Sea Gull Century 2005
Well, the remnants of tropical storm Tammie or Tammy or however she is spelled hit the morning of our century ride! The Safford family departed for Salisbury, MD around 11:00 am on Fri. morning and encountered a few showers on the way there, but nothing serious. Got to the hotel, checked in, met up with some other team mates, had our pasta dinner and then the rain arrived in full force! We all departed the dining room, looked out and said "tomorrow is going to be an interesting day." Sure enough, I received my wake-up call at 4:30 am, got showered, ate my 2 packages of oatmeal, got all my stuff organized and started to get dressed and the hotel lost power around 5:15 am. Luckily I had my stuff together and organized and was ready to ride. I am anal about being prepared; I don't want to forget anything, energy gels, trail mix, extra tubes, etc. After everyone was out in the hallway, we found out that power for most of Salisbury was out and there was a torrential downpour, and the ride was still on. We all started bringing our bikes down the stairs (elevators had power, but I was NOT going to risk getting stuck in an elevator) and getting ready. We were all in the hotel lobby around 6:15 and departed for Salisbury College 5 minutes later on our bikes. Connie and Christina said their normal "Have a nice, safe ride" and I was off. Within 2 minutes of being out on the bike I was soaked, luckily the temps were fairly warm, about 70 degrees.
We all departed the college at 7:00 and the fun began! To make a long story short, I finished the ride in 7 hours 3 minutes, way behind what I had wanted to finish it in and I will explain why. In addition to torrential downpours, there were 10 – 30 mph wind gusts and most of them were head winds and cross winds (come at you from the side). We started out doing pace lines, which is efficient, but were decimated due to the rain (couldn't see 5 feet in front of you) so most everyone ended up on their own. I met up with a number of people a number of times and we pace lined to help each other out but usually lost everyone within about 10 miles of meeting up. I called Connie at the 20 mile rest stop and told her my butt is getting kicked due to the wind and rain, but I am motivated to go. I only stay at a rest stop for about 7 min. or less, just long enough to fill my Gatorade bottle and grab some Fig Newtons and a banana. Met up with some people and pace lined to the 2 nd stop, that helped conserve out energy, after all, we still had 60 miles to go. The four of us left the 2nd stop and I was in the lead of the pace line when I turned around and didn't see them any more. Slowed down a little, but they didn't catch up for a few miles, so I continued with my pace. Keep in mind, it is pouring the whole time and windy as hell. Hell, I was drenched after the first 2 minutes do I really didn't have anything to loose. Once you are drenched and miserable, you just have to stay focused and drive on. Approached the 3 rd rest stop Assateague Island, where Connie and Christina were waiting to meet me with the best thing ever along with clean and dry socks! Well, there was a bridge we had to cross to get to the island and the bridge was a big arc. While going up the bridge, there was about a 40 mph crosswind, and the rain was pelting my face and it felt like needles were hitting my face. A number of people got off their bike and walked, but I kept hammering on the bike as I figured, if I walk, I will be on the bridge longer and I did not want to be suffering any longer than I had to be. Usually everyone flew over the bridge on previous centuries, but everyone was getting pummeled on the bridge. There were a few women who once they got over the bridge broke down crying and were thinking of quitting (they were not TNT' people, but one said she thought her contacts were going to be blown out of her eyes). I was never so happy to see Connie and Christina; I really needed some moral boosting about then as I was hurting.
As I found the car and pulled up to it, Connie saw my face and had a worried look on hers. She asked how I was doing and I told her that bridge kicked my butt and sucked about 20 miles out of me to go about 500 feet. Sucked down a banana, trail mix, 3 shots of hammer gel, ½ of my bottle of Gatorade and refilled it, got a big hug from Christina and Connie and continued on. Also at this point I found the other 3 people I was riding with and we headed on out. I was riding with one of them as the other 2 were catching up when Dave had a flat tire. He didn't have much experience changing a tire, and I am very experienced at it as I have had many flats and we got his tire changed and were pumping it up when a support vehicle stopped with a floor pump. A few minutes later we were hammering away trying to catch up with the other 2 friends and about 20 min. we caught up with them. They went right by us and didn't realize Dave had a flat. We made it to the final rest stop at 84 miles, stopped briefly, when Ted said "let's get going, I am getting wet", and we all started laughing hysterically because we all were drenched within 2 minutes of starting. We headed on out for our final stretch of the century ride and I was in the lead for a while and turned around and didn't see anyone. At that point, I could not slow down and wait as I had motivation to get finished and take a warm shower and get clean. I continued to hammer and finally crossed the finish line. I actually did about 103 miles and averaged 14.7 mph. About 60 of the 103 miles I was riding in a torrential downpour and 10 – 30 mph winds and upon completion of the ride I was a totally whipped puppy.
What is so amazing; is that there were lots of people riding their first century ride for TNT and they are planning to do it again. This is my 4 th Sea Gull and my 2nd one in rain, but this one takes the cake. Salisbury, MD received over 5 inches of rain on Oct. 8th and we were riding through lots of water. I have never seen so many flat tires on a bike ride. There were so many branches down and so much debris due to the winds I am very lucky I didn't get a flat. Oh yes, I saw Dave at the celebration dinner and he said that his tire went flat again ½ mile from the finish line and had to change it again. Luckily one of the other guys had another tube as he used his only one. (That is why I carry 2 spare tubes on a long ride).
Soooooo, it was an extremely challenging day and one that our TNT coach (Dave Richardson) said we rode a lot of "character building miles." Believe me, after our victory celebration dinner and 1 beer, I was in bed at 9:00 pm and didn't wake up until 8:00 on the morning of the 9th. The bright spot in all this is $860,000 was raised to fight cancer and the Maryland cycling team raised $130,000 of that total. There were about 10 teams from around the United States participating in this event so it was considered a national event, which is the reason so much money was raised.