acorn54

want to get to jones beach via the bethpage park trail and avoid merrick road. are there backroads i can take to avoid merrick to get to the cedar park trail that takes me to jones beach? directions and roads to take would be appreciated

Papa Tom

Acorn:

This is from my website at https://nyrides.freehosting.net...

· Make a left onto Fir Street and continue 1/10 mile to Merrick Road. Cedar Creek Park will be directly across the street. This is the exit, but it is safer to cross here (at the light) than to cross into the entrance, which is one block further.

acorn54

thanks papa tom
enjoy the good weather when it finally comes

Papa Tom

Thanks. Let me know how your ride goes!

Lightingguy

Not to knock Papa Toms directions, but I always found Clark St more direct.

Approx. 5.75 miles south of the picnic area parking lot, you cross Clark St. It's the first street after the section with the 2 ponds.

Make a right.

Take Clark 1.8 miles west, just under the Seaford Oyster Bay Expressway and go left on W Seamans Neck Rd.

Take WSN south .3 miles and make the only turn allowed - right, onto Park Ave.

Take Park .7 miles west to Beech and go left

Take Beech .7 miles south, crossing Sunrise Hwy (Rt 27) and continue to end at Merrick Rd.

Carefully go left on Merrick 50 ft. to entrance to Cedar Creek.

When re-tracing the route, the Cedar Creek road exits you opposite Fir St. Go up Fir one block, a left onto Walters, west 2 blocks and right on Beech.

SB

Papa Tom

I'm not familiar with Clark Street, but if it's by the area with the two ponds, it seems acorn is going to miss a good portion of the bike path to ride on some boring residential streets.

I guess it comes down to whether he/she is more concerned with getting to Jones Beach FAST or taking a leisurely, mostly traffic-free ride.

Regardless, I'll probably check out Clark Street myself one of these days. Thanks, Lightingguy!

Lightingguy

Clark-Park is one of the suggested routes on the Trans-Alt Nassau County Bicycle Map. It's also the route used by the Montauk Century, Ride to Montauk Century and Ancient Mariner (to Montauk) and as such is part of the network of light traffic on-street routes in Nassau.

Here's a link: https://www.transalt.org/files/resources/mapnassau.html

As such, it's more direct and significantly less convoluted though I wouldn't use the term "fast" as that's up to the rider. It does give up 1.6 miles of path, but is a pleasant ride none the less and I see ton's of riders on this stretch, weekend mornings.

SB

Papa Tom

Ah hah. I couldn't really make heads or tails of the transalt map (I'm pretty severely map challenged), but I looked up Clark Avenue on Google Maps and now I see why people would use that route. However, I still prefer staying on the bike path when it's not clogged up with little kids riding in the wrong direction or drunken teenagers trying to find their way home from the woods.

I will give Clark a try this year and, maybe, add it to my site. Thanks again, Lightingguy.

Lightingguy

Here's a link to the State of NY maps: https://www.nysdot.gov/divisions/ope...-bureau/biking

I like MUP's when they are not overused (and as they are here on L.I.), as you so aptly described. I've seen too many accidents on the Bethpage and JB paths and tend to have avoided them the last 15 years or so. I do go to JB on occasion, but never on a weekend and only spring and fall when I know there's few users, having grown tired of the 3 abreast mothers with baby carraiges, tykes on trikes practicing the skills needed for driving while drunk at a later age, and of course, the Triathlete wanna-be on the $5,000 carbon Quintana Roo going 30 mph on the aero bars. Seen WAY too many accidents and read somewhere a few years back that there are something like 10 timse's as many accidents on MUP's involving bikes ,then on roads. Of course, you're10 times more likely to die from the accident on the road, but I still prefer roads that are lightly used to MUP's and the State map helps you find them.

SB

Papa Tom

acorn doesn't come off like a "triathlete wanna-be," which is why I assumed he/she would prefer to stay on the path as long as possible. I guess, in the end, the RIGHT route for acorn is the one that acorn SAYS is the right route for him/her.

Lightingguy's remarks about the Bethpage Bikeway are all right on, though. It's not my favorite bikeway at all, as you never know what's coming around the corner. Opportunities for pedal crunchers to open up and test their odometers and for little kids to get their wheels dirty are rare on Long Island's roads, so the bike paths attract all types of cyclists. Being a forty-something seasoned rider who isn't ego or fitness-driven, I don't mind the shaky little kids as much as the roadies who tear up these paths like they can't wait to get their ride over with.

To paraphrase the cliche, bicycling is about the experience, not the destination. I think, by asking for a route between two paths, acorn reveals that he/she thinks the same way. If not, there are certainly faster ways to get to the Jones Beach Bikeway using ONLY public roads.

Anyway, thanks for the map link.

acorn54

thanks guys
i will try both routes. sometimes i want to take the most direct route, sometimes not so both routes will be of use

Papa Tom

Sometimes you feel like a MUP; sometimes you don't.

Lightingguy

And as a side note to Acorn (and others), Tom has about the best collection of info. on MUP's in the SE NY area on his website - just click the nyrides link. A true gem of useful info. that he keeps up to date with.

And to Tom, I'm trying hard to get a Brooklyn ride in, possibly tomorrow, with my camera, to document any changes to the Belt Path adjacent to Plumb Beach. Partly selfish motive, as I'm ready to start my bike commute and need to know if it's worth riding that section. I'll post what I learn.

Steve B.

Papa Tom

Thanks for the "plug," Lightingguy, but to be fair, I should confess that I haven't kept as up-to-date as I'd like to be on all the MUPs. There just isn't enough time (or financial stability) to ride them all on a regular basis anymore and I haven't been on some of them in several years.

There's an open invitation for anyone who rides any of the paths listed on my site to comment on the current conditions, but few people ever do. If anyone out there has been on the Westchester County Paths, the Nyack Rail Trail, or any other, please let me know what kind of shape they are in!

Fibber

I'm up in Dutchess, so as soon as I get out on them, I'll post an update to your site. So far, I've only been out on public roads (which currently have pretty rough shoulder areas as a result of this winter's storms).

I hit on this thread as a result of the Bethpage path title. I grew up in Massapequa as a kid, so the '3 streams' path as we called it from Massapequa Station up to Bethpage Park was a very regular ride for me back in the early 1970's.