Seyboro Cyclists hold double century ride

By Gabe Whisnant
Published in Sports on June 22, 2004 1:56 PM

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Eleven hours and thirty minutes later, 11 cyclists had accomplished a grueling goal.

Six local cyclists from the Seyboro Cyclists Club, along with five others, completed the club's second annual double century (200 miles) ride last Saturday.

The local finishers were Orlando Bermudez, an employee of the Federal Prison Camp on Seymour Johnson Air Force Base; Catherine Hamilton, a student at Campbell University; Chuck Hand, retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and now a pilot for Southwest Airlines; Mike Haney, owner of Athlete's Choice in Berkeley Mall; Jorg Wagner, a teacher and soccer coach at Eastern Wayne High School; and Dave Galloway, retired Air Force master sergeant and now employed by Lenoir Community College with the N.C. Motorcycle Safety Program.

One rider from Augusta, GA, one from Raleigh, and three cyclists from Fayetteville also finished the event.

Haney and Galloway are repeat finishers, both having completed the double century a year ago. Haney (age 54), Galloway (52) and Hand (52) are among the oldest members of the club.

"We swore we would never do it again, but we will probably be out there again next year," Galloway said. "We had nine finish last year and we were happy with 11 this year. I think we had 20 who had the intention of finishing the whole way."

The club developed four different bike routes of 65, 55, 45 and 35 miles, all beginning and ending at Eastern Wayne High School. This allowed riders the option of joining in or bowing out of any of the routes. The goal -- 200 miles on a bicycle in one day. Cyclists riding in the Tour de France average about 100 miles a day.

Forty riders -- including 15 from out of town -- started out on the 65-mile route at 6 a.m. The cyclists rode through downtown Goldsboro and headed out the Old Smithfield Highway. The course took them across Highway 70 near Smithfield, north to Kenly, and then back into Goldsboro.

After a brief break to replenish fluids, a slightly smaller group began the 55-mile route, taking them east past LaGrange to Kinston, north to Hugo and Hookerton, into Snow Hill and then back to Goldsboro.

Approaching 2 p.m., the heat and humidity really began to take its toll. A number of riders bowed out following the second loop after completing 120 miles on a bicycle. For many of the riders, this was a personal record.

The third route headed back to Snow Hill, then south to LaGrange and Seven Springs, and back to Goldsboro. At 5 p.m. the group returned to the school, and again, several riders were forced to abandon after a whopping total of nearly 170 miles.

"A lot of them had hoped to do the whole thing, and some of them are stronger riders than I am," Galloway said. "I think the heat obviously effects people different ways. I think if it would have been 10 degrees cooler, would have finished. We had some who had problems with cramping."

The final route took the cyclists to LaGrange, then continued east towards Kennedy Homes, south to Jenny Lind, back through LaGrange and, finally, the finish line at Eastern Wayne High School.

Other local riders to finish portions of the ride included: Doug Pearson (169 miles), Bobby Baker (169 miles), Keith Hines (155 miles), Steve Desroshers (150 miles) Rich Butler (120 miles), Kevin Lynch (120 miles), Anthony Skeesick (120 miles), Dave Wright (120 miles), Ralph Benedetto (105 miles), Justin Hand (90 miles), Tom Bradshaw (65 miles), Nick Galloway (65 miles), Charles Royal (65 miles) Scott Summers (65 miles), C.C. Wilkins (65 miles), Corrie Wright (65 miles), Carol Branch (55 miles), Bob Harding (55 miles), Pat Hawkins (55 miles), Dana Rice (55 miles), Rick Sessions (55 miles).

From June 30 through July 4, a handful of the Seyboro Cyclists will spend four days riding in the mountains of North Carolina near Spruce Pine in Bakersville. They will cross over into Tennessee to ride Roan Mountain as well.

Information submitted by the Seyboro Cyclists contributed to this article.