, and very pretty scenery. One homeowner had set up their sprinkler to hit the road, and we went through that, waving and yelling thanks. Perry wanted to turn around to go through again.

And then. The hill. Worse, imo, than The Hill, is the long, dragging, hot hill up to Napavine. Grind, grind, grind. It was hot, and it was long, and remember, we'd already biked over 110 miles by then.

We did make it. It was slow, at least for me, but we did make it, and stopped at the top to catch our breath and get some more water. It's a small town, there was the usual water or gatorade leave a donation for our football/baseball/cheerleading/track whatever team, which we did.

And a little guy, probably about three, was there with his mother, and he was handing out popsicles. And OMG, he was SO sweet, and that gesture of kindness on their part meant a lot. Perry had a lime popsicle, and eventually, we headed on our to Winlock, feeling... good about life.

The road runs near the train track, and we stopped to watch a train go by. Remember, my spouse is a train nut. It was a stinky garbage train. I made him leave before the whole thing passed by! Onwards towards our evening destination, Winlock, and dinner and tents. This area is the start of the big rollers, ups and downs, where you can get enough momentum that the up isn't quite as bad as it would otherwise be.

We missed the turnoff to the elementary school and our camping as we blew through Winlock, it was not well signed. However Perry and I -we were ahead of dh, whose knees had started to bother him- realised that something was wrong, stopped and turned around. We made it to the elementary school field, checked in, and went to chose a spot for our tent.

We had just dropped down bikes when Greta and AC got there. With the car, our camping gear, and OMG, the cooler with a diet Coke!

AC and Greta started setting up camp, and dh, Perry, and I decided to head for showers. Which is when we found out that someone forgot to... pack one of our bags. We had toothbrushes, but no towels. Yay, cold shower and no towel afterwards. THAT was not too fun, but oh well, I made do, we got our showers, and drove to dinner. It wasn't far, we could have biked or walked it, but I wanted the five minutes of charge time for my cell.

I'd bought one of those battery chargers, that uses AAs to charge the cell? Yeah, no, that did zip.

Dinner, at the senior center, was pasta, salad, garlic bread, and a cookie. Perry... devoured so much garlic bread, it wasn't even funny!

After dinner, we headed back to our tents. We had the usual argument about the rainfly: on or off. My vote is always off BUT set it up to where a quick pull gets it ON. Which has saved our butts (or at least our sleeping bags) more than once. We opted to do that, and after brushing teeth and setting alarms, went to sleep. We were TIRED.

So where was I? Oh yeah. Perry. Doing well, alert, biking responsibly and quickly! This was going well.

After the REI stop, there was more biking around Puyallup. The big Thing was the anticipation of The Hill.

It's The Hill, yes, capitalised. One of the STP rites of passages, the one people talk about (how'd you do with The Hill?). Me, myself? I mostly walked it the first time, and the second time, the same, but it was instrumental in killing me enough that the bloody blisters on my butt (I was taking Accutane. It thins the skin. OUCH!) were just the final straw. (The second time I attempted STP I wanted to avoid the enourmous weight gain I'd had the first time, and decided to stick to Weight Watchers Points, despite the amount of exercise I was doing. This did not work, and I bonked. Took a long time to get my blood sugar back up, and I was shaky, I had blisters, and I was DONE. This time I decided I'd eat and take the weight gain, which was pretty bad but not awful. Anyhow.)

The other issue with The Hill? There is a light at the bottom and it's invariably red, so you start from a dead stop. Which we did.

And up we went.

Dh and Perry are better hill climbers than I, and off they headed. Me, I followed, flipping down gears as the road got steeper. Granny gear, eventually, but I kept going. I made it without walking, and I was completely thrilled! Perry and dh were waiting for me at the top, but not for long, and off we went, having braved and overcome an STP bugaboo! More on The Hill later.

The Hill is where I encounted my first asshole rider. I was having some problems shifting (which didn't go away on the rest of the ride, but I learned to deal with them) so I told dh and Perry to go ahead, I was exploring gears. There were a few hundred meters ahead of me and this guy started drafting me. He was REAL close, much too close for comfort, so I asked him to back off. He ignored me. I slowed down. He slowed down. I stopped, which I didn't want to do. He had to pass me then, and I boggled at his attire. He was in full Israel regalia. Bike jersey, with an Israeli flag, blue and white bike, pretty pretty pretty, wtih stars of David stencilled on it, Israeli flag bike SOCKS, and more stars of David on his helmet. I have to say, he looked impressive, though I'm not fond of white bike shorts on men, and I'm glad I never got to see that! (Men should not wear any colour bike shorts but black. Google polish cycling team if you don't beleive me.) I got some water, and got back on my bike to get going. Get going. Three seconds later... he's behind me AGAIN. Grr. I wasn't able to lose him until the lunch stop. After lunch I saw him head out right before we did, drafting on a group that was clearly together and he wasn't. The problem wasn't the drafting, really. People do that. It was how close he was drafting. Dangerous. And not backing off when I asked him to.

I caught up with Perry and dh, my drafter still drafting, and we got to the top of a hill. A group passed us. I noticed the young woman in the group. She barely had any clothes on, as in biking in a teeny tank top and teeny shorts. I don't know what else I noticed about her, but it was something because I had a bad feeling.

A few minutes later, we were at the bottom of the hill, traffic was being diverted, and the gal I'd just seen was standing skakily, her bike on one side of the road, her body on the other. Blood freaking everywhere. Road rash, and at least one severe gash on her elbow. Ugh.

That shook me up a bit.

Anyhow, we got to lunch! Boy this is getting long.

We grabbed some quick food, Perry went to get in line for Free! Jamba Juice. I went to get in line for the potties. Which were far from the food, and the lines were humongo. I think I waited almost 30 minutes.

More food, and then I saw a triplet, a triple tandem come in. Dad with his two kids. They parked it right next to us... And I'll have to finish this later. Dh and the kids are ready to go!

We'd decided to do a kinda dry run of getting up, that Friday before STP. We set the alarm for very early, 5am, and planned on a short early morning ride. Just to make sure we could do it, and to iron out any early morning unexpected bugs.

That night? I was up every 30 minutes. It was a miserable night, I didn't get much sleep, and from talking to dh, he didn't either.

But we did manage to get up, fed, and out. Went for a short, about 10 mile, ride along the trail, it was very pretty and very empty in the early morning.

Next we set out to getting ready. Well, dh did. Me? I studied for the test I had Monday morning early, and did homework. Camping gear, that would go in the Pilot with dh's aunt G and AC. Stuff to go on the bikes. Extra food. Water. We decided to carry a bit more water than we'd planned, the thought of running out on a hot day, which it was predicted to be, was just not good. It made the bike bags pretty heavy.

I'd picked up our ride packets at REI downtown with Perry and AC while Linnea was at her math camp. It was controlled chaos, but fun. It was, also, the first little bit of STP, if that makes sense. It feels real, once the packet is in hand, the jacket unpacked and tried on, the numbers pinned.

My least favourite pre-ride tast is that, btw: filling out the bibs and pinning numbers on the jersey! We did get it done.

8007 for dh, 8009 for me, and 8016 for Perry.

We actually managed to get to bed about when we'd hoped to, much earlier than for previous rides.

My MIL would be picking up G at the train station, and dropping her off at our place, so we could all leave bright and early to the start line. We didn't hear G come in, we actually, OMG, slept!

Anyhow. I was freaking out, to be honest. I hate hate hate the waking up early part, it's seriously the hardest part for me, and I dreaded the hills. And the heat. And the hills. And I wasn't 100% sure I could make it, and most importantly, I wasn't 100% sure Perry could and I desperately didn't have to have set him up for a pretty major emotional failure.