Sea Gull Century - MD - 10/15/11

Well, this started out initially as a blog about Randonneuring for me, but there are so many additional cool things that we can experience within our great sport. This past weekend, my good friend, Paul Whelan, who took up cycling several years ago, was riding in his first ever Century, the massive Sea Gull Century, and asked me down to his beach house in Ocean City, MD, which my family and I have been invited to many times, but for different reasons, have never been able to make the trip. I was able to take Friday off, and Paul and I were able to get a nice ride in Friday morning, before a round of golf at a beautiful course, and 12 hours of "hydration", but not the type of hydration that is normally recommended for cycling, let alone a challenging event. I was very impressed with the organization of this great event. I am not exactly sure how many riders participated, I believe at least 8000, and I heard as many as 10,000? We had a nice, clear, crisp day to ride, with temperatures in the afternoon in the low 70's, with not a could in the sky. The roads were flat, well marked, and very pretty. That said, there is more to this story, as I cold front had moved through the day before, and for most of the ride, there were 25-25 mile wind gusts. As always with any long cycling events, the wind was directly in our face for the last 40 miles, and for as long as I have been riding, yesterday's winds were definetely some of the most challenging I have ridden in. The best part of the weekend for me was not only a great weekend with a great friend, but being there to celebrate and help him complete his first Century, which he finished strongly, in challenging conditions, some of which we could not control, and some of which we could, but didn't, which is our history.

Paul, at the entrance to Assateague State Park, MD, known for it's wild horses

One of those famous wild horses, "not me"

Paul, and Tim, at the end of a great ride, and great event. "until next year" I think I have one more long cycling event to complete, which will be next weekend's final Eastern PA 200K, which as always will be challenging & full of climbs. Then, into Cyclocross season #2 for me, for more pain & sufferring & getting my "a" kicked. As always, thanks for riding, until next time..."keep onTruckin"