← All trip reports Seattle to Portland 2025
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Biking 207mi from Seattle to Portland
Well the answer is, across 2 states. Seattle to Portland is one of the quintessential rides of the PNW, and it feels like everyone who’s dabbled in cycling has their eyes set on this one.
It always felt like a goal we’d have one day, we just weren’t sure when we’d pull the trigger on committing to the training. 2025 ended up being our year because Chris got motivated and signed up and we got fomo and signed up with him.
Training for this takes time. Not only do you have to get your fitness up to snuff, but you have to train your butt to sit on a bike seat for HOURS. Do people send it having done minimal training? I’m sure. But I was not in the business of wanting to be in more pain than I could prevent on 2 100mile bike rides.
Our little crew of 4 consisted of myself, Max, Chris and Byskal. If I had to guess, Max and I probably did about average in terms of training load. Chris and Byskal out trained us for sure, but Max and I had youth on our side 🐣
We’d spent weekends together, riding around Seattle, Bellevue, and Kirkland. We got comfortable being cranky next to each other. Some of us complained more than others (me). We belted ‘Take me home, country roads’ approximately 3 times a ride (if you heard us, no you didn’t). And somehow managed to only get 1 flat tire amongst the group across all of our rides!
Our training rides leading up to StP:
| Date | Activity | Time | Distance | Elevation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 3, 2025 | 30 min HIIT Ride with Robin Arzón | 0:30:00 | 8.34 mi | 0 ft |
| Feb 8, 2025 | 45 min Dyrhólaey Ride | 0:45:00 | 11.64 mi | 0 ft |
| Feb 12, 2025 | 15mi STP training | 0:59:28 | 14.99 mi | 0 ft |
| Feb 18, 2025 | Peloton - 99 min Just Ride | 1:39:35 | 25.00 mi | 0 ft |
| Feb 24, 2025 | 15 min Intro to Power Zone Ride with Matt Wilpers | 0:15:00 | 3.56 mi | 0 ft |
| Feb 24, 2025 | 20 min Power Zone Beginner Ride with Matt Wilpers | 0:20:00 | 4.88 mi | 0 ft |
| Feb 26, 2025 | Brrr on the Burke | 1:37:58 | 21.96 mi | 348 ft |
| Mar 1, 2025 | Loopey | 1:59:52 | 26.82 mi | 1,152 ft |
| Mar 18, 2025 | Womp womp | 0:13:26 | 2.25 mi | 59 ft |
| Mar 22, 2025 | Burke > Sammamish river trail > 520 | 2:40:11 | 34.17 mi | 1,020 ft |
| Mar 30, 2025 | Burke > Samm river > lake WA loop > burke | 3:51:27 | 50.06 mi | 1,519 ft |
| Apr 6, 2025 | Peloton - 60 min Just Ride | 0:59:59 | 13.52 mi | 0 ft |
| Apr 16, 2025 | White shorts make you go | 1:53:50 | 29.64 mi | 568 ft |
| May 24, 2025 | Feels like summer 🙂 | 1:53:10 | 26.88 mi | 384 ft |
| May 26, 2025 | Some miles are better than no miles | 2:21:41 | 32.62 mi | 564 ft |
| May 31, 2025 | Flying wheels century | 7:38:42 | 100.18 mi | 4,656 ft |
| Jun 4, 2025 | 30 min HIIT & Hills Ride with Robin Arzón | 0:30:01 | 8.05 mi | 0 ft |
| Jun 7, 2025 | Burke > Sam > 520 | 2:20:50 | 34.66 mi | 1,063 ft |
| Jun 29, 2025 | Draft princess 🚴 | 4:20:19 | 60.08 mi | 1,886 ft |
| Jul 5, 2025 | Burke > Sam river > 520 > Juanita hill > Burke > 520 | 4:16:34 | 61.09 mi | 2,165 ft |
| Jul 12, 2025 | Bonus miles | 0:08:31 | 2.07 mi | 56 ft |
| Jul 12, 2025 | StP Day 1 | 6:30:25 | 101.52 mi | 2,493 ft |
| Jul 13, 2025 | StP Day 2 🎉🎉🎉 | 6:47:24 | 104.96 mi | 2,776 ft |
Max and I had a couple bonus miles, we opted to bike from our house to the start line to avoid all of the traffic and parking at UW. Everyone’s spirits were high, the weather was cool (it wouldn’t be for long), and no one’s butt hurt yet.
We ended up being so in the zone that we blew right past the first rest stop at Ikea in Renton (RIP meatballs).
Riding through the mist sprayers and being greeted with an orange creamsicle was 😗🤌. We spent the night at the Great Wolf Lodge, per my nieces request. Only Byskal was brave enough to go down the waterslides. Chris, a humble leader of engineers, armed with a hair dryer, a hair tie, a hanger, and a pendant light MacGyvered a way to dry his bib (and yes, it was definitely a fire hazard). Chris, Max and I treated ourselves to milkshakes, some pre-bed theragun-ing and an early bedtime.
There was no organized start time on Day 2, so we set a Xam wake up call to get as early of a start as we could manage while still giving our bodies time to sleep.
I preferred the first half of Day 2’s route the most. It was hilly, flowy, and the roads were lined with trees (god bless you shade).
The last 20 miles was a slog. You’re on a highway (yes, a highway), where you’re super exposed to both fast cars and the sun. It smells like gas and hot pavement. You just want it over at this point. Somehow we persevered ,
The second day did however have the best snacks! Pickle juice, frozen grapes, watermelon were all chefs kiss 😗🤌
Would we do it again? I don’t have the desire to repeat this across 2 days now that we’ve done it, but next time I’d try to complete it all in a day 😈
Highlights include
Lowlights include
What would we do differently? Overall I think we did a pretty good job in terms of training, fuel, and pain management. We learned to appreciate chamois butter. We drank so. much. tailwind. We prioritized doing long rides over the weekends and it paid off. We remembered to apply sunscreen. Maybe the only thing I’d change is considering if we would have wanted to stay the night in Portland on day 2. Our friend (thanks Nick!!) drove down to meet us at the finish line and drive us back up to Seattle at the end of day 2, but I wouldn’t have hated not being in a car for 2.5 hours after sweating on a bike all day.
