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SALISBURY, MD---Riders returning to this year’s 18th annual Sea Gull Century at Salisbury University on Saturday, October 7, may be in for a surprise when it comes to the traditional routes.

While the two routes (100-mile Century and 64-mile Metric) still take riders through some of the most picturesque parts of Wicomico and Worcester counties, road construction will send cyclists through several new neighborhoods this year.

New routes for the beginning of the Century take riders on Dykes, Toadvine, Snow Hill, Nutters Crossing, Coulbourne Mill, Oakland School, Union Church and Pocomoke roads. Riders travel through a new route on Johnson Road, Snow Hill Road, Robins Avenue and Dykes Road at the end of the route.  The Metric Ride encompasses the same new route changes.

Century coordinators hope the changes will be in effect only for this year. They encourage both cyclists and residents to exercise extra caution in those areas, where residents may not be familiar with the excessive bicycle traffic the Century brings. Some 6,000 riders are expected during this year’s event.

The Sea Gull Century is a “Best Bicycling in America” event that has been named among the top 10 century rides in the nation by Bicycling magazine. The Ride Magazine has called the century “one of the prettiest big rides in America.” The Washington Post has named it “by far the most popular local century” in the Maryland-Delaware-Virginia region. SU’s Perdue School of Business has estimated the event’s annual economic impact on the Lower Eastern Shore at $2.5 million.

To download printable maps of this year’s route changes, visit .