Stephen's Personal Blog » Bicycle

Some of My STP Photos

Stephen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 02:40:56 +0000

My pics of the STP ride are here. The iPhone quit about 150 miles in. So, there are no photos of the finish or the really good last rest stop. Thankfully, the Marathonfotos were really good.

STP Marathonfoto Pics

Stephen — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:48:13 +0000

These are the pics that Marathonfoto took of me. Pretty good, a bit pricey. The smiling ones are near the finish line.

Thank You Note to STP and REI

Stephen — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:45:37 +0000

I wanted to take a minute to thank the STP support staff on the emergency phone, car 4, and REI Saturday and to let them know how my ride went.

While climbing a railway overpass about 4 miles from the REI rest stop on Saturday morning, my rear derailleur wrapped itself around the cluster stopping the bike and bending the derailleur hanger inward towards the cluster. The damage looked disastrous and ride/bike ending. I called into the emergency phone number and after some trouble finding me car 4 showed up to carry me and my bike into the REI rest stop.

The mechanic, Wes, was a godsend; bending the derailleur hanger back into place, tossing the old derailleur and putting on a new one for free. He also found the cluster loose and rear wheel wobbly. If it had been any other frame material than steel that would have been the end of the bike and the ride. I flew up to Seattle for STP from Amarillo, Texas and have been training all summer for this. My only transportation until Portland was my bike. This news really hit home.

After the quick repair and some food I was back on the road 2 hr after the accident and was able to complete both days of the ride. Thanks so much for saving my trip. Great ride.

Thanks,
Stephen Sorrell
Rider 2960

Vacation Update

Stephen — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 19:12:51 +0000

The ride went really well. There were some bad spots like there always is. Places where things seem to slow to a grind. It takes an hour to cover five miles or you phone dies when it’s needed most. The last twenty five miles were great. Exhilarating to know it was 25 after 175. Some of the most amazing sites. Like riding across a Columbia river bridge and riding with 10000 other riders. The ending ceremonies were rewarding. We came into downtown in the park next to the Doubletree. My training was a bit thin for the miles, but I came through ok. Some pain yesterday and today. Legs feel much bigger.

Seeing Morgan et al. is good too. The babies are so cute. We saw the Multanah Falls yesterday and Vista house. Got lots of pictures and took some videos of the kids playing. Can’t wait to upload them to Youtube.

Tomorrow morning i head back. It’s in two segments. A long one in to Dallas and the short hop to Amarillo. Not much time in between. The time is funny. I leave at 10 and arrive at 5. The 2 hour difference catches up.

Day 2

Stephen — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 11:33:49 +0000

Yesterday was good and eventful. My time sucked. Something like 11 hours with stops. The church is nice. Away from all the people and with only 50 or so here it’s quite small. Got a good nights rest. Sitbones are a bit sore. Overall kind of tired. Everything is pretty good. Got tons of pictures I can’t send without MMS. Quite different from. It’s supposed to rain a bit and be in the 70s.

StP Day 0

Stephen — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 03:55:52 +0000

I’m riding 100 miles tomorrow. See all you bitches laters.

Trip Update

Stephen — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:51:34 +0000

So I’m sitting in a diner in a university street mall across the street from my motel. Everything has been pretty good. More expensive than I thought but not impossible. The traveling today was long and I’m really tired. Cant wait to go back to my room and sleep. The iPhone has been great. I didn’t bring a netbook because of it. This place will be fun to explore tomorrow. Can’t believe I’m putting 200 miles on the bike this weekend.

StP Route

Stephen — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 16:30:07 +0000

Saturday will be the 100 miles from Seattle to Centralis. I’ll try to update Facebook with the towns as a pass through them. The list is below. Riding starts at 5:15 am in groups every 15 minutes.

Day 1
University of Washington (UW) 0
Lake Washington 4.7
Seward Park 10
Kent 25.4
Puyallup 41
Spanaway 53.6
McKenna 69
Yelm 72
Tenino 87
Centralia 100.2

Day 2
Centralia 100.2
Chehalis 107
Napavine 114
Winlock 120.3
Vader 128
Castle Rock 140
Lexington 146
Rainer 154.1
Goble 162
St Helens 176
Scappoose 189
Portland 202.3

Finish line is Lloyd Center and Holladay Park

Training Status

Stephen — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:36:51 +0000

Training this year by month and miles:
Jan 86
Feb 267
Mar 359
Apr 135
May 238
Jun 400
——–
Tot 1485

The recent rides have included lots of near 100F weather, 40-50 miles, and rain 80 miles to Miami and headwinds on almost every ride. To make up for the lack of miles in the beginning of the month due to rain and scheduling I laid it on the past two weeks and I’m feeling overtrained. Muscles are tired, thick, and heavy making me fall asleep very fast. The plan is two days of rest, which isn’t really enough, then some long rides while I can the end of this week and resting will the bike and later myself are in transit to Seattle. Hopefully, I should be energetic enough to bounce off the walls on ride day. Cross my fingers that my miles are enough.

June Miles

Stephen — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:01:20 +0000

If you look at my mileage on the bike, I’m 13 miles from 400 for June. So, one more ride today, this month. Just a quick little 13 mile < 1hr run.