Sea Gull Century - CycleCentury


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Salisbury, Maryland
United States
Salisbury University
80F / 27C
Sunny
Total Time = 00m
Overall Rank = 0/
Age Group = 55-59
Age Group Rank = 0/
Pre-race routine:

Make coffee and drive in the dark to the parking lot from the camp site. Eat a bagel and get bike ready. Had three people in line to use my pump before I even got to my bike tires. Wait in long line for port-a-potty at the start. Take a picture with GF and hit the start at around 7:30.
Event warmup:

With thousand of riders it a slow warm up for the first 7 miles when the two century routes (Snow Hill and Assateague)split off. Really a crazy first seven miles, riders all over the place trying to go too fast in a crowd.
Bike
  • 00m
  • 100 miles
  • 0.00 mile/hr
Comments:

Really hit a wall after 65 miles, getting into the Nassawango rest stop at 78 miles was greatly welcomed. Some apple pie and ice cream, taking the bike shoes off and some yoga helped to finish off the last 22 miles strongly.

It was nice this year that there was live music at the rest stops.

Wish more riders would call out their passes. Too many just flew by without warning. Had a scare where a group across the road from me was riding three across had one of their riders hit the panic button when a van came up on them and they had to squeeze together. He fell beside the van almost got hit by it. The van then cross the road toward the other side to avoid that rider and that caused a few the riders behind me to go off road and fall also. Nobody was seriously hurt, but sometimes the pace line riders where a little crazy with how much road they were taking on some of the busy OPEN public roads.

Also talked to 85 year old rider at mile 80. He was amazing, holding a 10 MPH into a really strong headwind riding an older steel frame ten speed (with tennis shoes) he brought for $50. It was his second century of the year!
What would you do differently?:

I would start the ride later in the morning to avoid the crowds at the beginning of the ride when it seemed pretty dicey.

I would not leave on Friday afternoon from the 495 Beltway, it took over 2 hours to get to the Bay bridge from Rockville.

More Hammer gels after 50 miles. Do something to keep my hands from going numb, Sunday still had two fingers that were numb.Find a better seat!
Post race
Warm down:

Get off the bike and get a beer. Watched other riders come in and then got rained on heading back to the car. But it help clean off the sweat and road crap.

What limited your ability to perform faster:

I ride the Sea Gull for fun, 100 miles for me is just about the miles and not the MPH. I do have to figure out a better bike fit for me, my hands and butt took too much of a beating than compared to other riders I talked to.

Event comments:

Even though I complained about the crowded, packed riding at times, I will do the Sea Gull again.


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Last updated: 2012-10-08 12:00 AM
Biking
00:00:00 | 100 miles | 0.00 mile/hr
Age Group: 0/
Overall: 0/
Performance: Good
Wind picked up after 50 miles. A lot of long sections heading into strong headwinds that made it feel like a long hill climb. I think this year was harder then last year where the wind seemed to only hit after 70 miles. Seemed like the SAG wagon was very busy this year.
Wind: Headwind with gusts
Course: Did the Snow Hill this year after doing the Assateague route on my first Sea Gull last year. Snow Hill is more open with less riders to worry about. Glad we did it and will do this route again. Out of 7500 riders I would guess about 2000 did the Snow Hill.
Road: Smooth Dry Cadence:
Turns: Cornering:
Gear changes: Hills:
Race pace: Drinks:
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall:
Mental exertion [1-5] 2
Physical exertion [1-5] 4
Good race?
Evaluation
Course challenge Just right
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Good
Race evaluation [1-5] 5