Josh Brannin, a transportation engineer at SCJ, had always wanted to ride the STP, the 200+ mile bike ride from Seattle to Portland. It goes right through his hometown, and he did used to ride a bike – 16 years ago.

Then he heard the keynote speaker at this year’s awards gala for the Women’s Transportation Seminar talking about the importance of bike lanes in transportation design, and the inspiration to ride the STP struck again.

“I’ve always wanted to do it, but never think about it until it’s too late,” he said. “I looked at my boss Scott [Sawyer], who’s done it five times before and said, ‘Hey, if I sign up, will you sign up with me?’”

Scott was already an avid cyclist, but Josh had just four months to train and prepare for the July ride. Part of that preparation was finding out just what he was getting himself into. For physicality, he turned to Transformation Fitness, a gym near the office.

For race information, he turned to online bike forums. After completing the ride, he posted his story to one of them, and it was noticed by a writer for Bicycling, the world’s leading cycling magazine. After Josh and Scott finished the ride in just one day, the magazine published their story, “What It’s Like to Ride a Double Century After 16 Years Out of the Saddle.”

Congratulations Josh and Scott! What a ride.