This past weekend I took part in another Cascade Bicycle Club ride, this time from Seattle to Vancouver, BC. It was hard!

It could have been a lot easier if I trained, but yeah that doesn’t seem to be something I’m doing this year. In fact, of the just over 1000 miles I’ve ridden this year, over a third has come as part of the two big rides I’ve done (2 days of STP and 2 days of RSVP)

Plus I got food poisoning last Monday and was pretty much KO’d for two days. I was really worried I wasn’t able to do this ride, but by Thursday I was totally back to normal. Weird how the body works.

All that being said, now that I’m on the train back to Seattle, I really enjoyed it! It rained a bit and there were hills and by the time we go into the Vancouver city limits I was pretty much ready to give up and take the SkyTrain. But with a little time separating me from then, I’m really feeling like I enjoyed it. This picturesque views along the coast aren’t hurting either.

RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) was quite a bit different than STP. It was way less supported with way less people and maybe ironically had much less of a party atmosphere. Everyone seemed to be much more serious cyclists and there were not as many funny bikes either. I got a lot more comments about the Brompton as well.

The route was also quite a bit hillier and more rural as well. I had done most of the route from Seattle to Bellingham a couple years ago, but the section along Chuckanut Drive was new to me. It was definitely pretty but I could have done without the extra hills.

Lodging in Bellingham and to be all arranged individually, and definitely did not have the same atmosphere that Centralia College has for STP, but we were all pretty exhausted so maybe it didn’t matter. Ended up staying with Seb and some of the Goodweather crew which was fun. Big thanks to Seb for arranging it all.

The next morning was pretty rainy, and I’ll admit it was not a whole lot of fun. By the time we got to the border though the rain had stopped, and crossing into Canada by bike was definitely novel.

The rest of the ride was on and off clouds and rain and was honestly fairly unremarkable. I probably would have enjoyed it quite a bit more if I had been better prepared, and it was mostly just a push to finish. There was one short gravel detour though that was amazing. It was a choice between really smooth gravel or hills, and there was no way I was climbing any more than I need to. A few people turned back, but the Brompton had no trouble with it. Plus Seb and Chris caught right at that point, and it was awesome cruising through all together.

Overall it was hard and I was tired, but it’s always a good feeling once these rides are done and I’ve had time to reflect on them. RSVP has been such a contrast to STP this year where the perfect weather and just my better fitness overall made it seem as easy as back-to-back can be. RSVP was definitely much more of a challenge, and reminded me of my first STP. So hopefully that means there’s more to come in the future 🙂