Yep, it's still pretty dark at 5am. The camera makes things look a bit darker than it actually was, but not far off. This is just after the start near the University of Washington in Seattle.

As the day got brighter, and we got further south in Seattle, the crowds started thinning slightly, but there were still lots of riders in front and behind. I think this might have been somewhere near Renton. It was too dark to take photos earlier in the day, while we were riding along Lake Washington - it was rather nice though.

The second rest stop in Kent was a busy place and ended up being the source of my breakfast since I didn't pack a cinnamon bun like Vince. Fruit and energy bars were ok, but peanut butter tortilla rollups were not quite as good. Cool stop though with a bit of a party atmosphere.

I don't think Vince had much time make himself up this morning so he may not appreciate this somewhat candid photo. Looking hot in bike gear with a wack of crap in your pockets is generally pretty difficult anyway.

Being from Canada we don't see to may signs like this public park sign in Puyallup. Actually, there are signs like this in Canada, but they typically don't include point number 2.

'The Hill' just after Puyallup. Yeah, it's a hill, but to be honest it wasn't that bad, not really any worse than some later on in the ride.

Just what everyone needs to see - people lined up for the port-a-crappers. The rest stop in Spanaway was really good food-wise, there was even a pizza truck. A good portion of our three hour non-moving time during the ride was due to waits like this; not complaining though. The first 5 hours of the ride were under overcast skies and cool temperatures. There was literal teeth-chattering when we left this rest stop.

Vince was powered by chocolate according to his shorts. Actually, I'm pretty sure Vince didn't eat any chocolate during the ride, although there may be a photo of him somewhere on the interwebs with some chocolate flavoured power gel on his face. This stretch was fast and relatively fun on the way to Roy.

I think I may have an aversion to honey from this point forward. This rest stop was in Yelm if I recall correctly.

We spent a good chunk of time on the Yelm-Tenino trail, a former railbed. I was expecting something more barren and industrial, but the whole length was really nice, it even had some lake views.

Getting close to halfway through ride. This is the Tenino rest stop. Some dude was yelling out the rest stop offerings to arriving riders; pretty sure he was heading towards a few days of laryngitis.

Nice roads on the way towards Centralia, and for that matter most of the way. Definitely not the I-5.

Finally, the midway point in Centralia. This approach to parking one's bike seems reasonable, but more often than not seemed to end up with bikes falling over.

Sunscreen touchup and Darigold Cow consultation in Centralia. I was happy to avoid the cow's solicitations.

In my opinion this is the safe way to park your bike (as opposed to the option shown previously). Derailleur up! I suppose someone could still step on, or fall onto, your bike causing issues, but generally I figure this is better.

Sweet, about halfway done... oh god, still need to ride another 160km.

Vince trying to intimidate other riders with his triceps in the food line at the Centralia rest stop.

Some of the rest stops like the one in Centralia had massage therapy available. We didn't take advantage, fearing more unwanted pain.

A couple velomobiles at the Centralia rest stop.

Gourmet? No, but after chowing down on energy bars etc. for a while, something even as minimalistic as this sandwich tastes ok.

Finally, albeit somewhat hesitantly we got back on the bikes and headed out of Centralia into the farm land to the south.

After a 160km under grey skies things had not improved much. Aside from the 5-10 minutes of warmup required after every rest stop, the temperature was tolerable. Thankfully, during the cold spells I had a giant sticker covering some vents on the front of my helmet.

More scenic or boring (depending on your perspective) agricultural scenery. I liked it.

Finally, some sun... and a rad rooster in Winlock.

I'm not really sure this is the world's biggest egg, but maybe I'm wrong. I seem to recall a pysanka (easter egg) somewhere in Alberta that's bigger than this one in Winlock.

It felt rather good to leave the Winlock rest stop without shivering. The rest of the ride was under sunny skies.

Best food on route... Vader Taters (baked potato) and banana bread. Ordinarily, these might not be standouts, but by this point of the ride both were welcome changes to the stuff we had been consuming previously. $10 donation, check.

Another shot from the Vader rest stop.

Corner store in Vader, Washington. Thanks for the taters, Vader.

From Vader onwards we had some cool winding roads through mostly treed countryside. Again, different strokes for different folks, but I really like this sort of stuff.

Cool, some sort of rocket/missile thing outside the Castle Rock High School, one of the last stops in Washington.

Castle Rock moo cows. By this point I'm pretty sure both Vince and I were finally fairly sure that we were going to make it to Portland.

Last stop in Washington at Lexington. About 235km done, roughly 90km to go. Some pretty decent peanut butter and banana sandwiches here. Salty tortilla chips were probably even better though.

Heading towards Kelso and Oregon along the Cowlitz River.

Oregon at last. Well, not quite. Need to get over the Lewis and Clark Bridge first.

Looking west along the Columbia River from the Lewis and Clark Bridge.

First town in Oregon was Rainier. We were definitely feeling good about finishing at this point although we were also starting to feel the effects of a long day in the saddle.

There was lots of this sort of thing on the side of the road today. The first occurrence was within 1km of the start and there were people fixing things within 5km of the finish. No problems for us thankfully.

The St. Helens rest stop was the last major stop for us and was about 45km from the finish line. There were notable signs of fatigue amongst the rest stop visitors, but everybody seemed content and ready to finish it up.

Hard not to smile when the end is near. The road from St. Helens into Portland was not the most inspiring (wide and sort of busy), but on the plus side it was mostly downhill and we had a tailwind.

Portland... we're almost done except for a few more kms of stoplights and city traffic.

Oh so close. The Steel Bridge over the Willamette River in Portland.

Vince and myself moments after finishing the longest ride either of us may ever do. I would not have guaranteed at the beginning of the day that I'd be walking at this point, but both of us felt pretty good, relatively speaking.