I set out at around 10am after looking at the weather app and it said rain at 4pm. So I'd better hurry! I took off east parallel to Sunrise Highway and made decent time to the Massapequa Preserve.
This is a beautiful natural area with a nice, although sometimes busy, bike path that winds its way up to Bethpage Park. Because of the amount of people that are usually on this path, you can't really get any good speed, but it is very peaceful so I like it. The ride north is pretty much all uphill, although at a fairly gentle grade.
The ride went north and before I got into Bethpage Park I turned off onto Plainview Road and headed up the long hill that is Plainview. Eventually I crossed Northern Boulevard and I got to Cold Spring Harbor.
I have to say that this area is beautiful. I went along the harbor to my left and then eventually made my way to a tough stretch: Snake Hill Road.
This street is has a nasty little switchback due to it's extremely steep grade. My cousin once took it with me as a part of the Long Island Harbors Ride (which was the most awesome ride!) and he registered it on his GPS as a 13% grade. I realized I was coming up on it as I recognized the area on Shore Road and at that point I cursed my friend. But I took it as best as I could and then go to the top. One of the most demoralizing features of this hill is that there's no payoff at the end of this. That's just wrong.
As I traveled through the town after the hill, I saw one of the strangest street signs.
I named them. The mother's name is Broomhilda. My favorite is Skeeter, the guy who's trying to fly. I got into Lloyd Harbor and then pulled over alongside the water for a well deserved break.
The ride along the harbor continues up a hill to Caumsett State Park and Preserve and I did a loop through the beautiful park. The most interesting part of the ride was the mansion.
While I was riding through Caumsett, the song finally solidified. My wife fell in love with this song the first time she heard it. It's got a good beat, if not a disturbing video.
Fun. launched themselves into stardom last year with their hit "We Are Young". Tender verses give way to a driving chorus that is more insidious than The Dating Game theme. This one is the same format, but the harmonies are intoxicating. The lead singer has a repetitive, but complex vocals through each of the individual verses. He jams a large number of words with the urgency that is caught in the lyrics and backround beat of the song and it works. the harmonics are mesmerizing though. There is such a full sound in this song and based on the simple rhythms, but fast moving vocals, it is a great song to ride to.
I finished the beautiful ride along the Caumsett trail.
I then made my way back the way I came. Down Snake Hill Road and back to Northern Boulevard. From here though I turned west. Apparently I was riding along the route of a different coordinated ride and I was seeing "GC" markers on the ground. I was immediately hit by a very steep and long hill. After Lloyd Harbor I was kind of tired so this one took a lot of effort. The people who had marked up the road realized this was a tough one and offered words of encouragement on the way up. The road was painted with "Almost there!" and "You can do it!" When you got to the top of the hill there was a nice "You made it!" I then turned south and headed towards Syosset where I took a bagel break.
On the way to the food stop, I got passed by about 5 fire trucks. One of them blared his horn as he was on top of me which almost made me fall down it was so loud and jarring. After cursing the driver I started wondering what was going on and when I got to the Syosset train station, I found that there was about 20 different fire trucks from different areas of Nassau County. Apparently it was fire prevention day.
After the stop, I went west through Muttontown and then turned south to Old Westbury. There I had an incredibly visual ride down IU Willets Lane. There's some serious money here. This is someone's house.
Sorry, no zoom on my camera. But that is a giant fountain in front of that house. Also note the sky above the house. Picture perfect, right? Not for long. I went another couple of miles and came out of a tree covered canopy at Glen Cove Road. At the light I looked up to the sky and noticed that the entire area was covered with storm clouds. I looked at my watch and noticed it was only a little after 2pm. My arthritic knees were screaming but it was at that point that I realized the weatherman (gee big surprise coming here) was wrong. So after the light turned green I tore ahead at 19mph. I forgot about the knees and was able to keep up the pace even through the beginning drizzle. Then the sky opened up.
I had to slow down because I was afraid at that speed I wouldn't be able to stop for lights or hazards. So I continued between 14-15mph the rest of the way in a full fledged storm. No thunder or lightning thankfully, but I felt like a soaked rat. After about 45 minutes, I finally got home.
The ride was great, despite the rain at the end. Looking forward to the MS Ride on 10/21!
Vitals:
| Distance: | 65.80 mi |
| Time: | 4:34:46 |
| Avg Speed: | 14.4 mph |
| Elevation Gain: | 1,974 ft |
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