Seagull Century October 2010

Dan Wolfe and I set out Friday after another slow day at work for Salisbury MD. Traffic was horrible but we started getting excited seeing bikes on other cars starting around the Bay Bridge. In fact, I told Dan to stop next to one guy in the stop/go traffic and ask if he was going to Seagull. He was, and then he asked us if we had $2.50 for the toll. He had no cash. Being fellow bike riders, we coughed up the $2.50 and told him we would be looking for him during the ride. Note: We are still out our $2.50.

We stayed at the Salvation Army. Dan slept in his van (why? ask him.) and I stayed inside the gymnasium. It was comfortable, but as usual there were 2 guys having a wood sawing competition. For all you snorers out there, stay the hell out of public sleeping arrangements. We got up around 7am and rode over to the starting line. A quick breakfast and we were on our way. This was a rolling start event, so whenever you showed up you could start.

There were over 8000 riders this years. Bikes were everywhere. It was pretty neat. This is my first experience with a biking event and I found it very fun to be riding through country roads with all those people. This was only my 2nd ride on my Cannondale CAAD10 so I'm still feeling out the bike. For some reason, I thought that a 20mph average was a good way to start a 100 mile race.

It wasn't long before I jumped in the draft lines of the faster riders. Through 50 miles, I think my average speed was close to 25mph. This sounds harder than it really is, unless you're the poor guy at the front. I avoided the front of the draft lines most of the day, but did take a few turns up there. It's not something I will continue to aspire to do.

I blew through the first rest stop at 20 miles, and only stopped briefly for gatorade at 40 and 60. 60 was the Assateague Island stop. I thought it was going to be a bit more scenic, take a walk on the sand, watch the surf. But no, back on the bike after eating a banana. I did see 2 horses.

At mile 66 I had my first thoughts of wanting to take a nap. This already exceeded my previous max distance of 63 miles. I still felt pretty good, keeping in draft lines, focusing on not crashing. Speaking of crashes, one girl got a free ride in an ambulance as she was pretty torn up on a crash. There were a handful of other wipe outs. There's an issue when you put rookie riders on small roads with 8000 people and fast draft lines. I feel fortunate not to have gone down or had any mechanical failures.

Then the ride started getting a little interesting. Miles 70-80 were getting hard. Mile 80 rest stop has apple pie and ice cream. I kept focusing on that thought while churning away. Staying with the faster draft lines (there weren't that many at this point) was mostly out of the equation. You started to see a lot more people sitting on the side of the road taking rests, and little voice in your head saying "join them".

I got to the rest stop and ate the apple pie and ice cream. This was a long stop, probably close to 25 minutes. Dan ended up getting to the rest stop and we hung out a short bit. People of all shapes, sizes and ages come rolling in. It's surprising to see so many different people capable of riding 80 miles. Good for them.

Getting back on the bike was difficult. For the next 5-6 miles I rode solo in a nasty headwind. In fact, the entire last 20 miles seemed to be nothing but upwind. It was a huge struggle to keep 15/16 mph on my own. I totally wanted to breakdown and stroll for 10mph. But the thought of taking 2 more hours for the last 20 miles wasn't appealing. Finishing this race was getting to be a very difficult physical and mental challenge.

I decided the only possible way of actually getting to the end was to get in a draft line. It was hard. A tandem bike came rolling past me and the thought occurred to me to ask the lady in back if she wanted my bike and I could jump on the back with her husband .. ha ha. I sucked it up and didn't leave their back wheel for several miles. We had to stop at a stop light and rolled up next to them. I said, "I hope you don't mind, but I need you to get me to the finish line otherwise I'm not making it." The lady said, "Sure, c'mon .. we'll finish together. We're almost there."

Sure enough, time seemed to stop while continuing to ride by more people sitting at the side of the road we did eventually get to the finish line. I thanked them wholeheartedly. I was so excited crossing the finish line with people cheering on. 100 miles is a really long ways.

Despite this being the toughest physical and mental challenge that I can recall, I expect to be back next year and try it again. I'll be encouraging Michelle to join me, along with the rest of you bikers (Eric, Hamp, Mike, Danny) to join in the "fun".

My next challenge is the 184 mile C&O Canal ride from Cumberland to DC (over 3 days w/camping). Anyone interested?

Many more miles ahead,

K-Lance

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