Seagull Century

[7rider]

So, how'd everyone do???

Was it an AWESOME day for a bike ride, or what?????

I can't imagine more perfect conditions for a ride out on the Eastern Shore (well, except maybe a few LESS riders! )...sunny, pleasant, and with hardly any wind for which the Eastern Shore is (in)famous.

DH and I hooked up with the guys from the Bike Place at 7:45 for some pre-ride coordination, before heading out promptly at 8.



However, traffic (both cyclists and cars) caused us to break off from the main group just outside the tunnel from the campus that goes under Route 13. We tried to sprint to catch on to the main group, but they were starting out fast and strong, and we quickly realized that it was a futile effort. We were better off conserving our strength for the rest of the ride. So six of us settled into a nice groove, pacelining at about 22 mph. We were often joined by others...and they'd fall off, we we varied in size from 6 to about 20.



We caught an earlier departing group of Bike Place friends at mile 33 and found the fast group at the rest stop at mile 40. We saw them again at the Assateague rest stop (mile 60), but we lingered as one of our group was Jones-ing for a soda, and we waited while she fulfilled her craving. So that was the last we saw of the speed demons until back at the University.



We had our pie-and-icecream at the last stop, and then like a herd of horses charging for the barn, set off for the final leg back to the school. Because we bypassed the first rest stop, we came in a few miles short on the route...97 miles, in 4 hours/41 minutes of riding, or 20.6 mph average. Wow! I did it. I made my goal...to do the Seagull in under 5 hours of riding. We had no mechanical issues in our group, the bikes were spinning like tops. It was great. I am so happy to make up for the disappointing Civil War Century!

The conditions were certainly ideal for a great ride, and I hope all of you who did it had a great experience.

[divingbiker]

Glad you had a good ride! That's a great picture of you and Tom.

[madscot13]

i didn't realize that you were one of the bike place cre. They were a formidable bunch!

[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.