As promised, the weather was great Saturday for the 22nd annual Seagull Century. More than 8,100 bicyclists gathered in Salisbury to pedal the bike-friendly terrain of Maryland's eastern shore.
My wife, Karen, and son, Daniel, joined me on the 100-kilometer route through Princess Anne. It was the first ride of this distance for both of them and I figured the Seagull would be more forgiving than the rolling hills on our side of the bay. It would also be the longest distance I had ridden the tandem.
As this was a show-and-go ride we didn't have to get to the start at the crack of dawn. It was 60-degrees at 8 A.M. when we rolled out of Salisbury and we were able to leave our jackets in the car.
About two miles down the road we hit the biggest hill we would see all day, the bridge over the Salisbury Bypass. From the top of this twenty-foot climb we could see a seemingly endless line of bikers on the road ahead of us.
The crowd thinned a bit a few miles down the road when our route split from the traditional 100-mile route. Still we were probably no more than 30-yards from another cyclist the entire ride. Riders had three routes to choose from: the traditional 100-mile route to Assateague, a 100-kilometer route through Princess Anne, and a new 100-mile route through Snow Hill.
We made it to the Washington High School rest stop in a little over an hour and stopped just long enough to fill water bottles and grab some fig newtons and orange slices. Back on the bike, we picked up the pace a bit and got into a small group that led us to the rest stop at Nassawango Golf Course.
I had skipped the Nassawango stop in previous years because it comes fairly early in the Assateague route. But, at 41.5 miles on the metric route, it was a great place to stop for an early lunch. The rest stop was stocked with the usual fare - bananas, fig newtons, orange slices, peanut butter and bagels. They also had pie and ice cream. Karen and I bought burgers outside the clubhouse and Daniel got ice cream. We ate and stretched in the grass on the bank of the Pokomoke River.
Soon after leaving the golf course, the route turned back toward Salisbury... and right into the wind. For the final ten miles we took turns leading and providing a break from the wind for each other. After crossing back over the bypass, Karen decided she had enough left in her legs for a race to the finish. We crossed the line together, Daniel's hands in the air and a grin on his face. Next year he wants to do the full century.
2010 Seagull Century - By the Numbers
• Thirty-eight states were represented as well as Canada and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Riders ranged in age from 6 to 80.
• More than 200 cyclists were riding with teams to raise money for heath concerns including Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training, Alzheimer's Association ALZ Stars and the American Cancer Society's DetermiNation.
• Staging the event happened with the help of more than 300 campus and community volunteers.
• More than $100,000 was raised for the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, one of the many community and campus programs the Century supports.
• $2.5 million – Estimated annual economic impact on the Lower Eastern Shore, according to SU's Perdue School of Business.
• The first Sea Gull Century in 1989 had 68 riders.