(If you thought I ride long, sometimes I write long too!)
Life is funny. You set yourself goals, and sometimes in setting them you push your own limits - physical, mental, intellectual - and after you have achieved them successfully, you sit and wonder: WAS THAT IT?! Really? What now?
That is exactly how I felt after having completed the Seattle-to-Portland bike ride, popularly called STP, in ~15:30 hrs.
That was definitely not what I had anticipated, not when starting out early Saturday morning at 5am. And that was far from how I felt the day before when we met the TA Seattle riders who were doing 1-day option @ STP. We had met to know each other (we had already eked out a plan which included riding @ 17mph average so that including the stops we would be done in 14hrs). The person who devised the riding plan, Sankar, was an STP veteran who had done the 1-day option at least 2 times before and knew the course well. So, it seemed sensible to stick to his plan although it was a little intimidating to hear from his fellow riders how it was difficult to catch up with him on the hills.. and here I was already wondering if we (or rather I) would be able to stick with him in his riding plan.
Leading up to July 14th 2012 (the D-day), inspired by Ryan Lochte's visualization of the perfect race, I had begun to wonder how my perfect STP would be. Buoyed by Sankar's expectations/target time for the group, I thought - would I be able to finish in 14hrs? Will we be able to do it faster if we felt better? As the D-day approached however, all that optimism was slowly giving away to a quiet nervousness. We had done all we could in regards to preparation, now, we just needed to see what lay in store for us on the actual race day. It had been quite a few hot weekends in Seattle leading up to the point, and the temperature was forecast to be in the 90s on race day!
Friday evening, we collected the race packets from Prema (at the gathering), and headed to my friend Akshay's home where we were put up overnight, with just one thing in mind -- complete preparations for the next day's ride and sleep as early as possible. After some catching up, preparation and some sumptuous dinner, and one last look at the weather forecast (which seemed to be getting better) we finally hit the bed @ 10:30, leaving us about 4hrs to sleep. I was lucky enough to fall sound asleep.
"I don't want to wake up!!! I want to sleep some more.. please." After some internal struggle in the head :), all of us were finally ready to leave home at about 3:30am, like planned. Just as we were about to leave, we hear a long hiss! One of the tires is going flat. It was Venki's front tire. We decided to get to the start point parking lot and fix it there. After a quick fix of the puncture, we were at the START!! @ 4:45AM. There were the two of us from TA SV (Venki & me, Prakash was going to do the 2-day option and start later) and three more folks from Seattle (Sankar, Sai, Aravind). We probably missed the first wave of bikers and were ready to leave at 5:00AM. It was exciting to see so many bikers tee off. If you get to the start point feeling fine, the atmosphere is almost always exciting. One thing firmly on mind though - be careful, do not crash!!
After negotiating the initial section safely (the crowd wasn't bad at all) and after having turned on the GPS watch, I finally caught up with the rest and we were finally riding!! Until the first food stop @ mile 24, we stuck together through the thick crowd, while enjoying the beautiful view of Lake Washington! At the stop, got a glimpse of a simple bike stand where all bikes were rested on a bar by just a single point underneath the saddle. It was so simple yet so effective! The day was getting brighter but there was no evidence of sun yet (thinking silently "the sun must be out anytime now"). God.. so many more miles to go!!.. is what I am thinking even as I am writing this blog.. and that was what I was thinking for a fleeting moment while getting out of the first food stop. Who in the right mind signs up for such a crazy endeavor? I have no idea, but when Venki casually asked in Feb if I wanted to do the STP, I did not think for a minute. Maybe that explains why I signed up. :)
Few more folks (Nahappan, Varadan) caught up with us at the first food stop. After grabbing some quick food, we headed out (we forgot about Varadan). The crowd had thinned as well which gave us an opportunity to paceline. We did that until the beginning of "The Big Hill" - it was not much of a hill really, about 1.5mi climb with 6% grade - and we regrouped again at the top of the climb. We were done about 45mi and that was regarded as the toughest part of the route. And still no sun! Well, this seemed easy enough and after having completed almost 1/4th of the total ride, the feeling was great and the next 3/4ths did not seem much of a challenge. We were off to our paceline again. I lagged behind the others initially but soon Venki helped me catch up with the rest and we stuck together till mile 54 where we stopped to refuel and refill.
And we were off again on such a beautiful section of the route. The roads were so smooth, the weather was perfect, the body was feeling fine and we as a group were racing ahead! Can it get any better? I have to say kudos to the organizers for taking care of us so well. We did not have to stop much and the cops (xoxo) controlled the traffic so that we got the preference. After the awesome road, we entered a flat bike trail that was wide enough to support two lanes. The group split into two in the crowd here with Nahappan, Sai and myself trying to catch up with Venki, Sankar & Aravind. We were within touching distance a few times but we eventually caught up with them only at the stop @ mile 87. Along the trail, there were volunteers at almost all stop signs giving us a "CLEAR" sign to go ahead! It was amazing!! Soon, Varadan caught up with us @ mile 87 as well. The group re-grouped. Meanwhile, Prakash started an hour behind us and was keeping the gap. We kept in touch through messages.
After refuelling ourselves, we got back on the road again, and again the whole group vanished in front of me! :) I was riding by myself when I managed to find this strong group of 3 riders. They were chit chatting and having fun and seemed to be going at a good pace. Not seriously pacelining - seemed more like my type. :) I caught on to them and kept up with them, sometimes me pulling but most of the time them pulling me from ahead. (Pulling is a technical term in biking when you are in the front, and rest of the group is riding (or drafting) behind you.) Thanks to them, I was able to catch up with my group (which had split into two by now) and then go past them. I stuck with them till lunch, feeling great and regrouped with the rest of them at lunch. 100miles, 7hrs, nice weather - things can only go worse! And so they did. The sun watlzed out and was blazing by now. The ice-cream being handed over by the volunteers was a blessing. There were sprinklers to keep us cool. After grabbing a meal made of quinoa and tofu, we were back on the road again.
This time again, I fell behind. But it would be hard to catch up now given tougher conditions - rolling hills, sun, headwind and some nice climbs. The group that pulled me to the half-way mark came by again. But this time I could not keep up with them for too long. My legs were tiring - is it lactic acid burn out or is it cramps? did I push too much before the half? What was a beautiful first half was quickly turning into a nightmare! I needed some help. It helped that the rest of the folks were waiting at the 110-mi stop. But the real boost was my magic pills - MUSTARD SEEDS! Sankar had mentioned that chewing on raw mustard seeds relieves cramps in ~5mins. I never tried that before. Popped a few. In no time, I was feeling great!! This is magic! Quickly realized that what I had for lunch was not enough at all.. grabbed a bottle of gatorade, had some electrolytes and was on my way again, this time with the rest of the gang.
Soon, it was becoming difficult to paceline along the rolling hills. Not everyone rides at the same pace or in the same fashion on rolling hills. It was hard to stay behind others while drafting on downhills. I could not resist any more - I took off. I quickly reached the next stop and pulled over my bike to the side so that I can capture the rest of the folks, but I was too slow in my preparations and the gang whizzed past me. And again I fell behind. And then came some more hills. I caught up with the rest before Sankar & Venki beat me on the hill. After having negotiated some reasonably tough climbs, the heat was soaring now as we approached the stop @ mile 140. Met with Venki & Sankar and some cold water at the stop. Refilled ourselves and looked forward to the food stop @ mile 146. I was in two minds whether to stop or not at what seemed like a food stop, but I wasn't sure. After going past it for a bit, I decided to turn around and fill my bottles at least in case there is no support for a while. All this while, we relied on Sankar's knowledge of the course and his guidance and I was least prepared to figure out when the next stop was. Anyways, I turned around and was happy to find the rest of the folks there as well. We knew we were behind out 14-hr target. It was now only about finishing it on time. It was time for a quick check with Sankar, our local guide, about the terrain that lay ahead. The news was not encouraging. Similar stuff, a climb on a bridge and few more towards the end. And by now the sun was in its full display and the weather was nowhere close to the first half. Phew!
We had done 46mi in like 4hrs and we had about 4.5hrs to get to the finish line before 9pm. That is ~60mi in 4.5hr. I felt we were cutting close! For the first time, doubt crept in my head - will I be able to do it? Now, we were on our own. I told Venki - take me along.. I am not sure if I would be able to do it otherwise! And then came a bridge. Bye bye, Venki!! He took off on the hill.. I put my head down and climbed it slowly, and after the bridge was an awesome experiece. I was actually taking a ramp to a highway!!! Wow! I had never taken a highway ramp before on my bike and getting on to US-30 on that ramp was awesome. Again, kudos to the STP organizing team!! And after that, the whole stretch of Columbia River Highway (US-30) was such a pleasure to ride and slowly, I was riding at low 20's and slowly started believing we are in the home stretch. Soon I caught up with Venki & Sankar as they took a mini-stop, and of course they took off again and I met them again at the last food stop, with about 30mi to go and 2.5hrs more!! In the back of my mind now, I knew the job was more or less done. I was feeling in the zone!
Now, it was all about enjoying the rest of the way. It felt good, really good. And to my surprise, I met the group that helped me get to 100mi mark. I did not think I would see them again after they went past me in the second half but there they were. I left the mini-stop again along with Venki & Sankar but they were out of my sight in no time. This time though, I was not going to chase them. One of my fears or my only fear all through the training was if I would be able to ride at someone else's pace, stick to someone else's plan. In the end, I was happy to have ridden my own race, at the same time managing to stick around with the group, regrouping every once in a while. And just like that I knew the end was nearing. Finally, when it did come, after a boring stretch of street roads and traffic lights, there was a feeling of blankness. Not awesomeness, but blankness, that made me wonder.. WAS THAT IT? Venki was waiting to give a high five! And an hour later, Prakash completed his amazing feat, having started out with 2-day in mind and completing the 200 in just 1-day! And then we wrapped the day with some solid & delicious home cooked meal @ Sanjay's place!
The important thing for me though was completing the race, without an accident! I think I am a better rider now. Stronger and wiser after the 2011 crash which ended my season. I managed it without breaking a bone! And I am elated about it. Does it make up for missing my 100-miler last year? Maybe.. maybe the 200 will count towards 2011.. maybe it just does!
I don't know what to attribute the feeling of blankness to though. This was "true happiness lies in the journey, not the destination" coming to the fore. Is it because the terrain was easy compared to the training home ground terrain of SF bay area? Or is it because of all the training since May, and the constant push from Venki? Or maybe it hadn't sunk in yet? Regardless, I have to thank Venki for all the training. This was probably the most I have trained for any event, and maybe that is how good training must feel. And thanks to the abdundance of inspiration and support from Team Asha!! Go Asha!! Just one word to TA - PHENOMENAL.
If you want to experience it, look no further, TA running season 2 is here!!
I am beginning to fall in love with training. On to my next immediate goal now - the SF half marathon. I look forward to it and the India vacation that follows!
And some pictures!
