A Pictorial Story of the 2009 Seattle to Portland Bike Ride
Biking Architect – Tom took Friday July 10 off from work and hopped on his bicycle to ride to Seattle via Point Defiance Ferry , across Vashon Island, through West Seattle, downtown and out to the U district and his rest stop at the College Inn by Husky Field. What’s an extra 60 miles the day before?
bike on ferry
While waiting for the queue to get on the ferry a bird in flight made a deposit on his shoulder and back pack. No worry here! The day was beautiful and the ride was good.
Coming out of West Seattle missed a pedestrian route and ended up on a freeway and then on the Viaduct. No bike lane! Cars whizzing by his while he rode 50 feet up on the edge (about a 1foot shoulder to the roadway) over downtown, until he found an exit about 6 or 7 miles in which got him through The Science Center and out to a quieter, less trafficked bridge across Lake Washington on to the campus. That was one scary ride.
college inn
Team mate Brad got stuck in construction traffic and detours coming from Eastern Washington arrived at the U in time for supper at the Banana Leaf restaurant and a good night sleep at the Inn. Oh yes! After a wee ride for an hour on the Bert Gilman Trail – Brad was amazed by all the folks biking and walking the trail in the Big City and thought maybe it was for the STP – nope just the regular riders.
They were in the first group of riders to leave Husky Stadium at 4:45am and truly had a spectacular ride all the way watching the sunrise on a beautiful 80’F day and got to 105 miles in the best time yet.
first reststop
first reststop 2
During the afternoon, Tom stopped to take care of a slight problem and allow Brad to catch up and he knew Brad was having knee pain. Tom missed Brad passing by him, Brad noticed 15 minutes later that Tom was not behind him – calls to the support team for cell numbers and they were able to re-connect and keep on going.
phoning the pitcrew
Tom’s stomach was overwhelmed and shut down at about the St. Helen’s stop point and Brad’s knee was giving him quite a bit of pain – and he was taking some Ibuprofen and ice at that area.
getting tired
For about 200 1-day riders the worst was getting stopped by a freight train for 30 minutes right before the final bridge entrance into Portland and 2 miles from the finish.
finishline
crossing the line
Lots of pictures to share…the Group Health Nurses stayed to ice and wrap the knee and they got their badges of completion. Then off for showers and some food and Birthday Cake…What a birthday celebration!
knee
Enjoy this site? Subscribe and keep up with all the updates!
Or support this site by promoting us through your favorite network:
Wow, that looks like fun, and a very long ride. I’m amazed so many people did it, especially in 80 degree weather.
Thanks for sharing the adventure!!
LisaNewtons last blog post..A Review of West Coast Drawings VIII at the Koplin Del Rio Gallery
Nice layout IT girl and good story telling. I understand on the STP site there are lots and lots more pictures posted.
Patricias last blog post..A Pictorial Story of the 2009 Seattle to Portland Bike Ride
Lisa
Thank you for coming by and looking at our adventure. We got better pictures this year, but still not great ones of all the beautiful sites with riding so hard. Last year the temperature was 96F in Portland at the end of the ride – better than 204 miles in the pouring rain!
10,000 riders 2,000 one day
Toms last blog post..A Pictorial Story of the 2009 Seattle to Portland Bike Ride