This is the second time I've ridden the Granite State Wheelmen's Seacoast Century. What a fabulous ride! I actually registered for this ride before I left on my cross-country trek with the hopes that I'd be home and in good cycling shape (both physically and emotionally) to ride it. Success! Information on the club and the century ride can be found on the club web site at www.granitestatewheelmen.org.
Most century rides have pretty rigid start times - 7:30am for the hundred mile, 9am for the 50 and 62 miles, and 10am for the 25. This one is different, and much more laid back. The ride is held on both Saturday and Sunday, and participants can ride either day (or both). Riders can start any time after between 7am and 3pm, but they must be finished by 5pm. It's an out and back ride, and the decision on whether to start heading north or south is up to the rider. Because of this format, there isn't a huge mass start with the subsequent wait before the bunched up riders spread out. I find the ride format refreshing. There are plenty of cyclists on the road, but I never found the numbers overwhelming. The only places that seemed to be loaded with people are the start/end and the food stop in the middle.
Since I did the metric century, I rode north from Hampton Beach, NH to somewhere in the York, ME area, then headed back to the start. It was a dynamite day, a piece of summer in what should be the fall. It was pretty warm for a late September day, but at times the wind off the ocean brought some cool air to us. It was fairly windy all day, but nothing too extreme. We had a bit of a tailwind as we headed north on the New Hampshire coast, and a swirling wind north of there. And of course it was a head wind on the way back. After riding in wind on a loaded bike all summer, this one didn't seem too bad to me.
The New Hampshire coast is loaded with beaches, and we could see the water for a good portion of the ride. The New Hampshire coastline is very short, but very accessible - a nice change to those of us who live in Massachusetts! Once we crossed into Maine, we were riding slightly inland, although water views still popped up from time to time.
