Sea Gull Century
Sea Gull Century is now in the books. This ride starts at Salisbury University and goes out to Asateague Island and back on another route. I was riding this one with best bud, Susan, who tends to get me in a lot of trouble when running and cycling. We arrived at Salisbury around 6am, and after avoiding a wierd cycling stalker, we got our t-shirts and then packed our bikes for the ride. We headed over to the start line, and watched as on rider took a spill trying to unclip. As we went through the underpass we watched as another rider took a spill trying to get off her bike and walk up the underpass. Starting spills are the worst.
So the forecast was for cloudy turning to sun with winds of 20-23mph going to the SW. The weather didn't disappoint.
We headed out thinking we could complete the ride in around 6 hours. Going out to the Island is 67 miles. There are two rest stops out to the Island. Good for water refills but not very good for protein, in fact other than oranges and bananas, all that was available were sweets, which even after eight years I pass on. Once we got around all stupid cyclists who ride slow on the left, we were able to maintain a 21-23 mph pace out to the island. The winds were in our faces the whole way. I don't do pace lines, so Susan and I make our own pace line. I tend to lead most of the time, but she kicks in when I need relief. I thought the winds were bad (maybe up to 20mph) going out, but I was looking forward to returning with the winds at our back. We got to the island in 3 1/2 hours but not before going over a very windy bridge to get us on the island. Asateague Island is famous for it's wild ponies so we had to spend some time checking them out, browsing the ocean waves, and watching as the wind totally destroyed one of the bike repair tents.
The winds at the islands were swirling from every direction so we had no ideal what the return would be like but we figured three hours at the worst (37 miles). So we refilled ou****er bottles, grabbed a couple orange slices, grabbed some sport beans and headed out. Going over the bridge the winds were about 35-mph and I thought for sure I was going to get blown over four or five times. Made it over the bridge and figured the worst was over, but those gusts followed us the whole way. I was able to get up to 15mph a few times, but a lot of the time just maintaining 10mph was a challenge. When we got the only rest stop on the return (about 20 miles) I was exhausted. All that was available to eat was pie and ice cream. I was totally spent at this point and we took some extra time to recover. Got on our bikes for the remaining run to Salisbury, back into the wind. About five miles down the road, I had to pull off the road and hydrate. We started out, and for some reason Susan took off like a bullet, me not so much. ack of protein really caught up to me. I think the lI finally got my legs back over the next ten miles but couldn't catch up to Susan, but about 1/2 mile from the finish line she had pulled off and waited for me so we cross the finish line together (that's why she's my best friend). We did cross the finish line. It took us 3 hours and 15 minutes to do the ride back, so it was a total of just under 7 hours to do the 100 mile bike ride. Last big ride of the season.
Next year, I'll do this ride again, but I'm going to ask for a reprieve on the wind gusts. They can't be this bad next year. And I'm going to pack some protein.
Thanks for listening.
So the forecast was for cloudy turning to sun with winds of 20-23mph going to the SW. The weather didn't disappoint.
We headed out thinking we could complete the ride in around 6 hours. Going out to the Island is 67 miles. There are two rest stops out to the Island. Good for water refills but not very good for protein, in fact other than oranges and bananas, all that was available were sweets, which even after eight years I pass on. Once we got around all stupid cyclists who ride slow on the left, we were able to maintain a 21-23 mph pace out to the island. The winds were in our faces the whole way. I don't do pace lines, so Susan and I make our own pace line. I tend to lead most of the time, but she kicks in when I need relief. I thought the winds were bad (maybe up to 20mph) going out, but I was looking forward to returning with the winds at our back. We got to the island in 3 1/2 hours but not before going over a very windy bridge to get us on the island. Asateague Island is famous for it's wild ponies so we had to spend some time checking them out, browsing the ocean waves, and watching as the wind totally destroyed one of the bike repair tents.
The winds at the islands were swirling from every direction so we had no ideal what the return would be like but we figured three hours at the worst (37 miles). So we refilled ou****er bottles, grabbed a couple orange slices, grabbed some sport beans and headed out. Going over the bridge the winds were about 35-mph and I thought for sure I was going to get blown over four or five times. Made it over the bridge and figured the worst was over, but those gusts followed us the whole way. I was able to get up to 15mph a few times, but a lot of the time just maintaining 10mph was a challenge. When we got the only rest stop on the return (about 20 miles) I was exhausted. All that was available to eat was pie and ice cream. I was totally spent at this point and we took some extra time to recover. Got on our bikes for the remaining run to Salisbury, back into the wind. About five miles down the road, I had to pull off the road and hydrate. We started out, and for some reason Susan took off like a bullet, me not so much. ack of protein really caught up to me. I think the lI finally got my legs back over the next ten miles but couldn't catch up to Susan, but about 1/2 mile from the finish line she had pulled off and waited for me so we cross the finish line together (that's why she's my best friend). We did cross the finish line. It took us 3 hours and 15 minutes to do the ride back, so it was a total of just under 7 hours to do the 100 mile bike ride. Last big ride of the season.
Next year, I'll do this ride again, but I'm going to ask for a reprieve on the wind gusts. They can't be this bad next year. And I'm going to pack some protein.
Thanks for listening.
Rob
great ride, sounds like something I would really love to do. In a training ride in the summer I rode the outerbanks highway from corolla to hatteres and that was pretty nice ride, except for all the sand on the bike afterward :)
I am going to bookmark this one for next year, might be a nice weekend trip.
As usual, thanks for sharing :) and great work! :)
I am going to bookmark this one for next year, might be a nice weekend trip.
As usual, thanks for sharing :) and great work! :)
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