Papa Tom

OK, I sat down last night with my friend, who is, let's just say, a big dude in the Parks & Beaches division of the Town of Oyster Bay. The official word is that bicycles ARE NOT and WILL NOT BE allowed beyond the snack bar area at the west end of TOBAY's parking lot, where the bikeway extension now ends.

That kills MY buzz, as I will never leave my bike in a rack to walk to the beach or to one of the restaurants. I guess leaning my bike virtually against my table at the Seafood Shack the first weekend was too good to be true.

Anyway, I also suggested that the snack bar stock some tubes and patch kits. He suggested that I contact "H" (the owner of the concessions and all the restaurants) directly with that idea.

Steve B.

Well, Hey, it only took the State of NY about 30 years or so to figure out how to extend the JB path down to the actual beach, so there's hope yet. (Sarcasm).

This is such a shortsided attitude, common to government employees. Hopefully this might change shortly.

Papa Tom

I can understand why they don't want the liability of bikes flying through the parking lot to add to the already out-of-control car vs. pedestrian war. For now, he's got to defend the Town's position, but when I suggested a painted white bike lane around the outside of the lot, he backed off a little and said, "Maybe in the future."

FIVE ONE SIX

the bottom line is that it IS a bike path and NOT a way to get to into Tobay without paying. if you want to pad some extra mileage, then do some loops around Cedar Creek Park before you go out or after you get back. i'm personally surprised that no one has seemed to address the fact that on the extension of the bike path everyone now has access to the walkways that tunnel under the parkway to get to the boardwalks, ect. and the same goes for the one at the end by Tobay, i'm just not sure where that one leads to...

Papa Tom

Well, you DO have access to the tunnels at Jones Beach, but without riding through the TOBAY parking lot, you won't have access to THAT tunnel.

Steve B.

I suspect that everybody at all levels will simply be waiting till 2021, when the state gets around to extending to Captree. That's when they will deal with lane markings and the like, across the Tobay lot.

I also suspect that the town is probably luke warm about the presence of the bike path extension in general, seeing it as potentially lost revenue to cars paying to park, not to mention non-TOBAY residents having access to "their" beach.

GRVR6

Nice ride today.

John1234

Does anyone know if the area to park for biking allows me to access it after dark ?

Papa Tom

Do you mean the parking area at TOBAY? I can't answer that question, but to the best of my knowledge, the whole bikeway is closed at dark. Also, on an inconsistent basis, the gate from the bikeway into Cedar Creek Park is closed and locked at night. I learned THAT the hard way!

John1234

Oh man , how did you get out gotta carry bolt cutters now. I was talking from the jones side more by the beach area. The new area that was built. I'm guessing it's closed at after dark.

GlennR

Took my son's GF down to Tobay while he's in Israel. 28 miles round trip and her longest ride so far.

Steve B.

Curious as to how busy the Cedar Creek to JB and the JB to TOBAY trails were.

We skipped it this morning at 9 as we suspected crowded conditions, especially after Fridays Newsday article about the extension opening.

GlennR

I was on it from 7:30 to 9:00am and it was pretty empty going. But coming back it was a bit crowded on the JB to Cedar Creek stretch.

On the weekends, early is better.

Steve B.

Thx. That's generally been my experience over the years as well in terms of good timing, I was mostly curious if you thought the east bath house extension as well as the TOBAY extension are bringing a significant increase in ridership.

GlennR

Not really... Pretty light.

Most riders will ride all the way from cedar creek so that's farther than the weekend rider might go.

Papa Tom

Yeah, as we all kind of agreed a while back, the Cedar Creek to TOBAY ride will probably not be as popular as the Cedar Creek to Jones ride. It's a little too long for the average bikeway rider, and, unless you can carry enough beach gear for your whole family, there's not a lot to do at TOBAY once you get there.

GlennR

All Tobay is, is the half way point of a 18 mile ride.

Round trip from my home is 28.65 miles... good for a quick 2 hour ride.

Papa Tom

That's for YOU. What I meant is that the "average" Jones Beach Bikeway rider (out-of-shape middle-aged folks on Huffies/8-Year-Olds on 16" wheels with their helmets dangling from the handlebars) doesn't have much motivation to continue to TOBAY even if they COULD make it all the way.

GlennR

Agreed....

I expect the JB to Tobay to have much lower traffic. I don't think anyone will pay to park at JB or Tobay to ride. They're leave the car at Cedar Creek and turn around at JB.

csi56

Cedar Creek to Tobay makes for a nice, quiet Friday evening ride. I would have walked my bike all the way to the concessions around the parking lot if that damned sign didn't warn me off. No, I don't want to lock my bike and walk, don't trust it. Pretty sunset!

Papa Tom

I never trust the lock-up points, either -- even the ones at the Jones beach boardwalk, and especially the ones that used to be at the entrance to the Jones Beach theater. I'd rather keep it with me, even if it means walking it. They let you walk it at Jones Beach. Are you saying TOBAY won't allow that?

johnnywhale 

You're not supposed to enter TOBAY with a bike, there are some racks at the end of the path. Don't know what happens if you enter the lot with your bike.

Papa Tom

I work for the Town of Oyster Bay and know just who to ask. More later...

csi56

I inferred from the sign that I was not permitted to even walk my bike past the sign. I should have photographed it - it said something like, "Bikes are not permitted" - not "Bike riding is not permitted."

zowie

I finally got to try out the extension. I've ridden the old part lots of times but I don't live close by anymore.

A. I appreciate that they added it. Nice to be able to get to ToBay, which was my favorite to go to by car when I was a TOB resident. No complaints about the engineering, although it seems like it would have been easier and cleaner to circumnavigate the back of the theater lot rather than make an S through the middle. Yet . . .

B. Snack stand or whatever that is at the end was totally closed, including the restrooms and water fountain, leaving me with a "is that all there is" feeling?

C. Ride was monotonous. I probably won't do it much.

D. New section was about equally crowded as Cedar Creek to Zachs Bay section. It looked like people (with meandering young children) were parking at the theater lot and riding or walking from there.

E. Back in the day, the old terminus, on the west side of the theater lot, was a big bike parking lot equipped with a guy on a lifeguard tower keeping an eye on the bikes. We were comfortable chaining bikes there and walking to the beach when they had that. Sometimes there's be at least 50 bikes there. It was free but I'd be willing to pay a couple bucks for the service if that would help get it back, preferably relocated closer to the boardwalk.

F. Also back in the day, if Cedar Creek Park was closed or you just didn't want to go through it, you could access the trail a little further north at the exit from the northbound parkway onto Merrick Rd. I didn't check that out.