Seagull Century

[madscot13]

Who is heading this year?

http://www.seagullcentury.org/

I know I am!

[F8th637]

I may consider this with my company. Sounds like a great time!

ETA: Just checked my calendar and I might be out of town that weekend. . darned it!

[juliemcd]

I'm definitely up for this....I'll think I'll sign up later this month, but probably only for the metric century...

[Blueberry]

Hmmm....would this be worth the trip up from NC? Looks like a cool ride!

CA

[HillSlugger]

I already did my metric century this year, so probably not. There's a triathlon the same weekend I'd rather be doing

[ny biker]

Take my advice: if there's a nor'easter the weekend of the ride, just say no. Forget about how much you already spent on pre-ride registration. It will take you 2 hours just to travel the 5 miles leading up to the Bay Bridge, by the time you get to Salisbury the cafeteria will be closed so you won't be able to eat the dinner you pre-paid for, and you will have to buy new bike shoes because it will rain so hard during the ride that they will fill with water and your feet will go squish-squish when you pedal and then when they dry they will shrink.

[Jeanne]

Hi all. Newbie to biking and century riding. Can you give me some information on what to expect on the seagull? Wind? Hills? roads? What do I carry? (besides the bike repair stuff). Suppliments? Usual weather conditions (I see a lot of rain issues--)? What to wear?

Thanks for any assistance. I am new and nervous. You can e-mail me privately if you wish or I will check back here.

rodeoz@aol.com

Thanks

[withm]

Hi all. Newbie to biking and century riding. Can you give me some information on what to expect on the seagull? Wind? Hills? roads? What do I carry? (besides the bike repair stuff). Suppliments? Usual weather conditions (I see a lot of rain issues--)? What to wear?

Thanks for any assistance. I am new and nervous. You can e-mail me privately if you wish or I will check back here.

rodeoz@aol.com

Thanks

http://www.seagullcentury.org/

That's a lot of questions and it doesn't look like anyone has answered them.
Today is last day to register for $55. Tomorrow the price goes up.
I registered today and got #4933 - so safe to assume over 5000 riders - maybe as much as 7000 if weather is good.

Roads are flat, lightly traveled, rural/coastal (for the 100 milers) for the most part. Expect long stretches of headwinds.

Rest stops every 20-25 miles - well stocked. If you need something more maybe carry a couple bars and gels or blocks. And of course water.

What to wear? depends on the weather. Last year I started with a jacket, arm/knee warmers but took them all off eventually. So you should figure out how you will carry anything that you may eventually remove during the ride.

Hope this helps
Martha

[withm]

Any interest in kayaking on Sunday after the Sea Gull? There are quite a few places within 1/2 hour or so of Salisbury, or on the way back to the DC area.

Martha

[7rider]

Any interest in kayaking on Sunday after the Sea Gull? There are quite a few places within 1/2 hour or so of Salisbury, or on the way back to the DC area.

Martha

I think I answered some of Jeanne's questions in her other thread: Seagull Century Help.

As for kayaking...I'd love to, but I don't think I can convince the DH to stay another evening. We're spending friday night up in Cambridge (the nearest hotel we could get! ) to lessen the drive-time Saturday a.m. But, we won't be staying a second night. Usually, we would do a 2-night weekend get-away with the Seagull, but (sigh) not this year, I guess.

[madscot13]

So who is heading out to the fin Maryland coast this weekend?

[withm]

Wow, the Seagull was a really great ride yesterday. And what fabulous weather, complete with a nice tailwind the last 15 miles or so.

I rode with a couple friends, and we took a a slightly altered course. They used to do the 100 mile route every year, but about 3-4 years ago they started taking the "shortcut." So we set out on the 100 mile route as far as the mini rest stop at 42 miles, then took the shortcut over to the 80 mile rest stop and bypassed the Assateague leg entirely. We still got 64 miles in. And we were not the only people who took that route. LOL.

At that 80 mile stop - the clouds got very dark and I was sure we were going to get pummelled with rain and hail for the last 20 miles. Thankfully it passed over though I do think I felt a couple sprinkles.

I was pleasantly surprised that most riders were polite, and announced they were passing though I guess they would tire of saying "on your left" a gajillion times but I appreciated it, and thanked everyone who gave advance warning.

And to the guy that passed me ON MY RIGHT, and announced it AFTER the fact, I lit into him. Might not have been the best thing - was afraid he was going to let air out of my tires or something at the rest stop, but he didn't. I told him in no uncertain words that if he needed to pass, he should do it on the left, and in any case to announce his intention BEFORE he actually passed on the right, nearly clipping me in the porocess. I was like 2 feet from the right side, and he actually slipped in on the right. I was livid! What is so gosh darn important on a bike ride that you have to do that? Sheesh!

The music was great, the food at the rest stops plentiful (apples, oranges, bananas, bagels, peanut butter, cream cheese, apple and cherry pie, and even ice cream. What more could you ask for? Oh and they had police as most of the major intersections to stop traffic for us if necessary. I think that was a first.

I wore my Amici Veloci jersey and matching arm warmers, that were on and off at least 4 times during the course of the ride. I got several "nice jersey" comments. And someone riding in a paceline going the other way yelled out "Hey Martha!" (I assume to me) I think it was the manager of the bike shop that I use, but honestly I just don't know who it was. It was an area where the official metric goes opposite of the official 100 mile route and he had mentioned earlier in the week if he had time he had planned to do that route. Since he was providing pre-ride mechanical service he wasn't sure when he'd get sprung to go ride.

The beer at the end of the ride really hit the spot!

There was some big group there with really great looking jerseys (well there were a lot of great looking jerseys) but I could not find any of them at the party after to see where they were from. The upper right quadrant was black. Then there were vertical sloping bands/stripes in bright colors - red, green, & yellow I think, then a white field on the left side. Did anyone see them, or know if where they were from? Very sharp looking.

We hung around to about 4:30-5:00 ish, then headed back to Bethany to get cleaned up and go out for dinner. I slept very well last night.

[7rider]

There was some big group there with really great looking jerseys (well there were a lot of great looking jerseys) but I could not find any of them at the party after to see where they were from. The upper right quadrant was black. Then there were vertical sloping bands/stripes in bright colors - red, green, & yellow I think, then a white field on the left side. Did anyone see them, or know if where they were from? Very sharp looking.

I saw those jerseys, too. They were quite striking, but I never figured out who they were. Lots of team and club jerseys out there, weren't there? I recognized lots (there was a HUGE DC-Velo train that went by). A few were new and really cool. I looked for you in your AV jersey, but didn't see you. I swear, I give myself whip-lash looking at all the jerseys and all the bikes on rides like this!

I also wondered (and worried) about those gathering clouds at the mile 80 stop, but fortunately, didn't feel any rain come of them. We left campus pretty early (by 3). We were plenty tired and DH was not in a shopping mood at the gym expo (never is!).

Glad you had a good ride.