Seagull - 10/6

[withm]

Anyone doing the Seagull Century on Sat? ? I have not registered just yet, but the long range forecast looks good, and I THINK they have "day-of" registration. Anyone know about that? I'd be interested in doing the metric.

Martha

[divingbiker]

Anyone doing the Seagull Century on Sat? ? I have not registered just yet, but the long range forecast looks good, and I THINK they have "day-of" registration. Anyone know about that? I'd be interested in doing the metric.

Martha

Martha, I don't know if they have day-of registration, but if they don't and you want to do the ride, I've got a friend whose sister can't do it so she's got an extra registration that can apparently be reassigned. If it's still available, I'm sure she'd be happy to sell it to you. (I was going to use it, but decided not to.) Let me know and I'll give you her e-mail address.

[HillSlugger]

I'm registered, but not riding. If the registration is reassignable, you can have mine.

[emily_in_nc]

Looks like there was great weather this year! DH and I did it back in 2003, and it was rainy, chilly, and miserable for the second 50. This year we were driving home from the Annapolis Sailboat show Saturday, and the weather was wonderful - sunny and warm. In retrospect, I sure hwish we'd signed up for the metric....

Emily

[withm]

I had posted this in the daily ride report but maybe no one saw it over there, so I'll paste it here....

Well thanks to Hillslug I was able to do the Seagull Century. THis was my first Seagull, first "big ride" (~6,000 riders), and my longest ride to date -70miles.

This was the 19th year for the Seagull, and the first in many years where the weather didn't have a name. This weekend in October seems to have been fraught with the remnants of whatever hurricane was plying it way up the coast the last few years. Last year it rained so hard (yet many people still did the ride) that they were literally pouring water out of their seat tubes after the ride. And being so close the coast and with no hills, wind is a constant challenge here. Yesterday's forecast was for SSE winds in the 5-10kt range. Well of course the wind shifted so the last 15 miles or so were with a mild headwind, but not the 20-30mph winds that the Seagull riders normally have to fight.

I lucked out on a parking place early so at least I did not have to spend 1/2 hour cruising for safe or legal parking. I wore my AV jersey, buff, and arm warmers. Got a lot of comments like "Nice jersey" from passing riders, but did not see any others sporting the red and green. Thanks AV people! I LOVE this jersey! The weather was very foggy and humid for the first 3 hours or so and I was constantly wiping the condensation off my glasses and even off my computer so I could read it. But it finally burned off, and eventually the sun came out and it was time to switch to sunglasses, and doff the arm warmers. ( LOVE the arm warmers! WAY COOL)

I did the 65 mile ride. Both rides (65 & 100) ride the same course for the first 7 miles. It was like a peleton, with hundreds of riders in each group speeding by. Somehow we were in a pack of 100 milers, and missed the turn-off for the 65, and rode a few miles out of the way before doubling back and picking up the proper route. I saw one guy go down way off to the left. Don't know what happened to him but the roads were wet, and he could have just slipped or skidded to avoid an pinecone or something, and could not recover. Several people rushed to his aid, so I kept on going. Those 100 miler folks were FAST, and it was a real treat to be out of the fray once we got back on the 65 mile route. Double pacelines with easily 20-30 or more riders were common. With 6,000 participants I'm not really sure that's a good idea - I'm sure THEY know what they are doing, but do the surrounding riders? It was a little nervous making.

There were 2 rest stops on the ride, each featuring a live band, and flush toilets. (OK, there was a line of portapotties at the 2nd stop, but they were too far away... lol) I'm sure the septic system at the 2nd stop got a workout with 4-5,000 flushes on Saturday! Food was plentiful and they even had pie and ice cream at the 2nd stop.

On the final leg, around mile 55 I hit the wall and my last 15 miles were hard. I stopped to apply more chamois butter which solved THAT problem (no pain today) and learned again what a difference GOOD shorts make. My PI Ultlrasensor shorts are quickly becoming my favorites. I probably needed more salt or sugar or something, but I finally made it back to the finish, and made a beeline for a coke, and then a BEER! By then it was pushing 85oF, and the "party" afterwards had only limited protection from the sun.

I rode about 50 miles with a young woman from PA. The comraderie made the miles go a little faster. I only saw one person that I knew on the ride, and rode with him a little bit as well. And of course my bike shop had a booth set up and were providing sag support and repairs, so I knew them.

Funny story, one of the guys from the shop did the 100 mile ride. Somewhere near Assateague a couple of deer popped out of the woods, one ran in front of a pack of riders, and another jumped over my friend! He said all he did was just duck and pray he would come out of this one alive. Yikes! No mishaps though. I did see a kamikaze squirrel dart out and fortunately do a quick turnaround - he would never have survived that crossing with a group of 50-100 fast riders blocking his path. I hate to think of the damage one squirrel could cause if the whole pack went down.

Other wildlife spotted - a fox, 1 deer, and an egret. I guess all the wheels whizzing by frightened all the critters into their hiding places for the day.

The ride was a lot of fun, and probably my fastest yet until I "died." Will I do it again? Yeah, I might but as usual, won't sign up till the last minute cause 65 miles in hurricane rain or winds just isn't for me. And I'll try not to miss any turns next time either.

Thanks Nicole for your generosity!
Martha

[emily_in_nc]

Martha,

I enjoyed your report! Glad you had a good Seagull. When my DH and I did it in '03, we were on a lightweight, fast Santana tandem and in some of the big pacelines like you saw doing the full century. Such fun until the rain started coming down. The last 50 miles were fairly miserable -- the last rest stop served coffee and hot chocolate to keep us from getting hypothermia!

Congratulations on your accomplishment!

Emily

[Cham]

This was one of my dad's favorite rides. He passed away this past summer but rode his bike right up until he was bedridden.

[HillSlugger]

Welcome Cham!

[Cham]

Welcome Cham!

Thank you for the welcome. I'm a real amateur. Luckily I live where there are plenty of bike paths.

[HillSlugger]

Care to narrow down your location on the east coast? I'm originally from Long Island, lived near Philadelphia, and am now in MD, near DC. If you don't want to do it publicly, send me a PM.

[Cham]

I'm in MD. I just sent you a pm with more detailed info.