Tri-State Seacoast Century: Sept 25th or 26th

[riverc0il]

Just signed up for this as my first century ride. Any one else doing it?
http://www.granitestatewheelmen.org/SCC/SCC-HomePage.htm

Would be nice to have someone else to ride with. This is my old stomping grounds as I used to bike from Haverhill to Salisbury and Hampton all the time when I was in HS and College. Looks like one of the flattest century rides around so I figure it would be a good event for my first one. My local hill ride does more total vertical in less than 1/5 the distance! Also nice having a choice of days. I plan on riding the full century on which ever day is better weather/less wind.

Will bump this again later this summer, kind of far out at this point. Nice having something on the calendar... now I really have to step up the mileage! :grin:

 

[riverc0il]

Next weekend. Any one else doing this ride? My plan is to do the southern loop to NBPT first to avoid the bad check in rush and then check in after everyone else has already started.

I am so NOT ready for this ride. I have only been in the saddle four times in the past month. Working 6-7 days a week for 12+ hours is not conducive to a lot of riding time. I managed to steal one day a week some weeks. Bottom line is that I am really glad this century is flat as a pancake because the distance is not going to be fun! Heading out for a ride shortly and I hope to get in two more rides this week but weather these next few days may not cooporate. Ah well.

It doesn't help that I have skiing on the brain big time lately. Next year, I think I will target the Blazing Saddles for a century ride instead of a metric and let that ride cap my season. This whole riding in September thing does not compute... I want to hike, not ride!!!

 

[mlctvt]

My wife and I will be there all weekend. We're going with a group from the CT AMC club and staying at a local hotel. This will be our fouth year. Saturday we'll do the full century and sunday a shorter ride to Newburyport for breakfast and a ride out to the bird sanctuary.
This is a very easy flat century,but if there's wind it can make the return trip back from Maine very tiresome. We usually average between 18.5 to 19.5 mph depending on the wind.

Your choice to do the southern loop is a good one since the registration lines can be long first thing in the morning. Many people skip this section entirely because it's not too scenic and the roads are rougher on that loop.

 

[riverc0il]

Your choice to do the southern loop is a good one since the registration lines can be long first thing in the morning. Many people skip this section entirely because it's not too scenic and the roads are rougher on that loop.

Route 1 from Sailsbury to Newburyport is indeed rather rough, as I recall. Do they do Ferry Road instead of Route 1? I have a friend that lives off that road, might stop by and say hello whether that is the official route or not. Where is the turn around point in Newburyport? Roads down there are not very road bike friendly as I recall. Would be nice to bike out to Plumb though... maybe next year not related to this ride.

A lot of folks in my local ride group skip the seacoast century and do their own coastal ride the weekend before or after. Actually sounds like a nice idea. You don't get the SAG support but less to worry about and you can plan your own route.

 

[mlctvt]

Yes the route does go down Ferry Road.
We ride south on 1A then take a left onto Ferry Rd. Ferry Road becomes March street and just before the end we take a left on I think First Street then loop back to Ferry Rd and return the way you came in. We never actually cross the bridge into Newburyport.

Interesting you mention doing this ride on other dates. Our AMC Club goes up every Memorial day weekend for a 3-day trip and we ride parts of the Century route plus others too. We were just talking the other day about doing the Flattest Century in the East (Southern Mass and RI) as a club ride on an alternate date sometime in June,July or August too since there aren't many century rides earlier in the summer.