*Editor’s Note: This story is the first in a series leading up to the Passport to Pain event in September that will profile unique people and groups in the ride.

Islanders Jan Peterson and Therese Smith are forces to be reckoned with both on the water and on land. The two have been rowing and biking “forever,” according to Peterson and are stepping up their land game this year by taking on the Passport to Pain’s 50-mile course that climbs 6,500 feet of vertical elevation and is affectionately dubbed “The Weasel.”

“We started training in February,” Peterson said last Friday after one such training ride.

Peterson and Smith have been meeting up at 7:30 a.m. on Sundays for many years to ride around the island, but for the past six months, the two have trained nearly every day. Sometimes they find and conquer the course’s largest hills, other times they go for distance or take indoor cycling classes.

“No matter where you go on Vashon, you can find hills,” Smith said. “If we can do it, almost everybody can do it.”

Both have ridden the Passport to Pain (P2P) before, but have never taken on “The Weasel.” Peterson has completed the 30-mile “Weenie” — that climbs more than 3,000 vertical feet — once, and Smith has done the Weenie twice.

“We’ve done all the hills at some point or another, but it’s stringing them all together that’s the tough part,” Peterson said. “We did a training ride of the entire ‘Weenie’ on Tuesday.”

Any riders who choose to participate in one of the P2P’s three courses — the 30-mile “Weenie,” the 50-mile “Weasel” or the 80-mile “Idiot” — are given passports to fill with stamps from the hills they complete, not to mention bragging rights. But this duo has, perhaps, even more reason to brag than the average participant. The two are both retired and in their 60s, making them among the oldest to take on the annual bike ride.

“We’re probably the oldest women. I think there were a few guys older than us last year,” Peterson said.

The two both said that they have stuck with bike riding because it is great exercise and a nice way to see the island without being rough on their joints. The Passport to Pain serves as a challenge and a goal to reach every year, Peterson said.

“It’s just a great event. It’s fun and it’s not a race, you can just go along and go as slow or as fast as you want,” she added.

Every year, between 300 and 400 riders descend on Vashon for the event, with riders ranging in age and experience, from elite riders to families.

All proceeds go to benefit the Vashon Island Rowing Club. Previous years’ events have raised more than $11,000.