kaos joe

Is that what happened? The pipe was damaged by shore ice a few times during cold winters, I thought maybe it was just never replaced. There was another one on South Street in downtown Oyster Bay across the street from the also now gone Oyster Bagel. I once ran across George Hincapie there before he became more than locally well known.

Steve B.

Way back in the day when I was (briefly) a member of the German Club, the Thursday night Westbury ride had George join in. He grew up in Farmingdale and I think his father was friends with Bill, whose last name escapes me and who ran the Germans. George was in town and joined in. Everybody (Except me and a few other Cat 5’s) wanted to find out fast he really was. It was at 25 mph right out of the parkIng lot. It sucked.

GlennR

38 miles.. i ran out of water so i cut it short.

Hot and VERY humid.

Pole Line Stand

I remember drinking out of the Oyster Bay spring years ago, late 60’s/early 70’s, as a youngster riding through the area out from Bayside. This was one of the sites we stopped at to wet our whistles. I rode with Billy Bauer (GBSC) who at the time lived in Flushing but moved out to Bayville. Is this the Bill somebody mentioned? Also, went on a training ride with George’s brother a Richard and raced with his dad. Really enjoyed riding the back roads in the north shore of LI.

Steve B.

Yes and thank you, Billy Bauer. He was written up in Newsday in 2015 shortly after he passed away at age 93. He had ridden 500,000 miles at that point.

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/...-73-1.10786451

Steve B.

Same distance, agree that summer has arrived.

Also was running out of fluids, stopped at a gas station on my way thru Hempstead, purchased a 32 oz Gatorade. Finished it over the next 7 miles.

kaos joe

Yes, "Bicycle Bill" was a character. When he first met my wife he didn't realize she was married to me, she was about 35 and he well past twice that. He offered his services as a "cycling coach".

He left a not small sum of money to some of the local clubs in his will. A run of commemorative jerseys was made referencing his 500,000 miles....."To the moon, and back".

We bought this bike from his estate. Pic taken in downtown Oyster Bay. I have to find out where they got the sign.

Pole Line Stand

Thanks for the article. I didn’t realize the details as I now live in Florida. Bill showed me all of these great routes on Long Island. I remembered his “formula” when riding in the cold, under 30 degrees we would match the mileage to the temperature. As long as there was no snow on the road we were out riding. Those were the days.

Pole Line Stand

I remember partnering up with him on rides as a 17 year old. He told me he was in his early 40’s. The youthful effects of cycling made him look Much younger. In 1972, there were these group training rides leaving the Kissena bike shop at 3:30 every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the spring. We would cover 50 plus miles much of which we were pushed to keep up. The group didn’t wait for stragglers. Fear of getting lost was my incentive to hang on. A couple times Bill got dropped but he would find his way back via an alternate route. That’s how well he knew the lay of the land.

kaos joe

FYI local riders.......I drove from Captree to the Wantagh Pkwy this afternoon, and the new Ocean Pkwy MUP extension appears to be 99% complete. The "roadbed" is done, a stretch of guard rail needs finishing. There are 2 or 3 incomplete stone structures on trailside that look like they will be spots to put a bench or possibly table, hopefully to include a roof to provide shade.

Steve B.

So, what do you think ?, September ?

kaos joe

My cynical self says months but they've moved surprisingly fast throughout this project if you don't count the 40? year delay getting it started.

GlennR

Thanks for the report, i was thinking of checking it out.

Steve B.

You may have to wait until Cuomo does his ribbon cutting.

I'm curious when the path over the new Tappan Zee Bridge will open, it was supposed to be last summer

GlennR

what they need to do is close the right lane of the northbound causeway so you can ride to Bayshore and then take Union to Railroad to Oak to Old Sunrise to Clark and back to Cedar Creek.

I also suggest that someone adds water fountains so we can refill our water bottles. Also the concessions, at Toby and Captree, should carry tubes, sunscreen and have air pumps.

Steve B.

That’s a nice 38 mile loop according to RWGPS. It’ll also be a cold day before they block the right lane on the RM, sad to say.

Agree in water spots. I suspect given time a small shop will open as a concession at some points along the Ocean Parkway route, Maybe a bike rental location in Captree.

kaos joe

I'm hoping that the stone rest stops (if that's what they are) will have water. There must be a water main in the area to supply the beaches and villages like Gilgo and Oak Beach.

BTW the reason I've driven by is to drop off/pick up a tandem rear wheel for a rebuild by (no affiliation) Ergott Wheels in Islip. He rebuilt another tandem rear wheel for me a couple of years ago and it is still straight as an arrow a few thousand later. A couple of my club mates have had wheel sets built up by him and everyone is pleased. Good work and a good guy. Wheelbuilding is a dying art in this disposable age. He's on the web.

GlennR

Why?

They did it on the Wantagh State Parkway after that young man was killed by a drunk motorcyclist.

Anyway... it's hot and humid. Road to Tobay and then Sagamore Hill. It quickly became evident that I would have to find a source to refill my 2 water bottles. By the time i got home, I was a hot mess.

Gonna take a shower and a nap.

Steve B.

I'm certain the Suffolk residents that use RM would complain bitterly about the traffic jams from a lost driving lane, at 4PM when they want to get home at 70 mph, is all. I'm all for it, but I realistically don't see the state DOT footing the bill to re-build the parkway with a barrier, etc... plus on/off ramps to connect to existing paths, etc.... It would be wonderful though.

And as thought about liquids, any reason you just don't stop at a gas station convenience store, bagel shop, deli ? and buy a Gatorade or something ?. I did this on Thursday, $2.25 for Gatorade. It was gone over the next 8 miles.

GlennR

Only "public" place I go to is the supermarket and that's only once every 2 weeks. When i ride I don't bring a mask or any sanitizer.

Also I haven't seen my grandson since his bris and that was 2 months ago. My son is very cautious since he hasn't get his forst round of shots.

ahanulec

this sounds like a really nice ride. With a few days off next week I think I am going to give this a try.

GlennR

Road from Massapequa to Target Rock and back. A stead 10mph headwind that sure felt more like 15+

kaos joe

Good off-island ride yesterday. I went up to Westport CT and rode the route of the "Bloomin' Metric", a 100 km ride put on by the Sound Cyclists club up that way. It is usually held in May and is a really beautiful route, north from the CT coast up into the hills and then back. Sound Cyclists always put on a well organized and supported event, but of course it was cancelled this year. We've done the ride a number of times but not in the past 20 or so years. The GPS files for the ride are readily available online; I used GarminConnect as it's the easiest interface for my Edge Explore. On the minus side my route was recorded by a rider who got confused a couple of times and these mistakes are carried over into the route file. I'm going to check the Sound Cyclists website and see if the route is available directly from them.

Well, clearly momentous geologic processes have been at work as the hills have gotten higher and steeper. It was definitely a days work. It's been a long time but I suspect the route has been tweaked; I thought the present route was more rural than I remember, especially in the middle 25 or so miles. Thats fine with me, but anyone considering doing the route should bear in mind that in the absence of club support there was no place to buy supplies for about 50 miles. I got water refills out of spigots provided by 1 kindly homeowner and 1 security guard at a school with 10 miles to go. Also there are no restrooms currently open; I did pass a few portapotties though. There were a few miles on moderately trafficked roads, but all those had very generous shoulders and were safe. On the more isolated stretches there was some rough pavement but almost zero traffic.

All in all a strenuous but very nice ride.



looking towards Long Island, Northport power plant visible



grange hall, a holdover from an older America

Russ Roth

Excellent day for hitting Stillwell, had two minor crashes in the first 15 min, first was brushing a tree on a curve with my arm, second was a loss of traction trying to navigate something slightly above my skill level. Decided to keep going and hit some completely new trails, ended up following a very pleasant person on an E-mtb for a short bit till we got to a small drop and he decided to stop and with him in the way and not knowing the terrain I stopped as well. While check out the best way someone else came flying through and showed us by not stopping and I took off after him though I had no chance of catching. Did inspire me though and I rode that section of trail really well, even thought I lost the e-bike but he showed back up near the end of the section so I let him pass and where we came out there was a group of riders hanging together getting ready to leave using a trail I think was called the locomotive or something similar that I'd never been on that was ranked most difficult. Not certain why since I'd found other places in the woods that were a lot harder. Either way I followed them figuring since they knew the trail they'd know how to ride it best; ultimately half-way through I ended up passing all of them as each had either crashed or ridden off the trail overshooting things. Managed to spend a good hour there, rode the whole yellow loop, lots or blue, some white and orange. Really enjoying exploring.

GlennR

So been getting out everyday for at least a quick 20 or more. Today I was heading home and hit a rough patch of pavement when I heard something fall off. I quickly check that I have both water bottles and tail light when I realized it was my Garmin. So I went back and found it 100 years back. I went to put it back into the mount when and found why it came off. Both of the little ears that had it int he mount broke off. So now there's no way to mount it.

I stopped by Sunrise Cyclery and spoke to Frank, the owner. When I told him is was a 7 year old Garmin 510, he said I was most likely SOL. So I asked if he had a 530 in stock and the answer was yes.

I've had minor isses with the 510 like the battery life and the touch screen stopped working when in the hot sun. So it was time... new 530 is quite different and will take some time to get used to.