# Seagull Century or Central Bucks Covered Bridges?



## bikeboy389 (May 4, 2004)

So Girlygirl and I are actually on a training plan. Originally it was to get ready to destroy the Central Bucks Covered Bridge ride. But yesterday we got invited to ride with a group on the Seagull Century (and more importantly, to attend their post-ride bash) which is the week before the CBCB.

Now I'm torn. Should we do the Bridges (which we've done before, and is a nice ride) or the Seagull? I'm not seeing us doing both. If the Bridges was first, and/or there was a two-week gap, I might do both, but two weeks in a row ain't going to fly when we've neither of us done a full century before.

I think the Seagull is notorious for truly shite weather, so it already has a strike against it. Anybody done these rides? What's your recommendation?


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Seagull=Bloody Crash Fest (but flat, flat, flat (and oh those winds)).

Do the Covered Bridge.


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## nate (Jun 20, 2004)

My coworker says there were two crashes right in front of him last year and it wasn't even crowded because of the wet and cold. If the weather is nice, it will be very crowded from what I understand.

On the other hand, the food and other support is supposedly really good and it's an easy century since there are no real hills. My coworker's longest training ride was only 50 miles and he really doesn't do high mileage, but he said it wasn't that difficult.


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## bikeboy389 (May 4, 2004)

Well, if I'm looking for a flat, easy century, I think I'll probably just do the Tarwheel Century in Elizabeth City, NC in April. My folks live there, so we'll have a place to stay, and it's ultra flat. It's early in the year, but if we actually made an effort I'm sure we could get/stay fit for that.

The Covered Bridges is hilly enough to stand in for a century adequately for this year, I think. Maybe we'll just drive over for the party after the Seagull and skip the riding and crashing and freezing.


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## bigrider (Jun 27, 2002)

A bunch of our club members go to the seagull, start a little late, and ride it in a paceline as fast as they can go. I don't get it and they keep wanting me to go to experience the ride. They all seem to enjoy it.


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## Farmertan (Feb 5, 2005)

Covered Bridges is the better choice.


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## rellimreeb (Jul 29, 2007)

Do you have a link to the covered bridges century?
thanks


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## Farmertan (Feb 5, 2005)

Hosted by Central Bucks Cycling Club

http://www.cbbikeclub.org/?body=covered_bridge_ride&nav=cbr


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## rellimreeb (Jul 29, 2007)

thanks!


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

bikeboy389 said:


> Well, if I'm looking for a flat, easy century, I think I'll probably just do the Tarwheel Century in Elizabeth City, NC in April. .....


Why don't you just ride out the W&OD and back in the fall? It doesn't get much easier than that.


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## bikeboy389 (May 4, 2004)

Farmertan said:


> Hosted by Central Bucks Cycling Club
> 
> http://www.cbbikeclub.org/?body=covered_bridge_ride&nav=cbr


It's a good ride. Hilly, but not that hard except for one or two tough ones. The feed stations are well stocked and well staffed, and the feed after is pretty good. The t-shirts last year were awful, IMO, but that's the chance you take.


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## mschol17 (Jun 11, 2006)

You should also consider the Civil War Century, starting in Thurmont Maryland and run by the Baltimore Bike Club. I think it's pretty hilly, with 5 or 6 legitimate East coast climbs.


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

Civil War century is 2 weeks from now (from this past saturday, to be exact). Some of the routes, such as the metric, are fairly tame. The 77 and 100 have some granny gear climbs.

The Seagull is way flatter than the W&OD. WAAYYYY flatter!

I don't know the Seagull as a blood-fest. But I did bail last year due to the weather. The year prior, the weather was perfect, and I stuck myself in a fast paceline, and it was a rush. For someone who rides almost exclusively solo, cruising between 25-30 on the flats for excessively long distances is a lot of fun. That's my plan this year if the weather hold out.

I haven't done the covered bridge ride, but some of my froends have, and said it's a nice ride. If you like climbing, I hear the Eat-a-Peach is a good ride.


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## scott bdc (Oct 16, 2002)

Can't speak to the Covered Bridges ride as I've never done it, but I'd like to stick up for the Seagull. It's true, the weather has been more miss than hit the past few years, but I think it's a really fun ride. Over the course of about 10 years, I've really not experienced the "carnage" to which some of the other posters refer. Now, admittedly, there are a lot of people at the Seagull who are not used to riding in groups, but I would think that most of the crashes (which, again, I haven't seen) are attributable to the wet weather. Hell, if the weather's decent, why not just do the metric at the Seagull, and then do the Covered Bridges ride the next week?


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## lawrence (May 17, 2005)

I've never did the Covered Bridge ride but I know the area well living just across the river. It's a beautiful area with trees, fields, streams, creeks, flats, rolling hills, and HILLS that you may or may not need to use your granny gear depending upon your climbing ability. Typical beautiful Pennsylvania area that you would expect and love to ride in.


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