It was a month since I had run a 100 miles when I received a message asking if I fancied joining a ride from New York to Montauk out on Long Island, NY. Making for a second 100 miler in as many months. Of course I was interested. I just didn’t know quite how my legs would feel having very much taken a break since the race. Equally in the build up to the running race I hadn’t been out on my bike much. All thoughts of logic to one side the route was one I had wanted to do for a while. Trumping any other thought process. I quickly text back to say I was in.
The planned route
After much deliberating about which weekend we finally settled on one. Our first attempt ended up being delayed with people being away and a strong headwind of gale force proportions to be exact. So the official first attempt finally came round.
Early morning traffic
The night before the ride I spent a happy evening preparing as the light faded for the evening my bike was ready and packed in the car along with all my equipment, clothing and snacks for the ride, ready for the next days adventure. I set my alarm for early on Saturday morning. It felt like I had hardly been asleep when the alarm rang. I snuck out of bed. In the process disturbing our dog Onyx who thinking it was time to get up got particularly excited with his tail wagging and banging into everything. Bouncing round the house I tried and failed to settle him as I kissed my wife before leaving. This was followed by a lick first to mine and the to her face by our over excited dog. Dog slobber removed I jumped into the car. The sun had only just started to rise as I drove out of New Jersey and under the southern end of Manhattan, the sun began to peak beneath a blanket of clouds. The roads were fortunately generally quiet and we were all on track to meet at our starting point just outside Manhattan in a place called Babylon. I rocked up just as the others pulled into the station. Despite it being the weekend trying to find a parking spot which allowed me to stay most of the day without costing a fortunate proved challenging. Parked up, bike unpacked and wheels back on and it was time to get going. Thoughts of trying to get a pre-cycle coffee had well and truly gone out the window.
The first section of the journey was through the suburbs of long island sprawling out from Manhattan. The roads seemed to be either needing some serious repairs or under repair. As we bounced down the road. It felt like our bones were being rattled to the core. It reached the point where my water bottle popped out of my cage as it rolled across the road. The last time that happened to me I heard the pop of my bottle as a car drove over the top of it. For a 100 mile ride I didn’t want that to happen quite so early on! Fortunately I quickly nipped round picked it up and was on my way again and managed to catch up with the others at the next traffic lights. We continued on winding amongst the sea side towns of Long Island. One of which was starting to setup for a fall fete, including a bunch of farm animals from chickens to lambs, where we weaved in and out of the various fences blocking the roads, tents, people, animals and then back out onto the main road. It seemed that towns were taking advantage of the fall/ winter down time. The next town we arrived with the road being completely pulled up, leaving just the pavement (side walk) to cycle along.
Caffeine & Sugar hit time!!
After some fairly bumpy miles we finally made it out of the sprawling suburbs of Manhattan and Long Island. We were on the open road. After cranking out the miles in the morning it was time for a coffee. Spotting a place on the side of the road we pulled over bundling into the shop in search of coffee and cakes that were on offer. Loaded up with a piping hot coffee and a blueberry muffin for myself we sat down outside munching on our mid morning snack and trying to strike a balance between getting our coffee down without burning our lips whilst not waiting too long before we froze in the autumnal cool air. At this point I wished I had one brought something to go over my relative thin short sleeve top and two had put some milk in my coffee so I could drink it that little bit quicker. Caffeine and sugar hit done and it was time to hit the road again. Now that we were out of suburbia the roads were quieter as we passed through a mixture of fam land, riding stables and past some of the further out beach escapes for city folk.
Perfect stop off at La Fondita, for a perfect round of burritos , https://lafondita.net/
Our route took us down to the coast finally on a little peninsular of land. However the road sign post suggested that the route ahead was flooded. We hadn’t appreciated that there had been so much rain or such high tides given how low the land was to cause any serious flooding. Despite the possible warning we opted to continue on. Thinking that at worst we turn around and cycle back the way we had come. Skirting past the sign we made our way along the coast. Compared to the summer it was eerily quiet; beach access parking lots (car parks) and houses stood empty. The only sign of life was the odd place with a work van parked out front for winter maintenance. After a bit of time we came across a mass of water across the road. Unless there was a big and unexpected dip in the road the water depth didn’t look too deep. Nonetheless we spread out in case one of us fell or more likely we didn’t get a mouth and face full of spray from the person in fronts rear tire. As we cycled through it became clear pretty quickly that it wasn’t going to get too deep, despite the relatively low depth our socks and shoes were now soaked through. As we headed a long it turned out that this was the first of a few water crossings. By the time we reached the end of the road we were soaked! Stopping on the top of the bridge before heading back onto the mainland we could admire the views, watch some local fisherman and most importantly wring out our socks. The bridge provided the only “hill” of the day so far and the elation of free wheeling down the other side at full speed was elating. Back onto the flats we headed out along the coast past more and more beach houses.
It was time to find some lunch! After most of the day on the bike we were starving. The downside and certainly a first world problem was the lack of phone reception to find somewhere nearby for a bite to eat. After trying for a bit whilst meandering the lanes, we finally managed to find a Mexican place to get some food and it was pretty much on route, plus a personal favourite. Bikes racked, we pilled into La Fondita ordering burrito’s and nachos, once they came out they were positively inhaled and certainly went down a treat. Loaded up on energy we headed on towards our final point Montauk. We were heading a long the now busy roads, through some of the beachside towns bustling with a few more people than the rest of the cycle so far. The sun had finally come out a bit more. I wasn’t freezing any more. The road meandered right along the coastline, as we went cycled we debated whether or not to head to the light house and back or not. It was a close call with us being able to get all the way out to the point, back to Montauk and onto the train. Otherwise we were going to have to wait for quite a while. After a decent ride we arrived into Montauk and decided to head to the Montauk Brewery for a quick drink before the train back rather than heading to the lighthouse. Despite cutting the ride slightly short we didn’t have that much time to wait around before dashing to the train. Boarding we watched the landscape fly by as we headed back the way we came.
