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Long Island: Good Ride Today?

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Long Island: Good Ride Today?

Old 12-31-16, 03:05 PM
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Hey Steve!

Thanks for your concern. Remember the movie scene in "Jeremiah Johnson" where the title character finds "Hatchet Jack"? (If YOU find ME, you can have my Hawken.)

I know there's a bit of a risk there, but I believe it is a relatively small one, certainly smaller than being out on the road, and I'm OK with it. It's by no means a remote area by any standards, and I ride quite conservatively especially at night. That being said, insurance is nice and I do plan on looking into something along the lines of what you suggested, or possibly a SPOT beacon type of device. I'd want something I (& co-conspirators) could rely upon when up on the Continental Divide as well as in the savage wilds of Plainview.

A small group of us closed out another year of riding with a nice one out at Glacier Ridge. The trails were nicely frozen and I like me that solid footing. We all assumed the other guys would bring a map, so you know how that went. Didn't someone just suggest I buy a Garmin?

Happy New Year (to all) and I promise to buy a beacon if you promise not to crash.
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Old 12-31-16, 08:06 PM
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Joe

2 stories that changed my mt. bike riding habits.

I was night riding a lot a while back, had done it for years, then while out one night with 2 buddies, one of them had a front wheel drop thru a frost heave, sending him over the bars. He landed square on the top of his head and suffered what is known as a "spinal stinger", where you lose all feeling from the neck down (in this case) temporarily. It took maybe 5 minutes for all the sensation to come back, long minutes in the cold. Scared the holy hell out of him. I discovered at that moment that I was the only person who knew where the f**k we were in BP and as there were 3 of us, knew where the nearest road was located if we needed rescue. We didn't, he recovered and we walked him out a 1/4 mile to Plainview road. All was well after, though I was told after to never do that with somebody who suffers a potential neck/spine injury like that. As a BTW, we saw NOBODY that night and typically and rarely encountered other night mt. bikers.

Then there was my buddy Kevin who rode off the little bridge just north of the Southern State along the BP Parkway on the Greenbelt, around Thanksgiving in '15. He broke 2 neck vertebrae in that one and lay in the woods about 50 ft from the BP bike path on a Sat. morning. NOBODY wandered by on the hiking trail. He was able to call EMS but it took them 40 minutes to find him and told him he was lucky it hadn't been colder as he might have gone into shock and had issues from the cold.

After all these kinds of things I will not night ride as there would only be 2 of us and that's not enough if there's a serious fall. And falls that turn serious happen all the time. In the woods at night, in the cold, that's no longer a risk I would take.

Just some food for thought and note that I only nag as you are a friend and friends worry about others.
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Old 12-31-16, 09:44 PM
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Again, thanks for your concern. When we backpack, my usual buddy has a SPOT locator beacon, which is only for use in the direst emergency, and assumes someone will have the capacity to activate it. It's an excellent choice for that application, but not optimal for solo use.

I will look into the various options we have now. Don't want to end up like 'ol Hatchet Jack.

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Old 01-01-17, 08:01 AM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
Again, thanks for your concern. When we backpack, my usual buddy has a SPOT locator beacon, which is only for use in the direst emergency, and assumes someone will have the capacity to activate it. It's an excellent choice for that application, but not optimal for solo use.

I will look into the various options we have now. Don't want to end up like 'ol Hatchet Jack.
A bunch of Garmins - 810, 520, 820 probably the 1000, all have the ability to send their location for a person on a computer to track your real-time location. The unit is paired via BlueTooth to a smartphone app (Garmin Connect Mobile, which I believe sends your location to Garmin, thence to a website Garmin maintains.

Plus they tons of other good uses and are very good cycle computers to boot. One option.

And as you can see my real motive is to get you to spend some hard earned case ($250 in this case) and help the economy.
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Old 01-01-17, 02:20 PM
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I've always wanted to ride the path along the Wantagh Parkway and today was the day. I rode over to Brands and then took the north bound entrance to the parkway looking for the path. I had to ride 100 feet on the actual parkway (there were no cars) to get to the other side of the LIRR overpass. There was no pavement so I rode on the grass until I got to the next overpass which was Park Ave. There is an entrance to the paved path on the northeast corner. The path is a mess. The best section is worse than the worst section of the Bethpage path. Lots of broken blacktop, sticks, debris, holes and bumps. I was on my SuperX CX and had the "grip of death" on the hoods. I rode the path to Jerusalem where I had to take the road north past the Southern State. I got back on the path at North Jerusalem and rode it to Route 106 where I finally got off. I decided not to try to take it all the way to the Northern State.

I headed east to Bethpage and took the BP path back home.

24 miles @ 13mph (more like 11 on the path). 950c and 45*F.

It was a awesome start to the new year.

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Old 01-01-17, 03:35 PM
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Nothing as fun as exploring on a bike.

I too have attempted to ride this so-called "path" and am of the thought that the state should just abandon it in place. There's zero possibility to turn this into a "real" bike path - similar to the BP. Too many highway overpasses with no room to widen and improve the path, too many road crossings that are at the top of a berm.
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Old 01-01-17, 05:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Steve B.
Nothing as fun as exploring on a bike.......I too have attempted to ride this so-called "path" and am of the thought that the state should just abandon it in place.
Great idea, OldnSlow, & kudos for giving it a shot.

Amen to exploring! I think the "abandon it in place" decision has already been made.

I've "explored" the old Vanderbilt Pkwy right of way a number of times; I think I may have written about it here. Lots of it is now a R.O.W. for power lines, and it is a "proposed" bike route ( Motor Parkway Trail Vision Plan - Home ). It's interesting in a butt-ugly sort of way. Going west from Bethpage it's easy to follow (with a few negotiations of fence holes etc.) as far as the jail in East Meadow. Going east I'm told it can be followed as far as Hauppauge and indeed it is easy to trace on Google Earth/Maps. I've gone maybe 8 or so miles east of Round Swamp, and one of these days I plan on devoting a day to following it until I fall off the edge of the earth or an insurmountable barrier, whichever comes first. Any experience, or interest?
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Old 01-05-17, 04:16 PM
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First ride of 2017, with a short nondescript 24 miler on the pavement. A muddy MTB rider I met confirmed my suspicion that the trails were soup in places, leading him to bail off of the dirt. I saw several other riders, so someone is getting out. Write 'em up!

PS. OldnSlow, the county ground flat "your" bump on the paved path.
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Old 01-05-17, 04:19 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
PS. OldnSlow, the county ground flat "your" bump on the paved path.
I saw that.
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Old 01-07-17, 11:07 AM
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Snow ride! About 3 hours on the trails. Snow began falling just as we were starting out. 3 of us split off a larger group and headed north after some cavorting about on the Bethpage trails,and did the Tower loop. A few ruts just north of Old Bethpage Rd but everything else in fine shape. Quiet, peaceful, wonderful.
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Old 01-07-17, 01:47 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
Snow ride! About 3 hours on the trails. Snow began falling just as we were starting out. 3 of us split off a larger group and headed north after some cavorting about on the Bethpage trails,and did the Tower loop. A few ruts just north of Old Bethpage Rd but everything else in fine shape. Quiet, peaceful, wonderful.
You inspired me so I got dressed, put the knobby tires on the SuperX and dropped the psi to 40 and headed out. I live in a busy street and the center was all ice. My cleats were clogged with ice and i couldn't clip in. I turned at the first street and found some fresh snow where I could get some traction. But i quickly realized i'd be lucky to make i alive to the bike path, let along get home. I decided to turn back and not risk crashing.

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Old 01-07-17, 05:41 PM
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OldnSlow,

Yes as you know a bit of snow on pavement can be treacherous. On the irregular surface of the trail it's surprisingly good up to a point. We had decent traction until we got back to the parking lot, and one of our number failed to make the 50 paved yards to his car. He's OK.

I usually use Nokian Extreme 294 studded tires on the winter trails. The studs seem to help even in the absence of ice as they can give you some grab on tree roots that would otherwise be slick. They are very aggressively knobby tires also, and rugged as an anvil. They weigh about as much as an anvil too, but it ain't a race out there. Mine are about 12 years old and still in fine shape.
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Old 01-07-17, 06:36 PM
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I made a set of studded mt. bike tires way back, Frank Peckham had a method.

Old set of knobbies, then drill on alternating knobs, a pilot hole. Then install from the inside, a ton of 3/8" sheet metal screws. Line the inside of the tire with old road tires whose bead has been cut off. Duct tape liner tire into place.

These babies weighed as much as the rest of the bike, took a few hours to assemble on a snowy winter night, but worked like a charm.
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Old 01-07-17, 09:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Steve B.
I made a set of studded mt. bike tires way back, Frank Peckham had a method.

Old set of knobbies, then drill on alternating knobs, a pilot hole. Then install from the inside, a ton of 3/8" sheet metal screws. Line the inside of the tire with old road tires whose bead has been cut off. Duct tape liner tire into place.

These babies weighed as much as the rest of the bike, took a few hours to assemble on a snowy winter night, but worked like a charm.
Ha, I remember those. When he used them when the snow cover was spotty, the screws would impale dry leaves and they would stick to the tire.
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Old 01-12-17, 02:16 PM
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20 miles @ 16mph.

54*F... today was a gift.
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Old 01-12-17, 02:55 PM
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this forum needs a "like" button
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Old 01-12-17, 03:20 PM
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Originally Posted by oldnslow2
20 miles @ 16mph. 54*F... today was a gift.
Definitely. April in January, if only for a day. I had an errand to run up in Huntington, so I put fenders and Carradice saddlebag on my 'cross bike, & rode up there, in shorts no less. The roads were wet for all of the 34 miles but the fenders did a great job, well, fending. Shoes and bike remain dry and clean. FWIW a load of about a dozen pounds in a saddlebag wasn't really noticeable until I got up off the saddle to climb, and then I could feel the wag-the-dog effect.
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Old 01-12-17, 04:22 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
FWIW a load of about a dozen pounds in a saddlebag wasn't really noticeable until I got up off the saddle to climb
I bet you could feel it once you crested.

Yup... shorts were the uniform of the day.
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Old 01-13-17, 01:57 PM
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Really windy but I got 32 miles in. Not many more days like this ahead.
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Old 01-13-17, 02:21 PM
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just glanced at the monthly forecast for my neck of the woods for January & February. it's those overnight temps that will get us for morning rides
Attached Images
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Old 01-13-17, 03:46 PM
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Originally Posted by oldnslow2
Really windy but I got 32 miles in. Not many more days like this ahead.
Hey OldnSlow,

I saw you (I was driving, alas) headed north, crossing Sunrise at Park Blvd at about 1230pm, into that headwind. You looked determined, and that 'cross bike is SHARP.

No 2 wheel action for me today, too many errands and appointments. I was going to do a dusk/ night ride tonight, but was advised that my planned route was pretty muddy. Instead I changed the oil in the air spring of my MTB fork, so, something. Trails should be frozen by morning, yay.
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Old 01-13-17, 04:14 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
Hey OldnSlow,

I saw you (I was driving, alas) headed north, crossing Sunrise at Park Blvd at about 1230pm, into that headwind. You looked determined, and that 'cross bike is SHARP.
Yup, that was me.

When i'm driving an see a cyclist, it yell (to myself)... I HATE YOU. I took the BP trail north to be sheltered from the wind. I was flying on the way home.
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Old 01-14-17, 02:17 PM
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Wow... 3 days in a row in January. 41 miles @ 15.5mph and 28*F.

I stopped by Brickwell / Farmingdale and picked up this. My head was the only thing that was cold.

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Old 01-14-17, 02:36 PM
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Originally Posted by oldnslow2
That's a pretty manly ride, you earned yourself a warm (or cold) beverage of your choice. Most of my buds want to opt for the woods when it's below 40 or so, which is what we did this morning for 15 miles. My preference would be road....

That thing is going to make you look like a bike ninja.
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Old 01-14-17, 03:33 PM
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Originally Posted by kaos joe
That's a pretty manly ride
Yup, i'm a "hard ass". Honestly, it wasn't that cold.

The only problem with it is, every time I stop my glasses fog up.

This past Fall I purchased a Pearl Izumi jacket which is good to 45* and add a sleeveless base, a tee base and a long sleeve mid layer. I also got Bontrager winter gloves. On the bottom I wear my bibs with a Segoi thermal running tights.

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