GlennR

Took a break for cycling.

Russ Roth

Skipped out on local rides for a while to do about 110 miles over 3 days in the Catskills/Hudson Valley area. Did 44 miles on Monday starting with the Catskills scenic trail leaving Bloomburg and heading through Grand Gorge. Actually had to stop at Grand Gorge since it was hot/humid enough to not want to ride the road and in the sun for any great length. Although I know further along 30 towards Roxbury the trail has been done where it continues from in Grand Gorge has not been and the ties all sit above the surface which was muddy and unmowed as far as I could see so we dropped into Grand Gorge for drinks and headed back.

Day 2 we did Ahsokan reservoir which is a 24.5 mile round trip, this has some really nice scenery and was good smooth, well maintained gravel. They really need to expand this.

Day 3 was the Walkill Valley rail trail; since we stayed in Kingston the night before we started there rather then at the other end was alltrails recommended and I'm so glad we did. 21.2 miles each way but the last 3 miles isn't worth the trip, turns into a very narrow, tire width trail with large rocks, and nothing but cows at the end. Although the humidity was awful, near Kingston the trail runs through some old caves from limestone quarrying and the temp in spots was down to 55 degrees, ended up camping out at one of these for a good 10 minutes as I was feeling the 36 miles to that point with the heat and humidity. Really nice trail overall and we'll bring the kids here in the fall when its cooler and get in a 35 mile ride with them.

Steve B.

"last 3 miles isn't worth the trip, turns into a very narrow, tire width trail with large rocks, and nothing but cows at the end. "

I assume this is the south end near Walkill ?. I recall that the trail just kind of peters out down there.

Russ Roth

Turns into nothing. If it weren't for the low pressure 2.2 tires it'd be a real bumpy 3 miles. There was a decent used bike shop out there as well.

Steve B.

I'm unclear why they never finished the Walkill trail south to Walden. The railroad still runs to Walden, so that I get.

Russ Roth

The Ahsokan reservoir was kinda pathetic the way it ends, at the beginning there's clearly unused tracks that head north from there and then you get to the east end you're staring at a gate and on the other side is a small bridge/overpass and clearly unused track from there. It was such a nice track but the 24mi ends too fast and the scenery is beautiful, being able to add more miles without crossings and obstructions but not doing so seems like a waste.

Steve B.

The south end of the Maybrook is weird as well. It ends at a set of steps where you carry the bike down to a street. You can in theory ride down Rt 6 and walk up another set of steps to the old bridge that goes over Rt6, no sure how much further east towards Danbury you can ride.

kaos joe

I took my first 50+ miler this afternoon since breaking my arm in April, 54 to Old Dock. Arm still a bit painful but tolerable.

Being the Worst Photo Composer in The World, I took a beautiful pic of the water and coastline, to look at it upon my return home and realize that smack in the middle foreground was a big ugly gray Town of Smithtown trash can.

Steve B.

A high school buddy asked me for directions for a loop of Jamaica Bay. I volunteered my guide services. A 2nd HS buddy joined us, both live upstate so this was a part of NYC they were not aware existed, a fun (if slow, for me) day, but I got to play tour guide, which I enjoy. The Parade of Thongs at the beach was icing.

kaos joe

A dozen or so of us headed for Old Dock again on a reunion ride of sorts with an old friend who moved upstate last year, that being a favorite destination of his. We had to cut it short to 46 miles after 2 riders got flats, and one broke a spoke on a 16 spoke wheel and it went radically out of true. With all this it took us 2 hours to cover the 1st 22 miles! So not only SteveB had a slow ride. And no thong parade for us either. Still a good one but I've sweated enough for one day.

Steve B.

I had 3 pinch flats from potholes in a week. I havent had a pinch flat since I was racing 25 years ago. Im now running higher pressures.

Steve B.

Well, one of of the guys was a very casual rider on a mt. bike, liked 5-10 mph, watta' 'ya gonna do ?

Russ Roth

Spent the day at TTown, my pace was a lot faster but since I was mostly struggling to hang on to the back the scenery wasn't anywhere near as pleasant. Lycra, lycra everywhere nor any thong to see.

kaos joe

Oddly enough none of our travails were due to pavement conditions. My flat on the tandem was standard little piece o' glass, the other was some unknown chunk of something that went flying into the bushes and resulted in a major tire booting job, and the spoke went ping JRA.

GlennR

Went out yesterday and immediately realized that I wasn't feeling it. But I pushed on and did 30 miles and then came home and spent 3 hours working in my shop restoring car parts. After 7 hours since heading out, I finally sat down. Passed out watching TV at 10:00pm and rolled into bed at midnight.

Woke up at 6:00am and headed out before anyone woke up. Went down to the Jones figuring I can turn back at anytime. Went past Gilgo and decided to not burn myself out... I still had the family over for father's day. 42 miles and I felt strong, go figure after felling weak the previous day and pushing through.

Happy Father's Day to all.

justtrying

Kaos Joe glad to see your back on the bike. I rode Captree extension last week it was a nice ride with little wind,before I went away to NC to visit family. ( no masks being worn, felt great). Was going to go to Rockaway today but instead I watched my adult sons play softball. It brought me back to Fathers Days of the past when they played Little League , a nice way to spend a morning. Hope everyone have a great Father’s Day.

kaos joe

Thanks for the good wishes! Sounds like you had a great Fathers Day, as did I. Prior to a nice BBQ with friends, we put 39 more miles on the tandem which was plenty; even though it was my birthday I felt no temptation to do the ride your age thing (61).

Happy Father's Day to all.

kaos joe

So after all the talk about the risks of predation on the Maybrook Trail, today I came within about 6 feet of being taken out by a deer running across Wading River Manor Rd full tilt. I heard clattering of hooves on pavement and before my foggy brain could process what it was, the brown blur streaked past.

I went out to Manorville, having downloaded a 40 mile course (posted on RideWithGPS by our own Steve B) onto a Garmin. Very nice ride, mostly low traffic, very Pine Barrens-y. The smell of the pines in the warm sun was strong and instantly reminded me of camping as a kid in Sears-Bellows County Park.

Other than the Dangerous Deer, saw a couple of other interesting but motionless creatures.

Steve B.

Thats so cool you got some use out of that route. Its a nice area to ride, likely the least populated area on L.I.

justtrying

Went to Cedar Creek this morning (7:15) first time I been there on a weekend. I was quite surprised seeing how full the first 3 parking lots were, mostly all cyclists. My question is the apparent large increase in cyclists due to the Captree Extension or was an unusual day.It is a safe place to get a long ride in. I went to the Bethpage Bike Path instead, and save my rides at CCP to weekdays

Steve B.

The JB path has been packed since the pandemic hit last year. Tons of folks, especially at 10AM on a weekend. Not so much the extension, IMO, just folks going to the beach, though the extension os crowded as well.

GlennR

WOW it was hot today. I had a family event this morning so I waited till 4:00pm to go for a ride. Decided to take the Bethpage path since its shady and NOT head to the beach. It must be 10* cooler in the shade so I just rode up to Washington Ave. and back since the streets seamed crazy with drivers rushing to get home.

Got passed by a guy on a orange Cervelo (backwards ball cap) who was passing others recklessly. Never calling out, way too fast and too close. He cut off a mom and a child struggling to get up the bridge over the southern state. It's people like that, that give us a bad name.

The 2nd G

Anyone near the Huntington area interested in meeting up with me for a road ride this weekend? I am fit, but a relative newcomer to cycling (2 years). Rode my first 100 mile ride last Sunday. Note that I am not a serial killer.

Steve B.

if you get no replies, there are 2 bike clubs that ride in that area, Huntington Bicycle Club and Massapequa Park Bicycle Club. Huntington I believe meets at BAE Systems on Pulaski Rd. in Greenlawn, Link below. The MPBC leaves from the library lot on Powell Ave at 8:30 weekends, there are AA-A-B-C rides typically. I think HBC allows newcomers, I know MPBC does.

Home - Huntington Bicycle Club (hbcli.org)

Massapequa Park Bicycle Club – Long Island's Bike Club, Est. 1974 (massparkbikeclub.org)

kaos joe

2nd G,
There are also rides leaving from Borrella Field on Plainview Rd just north of Bethpage on weekdays, usually Tuesday and Thursday and usually at 9am (possibly 830 now with the warm weather). For some reason they no longer appear on the MPBC ride calendar. These are more impromptu rides with mixed MPBC-HBC members participating.