New route through Portland this year

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The view of St. John's Bridge from Cathedral Park in Portland

7/15 UPDATE: The route has changed. Please read this post for details.

This just in! Group Health STP riders will be be skipping downtown Portland this year (all seventeen stoplights of it), and making a grand entrance into the city via St. John's Bridge.

Seasoned riders may remember the bridge from the STP routes in 1986 through 1989. We're returning to it in 2010 because the Broadway Bridge, which has brought finishers into Portand for the last several years, will be under construction in July

The route adds a mere half-mile, and offers spectacular scenery with no railroad tracks, no trains, less traffic, and fewer stop lights - all welcome when you've spent nearly 200 miles in the saddle. Plus, crossing a majestic, Gothic suspension bridge seems a fitting way to end a self-propelled journey from Seattle to Portland, wouldn't you say?

Happy training! We'll see you at the finish line.