Sea Gull Century Ride

Sea Gull Century Ride

• Race Name: Sea Gull Century Ride
• Race Date: October 15, 2011
• Race Location: Salisbury University
• Race Distance: 102 mile bike
• Total Time: 6:29:43 moving time; 8:30:14 overall
• Average Speed: 15.7 mph moving speed; 15.4 overall speed

Pre-ride

The registration for the ride was done online, mail-in, or in person. We did online at $67.95 each. For a charity ride, I thought that was pretty good – especially with 4 rest stops. The ride was very well organized, well marked, and well supported. This is their 23^rd year, so they definitely have it figured out. The volunteers were amazing. They made sure that all of the water, Gatorade, and food was well stocked. There were a good number of port-a-potties, but with 8000+ riders, there were lines. Nothing they could really do about that. Course maps were provided online and in our ride packets. The course was also really well marked.

That morning, we had the “high carb” breakfast at the cafeteria; pancakes, hash browns, bacon, and juice for me.

The weather was pretty good; a bit chilly in the morning, but definitely nice. We started out with arm warmers, leg warmers, and full gloves.

Bike

The road was in really good condition. You never know what to expect over 100 miles of road, a huge loop course. For the most part, the roads were pretty flat; only a couple of minor hills. The course wasn’t closed to traffic. In general, that was ok. The roads to and from Assateague Island National Park was NOT fun. There was so much traffic in and out of there. Plus, the wind was starting to pick up as we headed towards the island.

Rest stop 1:

Rest stop 2:

Rest stop 3:

There were 4 rest stops. They were fantastic. We didn’t stay horribly long at the first two, just long enough to refill water bottles and use the bathroom at each. I had my honey stingers gels with me, which was good. The Perpetuem drink mix didn’t agree with me all that much. At the third rest stop, we sat for a bit longer to eat, refill drinks, and just chill out. At the fourth rest stop, we definitely stopped a while longer than the other stops. We had been fighting the wind for a solid 25 miles by that point and just needed a rest.

Rest stop 4:

I think next time, I’ll definitely train a good bit more. Our longest training ride was only 40 miles and that had been a few months before, so we really weren’t prepared. My legs were perfectly fine over the 100 miles, it was my posterior that I was having issues with.

Finish line:

Post-Ride

After the ride, we went and got our participant shirts, then headed back to the car. We put the bikes on the car, changed out of our bike shoes, grabbed our “post-ride clothes” and headed to the bathrooms to change into different clothes. After that, we decided to grab dinner at a local mall, which was good. I felt surprisingly good after the ride! The photos were up about a week later, which was perfectly fine!

Summary and Lessons Learned

This is the first time I’ve ever finished an event that I’m not sure I how I feel about it after. I think it would’ve been better without the 40 miles of headwinds and with some training. It wasn’t a bad ride at all though. Mentally, I learned I’m a lot tougher than I thought, which has given me a much better outlook for next year’s 70.3.