2010 Seagull Century

The 2010 Seagull Century

The 2010 Seagull was everything it was supposed to be.  The weather was fall-like in central New York: highs in the 60 were infrequent and there were stretches of multiple days of rain.  It’s the time of year when compromises are necessary or you don’t ride.  All week the weather for Salisbury, Maryland was predicted to be good and it did not disappoint.  While it was cool at the start (mid-50s) it warmed up to 78 by mid-afternoon.  There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  Unfortunately, I discovered a rip in a contact that morning so I did the ride in glasses and without sunglasses.  I missed not wearing sunglasses but more importantly, I had no hope of looking cool.

Here's the evidence.  Very uncool.

We got a late start because of a miscommunication about where to meet.  But since the Seagull is a show and go ride, even though we didn’t actually get on our bikes until about 8:00, there were still lots of riders at the start.  With 8000+ registered riders, there was never a time when there weren’t other riders around and at the start, it was crowded and potentially dangerous.  We had to stop for one accident near the beginning that required placing a woman on a backboard for ambulance transport.

This year the Seagull had two centuries and one metric.  We heard that about 1000-2000 riders took the new Snow Hill century, which meant that the majority of the riders took the old Assateague Island century or the metric.  We took the new Snow Hill century.

We rode the first half together to the Chincoteague public landing stop.  We averaged about 17.0 mph for the first 54 miles.  The weather was cool and we felt strong.  We rode together, mostly by ourselves but occasionally with other riders either in a short-lived pace-line or in a small peloton.  We saw a number of pace-lines pass us by, sometimes comprised of teams and sometimes with a motley assortment of jerseys.  It was hard not to jump on the end.

We saw one guy on a unicycle at the second rest stop.  No idea which route he was taking but it was no less than 62 miles and possibly 100.  That’s a long way to pedal without being able to coast – not unlike riding a fixed-gear bike (and why I have absolutely no interest in riding a fixie).  It was a pretty big unicycle – probably larger than 36” wheel.  It took him a half-dozen tries to get up on the seat and once he did, he got down on his aerobars and off he went.  We passed him quite a ways later, sprawled out on the grass by the side of the road like he had died.  Who can blame him?

One thing I remembered about the Seagull in the past was that it was not supported in the way I remember other rides, notably the PMC.  There were plenty of drinks, fruit and snack food at all the stops but by the halfway point, I needed more than that.  I was happy to have brought along a lot of food.  I ended up eating it all.

Not only was this the half-way point, but the return route was pretty much predominantly riding west and while there wasn’t much wind, after 50+ miles, it felt like a significant headwind most of the way back.  I looked for riders going at about our speed whenever possible but couldn’t organize anything that would resemble cooperation.  Cliff let me know that he would not be able to keep up our first half speed and that I should go ahead if I wanted to.

Around 65 miles, Cliff’s knees began to bother him enough that he stopped at a convenience store and bought some advil.  I didn’t know he had dropped off so I waited at a turn for about 10-15 minutes until he caught up.  From that point on, it was a struggle to go at a pace that would provide some drafting benefit.  For a good part of the last half of the ride, I rode ahead and waited either at turns or at a rest stop.

There were times when my knees were sore too. I am now pretty aware of maintaining a cadence of 80-95 and to pedal in circles (a technique I can thank my spinning instructor or teaching me) but my knees, particularly my left knee, were sore.  Of course, my butt was sore and in the second half I changed sitting position and periodically got out of the saddle even though there were no hills that required it.

We finished after 8 elapsed hours, 6.5 hours of riding, 104 total miles, average speed of 16.2 mph.  One mechanical problem: Cliff needed to have a flat repaired at the mid-way point.  This was a problem brought on by a new rim – he had three flats since getting that new rim.

This brings my total mileage to over 2500 miles for the season.  This is the most I have ridden in any season.  It never felt like “training”.  It has always been fun and a good way to stay fit too.  It is definitely my drug of choice.

The Seagull continues to be a pleasant, but expensive ride.  The ride itself requires a registration of about $50, it is about 350 miles each way and requires two nights overnight.  I had said in 2008 that I would do it again, even if I were to do it alone.  But in 2009 I decided not to even though Cliff was because it required driving down and back by myself.  Since Cliff is no longer interested in dedicating the time to training for it, I would only do it again if I could recruit a contingent from Syracuse to join me.  It would be a fabulous ride to do with a few friends who were willing and able to pace-line.  The route is flat, the roads are smooth and mostly free of traffic and barring bad weather, four strong riders could have a lot of fund and do it in 5.5 hours rather than 6.5.

The trip back included a visit to Oxford, Maryland and Bob Kelly and Sarah Ramsey’s place.  It was great to see Bob and Sarah and their little country home.  It seems like a perfect little place for them.