Just to follow up on my bike tour post; I loaded up my gear on the bike and set out for Portland. I didn't get the early start I had hoped for. However, I did ride about 60 miles before the day was out. The first day's ride was great and I enjoyed it a lot. However, the mapping that I printed out was nearly useless. I rode the Interurban Trail most the first day and was able to follow STP markers the whole way. If I hadn't been stopping every 10 miles to check my iPhone's GPS, I would have made better time and saved valuable phone battery. I saw a lot of interesting things on the ride and the easiest thing to note is the connection to your environment as you ride. I could smell BBQ's, bark mulch, flowering trees and plants. Smell is something you seldom have in a car ride. I engaged in some low grade guerilla camping and didn't sleep well. It turns out my bivy was rather sodden and cold for my tastes.
The next morning, I popped out of my bedroll and set out. Actually, I creeped out of bed and sat and drank a latte first thing. It was a typical drizzly-cool morning in the NW. I eventually got back onto a trail and followed it into a town for a breakfast burrito stop. I was having SIGNIFICANT discomfort in my saddle. I couldn't get the saddle adjusted properly. Due to the weather being what it was, I couldn't regulate my attire and comfort together either. Parts of the second day's ride were good and bad. On the trail was great. On the 6 inch shoulder of the highway was bad. There was a nice 2 mile incline that hurt me bad when I was already saddle sore. I called in the reinforcements and ordered a pick-up. 40 miles got logged on Day 2 and I sat at Starbucks in Centralia for 4 hours waiting for my wife to pick me up. I know that I could have "toughed" it out, but the weather was turning pretty bad and I didn't have the provisions I thought I would need to go on. I really believed I would put in two 100 mile days. I sorely underestimated the effort involved with a century. I finished building up my road bike and will try another STP attempt with it. This is the bike, but the picture was before the front derailleur and brakes went on...
