Northeast - Long Island: North Shore Group Ride

Sounds like lots of people would like to get together and do a group ride on teh north shore of Long Island, meet new friends, have a good time, and save some money.

Here is a proposed route from the Stony Brook Train Station (as suggested - great idea by the way) to the Greenport Train Station over a pretty flat course (some hills) that is also fairly safe with low traffic (which doesn't really exist on LI anyway)

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2684545

Take a look and provide feed back.

Also, what dates are simply not possible for those that want included? We have lots of time to plan but we need to start the process.

Mark

Just for comparison, here's a list of GPS data from the Northfork Century of the metric and full century routes.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/network/digest/view.mb?sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fmotionbased.com&keywordSearch=northfork+century&searchType=tn

I'd be up for that - 10 mins from my folks place. Plenty of beautiful areas to ride up there with some hills, low traffic.

Just a thought . . .
Considering the rather OCCASIONAL schedule of the LIRR out of Greenport, it may make more logistical sense to run a circular route or half circle that will end up at a place like Ronkonkoma or somewhere on the Port Jefferson line. This will allow more flexibility for our car free NYC colleagues as well as limit bike / LIRR conductor potential conflict.
When doing route planning for Bike New York's Long Island Harbors Ride, I had seen that SBRA publishes some routes that may work for this purpose.

are you keeping this to a Sunday?

It would have to be a weekend, but Saturday works as well as Sunday for me. It would be up to the rest of the group.

The suggestion to start in Ronkonkoma has its advantages and disadvantages. It would be easy to get to on the LIRR, there is a lot of free parking, and lots of support from shops and stores. The problem is that it is on the wrong side of the LIE to go to the North Shore. The best and safest way to get over to Sound Ave, which is generally considered the most bike friendly way to ride, would be to go down the LIE Service road to Stills Rd, then go north. Safe, but not very scenic. More like boring. (Keep in mind that I commute 16 miles a day on a bike in bumper to bumper 3 lane wide traffic, half the time in the dark, so safe to me might not qualify for some of you)

Here is the map for that ride:

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2687602

It is also further to Greenport from Ronkonkoma. We could always agreed to ride shorter and turn earlier. It would not matter to me.

Just for comparison, here's a list of GPS data from the Northfork Century of the metric and full century routes.
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/network/digest/view.mb?sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fmotionbased.com&keywordSearch=northfork+century&searchType=tn

That link pulls up a pretty blue blank screen. Could you check it? I would like to see the routes.

That link pulls up a pretty blue blank screen. Could you check it? I would like to see the routes.

It works for me but you have to give it time to load. You should see "initializing" until the list appears. If it still doesn't work just enter "northfork century" in the search box.

[QUOTE=exRunner;8641874]The suggestion to start in Ronkonkoma has its advantages and disadvantages. It would be easy to get to on the LIRR, there is a lot of free parking, and lots of support from shops and stores. The problem is that it is on the wrong side of the LIE to go to the North Shore. The best and safest way to get over to Sound Ave, which is generally considered the most bike friendly way to ride, would be to go down the LIE Service road to Stills Rd, then go north.

Well, like I said, just a thought. In fact you could go north already at Hawkins, eventually to Pond Path and towards Port Jefferson. Or go east on Motor Parkway or L.I.E. Service Road, then north as you'd wish.
If we'd even have 10-15 car free folks joining us, this would already be a potential problem on the LIRR (unless some pre-arrangement were made which might not be out of the question)
I'd only suggest we consider this, and maybe some potential participants who are car free could chime in.
Although a rather different scale, the issues are the same: for the Long Island Harbors Ride last year, we elected not to get involved with the LIRR. We were in any case able to sell out the 1,500 positions and will probably go to 2,000 this year. Since the proposed ride is a tad more "personal", potential car free participants probably should be considered.

Any reason why it's not just a loop? It would make things with the train much simpler although maybe not as fun.

I would be interested in anything. I live on the north shore and am in the process of trying out LIBC and HBC for group rides.

What I am really interested in is a regular group of about 6 or so people who cruise at about a B group pace (depending on your definition), but don't really want to talk, just want to ride.

The clincher, wanting to ride at about 7 am instead of 9 or 9:30.

Anyone out there into that sort of thing?

What I am really interested in is a regular group of about 6 or so people who cruise at about a B group pace (depending on your definition), but don't really want to talk, just want to ride.

The clincher, wanting to ride at about 7 am instead of 9 or 9:30.

Anyone out there into that sort of thing?

PM me. I live in Babylon and belong to HBC, but I would prefer to do what you are suggesting. I have a regular partner and another guy that is hit or miss. You are welcome to join us. We are usually on the road by 7:30 (the plan is always 7 and someone is always late :notamused: )

I am an A rider, but the other 2 are a B and a B+ A wanna be. You would fit right in. I can talk at a B pace, but I understand if no one replies. :lol:

Hi exRunner and everyone else. I am very interested in joining the ride. 7am on most weekends are good for me until July. I am a somewhat of a newbie (1 1/2 years) and I average between 16-18mph. Sometimes a little faster. Let me know if you could use an extra rider.
thx
Greg

Hey guys,

I'll be doing the occasional weekend and most of the summer in lovely Mastic Beach, and happy to get out and see some of the nicer parts of the island. I guess that would be pretty much most of it.

Anyway, I can keep up a B pace no problem.

Early weekend mornings okay with me.

Rudi

ressurect!

i'm going to be doing morning rides tomorrow and sunday, north shore Nassau, if anyone's around. reply to the thread and i'll get it on my phone.

I would suggest that you switch over to Rt. 48 when you can and stay on there until you reach Main Street in Greenport. It's a much nicer ride that takes you close to the water at a few points. You might even consider bypassing Greenport on the way out and heading to the ferry terminal at Orient Point. Then, on the way back, you can detour to Greenport, have lunch, and use Rt. 25 to get back.