The 2009 Door County Century Met Expectations

This year's Door County Century ride was held Sunday September 13th. This annual ride starts from Sevastopol High School in Institute, Wisconsin, and provides a coast-to-coast scenic tour of Wisconsin's beautiful Door County Peninsula. This event marked the 30th anniversary of the ride, which along with great weather conditions contributed to a bumper turnout of around 1,700 riders. To mark the occasion the registration fee included an anniversary poster.

I first rode the DCC in 2002. It was my first century so it always has a special meaning for me. I've ridden it every year since. This was my eighth consecutive participation in the event and a great ride to finish off the summer. The onset of cool dewy mornings and golden sunsets start to give hints of Fall. The roads are also much quieter after Labor Day. The route has over 3,500 ft. of climbs so there's a few challenging hills. Nevertheless I enjoy it for its rural scenery, along with the lake views, lighthouses and quiet coastal towns. The Door Peninsula has a distinct maritime flavor, not to mention the local wines, cheeses and home-grown fruits.

This year the organizers introduced new policies to address recurring complaints from residents, local government, police, and State Park authorities. These included:-

• Individually numbered wrist bands and Helmut stickers
• Hiring of Sheriff's Department deputies to monitor riders
• Recruiting volunteer Safety Patrol riders to wear yellow vests and observe behavior
• Providing a printed “Rules-of-the-Road” sheet

Riders reported for ignoring these rules could be permanently blacklisted from future participation. These polices provided a sobering thought of the strained relationship that us cyclists have with motorists. Irrespective I didn't see much improvement in the usual areas of complaint. The principal one being obeying stop signs.

There were a few interesting changes this year. For once the century was close to the correct distance of 100 miles. For years it has been around 104 miles. The town of Baileys Harbor was completely bypassed and the northern loop included sections of a bike path and Hwy. 42 through downtown Sister Bay. Another addition was the large orange poster-board signs that marked every mile of the route.

Outside of these changes the remainder of the route was the same. This included the steep descent from Monument Point Rd. to Bay Shore Drive. This is on the Green Bay side of the peninsula and always seems to claim at least one casualty. On this occasion two individuals were being attended to on the side of the road; having been unable to maintain control of their bikes around the tight bend at the bottom of the hill. One’s speed down this descent can quickly reach forty miles per hour. And if one happens to drift off the edge of the pavement the consequences are usually serious.

As in 2007 I again had the privilege of riding with a good friend, and his son from Appleton, Wisconsin. We took it easy for the first twelve miles as we accompanied some family members riding the 30-mile route. Our pace picked up after the routes divided and we arrived at the Murphy’s Park rest stop (21 miles) with an average of about 14 mph.

The ride through Peninsula State Park was thoroughly picturesque. The park exits at the south end of Ephraim and continues east across the peninsula to the Camp David rest stop. The northern section between the first and second stop at Camp David is the less inspiring part of the route, and also the most psychologically challenging. One consolation was that we were able to share the pull for about fifteen miles with several members of the "Extreme Mortgage" team. At Jacksonport (82 miles) we made an unusually long stop. But we were then well rested, allowing us to put in a strong finish for the final eighteen miles.

We completed the course at an overall average of 18.2 mph. But! If one subtracts out the first 21 miles at the slower pace of fourteen, it suggests we rode the remaining eighty at close to twenty; not too shabby for a couple of old guys.