Papa Tom

A ha! A musician. That was my very first career. I had a good 15 years or so as a freelance drummer, but had to give it up in 1995, partly due to back and elbow problems. To compensate for the thrill of performing and expending all that energy, I rediscovered bicycling in 1996 and went crazy with it, just like you and some of the others are now.

I continued to run an audio production business from home, affording me as many hours as I wanted for riding. Then, in 2003, that morphed into an exciting career as a jewelry crime investigator, which had me traveling all over North America literally every day of the week. For the next 7 years, I barely rode at all, but got to see many of the nation's most revered bicycle routes and paths from the (dis)comfort of my rental car. When I burned out on that, I wiggled my way into a very low-paying job as an audio-visual engineer for my local township. Now I work 3 miles from home and ride my bike to work most days of the week.

Leisure riding time, for me, is pretty much from 5pm onward during the week, and any time on the weekend. However, my wife likes to come along on the weekends, and I like riding with her, even though she's slow as sh-t. I hope to find time again to put in the kind of mileage you guys do, but I'm not sure it will happen any time soon. That's why I really look forward to my one overnight trip per year up the Connecticut shoreline.

ChiroVette

Dude, I'll ride with you. We can come up with times we're both free and put some serious miles on. Hell, as a sweetener, while we ride together, I will obey all traffic laws.

Steve B.

I would say that TOBAY is sending a clear message that they don't want bikes beyond this point.

Not sure what you'd do if you're a TOBAY resident, park at the TOBAY beach lot in order to ride west to JB, then can't get the bike thru the gate.

Seems pretty dumb....

GlennR

You can actually walk around the fence if you walk a few feet to the right.

28.68 miles 15.1mph avg.

It's been a busy week for me.
155.81 miles
4,587' climbing
4,998 calories
14.1 mpg avg.

Steve B.

Never noticed, and it's pretty funny. I wonder how long it'll take before the realize this and put up some barbed wire.

GlennR

Maybe a moat and *** towers.

There's 3 signs, 2 say "no bicycle riding" and the third says "no bicycles".

I wonder what they'd do if you brought your bike around and carried it so tghe wheels never touch the ground.

Steve B.

As I thought about this I wonder what the Town of Oyster Bay is thinking when they make it so inhospitable to bring a bike into the beach area.

If and when the State of NY decides to fund the remaining 10 miles to Captree, a bike lane is going right thru this area. What will they do then ?.

Its almost like they want to keep the riffraff that bikes down the path and who are not - GASP !, town residents, from accessing the beach, God forbid. I have yet to see any undesirables, though we did see 2 guys park at JB lot 5 today and walk the 4 miles to TOBAY. That's a schlep in flip flops and I wondered why they just didn't hike east on the beach from lot 6.

Oyster Bay just seems to have their collective heads up their asses with this. But it did take the State of NY 25 years to finally allow bikes access to the actual beach !.

csi56

I've been riding a Downtube 9FS folder lately. I have ridden it to Tobay from Cedar Creek once so far. If I can gather up the b**ls maybe I'll carry it through that door, buy a bag of chips (or maybe be obnoxious and just ask for change) and go back out. Really, Tobay is being obnoxious and it's taking a bit of self-control not to return the "favor".

Papa Tom

>>>I wonder what the Town of Oyster Bay is thinking when they make it so inhospitable to bring a bike into the beach area<<<<<

I work for them and speak regularly with the very people who put the fence and the gate there. All they are thinking is "liability, liability, liability." That's also why our outdoor concerts look like hog farms, with hundreds of barricades, ropes, and stakes everywhere.

GlennR

I fully understand they don't want bike riding... cars, people and more cars. But Jones Beach has a riding ban and doesn't seem to have a problem of offenders.

The security gate is a big FU to cyclists.

Papa Tom

Keep these comments coming, as I've been sharing many of them (no names mentioned) with the Parks people.

GRVR6

Let's not get crazy. At least we got the bike path extended.

Papa Tom

In China, "FU" translates roughly to "luck" and "happiness." I think what oldnslow is suggesting is that the Town of Oyster Bay's security gate is meant to wish us all fortune and joy.

FIVE ONE SIX

that's not necessarily true at all, i rode a 66 mile route last Thursday from Nassau Shores to Oyster Bay to Tobay and back to Nassau Shores, and i NEVER ride on Sunrise Highway or Merrick Road or the Bethpage Bike Path. you can easily get from Massapequa to Merrick by taking back roads with only a handful of turns and you can get from Massapequa to Babylon Villiage and back by just taking Hoffman Avenue straight down either way. the route i ride from Nassau Shores to Oyster Bay and back is about 41 miles (42 miles if you stop at TRM Park) and on the way back i just felt like doing a metric century so i integrated the Tobay part from my 31 mile route from Nassau Shores to Tobay. i have the routes posted on www.RideWithGPS.com but the site undergoing maintenance at the moment, next time i'm on i'll post the links for you...

ok, the site's up, so here are a few links:

this is the route i was talking about in particular (i personally hate the Bethpage Bike Path cause it's bumpy as hell, but if you don't feel safe on North Broadway and Merritts Road, than by all means get onto the bike path at Linden Street and get off it at Merritts Road. North Broadway and Merritts Road really aren't bad though.)

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/5671336

and these are some of the other routes i drew up, all of which i've ridden and consider safe. and of course, you could always vary them up, if you want some suggestions let me know. and obviously, the shorter ones are just starting points to get to other starting points.

https://ridewithgps.com/users/327712/routes

ChiroVette

Here's today's ride:

Rode 60.21 mi on 08/21/2014 on 08/21/2014 | CYCLING Training Log Entry | MapMyRide



Total Distance: 60.21 Miles
Calories Burned: 5,109
Elevation (Gain): 2,017 Feet

Man, my ONE complaint about rides like this is that driving through the very busy streets really kills your Average Speed. I noticed that in all the areas where I was on a Greenway with no traffic, I was able to maintain between 16 and 20 MPH, say around 17ish or 18ish. But still, my total average speed for the ride is only 13.3. Not complaining too hard, though. It was still uber, uber fun!

Special thank to Ferdinand NYC for his incredible help with a great deal of the Queens part of this route!

Ferdinand NYC

You're welcome! I am very happy to have been of service.

ChiroVette

Did you check out the map? Cool ride, huh?

Not sure how much I trust MapMyRide's "calories burned" stat, though. 5,109 for a 4.5 hour ride? Makes me wonder.

GlennR

Bike path was done by New York State... the gate is Town of Oyster Bay.

NYS


TOB

csi56

Oldnslow2 - the icon for TOB didn't post. Must've been sort of the upside down version of the NYS icon, eh? Or fewer fingers... or something...

ChiroVette

I saw it immediately on my screen and still do. It is a giant, yellow emoticon with an angry looking face and a thumbs down.

GlennR

csi56

OK, perhaps Chrome strikes again. I see both icons on your 7:17am post - thanks!

GlennR

Might be the host doesn't allow for hot-links. I just found then through Google.

Ferdinand NYC

I did look at the map. Sure, rides like that are wonderful. I have done many variations of that same sort of thing through the City. Another big circular ride I've done several times is one which I dubbed the "Around the World" tour, so called because it covers both places in the world: 1) New York City, and 2) that which is not New York City. This took me through all five boroughs and New Jersey: to Jersey over the George Washington Bridge and back out over the Bayonne Bridge. But that ride is not possible this year because the Bayonne Bridge is not open to bikes during renovation.

I notice that you took the Brooklyn Bridge. While the view from that historic span is very nice (it's the only bridge on which the bicycles and pedestrians have the privileged view), I really can't stand going over it because of the dense crowds of pedestrians, many of whom wander into the bike lane. I won't consider that bridge unless I'm riding in the overnight or early-morning hours. At any other time of day, the nearby Manhattan Bridge is a better choice.

You also took the Hudson River Greenway. I'm lukewarm about that path. I ride on it once in a while; and please understand that I am very glad that it's there. But I admit that I get frustrated with it because it just feels so remote. I much prefer the Avenues. When I am going north, the choice between the Greenway and the bike lane on 8th Ave. / Central Park West is no contest: I choose the Avenue almost every time. And coming south along St. Nicholas Ave., 7th (Frederick Douglass) Ave., Columbus Ave. and then 9th Ave. attracts me a lot more than the Greenway does. When I am riding in Manhattan, I want to feel Manhattan all around me; the Greenway makes me feel like I'm missing the beauty of Manhattan.

Now, if the Hudson River Greenway really provided a "bike expressway" environment similar to the Shore Pkwy. Greenway, then I'd like it more. But there are several lights; and the incursion onto the bike lane by pedestrians is a constant problem. So the supposed advantage of a dedicated bike lane is severely compromised. And then there's that segment that runs under the highway; I find that segment really unpleasant. The last thing I want to do on a ride is to have the sun blocked out.

I don't want to complain too much about the Hudson River Greenway; as I said, I use it occasionally. But it doesn't really turn me on.

How about the mind-bending intersection where Broadway becomes Grand Ave. as it crosses Queens Blvd.! You're going east on Broadway, then suddenly you are going west on Grand Ave., without having turned around. I find it cool that, at that intersection, three of the four possible directions are officially "west": Broadway (headed towards the Triborough Bridge), Grand Ave. (headed towards the Williamsburg Bridge), and Queens Blvd. (headed towards the 59th St. Bridge). Odd quirk of the street layout there.

I am glad to see that you used the 80th St. alternative to Woodhaven Blvd. There's plenty of room for a nice comfortable ride on that street. Also, I see from the map that, when you took 88th St. down from Park Lane South in order to avoid Woodhaven/Cross Bay Blvd., you needed to detour one block to 87th St. in order to cross Atlantic Ave. Sorry I forgot to mention that little detail when you asked about picking up 88th St. that far north.

Also, it's nice that you were able to make use of the bike/pedestrian bridge over the Conduit. That's a very useful little thing that's tucked away down there.

So, keep up the great riding. The forecast looks good for a couple of days next week; we might hit the mid-80s on Wednesday and/or Thursday. So I'll probably be off one or both of those days; and I'll likely do a ride similar to yours.



I really don't know if that's realistic. I should know, because I am fanatical about keeping my weight down (I was fat until mid 2011, when I lost 65 pounds; and I have kept it off since then). Do you think that that number of calories burned is too high?

ChiroVette

Maybe a good ride to consider when the renovations are done. The only issue I have with that one is how in the hell do you get back from Staten Island into...ya know...civilization? The Verrazano is closed to ped and bike traffic. So I assume the ferry to Battery Park? I would think that if time of day and light passenger load permitted, you could probably talk your way onto a city bus with the bike to go from Bay Street into Bay Ridge Brooklyn, one stop, but that you can't necessarily count on.

Still, it's the route I would go under the heading of "it's worth a shot," and I am usually pretty good at talking to people and getting them to say yes to weird requests like lugging my bike onto a basically uncrowded bus.

You know what? Several reasons: One is that I knew I was doing what would amount to a 60+ mile ride, so I opted for the more scenic route over the Brooklyn Bridge. It really is a beautiful bridge that I have always had a soft spot in my heart for. Also, for the very reasons you spelled out, for the last few years, I have always taken the Manhattan Bridge into lower Manhattan. I haven't been on the Brooklyn Bridge in years, and in truth, even with the people-congestion I enjoyed the ride over on a pure, hedonistic level.

Another thing is that I my average MPH took a hit because I took the streets through Sheepshead Bay, Manhattan Beach, Brighton, Coney Island and Bensonhurst. Too much traffic and too many lights and stop signs to get any kind of a decent average speed going. So when I got onto the Belt Parkway path at Bay Parkway, I used that long, basically empty stretch to get my average speed up over 15 MPH, which given how SLOW it was when I hit Bay Parkway is saying something. So as I got off the parkway path and wound through at Owl's Head Park, I decided that if I hit the Downtown Brooklyn area with a 15+ MPH average speed, that I would hit the Manhattan Bridge to maintain some semblance of a decent speed at least into Manhattan.

But sure enough, going through Red Hook was the proverbial log-jam of gridlocked traffic. It was so bad that I shot over to 4th Avenue for a few blocks in Sunset Park, but that was no better, so I went back to 3rd. And of course Hamilton Ave was a nightmare. Smith Street was slow but not horrible, and I went through the park in Borough Hall off Montague Street thinking it would be fast and scenic, but I all but had to get off the bike and walk! Needless to say, my average speed, through no fault of lack of work ethic on my point, had tanked to just over 13 MPH by then. So I shrugged my shoulders, smiled, and decided to just enjoy the Brooklyn Bridge, congestion and all. And it really was a very pleasant, sensory experience, as it always is.

You know what? I have never ridden the Hudson River Greenway before and was dying to try it. Is it perfect? No, definitely not. But I found it very pleasant and enjoyable. I couldn't maintain the speeds I would have liked, for all the reasons you said, but then I was able to go decently fast. Plus, it was kind of deliciously surreal to be riding in arguably the most manic, motorist-populated city in the world and stay on a path that was surprisingly quiet and peaceful, with the Hudson just to my left most of the way.

I have ridden the Manhattan streets, and I have to say that I much prefer the feeling of almost "getting away with something" knowing that just one block to my right, at all times,a multitude of cars are jockeying to out-position one another for that coveted three feet, and cyclists are trying to simply stay alive!

Like I said, the path isn't perfect, but I will take it over the Manhattan streets, or at least I will when on such a LONG ride where most of it already is on city streets. Honestly, I found the Hudson River Greenway to be peaceful, relaxing, and serene, something that cannot be said for trying to maneuver through 8th Avenut traffic and all the red lights.

Personal preference, I guess.

I have driven cars in that area MANY times, so from a motorist perspective I know the area well. It is definitely some wild topography, I'll give you that!

No worries on that. I loved driving through the very peaceful, residential area. It was incredibly pleasant and enjoyable, particularly after spending SO MUCH time navigating through Industrial areas of The Bronx.

Yes but it was kind of annoying as I had to dismount and carry my bike up stairs. Then again, I had to do this on the Triborough several times as well. Those criss-crossing upward platforms in The Bronx and the stairs (I think in two spots) in the Queens stretch of the bridge were definitely average-speed killers. lol

Cool. Make sure you post it!

I really don't know if that's realistic. I should know, because I am fanatical about keeping my weight down (I was fat until mid 2011, when I lost 65 pounds; and I have kept it off since then). Do you think that that number of calories I think it seems a little exaggerated, yeah. Congrats on the weight loss, by the way!