FRY VAN SLAYS STP IN CENTRALIA

On Saturday, July 15, 2023, staff from the Washington State Potato Commission (WSPC) were at the beautiful Centralia College campus with the Fry Van at the 101-mile mark of the Kaiser Permanente Seattle to Portland (STP) Bicycle Classic to help riders stay fueled for the long haul. STP is a 206 total mile bike ride from the University of Washington’s Husky Stadium in Seattle, Washington to Holladay Park in the heart of Portland, Oregon.  Some riders make the journey in one day and begin their ride at 4:00 a.m. This year, also hoping to beat the heat, the WSPC Fry Van took its place among the many activation and water stations along the way. By far, none of the stops seemed as popular as our Fry Van. Near the middle mark of their journey, riders were ready for the carbs, potassium and sodium that our Washington fries had to offer.

While some riders push on to complete the full 206 miles in one day, many of the riders make the trek in 2 days, including our very own Executive Director Chris Voigt. Chris gathered a crew together and they all sported our Team Potato Powered by Potatoes biking jerseys on the ride. This year, we also had cooling towels to hand out tagged with our #poweredbypotatoes message. In the heat of the weekend, they were a huge hit! With a bucket of ice water for riders to cool them down in, we had the opportunity to chat with some riders about the nutritional benefits of potatoes, about Team Potato, and even had some sign up on the spot.

WSPC has been a sponsor of this event put on by the Cascade Bicycle Club since 2019 and, with its many potato advocates in the group, it’s fun to hear their stories about how they eat potatoes before, during and after the event to keep them fueled up for these long rides.  It’s also fun to teach the new riders how important it is to eat the right foods to fuel your body. This year, we met with two brothers, aged nine and eleven, on their first ride with their dad.  Hats off to them!  The STP had 8,000 riders this year and WSPC served close to 2,000 servings of fries to help riders stay energized.