Yesterday, after riding my daily 4 miles of NYC traffic and the Queensboro Bridge, I was on my usual Long Island Railroad train heading east.

But at Oakdale the train stopped, the doors opened, and they announced that the train was being held "for an undetermined period of time" pending police activity ahead, between Sayville and Patchogue. I was about 15 or 17 miles from home and figured oh heck, I'll just ride it.

So I got on my folding bike and rode. It was hot and sunny, and i had a bit of a tailwind, so I made pretty good time. Not my favorite roads; it's not a route I'd have chosen, but not terrible. I saw a few inlets with boats and sea birds etc, and I saw the Great South Bay at one point, with a view of Fire Island in the distance. When I got to Patchogue, for no particular reason, I took a small detour to see what they were announcing at the station. Before I got there, I saw (in the distance) the gates come down, and a train go through the crossing, and the gates come up again. SO I rode like hell and managed to get to the station before the train left.

I assumed I was back on my usual train. I worried that they would make me pay another fare (but they didn't).

It wasn't until I got to my destination that I realized, I was not on my usual train. My 8 mile bike ride from Oakdale to Patchogue got me on the earlier train. So I saved myself fifteen minutes or so.