Papa Tom

It's rare that I catch a headwind both ways to Jones Beach. It's probably because I'm so lightning fast that the wind doesn't have time to turn around and hit me on the way back up.

Steve B.

Good One !

And FWIW, my Sat. ride with an upstate buddy was 6 miles to Cedar Creek, down to TOBAY, back to east bath house at JB, lock bikes, hit the beach, swim, walk, etc.... then to Crabby Amy's in Seaford for lunch, then home.

The east bath house has no changing room nor showers, so if 'ya get sand in your butt, it's a walk over to field 6 bath house and back to the bikes. They hopefully will fix up the facilities so those who bike down don't feel like 3rd class citizens.

csi56

Today in the heat and humidity I did what I seem to have settled on, as a routine: Fresh Meadows to Flushing Meadows and back. I found I had a slow leak in my Downtube 9FS' rear tube, and changed it with little effort under a shade tree near the Unisphere. During the U.S. Open the fountains are on, very pretty.

My high-point ride this summer so far is still the Cedar Creek to Tobay round trip I took about 6 weeks ago. Even though it was a bit boring on the Tobay leg, and even though I was quite annoyed at the signage that basically flipped me off if I wanted to walk or carry a bicycle past the gate, there was a light southwest breeze that day which kept me cool and helped on the last section back to Cedar Creek. It's pretty sad that it's getting dark so much earlier already - wish I could do that ride after work again. Next summer, for sure.

Papa Tom

After volunteering at the NYC Century's Astoria Park rest stop on Sunday, my wife and I will probably take a short spin around Queens, most likely starting in Flushing Meadow Park, then heading over to the Flushing Bay Promenade. How's construction at the park these days?

GlennR

Headed out to Tobay but the humidity was oppressive. Turned around at Jones Beach and headed north where there was some shade and less humidity.

I noticed that most of the benches along the way don't have trash cans... it would be nice if they did.

Steve B.

Or signage stating "If you carried it in, carry it out" as is the philosophy on hiking trails.

Billy1111

flushing meadow is filled with a lot of people runnng in out of the paths....its in decent shape i guess, might find some mud u have to go thru around the lake....i wont be be going back there ever again...

GlennR

Most of the trash was cigarette buts, good luck getting them to "carry it out". All the medians at intersections of Sunrise littered with them and their in cars.

BTW... this one bench was 4 miles from Cedar Creek, I can't imagine so many smokers walking that far without have a stroke.

csi56

"How's construction at the park these days?" There are pockets here and there, mostly easy to scoot around. On the north side of Meadow Lake they have closed a section of the lakefront near the parking lot, and you need to go through the parking lot to get around it. Yes, there's quite a bit of mud after it rains, especially around the lake but not so much elsewhere.

Papa Tom

We ended up staying for the second volunteer shift at the NYC Century, so we didn't ride Flushing Meadow Park, but I saw it from the car. From that vantage point, it appears that once the city lost the bid for the Olympics, they let the park go back to hell. Is that a reasonably accurate assessment?

Ferdinand NYC

Ak! No way! Flushing Meadow Park is still a great place to spend time, whether walking or biking, or going to the Queens Museum or the Science Center.

What's more, if we had gotten the Olympics, the park would have been destroyed. There'd be a bevy of mostly useless buildings throughout, along with additional traffic lanes and parking lots. Not getting the Olympics saved the park; likewise was the warding off of the proposed stadium for NYC FC that would have had a huge footprint.

I can't imagine what gave you the idea that the park is falling apart. It's one of our City's great attractions.

Papa Tom

I guess I was basing it on what I saw around the lake. It looks overgrown again, and the snack bar seems to be out of commission.

I certainly HOPE the park is still as cool a place to visit as it was last year or a couple of years ago. Having some of my own "roots" in the '64 World's Fair, I always enjoy a leisurely pedal through - or around - Flushing Meadow Park.

csi56

I must agree with Ferdinand - yes, there are parts around the lake which are overgrown with reeds, but in the big picture, the museums, the zoo, the pitch-and-putt, the arboretum, all the teams on the soccer fields... it's a great place to noodle around. You won't be doing a solid 20 mph anywhere, but it's a hap'nin' place!

Now the so-called "Willow Lake Preserve" around the southern lake - THAT's a total mess.

FIVE ONE SIX

i hope you're joking, one of my fittest friends smokes and between weight training and cardio and kung-fu she's in the gym 5 or 6 days a week. also, about 15 years ago i used to speed skate and pace with a female friend that also speed skated, she was 5'7", 150 pounds (all muscle) and had legs that could crack coconuts. she was ranked in the top 10 in her age group in the country, most of that time being in the top 5, and she would smoke at least a pack a day. i know it's not the norm, but i do know a decent amount of people that smoke that are actually pretty athletic, not surprisingly more so than myself...

GlennR

I guess you're right, you can't do better than Willie and Hank as proof of smoking's performance benefits.

Lightingguy

Good Ride ?, hard to say, I think any ride is a good ride. Even in tough conditions. But sometimes.....

Mine this morning was a commute back to work. I leave my car in a secure lot, bike home the 27 miles and back in the next morning. It's always a question in the morning as to weather, conditions, etc... But the car's at work, so.....

Today was S winds at 20, gusting to ?. In my face for 20 miles from SW Nassau thru the Rockaways to the Marine Parkway bridge. I think I averaged 11.5, which might be my slowest ever in 25 years.

Good training for the Icelandic Ring Road, yuk,yuk.

GlennR

Stiff 11mph North wind

35 miles
1004' climbing
1286 calories
15 mph average

Massapequa - Plainview - Jones Beach - Massapequa

The weather was awesome

GlennR

What a great day, went out on a "B" ride with the MPBC out of Bethpage and headed north to Oyster Bay.

We did 30 miles 13mpg average, 1240' climbing and 946 calories.

While it was a bit slow, it was very social and a great group of people.

csi56

Once more with feeling at Jones Beach. This time I parked at the East Bathhouse, went under the parkway and East towards Tobay, then back. A couple of things struck me: first, wouldn't it be nice/fun/interesting to utilize one or more of those tunnels under the parkway, the ones near the JFK sanctuary? I'm imagining the bike path running on the south side of the parkway, either between the tunnels or much farther East. Issues I can think of: the tunnels might need major rehab; a path on the south side might need much more maintenance and might tend to become covered with sand; such a path would be the first thing destroyed in a major storm; they wouldn't dare build it over or between the dunes, which are protected nesting areas in some locations. Ah, well, just a foolish dream.

Starting at the Bathhouse gives lots of options. If I'm feeling well then I can come back from Tobay and go north to Cedar Creek, or if I'm pooped then just bail back at the Bathhouse. And starting in October (November?) I can ride the boardwalk, and maybe the back roads around the Nikon center as well.

Now if I could just break this chocolate addiction...

GlennR

Massapequa - Tobay - Massapequa

29 miles
16.1 mpg average
1041 calories

Awesome weather... doesn't get better than tat.

NumbersGuy

Ziz-zagging the streets of Bohemia after work tonight...

15.54 miles
19.44 mph

Not happy that I barely have enough daylight for this, my usual evening ride with sunset happening just after returning home. I've gotta figure out my plan for fall and winter during the week as I just really got into cycling this summer and daylight wasn't a concern until now...

C Law

Rode the bikehampton route + some extra this morning at 6am 70 +/- miles about 3:45 (my garmin died so I don't know exact)

the first 20 or so miles straight into a nice 15-20 knot east wind. Hello Fall!

GlennR

Headed north to Syosset and rattled around a bit.

33 miles
14.6mph average
1200 calories

Papa Tom

This is not exactly a Long Island ride, but it STARTED on Long Island, and could make a great round trip.

Last Saturday, I decided to finish the final few miles remaining in my goal to ride the entire Connecticut shoreline. This is a precursor to finishing the last leg of a similar goal across LI's north shore.

I left my driveway in Syosset at 5:30am and boarded a train to Penn Station with my bike. Arriving in New York, I biked across town to Grand Central Station, then took Metro North to Port Chester, the last stop in New York State. From there, I rode some 35-40 miles to Bridgeport using a roundabout, but spectacularly scenic route, mostly along the water.

The small towns, cities, and neighborhoods on this ride were really welcoming and very memorable. I ended up getting back on the train in Bridgeport and taking it two stops to Milford, where I met up with an old friend. I've ridden Bridgeport to Milford at least a dozen times and I really didn't want to put up with all that sad urban blight after riding past $20-30 million mansions all day.

Anyway, had this been just a day trip, I could have easily just gotten on the Bridgeport Ferry to Port Jefferson, then either ridden or railroaded home to round out a perfect day.

If anyone is looking for a good ride from Long Island with some different scenery, I'd highly recommend the CT shore. Just about all of it is worth the trip.

Ferdinand NYC

Wait, you took your bike on the LIRR and got off at Penn Station? I thought the rule was that you cannot get on or off with a bike at Penn Station.

Anyway, don't knock so-called "urban blight". I remember hearing people always deriding Newark. But, when I first visited it on my bike few years ago, I loved it; I have been back many times since. And I recently rode through Trenton, another frequently-sneered-at city, on my way to and from Philadelphia, and I enjoyed it a great deal.

I'll take riding through a city over some creepy mansion-ville any day. I won't deny that this is down partly to my distaste for the type of people who live in mansions, people who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes. But, on the aesthetic level alone, gritty urban scenes are so much more interesting than self-conscious displays of ostentation.

So, that leads me to ask: what are these Connecticut cities that you skipped?