SALISBURY, MARYLAND
It’s been three years since I last rode the Sea Gull Century. My calendar opened and I wanted to make the most of the weekend at the ocean. My plan for today was to ride in Cape May, New Jersey, but an unfavorable weekend weather forecast changed that.
We had a group from my cycling club that planned to ride the Sea Gull together. Yesterday, Stewart posed the question to them about their weather contingency plans. He wasn’t looking forward to riding 100 miles in the rain, and quite frankly, neither was I. I responded that I planned to do my own “Pre Gull Century,” one day before the actual Sea Gull Century.
I’ve done this before. The last time I rode the Sea Gull was in 2023, and the weekend played out the same. There was a beautiful forecast for Friday and an awful forecast for Saturday. All-day rain and chilly temperatures would soak those riders. And a similar forecast, but not as cold, for Saturday, faced us. Today was beautiful and tomorrow looked like a washout.
The advantage of riding the Sea Gull as advertised is support. You ride faster when everyone around you is riding faster and even faster if you occasionally jump on the back of a moving pace line. If I needed a SAG to finish, there wouldn’t be one available the day before the event. And the four fully stocked rest stops would be empty. But the port-a-johns would be in place.
When I replied that I thought I would do my own “Pre Gull Century,” Stewart asked if he and his wife, Sharon, could join me. They, too, were tempted by a forecast of 86° (30 ℃) and beautiful sunshine.
Because I had traveled from Lewes, Del. to Fruitland (Salisbury) to meet Stewart and Sharon, we didn’t roll out until 9:00 a.m., which was about two hours later than I wanted to. I also didn’t want to get up at 5:30 a.m. to make a 7:00 departure.
We rolled out from their hotel which was less than a half-mile (one km) from the intersection with the official course and then followed beautiful country roads to Princess Anne, Md. We made a brief stop for water in town because there was nothing on the road for the next 40 miles. Then, just outside of Princess Anne, we pulled into Washington High School, site of tomorrow’s Rest Stop One. They had the port-a-johns in place and were unlocked. We had contemplated cutting a zip tie if they had been secured for transit, but they were open.
With the exception of a two-mile strecth on Snow Hill Road, the next 40 miles were country roads alternating between heavy forests and agricultural land. And the smell of chickens. Lots of chickens.
In Berlin, we stopped at Roadie Joes, a small bar and restaurant. They had covered outdoor seating. We were looking for a water stop but stayed for a light lunch. The waitress twice brought us pitchers of ice water, and twice they disappeared – straight into our empty water bottles.
My goal, or perhaps our goal, was to see a wild horse on Assateague Island. A ranger once told me they try to move the horses to the south end of the island to avoid 8,000 cyclists during the Sea Gull Century, and in some years I didn’t see any horses. We would not be going into the Maryland State Park the venue that the Sea Gull uses as their biggest rest stop, but we had National Park passes to ride into the National Park. I announced we would ride in the park until we saw a horse.
We turned on the road to the national park and only went about 500 meters before we came to two horses, a mother and her foal. Shortly thereafter, they were joined by a third horse. Mission complete.
The route had us going back on Assateague Road, which has moderate traffic but does have a shoulder. In past years, we avoided this by going on Lewis Road. The Lewis-Sinepuxent Road option replaces a busy road with a country road but also adds a mile and a half. At first I thought this was removed because the mileage was already more than adequate for a century ride, but we would soon discover there was road construction on Lewis Road. We opted for it and had no problems, even if we found gravel for a very short period. It was a good option for three of us but probably not for a couple of thousand riders.
Not being with 8,000 other cyclists, we opted to ride through downtown Berlin instead of the route around it. That, too, was a good option.
When we arrived at Salisbury University, we took the pedestrian underpass, and when we emerged from the underground tunnel, we were at Maggs Hall. Perfect. We went in and picked up our packets and swag T-shirts.
LODGING: Lodging last night was at the Home2Suites, Lewes, Del. It was selected because I had planned to ride some in Delaware, then take the Cape May – Lewes Ferry to New Jersey and ride some there. But a nasty forecast for Saturday’s event convinced me to change plans and ride the century on Friday.
EPILOGUE: It rained a lot on Saturday. Stewart and I rode 50 miles before the rain but for our group who rode the 100-miles, the last 30 was in steady rain.
