In the time that I’ve been at Cascade, I’ve heard some pretty great stories about people riding the Group Health STP:
Cascade legend Jerry Baker, now 69, has been doing it every year since it started. Paul Wantzelius, who passed away this year, was the only other person able to claim this achievement.
Some of the Major Taylor teens I rode it with last year had never ridden more than 10 miles at a time a couple months before the ride, and a number of them had never been outside Seattle. For them the ride was a life changing achievement.
And Cascade member Mandy Williams, who was badly injured a couple years ago when she was hit by a drunk driver, has been training like crazy (even with bronchitis this past month!) to ride it as a fundraiser for Homeboy Industries.
With 10,000 riders, I’m sure there are thousands of other great stories out there. If you have one you’d like to share, send it to me for a chance to win a Raleigh Revenio 4.0 ($1600 value).
Raleigh has recently launched a new website, MyCyclingEvent.com, full of stories, events, and resources for cyclists. A number of the stories will be highlighted on their “Why I Ride” page, and one lucky storyteller will win the bike on July 1, just in time to get it all set up for STP.
To enter, submit your story (250 words or fewer) to annat@cascadebicycleclub.org by noon on Tuesday, June 28th. Good luck, and happy riding!
HI Anna
I know this is well past the June 21st deadline but I thought I would send you what I wrote about my STP experience anyway! Thanks to the Cascade Bike Club – it was a great event!
Larry Morris
Start Line Tears
I’m standing at the start line with tears in my eyes.
Fourteen months ago I was lying in a hospital bed
being treated for a heart attack.
The Doctor called in ‘minor’.
I called it ‘scary’.
Today, after 1,000 miles of training
I’m standing at the start line
for a 200 mile 2 day
bike ride from Seattle to Portland
and there are tear in my eyes.
Not tears of regret or sorrow.
nor tears of grief or pain.
They are tears of gratefulness
that this old body
has given me another chance,
new life,
another journey,
another adventure,
another day.
I’m standing at the start line with tears in my eyes,
ready to go.
Is this what heaven is like?
Tears of gratefulness
for a new life?
Standing at the gate
ready to go?
Having given life your all
yet still knowing it’s all a gift,
a great gift -
this new life,
this new journey
this new day!
All I know in this moment
is that I‘m standing at the start line with tears in my eyes,
ready to go!