deltat

I'm looking to do some bike riding out into Long Island. Where do I download maps that will show me what roads are safe for bikes?

Dahon.Steve

This is a good question.

I've been to Long Island and it's hard to find good roads because it's all highway and not very friendly at all. In fact, some of those highways are plain dangerous. The subdivisions behind the highways are designed NOT to allow traffic to ride straght through thus forcing you to ride back on the highways!

I'll start looking again but this time using my GPS and creating a route this way if no one responds. I can only imagine that such a route will be fairly complex.

djbowen1

I lived on Long Island for 26 years, i just moved into the city recently. Give me an town or something and i'll tell you where to ride...

LIVE2BIKE80

its a tough question especially not knowing where you are on long island. i myself do alot of riding in the dix hills area, and i see a few others doing the same. some nice areas with hills and some good curves like vanderbilt parkway but alot of it has no shoulder. same thing with areas like where the Gold Coast tour runs. some people ride along the service road of the LIE but for the most part i find it boring. let us know where you ride, i think it would be easier that way.

you could try www.bicyclelongisland.org/ or https://www.iloveny.com/info_center/road_maps_li.asp

chancho

Check out the cue sheets here:

https://www.nycc.org/rl_db/region.aspx?id=5

Vanderbilt is nice, so is Long Island Ave. There is a book called Short Bike Rides on Long Island that has nice routes, but they are mostly circular routes and don't tell you how to get out to the starting point (they assume you're driving out).

The North Shore is really nice. Check out Sands Pt., Centre Island (don't mess with the cops!), Lloyd's Neck, Eaton's Neck.

LIVE2BIKE80

caumsett park and the area around it is nice to do some riding.

MerckxMad

I find that most clubs and solos riding on the north shore (north of the LIE) do loops of varying distances that start/end in a town parking lot, etc. South of the LIE and further east, the rides tend to be out and back. Give us an idea of where you want to ride and I'm sure somebody will hook you up with a cue sheet.

deltat

I would like to ride from Manhattan to Manhasset. I know it's a short ride, but I have to meet someone out there.

If someone has any directions, keep in mind I know NOTHING about Long Island.

MerckxMad

If you can get yourself to the LIE service road at Flushing Meadows in one piece, then ride the service road out to Community Drive. Head north (left) onto Community Drive to Northern Blvd in Manhasset. There aren't any "backroads" between Queens and Manhasset, or at least any ones that will take you east without a wildly circuitous route through Bayside, Little Neck, and Great Neck. Check out the NYC club sites for routes out of midtown to the LIE in Queens.

ter208

any thoughts on how to ride from manhattan to robert moses state park? is it possible to go S in brooklyn to head to Long Beach and then head east along the beaches or is it best to take the 59th st bridge and head SW through queens. i know how to do this but queens blvd is not fun. thanks.

spdrcr5

I live in Long Beach and you can't get from here to Robert Moses without riding on the Parkways; which is illegal. Even if you were to ride Sunrise Highway or Merrick Road out to Robert Moses Parkway you still couldn't ride across the Robert Moses bridge, no path... it is only vehicle traffic. If you were to head down the Wantagh bike path which runs along the Wantagh Parkway it would take you to the Jones Beach Theatre... but then you'd have to ride the Ocean Parkway which doesn't have much if any paved shoulder and again you aren't allowed to ride a bike on the Parkway...

Don't know how you'd ride a bike to Robert Moses without having to finish either in a car, on a bus or even take a Ferry across.

Note: Incase you didn't realize it. Long Beach, Jones Beach and Robert Moses (actually on the west end of Fire Island) are on 3 different barrier islands and are not connected, so the beaches don't touch.

metacognizant

I live in Manhattan, and I want to visit my grandparents in a godawful subdivision in Roslyn Heights. So yeah, Manhattan to a North Shore subdivision not too far from Mineola, I think. Any thoughts on routes? The Nassau map at the TransAlt website seems to be telling me to take the LIE service road the whole way. Has anyone done this? It seems depressingly unscenic but I'll do it if the alternatives suck or if there are none. It just seems to me like if I'm riding 15-20 miles on a service road then the ride will be really inefficient because whole time there will be cars crossing my path getting onto/off of the highway. Thanks.