Any other riders of the Sea Gull Century today? 100 miles in the remnants of tropical storm Tammy (in Salisbury MD). At least it was for a good cause -- Team in Training raised $800+k for leukemia research.

And other than oiling the chain, what maintenance should be done to a bike after a long day in a torrential downpour?

Sounds like a great ride for a great cause with a great turn out.
I usually pull the seat post out and up end the bike to drain any thing out of that area, wipe it down real good and re-oil the chain.

Congrats on doing the ride. I ended up just donating my entry fee this year due to the rain.
+1 on HWS' advice

My co-worker and I rode the whole thing also. It was our first century and I was worked to hard to get in shape this summer for this ride to just go home empty handed. It didn't start out well when 4 miles into the day we missed a turn and dragged about 10 others about 4 miles extra. We were considering doing the 100km option instead but the adrenaline got the better of us.

We hooked up with a bike team from Harford County who were setting a pretty fast pace in the miserable conditions. At times they would just accelerate away at 22-24mph and then we'd catch them at the next rest stop. I was determined not to get dropped during the last 10miles and I stayed with them at times pushing 27mph (with a tail wind, of course). My previous longest ride was only 63miles and my highest average was 18.5mph over a 31mile slightly hilly route.

All in all it was a good day and my training paid off because I actually don't feel to bad right now. Here are my numbers for my first century. I'm pretty pleased with all of them.
Total time: 6hrs. 35mins.
Riding time: 5hrs. 29mins.
Distance: 104.63 miles
Average Speed: 19.08 mph
Heart Rate Max.: 205 bpm
Heart Rate Ave.: 154 bpm (measured over the whole ride including the 66 mins. total at the 4 rest areas)
Heart Rate Min.: 67 bpm
Calories burned: 3396

Anyone else have any good news on such a miserable day for a bike ride?

John

congrats on even doing the ride. And ya take the seatpost out and turn it upside down

Nice job. Well done for a first and the terrible conditions.

We were there - CRAZY riding in all that rain and wind! I did the metric and my husband did the full century - on a fixed gear no less. We've been doing Seagull since 1990 - missed a few years for babies, wedding, knee surgery - but not many.

1st time Seagull rider (swimmer?). Not quite as fast as you guys - did it in 7hrs. I kept having to choose between riding on my own or catching a faster group but having to hold a higher HR than I wanted to to hang on. And the headwind into Assateauge was rough. Had a good time - excellent organization, route marking, traffic control, and well-stocked rest stops (apple pie - yum). And SHOWERS available at the end. Looking forward to next year - hopefully 2006 will be more like 2004 (sunny and nice) vs this year (wet/windy/warm) or 2003 (cold and wet). Anyone stay for the buffet?

I saw Team In Training groups from Nebraska, St Louis (cool helmet decorations), Hershey PA (ditto on the helmets), Kentucky (almost as cool decorations), Connecticut, and DC/Metro.

My numbers (100 miles):
Riding time 7:00:05
Elapsed time ~8 hrs (too much time at the pie stop)
Avg speed 14.2 mph
Avg HR 146 (Lower Zone 4 for me)
Max HR 164 (Zone 5b- momentarily while crossing the Assateague Island bridge into the wind)
Calories 5460

Cleaning the bike is going to be a lengthy job - looks like I picked up lots of sand on the frame. Hopefully nothing got into the BB or headset.

Serious congratulations to all of you. I decided to bail around 5:30 this morning, after I realized that it would be swimming upstream the whole way. This would have been my fourth, and reading this, I am regretting my decision.

I'm also sorry I didn't make it (nagging lower back), I have much respect for you guys. And psuaero, those numbers are envious in prestine conditions, nice job!

In addition to the stormy winds, you can feel the sting when the rain hits your body. The cross winds caused me to swerve many times. This felt more like a hilly century rather than a flat one.

I estimate I did about 17 MPH average in the stormy rain. I would have been faster had I not put on the rain coat, which acted more like a sail/parachute.

I wish I could have arranged to hook up with a few Bike Forum members but it was hard enough keeping track of the guys from my work with the weather as bad as it was.

I would have like to crack the 5hr. mark but with this being my first year on the road bike and having done only 900 miles since June it just wasn't in the cards. Next year I'm going to try to go faster and break some new personal records.

There were two guys (who knew each other) I road along with riding single speed, no brakes, Specialized bikes. One white, one red. Now those guys were real men. They were pulling right along at 18+ in the group and varying their cadence constantly with the group while we passed hundreds of slower riders. I can't imagine 100 miles without even a few short coasting periods. Those guys were the real men in my book!

John

At least you'll be all rested for the Covered Bridges ride in PA next week.

Taking the tires and tubes off my bike, I found water inside my rims. Took off rim tape to let rims dry out. There is sand on the bike and some corrosion on cassette.

This will be a long day.

I opted for the Metric Century (due to lack of training time), but still had a good time despite the driving rain. Thank goodness it was 75F.

I did learn, however, that contrary to logic (mine at least), clear sunglasses won't keep rain out of your eyes...the water just poured down the front of my helmet, down the inside of the lens and into my eyes. I actually saw better without them!

I went - rode my 100.4 miles wearing my old Buffalo Bills raincoat over my jersey. Not OCP or aero, and it kept water in my sleeves almost as well as it kept rain out. I did most riding alone, and went for long stretches with a computer that wasn't registering speed or distance because it was waterlogged. My avg speed wasn't so hot - only about 15.5 mph. Rode about 6 or 7 miles towards the end with the St. Louis Team in Training group. Nice folks.

One of my more lasting memories - cresting the bridge to Assateague, and having to pedal to continue making forward progress on the way down. I enjoyed it, but would have had a much better time on a calmer, drier day.

I just got home for OC. We stayed in the popup at Frontiertown next to our inlaws motorhome. It held up. I woke at 5:30 to pouring rain and howling wind. The part of the campgound were at was open to Assawoman bay with no wind break. Imagine 24 straight of standing at the top of the Veranzano bridge. I went back to sleep until 7:30 and then decided to see if anyone else was crazy enough to do it too. Much to my surpise, the parking lots were full at the college so i decided to go ahead and join in the fun. I got out at around 9am. I called my wife from the first rest stop and she told me i was insane and hung up on me. I rode the whole hundred mostly solo except the first 20 miles where i sucked wheels while we were riding into the wind. That was actually the worst part of the whole ride. The only thing that really hurt when i was done was my a$$. I spent to much time spinning on the small ring. I rode the last 40 on the big ring and that helped a little. Still...

I only have three words to describe this years event.

Best Seagull Ever!

I live for rides like that!

Anyone else see the doods riding the triple?

Did you see the people with the signs saying it was a great day for a bike ride? (It was)

I saw two triples on the road heading towards Assateague when I was on the way back. First one was two adults and a child mid-stoker. The kid was the youngest person I saw on the entire ride. A few seconds later, I saw another triple with three adults. As usual with tandems/triples, they looked like they were quite enjoying themselves. (Probably having a big captain to block the wind and rain.)

Thanks. I would not have thought that so much water could enter in a 5 1/2 hour ride.