This is the sixth part of a series that follows the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic along its route, and explores the history and transformation of the Pacific Northwest through the communities and stops along the way. See here for part 5. After sitting around Centralia College as the heat soared towards ninety while David re-hydrated, we headed back to the car and hit I-5 for one of our last stops along the......

This is the fifth part of a series that follows the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic along its route, and explores the history and transformation of the Pacific Northwest through the communities and stops along the way. See here for part 4. It was nearly 11 a.m. when we arrived in Centralia for the half-way point on the STP, to have lunch with David, our friend who was taking the whole course in......

This is the fourth part of a series that follows the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic along its route, and explores the history and transformation of the Pacific Northwest through the communities and stops along the way. See here for part 3. At the intersection of Sussex Avenue and Sheridan Street in Tenino, a small stone stands erect on the edge of a vacant lot, with the words "Old Oregon Trail 1845–53" etched......

This is the third part of a series that follows the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic along its route, and explores the history and transformation of the Pacific Northwest through the communities and stops along the way. See here for part 2. Twenty minutes south of Olympia we take exit 95 off I-5 towards Little Rock. The road changes name a couple times until we're on 28th Ave SW, which ends at Waddell......

This is the second part of a series that follows the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic along its route, and explores the history and transformation of the Pacific Northwest through the communities and stops along the way. See here for part 1. As 7:30 a.m. rolled around, we were ready for breakfast and tired of slowly following the STP riders through Kent, so we made our way back to I-5 and headed south......

This is the first part of a series that follows the Group Health Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic along its route, and explores the history and transformation of the Pacific Northwest through the communities and stops along the way. At 4:45 a.m. Saturday morning, July 12th, 2,427 bicyclists set out from the Husky Stadium parking lot to make the 204.5-mile Group Health Seattle to Portland Classic in one day. Fifteen minutes before that, we were......

We've always been squarely of the opinion that bicyclists are all insane and have a deathwish. Really: there they are zooming in and out of Seattle traffic (dangerous enough to be in inside of a car) in the middle of a rain storm on a dark day wearing a pair of tight pant-thingies that leaves about as much to the imagination as a film starring Jenna Jameson. But even we weren't prepared for the degree......

It wasn't until a good friend of ours quit smoking and decided to get healthy that we ever heard of the Seattle to Portland ride. A grueling-sounding (though apparently not in reality) 204-mile bike ride between Seattle and Portland, the STP takes place this year Saturday and Sunday, July 12 and 13. (The hard-core riders apparently do it in one day; most do it in two.) Despite our until-recent ignorance of the event, apparently like......