A Boy, A Bike and A butt: Why did I cycle from Seattle to Portland?

I find I talk myself into doing things without actually thinking them through. I’m fairly certain this is how I ended up riding the Seattle-to-Portland Bike Ride with my sister last weekend. Two hundred and four miles is a lot further than it sounds. I definitely expected it to take a while, but I guess I never actually did the math for how long it would possibly take (15 hours total in the end). Sometimes, this can be my mental health system – in a race, if I don’t have any idea where I’m at or how long it will take, I am not constantly thinking about the future, i.e. self-induced pain.

For this specific ride, actual preparation would have been a better mental health choice. I figured the #1 source of pain would be my legs. They obviously do all the work carrying you over the entire 204 miles. Instead, the pain struck in many, many other places some expected and some unexpected.

Never having ridden further than probably 70 miles, I had no idea what to expect physically and mentally heading to 100 miles. I guess I did expect my taint to hurt…what’s a taint? Check out Urban Dictionary. This expectation was definitely met, but I was surprised about everything else: fingers, palms (like, a lot), elbows, shoulders, back, neck, knees, and ankles. The only thing that really didn’t hurt was my left pinky.

The reason I keep entering these types of events is the challenge – the challenge of doing something I didn’t know I could. There’s definitely the physical challenge, but I also enjoy the mental challenge. My sister was not so happy after discovering our 10^th hill of Day 2 – there was definitely some mental motivation needed to keep her moving forward at Mile 194. I like challenging myself like that. It speaks to your character, and I like seeing how much I can push myself.

So, would I recommend the STP? Sure!! The worst part was really the assholes you see in the small towns that think it’s okay to yell at people on bicycles and peel out right next to them. I’m sure if you have to love in Roy, Washington, you probably hate anything that looks fun. I always feel real manly when I yell at people in spandex.

I think my most favorite part of the ride was my little sister finishing the ride. She rode the entire STP on a mountain bike! I’m not sure I would even be willing to do that. She rode further than I’ve ever ridden before last weekend on a freaking mountain bike. Like I said before, she’s a freaking honey badger!

Last question: what’s next?

KM