A fish on a bicycle: STP 2010!

Me and Mason at the starting line ( UW parking lot) 4:45am

I left at the end of the first group

Cold and crazy ride down lake washington blvd. My biggest problem was staying warm. I did not really warm up until I reached Castle Rock many many miles later.

Moving along at a good clip!

I made it to Centralia (100 miles) in a scorching 5 hours and 15 minutes, that proved to be a big mistake later on...

Powering through Yelm, after Centralia my knees "froze up" and I almost had to abandon the ride. I took some excedrin and limped down the road. Then I had a flat tire, fortunately by the time I had fixed the tire my knees felt good enough to continue. The Last 85 miles were like a meditation on the true nature of pain and suffering. My speed dropped from 21-22mph down to 18, then 17, 16 15, and even 14 at the lowest point near Vader. I had a good stretch from mile 140 to 175 where I was able to join a fast pace line going 20-21mph. Nearing portland I was crawling down the road at 15-18mph average. The route change getting into portland was not fun, I felt like They ran us on a tour of downtown just to get to the finish...