Seagull Century question
 

Any one done this before? If so, how was your experience. I heard it's either a hammerfest or fredfest; neither appeals to me.

It's an organized century. If you've done one of those before, it's likely to be similar. You ride it the way you want to ride it.

It is a bit unusual in that there are 8,000 or so people. That means, at times, it can be a bit crowded.

It's very flat. And, often, somewhat windy in the afternoon.

And 7500 of them have no group ride experience, so there are crashes all along the route.

Overall it's a good time; ride fast or slow, whatever you like. It's full of nice people and good support if you need it.

I did it last year, and am doing it again this year.

There are 2 routes. Last year, I did the traditional route - very busy roads in the first 20-or-so miles, but it thinned out after that. After about mile 66, there were times when no other riders were visible ahead or behind us.

I got in with a fast, well-organized group and we hammered it out at 21mph moving average - but most riders were doing it at their own pace. But there were plenty of cyclists of all shapes and sizes - from racers through to club riders and on to Mom and Dad and little-Johnny on their Walmart mountain bikes, just having a good time.

I.e. it will be a hammerfest for some - but not for most. And how do you define a Fredfest?

I'll be doing riding with friends this time (they are much faster than me - I hope to hang on) - and think we might be doing the less-traveled route because (a) we can avoid the crowds, and (b) I'm told that route usually has a slight tailwind for the last 20 miles.

Have ridden both of the century routes, one really is less crowded. I find it to be both a hammerfest and fredfest at the same time. How could it not, with over 8000 riders and pure unadulterated flat terrain. But I am still doing it again this year...

I just did the City to Shore ride for the MS Society (New Jersey). I did the century (my first!) and it had both fast and slow riders. I did the time in 5 hours 20 minutes, so not too bad for my first century. There were a few crashes here and ther. But it was a great time and the support was excellent.

That's pretty much the definition of the fredfest; nothing wrong with that, just wasn't what I am looking for.

It can be the fastest century you've even ridden and that's the goal for many. In fact lots of people take very long rest stops and wait until a pack of 100 or more strangers congregate before starting. If you get with the right group it's easy to do a 22-23 mph ride time average. The downside is having a huge number of inexperienced riders in the same group. Crashes are spectacular.

That's what I heard too; I guess hence the hammerfest reputation. I think I am going to pass, and do the Culpeper Century instead.

Did it yesterday - and mine seemed to be the only "Bike Forums Road Cycling 41" on the road.

I took a wrong turn at one point and ended up doing 115 miles instead of 100!

Still did it - with the extra mileage - in under 6 hours moving time at a moving average of 19.4 - and the last 55 miles were ridden 100% solo. Not a good performance as far as I was concerned, but then - I haven't been able to train very much this season. Hope to get it back to sub-5-hours next year...

This was the Snow Hill route - which was very quiet. There were MANY times when no riders were visible ahead of me, and none behind.

I rolled behind you for a few miles, but your group just blew by the first rest stop. You're right, not hardly any riders on the sections unique to that route. I rode two-man with my buddy for a bit, but it got hard after 70 miles because I started to dehydrate. Except for the late morning heat, yesterday was the best weather I've see at Seagull...sunny and minimal winds.

Very nice day and support personnel were good. Completed 100 mile Assateague Route which was overloaded. Waterlines were about 75 -100 cyclists deep so I skipped one rest stop then no water at finish. Think many riders skipped numerous rest spots because I saw them later really really struggling and these guys were going 24-25 MPH - I stuck with them until they passed 2nd rest stop. Was told by regulars they had never seen more than 2 people deep to get water at any rest stop. They need more 5 gallon reservoirs. Most participants were good bike handlers however with ride this size you get some inexeperienced riders then add impact of dehydration. One rider I was following kept hitting his brakes without saying anything and most of the time for no good reason which almost caused me to wreck. So I blew up the group to get away - everyone who joined me said the same thing about 3 riders in that group were not following etiquette/riding techique was poor and group was getting to large. In parking lot I ran into another rider who was on Snow Hill route which she said was empty. Would say I was in contact with at least 30 riders the entire route, even the end where I was dragging/dehydrated.

Also, I went by a bad wreck - 3 or 4 hurt - two ambulances and large support van passed by us about 2 miles down the road so i expect wreck must have just happened. Saw another guy get up, misssed his fall but about 30 seconds before I saw him. His comment to his friends was this was his second fall on this ride. Be careful out there!!

Did the Assateague century with 3 other guys from my team. We were aiming for sub 5 hr riding time and did it in 4 hr 50 min, just under 6 hr total. From the start to the first rest stop was crazy, we were just starting to settle in a tempo of about 22 mph after the crowd got thin enough, when there is a guy that passes us on a tt bike. So we decide to follow him and see what happens, turns out he just kept on going 26 mph with the 4 of us barely hanging on behind. He told me he was training for a iron man! If he kept that up that would be a pro pace. At the first rest stop we bailed out to get some food. After that we actually had to take turns pulling and the pace dropped to about 24 and then when the adrenaline rush settled down we dropped further down.
Had tons of fun, so many people, lots to watch. Lots of inexperienced people also, 2 of them would occupy a full driving lane and it seems like we spent half the time on the wrong side of the rode.

About 2/3 of the way my team mate's bike was making a strange noise, so we stopped and it was his carbon frame that was cracked. He rode on thinking that he would have to replace the frame anyway, but at the next stop the people from bike dr told him that it could still be repaired if he didn't make it worse so he waited for the sag car to take him back. Later I was left with only 1 other team mate when the fastest of us 4 went ahead as we had agreed the last section was a free for all. As our pace dropped to 20/22 we also started to get other people hop on to our "train". We managed to up the pace 1 more time by joining a large group of experienced riders that were doing a double pace line. But after the last stop our pace was barely above 20 and we also got a pull from a tandem, a guy with what seemed to be his girlfriend at the back, he told us that he was just soft peddling at 20 mph with headwind. It sure helps to have double the power without double the drag!

It has been 19 years since I last rode this but yes, you can have a very fast average time for this ride. It is a fred fest and a hammer fest and a what ever you want to make it fest. At some rest stops, people hang out and listen to music, go for a swim, or just blow by it all together.

I've done it many times and never heard or saw water lines 75 riders deep. I wonder if new people are managing it and never used past experience to set it up?

Anyway it can be dangerous. I saw what I think was a rider dropped from his group. While catching up, he picked up a dozen or so riders and apparently was unaware they were behind. He passed his group who was on the side of the road and they yelled to him. He quickly hit his brakes, pulled over quickly, and pretty much everybody he pulled went into a big pile up.

Why on earth do riders hang on to a group of total strangers? There are no bragging rights to a century done in X.X hours when you've been sucking a fast wheel. And the risks can be significant, worse if you actually move up in the line.

The water thing was weird. I don't recall seeing it in the prior two years.

At earlier stops, the line for Gatoraid/etc was long but non-existant for water. At the "pie" stop, the line for water was long and for Gatoraid/etc non-existent. And, at that stop, there was at least one water jug that people weren't really using.

I think part of the problem is that the riders weren't that efficient.

It's possible that it was some-what the result of big pulses of people randomly arriving at the same time.

I did it a few times back in the 90s but it became too much of a hassel with finding a room and all that. Plus, I found it borning. At least the last year I did it they had a beer garden at the end.

Do the chicken farms outside of Salisbury still stink to high heaven?

+1. I do the City-to-Shore, mentioned above, with my girlfriend. 7,000 or so riders. We won't get in groups with people I don't know. And when we get people sucking our wheels we switch off as if it were just us two. They can suck all they want. Just don't get between us or come in front of us.

I had to give a good talking to to a group of 3. The lead guy came around my GF, dove in acutely and then slowed down. The other two, who were left hanging out by the move, then tried to muscle their way in front of us. The GF was having none of that. Some people think an Iron Man tattoo and aero bars means they know how to ride in a group. I still don't think he understood how dangerous his move was.

They've had that for the past three years. Not quite as good as a beer garden at the first stop of a century.

Not so bad this time.

One would think that the tactic in that case is to slow down for a short time and drop off.

I'd suggest that no one thinks this. Pacelining/drafting is a disqualification in Ironmans.

How long the lines are depends a lot on what time you arrive at the stops.
I was on the course between 7:30 and 13:30 and all lines at rest stops were very reasonable.

I was implying this. That is normal for these sorts of events. (It's one reason I like to roll early. I've been the first to the first rest stop on some rides!)

It's hard to arrange that no one will wait (unless they over-provide) since the flow of people isn't going to be constant.

Still, it was a bit weird. Riders weren't being efficient (that was part of the problem). At the "pie" stop, there was one water jug that wasn't being used (though there was a long line to get water). Part of the problem might have been that the heat caused an increase in water consumption (that is, in prior, cooler years, there were less people getting water).

Also, it's possible that the flow rate from the orange jugs was too low.

There are very, very few of these on the century route. And it doesn't take a lot of bicycling skill to avoid them.