STPFU

So the year was 2003. A co-worker asked me if I'd ride Seattle to Portland with him and I said sure. My girlfriend at the time also asked me if I'd go see the counting Crows Concert with her in George Washington at the Gorge. I said sure to that as well. As the date approached, I realized both of these events were the same weekend. In typical sean form, i made the bad decision to flake on the concert and honor my commitment to ride the STP. I hadn't ridden my bike in months and had never ridden more than a dozen or so miles. My girlfriend was furious and couldn't believe i'd skip seeing my favorite band with her to ride an event that i hadn't trained for. I've been accused of being a people pleaser and i really didnt want to let my friend down. Instead, i really really let my girlfriend down. So the race begins at 6am and i'm feeling good for about 30 miles. Suddenly I can't peddle and my friend who i was riding with was already miles ahead. It became the most unpleasant day of my entire life. The sun was beating down and i every stroke of the crank killed me. My butt hurt too much to sit and my knees hurt too much to stand. I found myself considering a fake crash so that i could be rescued by one of the Subaru support vehicles. After about 11hours, i rolled into Centralia miserable and unable to stand or walk. It was so bad that I put my tail between my legs and called my girlfriend begging for a ride home. She was surprisingly supportive considering how uncool it was of me to bail on the concert. She showed up and said there's no room for your bike. i said, i dont care. i dont want the bike anymore. She insisted that we cram it in the back seat. i was in the back seat of a jetta with my bike pinching me between the door and the Ikea furniture her co-pilot had picked up while in washington. It was actually comfortable compared to being on my bike so i wasn't complaining. As soon as we got home, i gave my bike away to ensure that i never tried anything like that again. Fast forward to 2010. A co-worker asks if i want to ride Seattle to Portland. I say sure. Did we train? Of course not(some things never change). Turns out STP kicked his ass too a few years back. We were both a little bitter about our STP experiences. I said, "Jeff, do you want to do it this year with an exclamation mark?" Kind of like a big FU to the STP attempts of the past" "Lets show this ride that we mean business and do it in one day!" It was a revenge ride. We didn't want to do it in 2 days. That would have been hard but i wanted to flirt with insanity and see what personal limitations i could break through. We left Seattle at 7am and arrived in Portland at 12:30am. It is by far the accomplishment i'm most proud of. I am glad i spent all those rowing sessions with John and Ben. They helped me to stay mentally tough. Years ago,a guy at the gym once said to me something that made me laugh. "Its mind over matter. Because, if you dont mind, it dont matter!" I thought it was funny as this steroid freak was applying this mantra to tricep extensions. But those words actually kept me going through the last 100 miles of the trip. Now, i'm just waiting for the feeling in my numb pinky fingers to return.