Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic (2 Day Ride) - CycleTour

We started in the UW parking lot. I have never in my life seen so many bikes! More than 10,000 people registered for the ride. It was a wave start so I just brought my bike up to the start line and merged in. Right away I saw a couple flat tires and a few people crash. Not a good way to start out!

Riding through Seattle was pretty nice. I just can't get enough of riding in this city. Lots of people came outside their homes to cheer us on and the sun was shining. They did a nice job with the course as far as limited stops and avoiding a lot of the hills.

Our first stop was 25 miles in at the REI headquarters. I got some food and then got back on the road. I knew "the hill" was coming up so I was mentally preparing for that. It is about a mile long and about 7% grade. I made it up no problem. There were plenty of people walking it but the majority of us toughed it out and rode up. A few young "entrepreneurs" sat at the top selling water and lemonade for a dollar. Good idea!

I started getting warm so at the next stop I took off my arm warmers and socks. By the end of the ride I was REALLY regretting taking off my socks. Although my bike shoes are meant to be worn without socks that extra padding was SOREly missed! The rest of day 1 was fairly uneventful until we were about .5 miles out from the halfway point (100 miles). We were coming to an intersection and a guy in front of me fell over while trying to unclip. He fell right into traffic and a flatbed truck with duel wheels carrying a load of hay ran right over him!!!! I was shocked. I was only about 30 meters away but by the time I got there a police officer and ambulance were there. It left me feeling a little off. I know cycling can be dangerous but seeing something like that first hand really threw me off. I read in the paper he was in serious condition with back,lung and leg injuries but don't know any more details. I rode the remaining miles (my final stopping point was at about 110 miles) and picked up my luggage. I wasn't feeling particularly social and was still a little shaken so I ate some pasta, set up my tent and went to bed.

I woke up really early the next day to the sound of other cyclist packing up their tents and getting ready to hit the road. I did the same, ate some pancakes provided by volunteers (thank you!) and got back on my bike. My knees were a little sore but after about 10 miles of cycling I got back into the groove. There were some pretty notable hills on the first leg of Sunday. I was almost glad I didn't know about them as I didn't have time to worry but I shake my fist at the people claiming this was a "completely flat" ride. Whatever! I saw a whole pack of guys wearing flip flops and riding beach cruisers so I should probably stop complaining. I also saw a guy on a unicycle and some people on longboards. Impressive!

Miles 148-160 were just more of the same country backroads. My hands were really starting to hurt. I was also getting pretty lonely and just ready to finish. We rolled into a small town and a semi came barreling towards the pack of riders blaring his horn. Luckily we all got out of the way. As we came to the intersection there was definitely lots of exchanging of words and a near fist fight with the truck driver. The light turned green and naturally broke up the near fight. Phew!

Somewhere on the backroads we were descending from a rather large hill going quite fast (40 MPH+ is my guess. There was a group of ridings in front of me and one of them hit a huge chunk of asphalt. It sent him WAY up in the air and he proceeded to land on his face/shoulder and slide. By the time I got to him he was on his feet being helped by his friends but his whole face was road rashed. I felt SO bad for him! Ughhh, bad things can happen so fast when you are cycling!

Next was the Lewis & Clark Bridge crossing which was a rather large hill but very beautiful. We wound down through Kelso, Longview, Rainier and Mount St. Helens before doing one more bridge crossing. This one was the St. Johns bridge and it brought us into Portland. Wooohoooo we're almost there! Riding through the city was a nice change of scenery and there were lots of friendly people with signs saying, "Welcome to Portland" and whatnot. A group of girls in a prius drove by me screaming encouraging words and it lifted my spirits. At this point I hurt. My palms hurt, my butt hurt, my knees hurt and my feet hurt. Rolling across the finish line was SO nice! I immediately sat down and took my shoes off. I was just so happy to be done.

Talked some of my friends into riding. 200 miles over two days is quite lonely. Seeing the two accidents shook me up a little as well.

The cascade bicycle club does a great job with this event. I suppose that is why it sells out so quick.