Covington Century - Comments

Hello there,

I am a very satisfied SBL member who would like to offer a few comments about the Covington Century. I rode the 66 mile route leaving just after the main start... what can I say,we got there a little late! You all did a wonderful job planning the route, marking it so well only a blind person might have gotten lost... but he'd have to try, and stocking the break points with lots of the right food and oh so cold liquids. I do have to say I was a little frustrated with the 'wash your hands' signs, not because I was opposed to washing my hands, but rather because I could not find any water at 2 of the stops to use for washing.

The registration and after ride areas were well organized and the grilled burgers were yummy. The music and conversation were entertaining. And oh yes... the free beer was also good. I sat out under one of those big shady oak trees waiting for my overachieving friends to finish the century. It was sunny and breezy and, well, just perfect!

I would like to offer one suggestion for next year. I would have been happy to put my plastic bottles, cans and glass bottles in a recycle bin if you had offered one. There was an awful lot that could have been recycled.

And one more thing. I don't know how, after perhaps 30 days straight of getting rained on in the metro area, you were able to deliver one whole day with no rain.

It was a lovely day!
Sincerely,
John Prevost

"The new covington century has become an instant classic! The course is fantastic. The support is fantastic. The organization is fantastic. One small suggestion for next year, however, would be to add U-turn markings on the road at out-and-back sag stops. I rolled past 3 of these sag stops and was immediately off course. It wasn't a big deal since I typically passed other riders making their way back on course (as lot of people got caught in this trap) that yelled to me to turn-around. Again, overall a great ride and I'm definitely looking forward to next year."

Roy Simmons

"One of the best centuries ever (and I do ‘em all and have for years)!!! Incredible everything (except parking support at the beginning). Absolutely felt like a festival at the finish. GREAT JOB!!!!!!!!"

"And of course the food was spectacular. I’m trying to pull together a century to benefit mental illness… this year will be a rough start but I’m working with a group of psychological therapists and mental wellness centers to pull it together. I need to get in touch with Joyce, therest stop queen. SHE’S INCREDIBLE (both her and her food). This will be a much smaller ride but you have raised the bar here locally (Joyce has really raised expectations for sag stops) so the whole cycling community needs to sit up and respond."

"Interesting note: I work with (and sponsor) Georgia Multisports on all their events, even announce at most of them, and we were noting Sunday at the Acworth Women’s’ Tri that tri attendance was down this year. We made the same observation at two earlier events. I had to bite my lip to keep from saying “you should have been at the Covington Century or Cartersville Century or Blood Sweat and Gears or Cheaha… century attendance is way up and the events have taken on some CLASS!!!”"

"Again, you and SBL and Covington volunteers and sponsors did a great job. Please hook me up with Joyce!!!"

Tony Myers

"It was a beautiful morning at the Covington Century! I couldn't convince myself to do the full century since my family was hanging out at the lake, waiting for me to join them. :) The metric distance was perfect, though, and I ended up with about 68 miles. As always, I don't know names, but THANK YOU to the many kind people who allowed me to hook on and work with them! That was a fast ride for my flatlander legs. :) Wonderful job as always, Covington folks and Charlotte K! I must say, it's been a rainy summer, but the temps have been so nice. That's the coolest I remember it ever being at Covington!"

Paula Harmon Johns

"The 67 mile Covington Century route that measured almost 90 miles when you start from my house was nice."

Jim Behning

"Thank you so much to all the folks who put in the hours to organize this event and all the volunteers who took part today to make this an amazing experience."

Tracey Fischer

"Great ride today. Loved the route for the 67 miles. Thanks"

Anne-Marie Drake

"Great ride today."

Shawn Bilak

"Thanks so much for a great ride! Your volunteers are awesome!"

Amy Welsh Hill

"I am finally home ...and are you all ready to read this what I did today!!!! Oh you are going to be so blown away by me!!!! I went 69 miles and killed all of the hills and they were huge ones....and When I came back to the school Everyone was looking and waiting for me and when they saw me they all just applauded at me. I almost in tears when they all did that to me...So Now I am at 1369 miles!! And then inside they announced of what I did and had made the riders applauded like crazy too...I am so thankful that I can STILL do what I did when I was in Nashville and that is the ability to climb hills AGAIN!!! Hell Yeah!!!"

Peter Iannuzzi

"ALL I CAN SAY IS THANK YOU 1,000 TIMES FOR LETTING ME BE A PART OF TODAY'S RIDE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME CREW AND STAFF I AM GLAD TO HAVE DONE OF WHAT I COULD STILL DO AND THAT IS TOO CLIMB HILLS AND KILL THEM...THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU MEAN ALOT TO ME!!!! "

Peter Iannuzzi

"I had a GREAT time in Covington saging their Century Ride!!"

Bob Carter

"The ride was great. The staff, volunteers and lunch (brats) were outstanding. I was not in peak health, but survived the 32 mile ride. Next year I'll burn through it. Oh! I certainly shouldn't omit my gratitude for the SAG @ the 32 mile point. I was beyond belief and gratifyingly refreshing. "

Harry Rouse

"GREAT ride this year! Perfect weather, Perfect route, OUTSTANDING pit stops with great food and friendly service! Thank you!!"

Summer Bailey

What a job you-all did. By Jove! And your maneuvers on the tiny bike, and Jan's daredevil dancing - who knew? For the grandgirls' birthday parties - no more magicians, rabbits in hat, no bouncy houses - we'll rent you two - one on cycle, one the fearless dancer without a net!

Thanks,
cll

Excellent job Charlotte. This was my first charity ride and first ride over 40 miles...i rode the 66 mile course. Nice job with course layout and marking. I found the ride enjoyable (all but HWY 36 segment) and easy to follow. I too missed the Rutledge rest stop along with most of the riders I saw going through Rutledge. We must not have been paying attention. The 66 course turned right and the caboose was a left turn I believe. The folks in Newborn were a little discombobulated when I came through. The fella running the show was apprehensive about filling water jugs from the adjacent water spigot because it had just been installed. I overhead him say that due to the newly installed PVC lines the water would taste like plastic. They eventually did start filling a few water jugs from the spigot. When I came through the Starsville stop their was a person at the corner directing rides to the tent. Sorry folks missed the Tony Serrano stop because the food was terrific. Plan to ride the big C next year and wont miss the sandwich stop this time!

Rick

Thanks for a great ride, rain and all - looking forward to it next year!

Kimberly

Hello Charlotte!

Thank you so very much for allowing us to have an information table for Ahimsa House at the Covington Century. It sounds like the event went wonderfully, and the table definitely helped us raise awareness about Ahimsa House's work on the links between animal abuse and domestic violence. If you would be open to having us participate again next year, we'd be delighted!"

Thank you so much again! Maya

Congratulations on staging such a great ride and bring back the Covington Century.

Josephine Kelly - Downtown Covington - Main Street Covington

I did thank Charlotte privately for a great ride yesterday but i also want to thank her publicly. I don't know about everyone else who rode but I had a blast. The 30 mile route she laid out was challenging and i got to ride up my old nemisis ...the hill on Flat Rock road leading out of Lake Varnar. I don't know why but that hill in that direction is always a challenge for me so i was glad that it was included in the ride. Also for me the rain added a fun refreshing wrinkle to the whole ride. Again ..thanks Charlotte.

Jack Dalton

Right on, Jack. That was one great ride....a huge success! Clearly a testament to the who knows how many hours Charlotte put into the effort, and her crew did a great job. Checking in was a breeze, and needless to say the markings on the route were by far the best anyone has ever seen. SAG was on the spot. And to top it all off, a rest stop set up by Joyce. Thank you Charlotte, and all who contributed.

Charlotte and Jan, You did an awesome job on the CCR. I was very impressed with the way things went. We got some good publicity and donations were good. I was amazed at how far people had come to ride. It definitely was not just a local club ride!' Anyway, Congratulations on a job well done!!!!

Dianne Jaynes

GREAT JOB!

Charlotte, Thank you so much for taking on the responsibility of the Covington Century this year. All of the comments were so positive and everyone said they planned to be back in 2013 despite all of the rain. Tourism looks forward to working with you again next year.

Thanks again, Clara

Thank you for organizing the CCR this morning. The rain was a bit of a bummer, but Mother Nature has her own ideas. Unfortunately, the wet roads made for some tricky riding and I braked and turned too quickly and flew off of my bicycle. A very kind fellow cyclist stopped and helped me get up. He stayed with me until the end of the ride and even asked if was able to drive home. I know it's a long shot, but I am hoping I might be able to let him know how much I appreciate his caring. Any thoughts on how I could send out a message that may reach him? Thank you!

Kim

Enjoyed the ride. Positives were the route, route markings (very well done) and rest stops. Only negative was that when I arrived around 4:00 everything was pretty much closed down and a volunteer was removing the signs. I didn't expect a brass band at my arrival, but it seems a bit tacky to close up when there are still riders on the course (I wasn't the last to finish). Just saying.

Steven Dubner

Yikes, so sorry! You are absolutely right Steven! I apologize for not being there for you! Maurice will let SAG know so we can make sure we double-check sweeping the course next year, ---charlotte
We did and had a great ride, last 10 was a little wet but still great!

Maurice Rosenbaum

Charlotte,

Thanks for bringing this ride back. I had a great time. Judging by the participants, they were eager for this ride to come back as well. But I had a few questions so I can keep these in mind in 2013.

Benny commented on the SBL Facebook page that the rest stop in Rutledge was the best he has seen in 21 years. Do you know what time they were supposed to be set up at? I got there around 9:00 and I could not find anything but the lunch stop. But I looked for the refreshments in the little gazebo. I also missed the Rest Stop Queen during the ride and drove back to get some of her goodies. Not a good day for me finding rest stops. The rain saved me or else I would have had one rest stop and one water stop.

And thanks for the complimentary t-shirt. It was a nice surprise. Maybe the best designed t-shirt I have seen this year.

Hope to see this ride again in 2013.

Hi Ali,

Thank you so much for the feedback and what a great pleasure it was to meet you.

The rest stop in Rutledge opened at 7:30 am, the rest stop was the lunch stop and was included in the price of registration, as well as the hotdogs and pizza. TheCaboose served 600 cyclists. They said the first cyclists that stopped did so at 9:30am. On the website and cue sheet we 'bragged' about the fact that Amy was going to serve a 'robust' sandwich. They also opened their bathrooms for us and served drinks, chips and cookies! Very cool stop!!!! We labeled the cue sheet as lunch, next year we will say Rest Stop. So sorry you missed those folks----they had an incredible buffet set up indoors. We had three signs posted, but obviously they were not big enough! We will do a better job next year!

From Charlotte

It was great meeting you too. We have talked abut this ride since May and it was great seeing it com back. Ah so the refreshments were inside the restaurant and not outdoors? I had been to Rutledge so many times I assumed the stop was at the gazebo and park. I will go inside next year. Definitely learned some lessons from this ride. It was a shAme missing Joyce also on the ride. Glad I drove back though. It was a shame I did not get to experience the best possible ride due to my own human error. But the route was great and the watear stops were a nice touch too. Can't wait to hear about the Kellytown Century.

Ali

Charlotte, thank you so much for the hard work in organizing the century ride today. I made the 66 mile ride. Not bad for a 47 year old, out of shape newbie.

Ron