Anyone ride the North Shore Century? - Some thoughts

The Evanston Cycling Club held their North Shore Century this last weekend. I originally intended to go for the full 100 mile option, but essentially undertrained all summer long, so I instead opted for the 62 (metric) or 75 mile option. I ended going for the 75 mile option, feeling like I had a lot of gas left in the tank as I was coming up to the turn off for the 62 mile option. Overall I enjoyed the experience. It was somewhat tempered by the miserable rainy weather, but a lot of the scenery was nice. I did find fault with some of the aspects of the ride however. I think, and I heard this from other riders, that the 75 mile option was not laid out very well for those who were attempting to do that route. In many instances there were no route markers on the road to indicate the 75 mile option in the beginning. Once you reached a certain rest stop (might've been Bowen Park?), you were then able to follow the route markers for the 100 mile ride all the way back in to Evanston. There were a few stretches of road that had very high vehicular traffic traveling at high speeds which I felt should have been avoided. However, not being familiar with the area I can not say where those stretches of the route could have gone that would've been safer feeling. My only other gripe was a bit of a personal one. I've done group rides in the past, but always with people I know or with a mass start. In this case you registered for the ride and left when it was convenient for you. In my case I didn't ride with anyone so for much of the trip I found myself catching up and trying to ride with either people who were A: too fast, or (more often) B: too slow. I feel like the ride would've been much more enjoyable riding with some other people who were similarly matched in skill and stamina, but that's just a case of me not really knowing any other cyclists. Overall, I had a good time and for the most part I enjoyed the course. I also feel like I mostly supported myself on this ride. I brought my own energy drink mix and some of my own food, not being sure what to expect at the rest stops. Given that the price of registration did not include a T-shirt (included in all other group rides I'd done in the past), and that the support was only evident at the rest stops (only saw the sag wagon once the whole day), I'm left wondering what I got for my money. I probably could've laid out a similar route using other folks directions from Map My Ride, and just done this solo and not wasted any money. Still, I enjoyed the experience and the knowledge that I can ride these kinds of distances with little trouble and only moderate effort. In the future though, I think I'll do a bit more research and try to find out just what a specific ride is like and maybe in the interim try to find some other people to get out and ride with.

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Permalink Reply by yaj 7.4 on September 21, 2011 at 1:58am

I rode the 100 mile route with a good sized crowd from the Chicago Cycling Club (CCC).  I've got to say thanks to EBC for a great ride, despite the bad weather. 

I thought the food was very good.  One of my riding pals said he ate more than $17 worth of food out there.  I enjoyed the usual cookies and bananas, and appreciated the Shot Bloks & Shot Rocks.  And we saw plenty of SAG vehicles out there.  As the day wore on and we dragged along, we joked that they were circling us like vultures waiting for us to drop. 

I encourage everyone to meet a group for long rides.  CCC had one group doing the 62 and another doing the 100.  It really does improve the experience. 

Permalink Reply by Regan on September 21, 2011 at 4:54am
Hey Matt.  This ride was my first century ride and although the weather was horrible, I'd have to say that the route was well marked, all volunteers seemed to be in good spirits, the food was pretty damn good, especially the coffee and hot potato soup although I think they were planning for warmer weather as there was about 10 gallons of ice cream left over at the finish.  The only thing I had an issue with was the pack riders who thought they were Lance Armstrong.  They seemed so obsessed with keeping their pace that they had complete disregard for others.  We are all out there for the same reasons right?  Lighten up people.  Smile.  Use your voice.  Other than those jerkoffs I would say the event went damn well considering the weather.  Also, I'm looking for people to ride with as well, so if you ever want to ride let me know.  Riding out to Two brothers brewery and back is my current favorite loop.
Permalink Reply by David Barish on September 21, 2011 at 5:26am

Matt

 

Thanks for the feedback.  We always assess the rider's experience, route etc in planning for future years. 

 

This ride is a complete fundraiser for charity. The club is a tax exempt organization that does not run at a profit.  Each year the NSC generates enough money for the club to usually donate overr $10,000.00 to various cycling related worthy causes.  We have made contributions to advocacy organizations such as Active Trans and the League of Illinois Bicyclists.  We have provided special bikes to rehab hospitals, funded bike rodeos for local police departments.  We have sponsored young riders at the velodrome in Northbrook.  We have helped organizations such as the Recyclery that provide bikes to lower income folks.  If you have a cause that would like to apply for a grant please contact the club through current President, Jim Heller.  Evanston Bike Club does not fund itself via the North Shore Century.  The intent is to roll over enough to seed the upcoming year's ride, pay the costs of running this massive endeavor and then give everything else away.   

I was on the clean up crew this year. We separated all the food from the equipment. The perishable food was all taken to a local food pantry.

 

We are fortunate to have amazing volunteers from the North Shore Radio Club.  They set up a radio control center that dispatched the SAG vehicles. We had a radio person and a bike person in each SAG vehicle.

 

Most years the scene at Dawes is celebratory. The weather is usually delightful and a band is playing aganst a backdrop of the lake and a pond.  This year the weather was lousy and most riders went straight to their cars or rode home.  Nobody was interested in hanging around. I can't blame them.  I was amazed at how many riders still did the entire century in a steady downpour.

Permalink Reply by Active Transportation Alliance on September 21, 2011 at 5:34am

After working on Bike the Drive and Four Star Bike Tour (previously Boulevard Lakefront Tour), we can attest that for fundraising bike rides:

1. Volunteers are wonderful

2. SAG drivers are seldom seen on routes but are almost always there (some of the same volunteer SAG drivers we have also volunteer with the NSC, they are great people).

3. Road conditions and traffic are getting worse and worse, it's more and more challenging to create great routes for bike rides.

4. Feedback on rides is always good to hear

5. Almost all ride organizers and clubs we work with try harder each year to improve their rides (we shoot for that, too).

 

Glad to see people getting excited about riding and growing!

 

Ethan Spotts, Active Trans

Permalink Reply by Randall J. Van Vynckt on September 21, 2011 at 7:56am
You'll definitely want to check out the Bike Club of Lake County Ramble next June. It includes everything from flat farmland to scenic lakefront routes to gently rolling hills. The great thing is that it's like a big four-leaf-clover with one rest stop at the center, so you can string the various loops together to get various distances. It's a bit of a hike to get there, starts in Wilmot, WI, just north of Fox Lake, IL, but well worth it.

kiltedcelt said:
Lest anyone think I'm coming down on the whole thing, I did enjoy the ride overall. I think some of the roads were pretty rough as another poster mentioned, but as yet another person mentioned it's probably pretty hard to lay out a route that is going to be smooth sailing the whole way. This is the first large organized ride I've been to in Illinois. All my previous experience were (was?) rides in Georgia, in and around Atlanta and Athens. I might find some of the longer rides that are more rural more to my liking. I'm not much of a city guy anyway and actually the more rural a ride is the more I enjoy it.
Permalink Reply by Z Bicyclist on September 21, 2011 at 2:26pm

Re NSC SAGs: The SAG vehicles are assigned an area and the nearest free SAG is dispatched in response to a call. The phone number is on every page of the cue sheets. Most of the SAG vehicles have GPS. This means they are in nearby areas, but are likely to take faster streets to get to an incident report rather than religiously stay on the route.

 

This provides faster response, but does mean you are less likely to see a SAG vehicle just cruising around.

Permalink Reply by Felix Angelov on September 21, 2011 at 3:27pm

I was one of the many SAG drivers. I personally changed more than 20 flat tires, took one rider to a hospital, transported 3 riders/bikes to the rest station of their choice. I drove non-stop for almost 220 miles. So did the rest of the SAG team (15 cars on the roads and two cyclists on the bike path). I am sure that you have been passed by a SAG vehicle multiple times during your ride. We use our personal cars and they look like any other car on the road. Each of them was equiped with a GPS/radio and was coordinated by the Control Center at Dawes Park in Evanston. They could see each SAG vehicle on the map in real time and direct them to the rider(s) in need. The rain made it more difficult for both the riders and the SAG team. The number of flats was more than 10 fold higher than what we had on previous (no rain) NSC.

Your fee, as well as everybody else's will be donated to several bike related organizations:

League of Illinois Bicyclists, Active Transportation Alliance (was Chicagoland Bicycle Federation), Y.O.U. (a youth services agency in Evanston), local police departments and others.

 

As you said, next time find some friends to ride with, or join a bike club and you will have a much better time.

 

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