Sea Gull Century 2010 - Snow Hill Route

I've riden the SeaGull Century 3 times previous to this year.  We actually tried to ride it another year, but a hurricane went through and we decided to not ride.  

Before heading to Salisbury, Md. this year, I was a bit concerned.  I hadn't done all the training that I had done in years previous.  I figured I could make it from start to finish, but I didn't know what shape I would be in at the end.

Mark and I stayed at the Salvation Army gym this year.  All the hotel rooms anywhere near Salisbury were sold out and all they were renting well above their regular rates.  The Salvation Army charges $30 per person and is mere blocks from the start of the ride.  We got showers, a place to sleep, and a continental breakfast.  Not a bad deal.

Around 7 a.m.  Leaving the Salvation Army. It's about a mile and a half to the start of the ride.

Mile 0 -  The weather was perfect.  I expected that I would be wearing at least a pair of arm warmers, but thankfully, I was comfortable without.

We were off to a fast start.  18 - 21 mph mostly for the first 25 miles.

Around 25 miles.  First rest stop.  Awesome jazz music live.  The porta potty line was loooooooooong.  The folks waiting were friendly though.  I had good converstion with the guy behind me.  Mark did the same with the folks where he was.  I admit that there was quite a bit of chatter when the lady with the triathlon clothing went in and out of the porta potty with bare feet.  We were in awe that someone was so brave!  I think I'd walk on hot coals or broken glass well before I ever went in a porta potty barefooted.

Folding bike.   This one is a Tikit.   I want one!  I saw four on the ride including a couple of Bike Fridays.

This field looked neon green.  The photo doesn't do it justice with how bizarrely bright it looked.

Typical DelMarVa scenery.  Lots of farms.  Lots of fields.  Lots of old houses.

Oh.  Lots of old cemeteries and old churches too.  I was so sad I couldn't carry my nice camera on this ride.  The possibilities were there, but the time wasn't.

One of many pace lines.

The obligatory Snippety Gibbet silhouette of Mark and Jan.

.....cemetery.

.........another cemetery........another church.

....another pace line

You gotta love this.  This porta potty company is "#1 in the #2 business."

Rest stop around mile 40.  Just water and porta potties here.

"Uncle Al"   This guy stayed at the Salvation Army too.  He looked for the world like Mark's Uncle Al.  We both hope we're riding centuries at his age!

DelMarVa Scenery

Snow Hill is quaint.  Lots of neat Victorians.

Truck at the 50 mile mark with well wishes.

Nice silhouette of Mark.  Might be "snip" worthy.

Rest stop around the 60 mile mark.  This is on the Chincoteague Bay.

This was a gorgeous stop.  We liked it much better than the one on the Assateague Route.  Shade is a lovely thing.

My trusty steed.  I adore this bike.  Its been good to me.

This was taken around the time the charlie horses started kicking in.  They traveled with me for the next 40 miles, making this my slowest century ride ever.  Mere moments before they kicked in, Mark asked if I minded if he took off on his own.  I remember seeing him 20 feet ahead of me and the demon horses grabbed hold of my quad.

Tyson chicken plant.  I hadn't seen another rider for a while when I got here and wondered if I had gone off route. 

PIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   My favorite part of the Sea Gull Century.  When else can a person on a perpetual diet eat pie without guilt? 

Mark had waited for me for a few minutes here.  This is at the Nassawango Golf Club.  Another lovely stop.  More live music was provided by a couple of guys playing acoustic guitar.  I wanted to just lay down and nap.

After the last rest stop, I passed this unicyclist. 

100 mile mark.  This shot is of my odometer when it read 100 miles.  I took it at this point because I knew I would be riding more than 100 miles total because of a navigational error on the way to the starting line.

100 miles.  6.54 hours.  Slow.  But, hey...  I did it.

Striped cows.  They all had a white ring around the middle.  I'd never seen cows that looked like that before.

After the finish line.  Bikes, worth big $$$ laying around everywhere unprotected.  Blows my mind.  Anywhere else we cyclists go, we lock the heck out of these.  Here, amongst our own, we are trusting.  I wonder if anyone has ever lost a bike here.

Ta da!!!!!!!!!!!!  Done!  Not excruciatingly exhausted.  Very happy.  Charlie horses still running rampant.  Ugh.

Total miles, once I rode back to the Salvation Army, 107.55.  Thankfully, my dear Mark volunteered to load up my bike in the truck and I went off to get a nice shower.  So, next year, if I plan on riding again, I will train more beforehand.  I knew going into the ride this year, that I had not prepared as much as I had in previous rides.  Perhaps, more training would have beaten my quads into submission, and the charlie horses would not have haunted me for so many miles.

It was a great day.  Thanks so much to the folks at Salisbury University for another top notch ride.   I had a great time.

Photos of the Seagull Century 2010

Photos of the Sea Gull Century 2010

Images of the Seagull Century 2010

Images of the Sea Gull Century  2010

Sea Gull Century - 2008

Seagull Century 2008

The day started out at our luxury accomodations at the Salvation Army ball field. There were probably a hundred folks camping inside the gym and outside the building. This location was as cheap as you could get in Salisbury this weekend. Another bonus was that we were only a mile and a half from the starting point of the century ride.



We started the day in 48 degree temps. I wore my jersey, arm warmers, a vest and pocketed two chemical heat packs.

M wore a jersey, jacket, and arm warmers.


The starting point of this 100 mile ride was at the Maggs Center, Salisbury University.


Here we are with 6400 of our closest friends.


That's me in the foreground in the pink jersey and bright yellow vest.


We saw three daddies riding with their little girls. None of these kids looked over the age of ten. Whenever we saw one of these young'uns, they seemed happy as punch. This must not be a new thing for them, I am guessing.


Here's M about 5 miles outside of Salisbury.


The first rest stop was at mile 21. There were bagels, cream cheese, and fruit. Normally, we don't eat this early on a ride, but who am I to pass up "free" food?



We passed this guy at about mile 15. He was peddling like crazy on this tall unicycle. We never saw him again after the first rest stop. (***This fellow found my blog post and commented: "I did finish the whole 100 miles. It was a lot of fun. I need some gears on that thing!"***) How funny that he found the post. That was one of the coolest things we saw on the ride.


Always a line at the porta-potties.


I shed my vest at the rest stop, and then had chattering teeth til we got here out in the sunshine.


I didn't realize that I captured this event until I looked at the photos later. This angry motorcyclist blew by us spewing "f-bombs." That disturbed me for a good while. Cycling out on the road can be a scary experience, and it's less comforting when nut cases are screaming at you.


Second rest stop. Mile 42. More liquids and porta-potties.


Another peculiar sight out there. Rollerbladers. I think that they didn't do the entire 100 miles, but I'm not sure how far they did go.


This is one of my favorite scenic spots on this ride. Every year I take a photo of us riding up to this little church. When I was little, our family would vacation on the Eastern Shore of Virginia to visit cousins. My uncle was a minister not terribly far from here, and I guess this little church represents that experience for me.


On the road leading to Assateague Island.


M and I on the top of the bridge crossing onto Assateague.


Lunch stop. Assateague Island. Mile 62.


Path to the beach. The sign is warning you to not mingle with the wild horses who live there. This day we didn't see the ponies; just piles they left behind.


Scenic bike shot on the Atlantic.


Lots of folks milling around, taking a break.


More long lines at the porta-potties.


Back on the road. Next stop, pie and ice cream.


Berlin, Maryland. Mile 73. This is such a quaint town. I'm sure the thousands of bikes rolling through create some amount of havoc....or pleasant diversion.




And then........the Pièce de résistance. Mile 83. Pie and ice cream. This rivals the 100 mile mark for me. This has got to be the most guilt-free dessert that I eat each year.



I stood up after this shot and immediately got charlie horses in my right quad. They drifted in and out for about five minutes. Ugh. This didn't happen until mile 92 last year. And mile 94. And mile 96. Thankfully, once I got on the bike again, the pain never came back.


The sky darkened up a bit and I felt some mini drips from time to time, but thankfully, we made it to the end dry.


I was concentrating so hard on keeping our mph average over 16, that I didn't take more pictures. I was peddling hard and trying to not cramp.

Here's the final shot. 100 miles. 6 hours 8 minutes.




You couldn't ask for a better day to ride a century than this one.