Northeast - Seagull Century

(cross-post from Long Distance.)

It's the annual "Who's riding the Seagull?" thread. :)

I'll be there, # 610, staying in Ocean City.

It could be a rough year. I went camping this weekend in Shenandoah National Park, and did a 9-mile hike that was mostly waaaay steep down and waaaay steep back up. The few flat spots were mostly scrambling over a sea of rocks. I cannot believe how much my legs hurt right now . . . :eek:

Maxine, we'll be there. We usually stay at the Best Value up the road a bit. Its a bit of hole but they allow one night stays and also have make your own waffles for breakfast - which makes my husbands day! I'll do the metric and Jimmy will do the full century.

#301 here. I registered at midnight when the online registration opened. What do I have to do get the number in the 100's?

It's too early to tell but the weather forecast is 40% chance of rain.

I signed up for this a few months ago - number 1667. This will be my first time for this ride and I'm looking forward to it.

My girlfriend and I are staying at the Hampton about 5 miles north on route 13.

Not sure of my number. Pretty high as I registered not that long ago. Staying in Seaford, DE at the Holiday Inn Express. My first time riding this particular century. Last century that I rode this year was the Livestrong Challenge, so the flatter course will be a nice change. Stay away rain!

I'll have to look up my number when I get home but I'll be wearing a "Shrek" jersey (should stick out:D), I'll drive to Salisbury the morning of the ride.

#'s 1555 and 1556 for my son and I. He'll be on his Quickbeam and I'll be on my Long Haul Trucker. We're locals so we'll be sleeping in our own beds and driving in early. Keep and eye out for the pacelines as they can really get moving on this flat course. Salisbury University does a great job hosting!

#126 ... I registered on May 15th :)

Staying in O.C. ... I'll be leaving around 7:30 .... I'll be in a plain blue Performance jersey and black mountain bike pants and black helmet.....and oh yeah, I'm 6'7" and riding a huge black Waterford road bike with bianchi celeste green panels/decals :D

We're debating: we did the ride last year and loved it -- the weather looks iffy, and either we drive up and back from Virginia Beach in the same day, or get a hotel room for two nights: dog.

Great ride though, and the party afterwards ROCKS.

I'm # 6221. I'll have the Spaghetti-O's jersey on and will be riding with the guy in post #6 that is wearing the Shrek jersey. I hope to do all 100 miles and still live to bike again.

#6321 - Still trying to decide whether to do the metric or century on my time trial bike. I'm not sure my neck can hold up for 5-6 hours on the century.

Everyone stay home. It's going to be windy and rainy.

I have number 22 and am driving down in the morning. I get up at 0430 every day anyway, so it's easy enough to just get up and go. Had to trim down the number signs they gave me since there was so much white space on either side of the 22.

Windy and rainy is great! It builds character to ride in inclement weather.

Apparently they deviated from the original cue sheet when people got to Berlin. Instead of taking a right on main street they had us take a left for some reason. There were detour signs up and SeaGull century staff waving us in a different direction from the cue sheet. We were to then make a right on main street.

However immediately afterwards, there was a right turn onto Washington Street that many people missed. Including myself and ended up taking Main street which ends up looping back to the route that leads us back to the Assateague rest stop. Once I started recognizing the land marks I had to stop and retrace my steps. It cost myself and other 3 extra miles to make that loop and lost about 12 minutes.

On the second time around I found a person standing near the missed turn at Washington Street and continued on my way.

Overall the ride was crowded and the rainy weather was tolerable. We did get some sun and I ended up getting a little sun burned.

It was pretty fun; our rolling time was about 4.5 hrs. There were a shocking number of people stopped on the side of the road changing flats; I was really surprised. I didn't notice any glass or debris on the roads.

We had a great ride... for some reason harder than usual, though as always, the ride was well-organized. Fortunately the rain held off for the most part -- we got a little drizzle for about five miles. The wind was not treat. Picked up a pair of gloves this year in the vender hall -- for five bucks.

The T-shirt design this year was sweet, and the University of Salisbury picks up a cool half million dollars.

Saw a bit of everything Saturday. Rain, wind, flats, accidents and pie. Didn't notice the temp drop till I finished at SU. Well organized as usual. Berlin threw us for a few extra turns due to the old, smelly (oops,I meant Classic) cars on main street. Good job to the Seagull workers. I do love seeing the police stop cars and wave the bikes through. Why can't it be that way every day?

Just got home after spending Saturday night in Salisbury. The hotel I was in had an indoor pool and hot tub; a treat after 99 miles.

I concur with the above: a well organized event, decent rest stops and well marked course, even where it deviated from the cue sheet (which I had programmed into my Garmin, so it kept telling me I was off course).

Somewhere in the absolute middle of no where:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0854.jpg



Does anybody know what this is growing in front of those chicken coops? I saw it planted all over the place.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0859.jpg


I'm not the strongest rider, so this is pretty good for me:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0863.jpg


I had to take this one 'cause I was born on June 7, 1955:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0866.jpg


Into Assateague:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0869.jpg


I wasn't expecting pie...but the ice cream was frozen too hard to eat with a plastic fork:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0872.jpg


At the end, while loading the bike back onto the car:

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c282/panhead74/Seagull%20Century/100_0874.jpg

and note zoste's very earle mack school of law at drexel shirt

We had a great time this year even with the little bit of rain and the strong headwind on the way back from Assateague. This was my eight year-old daughter's first century on the tandem and she did absolutely amazing stoking strong the whole way, especially for the last 20 or so miles into the wind when I was starting to fade just a bit. We averaged just a little over 16mph rolling for the 101.5 miles on our computer.

We also noticed all the folks changing flats along the way. Not sure what was up with that as we didn't notice any excessive debris either. We had one close call at about mile 30. I usually don't ride in big groups of folks I don't know but we had just turned into the wind a little bit and a moderately paced group passed so I decided to pull in behind them. About a mile later a guy and a girl crossed tires 4 or 5 riders ahead of us and down they went. About three more bikes piled into them but I was able to brake/swerve to miss them. Nice thing about a tandem is you can really stand on the front brake to get slowed down in a hurry. We stopped to see if there was anything we could do to help but there didn't seem to be any serious injuries. I'm sure a couple folks headed to the hospital to get checked out though.

We had many, many folks (I bet well over 100) comment to my daughter on the on how cool they thought it was she was doing the century. It really made her feel great and if anyone reading this was one of those people thanks from the bottom of my heart. It turned what was going to be a great experience anyway into something she will remember for the rest of her life.

Here's a pic of us at the finish:

121495

There's nothing like seeing parents with there kids on a long ride... especially when you see that the kids are into it.

We had many, many folks (I bet well over 100) comment to my daughter on the on how cool they thought it was she was doing the century. It really made her feel great and if anyone reading this was one of those people thanks from the bottom of my heart. It turned what was going to be a great experience anyway into something she will remember for the rest of her life.

I saw you guys! Your daughter looked happy and strong. What a great memory for you both! :thumb:

Those are soybeans in front of the chicken houses. They are yellow and dropping leaves and will be ready to harvest in a few weeks. They'll go to a processing plant in Salisbury, which removes the oil (buy it in your local grocery store). What left is called soymeal. Feed it to the chickens. More then you've ever wanted to know about soybeans I'm sure.

and note zoste's very earle mack school of law at drexel shirt


Very cool!

Did anyone else see the guy with the leopard-skin lycra shorts? I'm not sure many guys would be able to carry off that look -- it's all in the 'tude, and he had it by the bucketful! :lol:

(A young guy riding next to me and obviously approving of the spots, when I commented on how cool those shorts were, screamed "They are AWESOME!!! I have to GET them!!!") :D

And if you're lurking here, Mr. Leopard Pants, speak up! See above -- /\ -- you have fans!

I just got home a little while ago and wanted to jot a few notes here. I loved the ride and for a few reasons. I last rode a century two years ago with Team in Training and did the Tahoe Century. I got in shape for that ride and loved every minute of it. For one reason or the other over the past couple years I didn't ride my bike at all and gained 50lbs.:(
However, This past July, I had enough and dusted off my bike and started riding again.:) My goal in July was to be able to ride the Seagull Century and to get in good enough shape to do it withought too much trouble.

Well I completed both goals; I have lost about 40lbs since July and and not only did I complete the Seagull but I finished the Amish 100 a few weeks ago too.

Initially I was really worried about the rain in the morning and almost decided not to ride, but I quickly reminded myself that this was a MAJOR goal of mine that I would not meet if I turned around and didn't participate. I would have really kicked myself in the butt for that one.

Anyhow, I'll stop rambling and say that I too thought it was well organized and a great ride.

Today in Ocean City was just beautiful too. We stopped and had some crabs before heading back over the bridge.

Cheers

Way to go Don. We know each other from back CAM days. I did the metric - my century days are behind me. I'm probably in better shape than I was 10 years ago but just find 100 miles drurgery....wind was a drag literally for the last 24 miles. Everyone around me was going either at 12 mph or 18 mph. So I'd catch some wheels, sit for a mile or 2 and chase down the next group ahead of me. We left the school at around 8:15 and I was back by 1PM - my kind of day! My husband, who did the century - was not too far behind me.

wind was a drag literally for the last 24 miles. Everyone around me was going either at 12 mph or 18 mph. So I'd catch some wheels, sit for a mile or 2 and chase down the next group ahead of me. We left the school at around 8:15 and I was back by 1PM - my kind of day! My husband, who did the century - was not too far behind me.

I got a late start and didn't get out of the gate until a smidge past 9:00 I finished around 4:15 or so. My Garmin says I did it in 6hrs25min not counting in the rest stops, but I tried to not dilly-dally around the rest stops too much, maybe ten minutes at most, just enough to get a water refill and quick bite of the offerings.

Yah - the wind was kicking some butt, however I expected that. When it would blast hard on those open fields, I would just get down on the drops and tuck as much as I could to try to help lessen the drag. I also think that a lot of wind noise is more of a psychological "drag" than we realize. An experienced rider friend told me once that if you tried riding in the wind with earplugs it would seem easier and I tried it and he was correct. I know that wind drag is drag, but for some reason with the earplugs the wind didn't seem half as bad. I didn't use any plugs this weekend but several times I wish I had them.

Oh yahhh.....the wind just about did me in too....until I tried the drops on one of those endlessly long straight stretches after lunch.....not only did it pick me up 1-2 mph, it felt pretty good! ... it's been years since I've used the drops...mostly because of back issues.....but for now, I'm going to use them more often. I'm 6'7" 255 and certainly wasn't the most aerodynamic thing on the road Saturday...so getting down in the drops made a HUGE difference!

#'s 1555 and 1556 for my son and I. He'll be on his Quickbeam and I'll be on my Long Haul Trucker. We're locals so we'll be sleeping in our own beds and driving in early. Keep and eye out for the pacelines as they can really get moving on this flat course. Salisbury University does a great job hosting!

Hey! I saw you guys on the ride! You even commented about my Acorn Bag - your son had a slightly larger Acorn on the Quickbeam. I never did catch up to chat with you guys - you were much stronger riders.


and note zoste's very earle mack school of law at drexel shirt

Thanks Roger! That has quickly become my favorite jersey

Zoste, I do remember seeing you and the Acorn bag. Another coincidence, the Quickbeam kid next to me on the Seagull is applying to Drexel next fall.

:)

Good luck to him! Drexel is an excellent school!

Oh...and thanks for the info on the soybeans.

What an awesome ride!!!!

This was my first full century. I did 1 hilly metric century and 1 half-century this season to prep for the seagull and I think the training paid off. I was able to keep a 16mph pace most of the time and rode for a while in some 20+mph pacelines. My final rolling time was 6hrs and 18 mins although I'm pretty sure I was right at 6 hours (I kept resetting my clock accidentally at the rest stops and I didn't notice what time I really crossed the finish line).

I was expecting the wind and rain, so it didnt really bother me. Next time, I plan to anticipate those areas better and will make sure I have someone to ride with on the long windy straightaways. I was caught out on my own at each of the major "windyfarms".

Great job to SU for putting together a great ride. Can't wait till next year.

I just heard about this - when should I look for information to be posted for next year - I heard it gets filled quick.

Tx

I just heard about this - when should I look for information to be posted for next year - I heard it gets filled quick.

Tx

To be honest, they don't have an upper limit like some of the other events, so they had a computer/ cc payment station 10 yards from the start registering people when we started last saturday, so I don't think you're in danger of being left out. The only advantage of early registry is that you save $20 on the registry fee. We have seen rider numbers all the way up to 8113 during the ride and that rider said he registered the night before the event.

And in all honesty, the only other events I can compare this to are the Cumberland Valley event and Reston Century, I'm sure both had nowhere near one thousand riders and both had better facilitated rest stops IMHO. However, all day police/ranger presence at major intersections and keeping the rest stops well stocked for 8000+ is no easy job. The only reason I may not ride the Seagull Century next year would be the number of riders attending I guess, I didn't like bumping-into-someone-every-minute type of riding. Felt a little claustrophobic a bit.

I'm thinking of riding the Cumberland Valley, Reston, Potomac Pedalers and Civil War centuries next year.

I do the Cumberland Valley and Civil War every year.....love 'em both....but I'll do the Seagull again for sure......it's definitely a challenge with the wind and "fatigue" factor.....you really don't have any "rest" time like on a hilly century on the downhills.....

What an awesome ride!!!!

This was my first full century. I did 1 hilly metric century and 1 half-century this season to prep for the seagull and I think the training paid off. I was able to keep a 16mph pace most of the time and rode for a while in some 20+mph pacelines. My final rolling time was 6hrs and 18 mins although I'm pretty sure I was right at 6 hours (I kept resetting my clock accidentally at the rest stops and I didn't notice what time I really crossed the finish line).

I was expecting the wind and rain, so it didnt really bother me. Next time, I plan to anticipate those areas better and will make sure I have someone to ride with on the long windy straightaways. I was caught out on my own at each of the major "windyfarms".

Great job to SU for putting together a great ride. Can't wait till next year.

Look me up next year....I live in Williamsport Md and we ride about the same pace.....and you'll LOVE to draft me lol.....

I love love to do this in 2010 - does anyone know the dates yet or when they will post the dates? Also when will registration open - I dont want to miss it. Tx Any tips appreciated!!

I love love to do this in 2010 - does anyone know the dates yet or when they will post the dates? Also when will registration open - I dont want to miss it. Tx Any tips appreciated!!

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=seagull+century

I love love to do this in 2010 - does anyone know the dates yet or when they will post the dates? Also when will registration open - I dont want to miss it. Tx Any tips appreciated!!

The website doesn't have the 2010 dates posted yet but I'm pretty sure it's October 9, 2010.

Roland

This was my first century also and I loved it. I clocked in at 6:06:56 and was thrilled. I'm already planning on it for next year!

The website doesn't have the 2010 dates posted yet but I'm pretty sure it's October 9, 2010.

Roland

I got an email from the Seagull...next year is the weekend of October 9.