A Nice ride through NY & Ct

[Arie]

I live on Long Island, and finding long country roads is getting harder with development.

One of my favorite rides is a big loop: Starting at the Whitestone Bridge, I head north on The Hutchinson pkwy towards CT, and continue on 15-Merritt Pkwy [ scenic rt ] up to Norwalk, where I then take 7 north to Kent Falls stpk.
There is a number of nice restarants nearby, and walking in the park is very peaceful.
Next I continue up 7 a short way to 4, which goes a few miles and continue on 343 west. at jxn 44 I continue west and go over the Mid Hudson Bridge. I jog north on 9 a short way to get to 299 and head to New Paltz. There is a plethora of great grub in this town, and no shortage of brew { hey! the operator needs fuel too! } { But not too much, I know...} From here I can continue south on 208, with many choices to get on major roads if we've had enough, but take it down to 6 east and head over the Bear mtn bridge.
east on 202 to the Taconic, and then south to the Whitestone.

A long but great ride on the old roads replaced by the highways.

 

[darkwolf]

I used to live in New Haven, before being uprooted and moved to Georgia. I miss that place. The Merritt is a really good ride, assuming you don't mind that weird bridge near the Sikorsky factory.

 

[Arie]

You will be happy to know that they have almost completed replacement of that terror with an actual 3 lane asphalt covered roadway.

A studded steel grate roadway is a curious experience on a nice day, and downright dangerous in the cold. I once had my car switch lanes rear tires first due to a layer of ice. Car didn't even ask permission first dambit.

Fortunately, there was no one in the lane next to me. I have never seen someones eyes so wide as my girl's that day!

 

[darkwolf]

LOL. Uh huh...Been there, done that.

I used to subject myself to I95 North on bad days, going home, just because I wouldn't want to try to make it up that hill. LOL Going down was bad enough.

 

[Rocketman]

Hey Arie-nice to hear from a fellow Islander. I'm in Bay Shore. How 'bout you?

 

[Arie]

Bay Shore eh?

I'm very far away over in North Babylon

 

[martinfink]

I'm in westhampton gs1000s

 

[Geeto67]

Former Port Washington now transplanted and living to Queens. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned bear mountain as a close to NY ride

 

[Rocketman]

North Babylon? Is that party of Long Island??

I work with Coldwell Banker on main street in Babylon, and live behind the new Loews on Sunrise Highway.

Hope to be getting my bike back from Chuck Wagon Racing in Farmingdale any day now (hopefully before the weekend), and then I'm back on the road again.

Maybe we can hookup for a ride or two before the snow comes.

 

[Arie]

Rocketman,

I would like to do some rides, let me know when you get the bike back and we'll figure out when.

btw, did it sound like Geeto67 was volunteering to write up a Bear mountain ride? :-D

 

[Rocketman]

Can't say for sure, as another guy did a great write up about his recent trip to Bear Mountin, UT. Chuck called and said my bike should be ready by tomorrow. Why don't you PM me a contact phone number, and if time and weather

permits this weekend, I'll try to give you a call.

 

[Tarbash 27]

howdy fellow islanders. i live in centereach, it would be cool if we could all go for a ride one day.

 

[Arie]

Wow!

This could get good. I tried to find out if there were any riders nearby some time ago and didn't get any response. I thought I was the only GSer in NY.
I would certainly be up for some rides; any one else interested say so, and lets try to come up with a route.

In the meanwghile, I will post some other rides in separate threads...

 

[Rocketman]

Hey Tarbash, Rocketman here. How long have you lived in Centereach? I actually graduated from Centereach High School in 1978! Used to live on Lake Grove Street, off North Coleman Road, across from North Coleman elementary.

 

[Jethro]

Hey guys, I go to my sisters house in East Quogue many times during the summer, and often on the bike. One of you guys needs to set up a tour of Long Island for next year!!

 

[Rocketman]

Jethro,
Not that I'm ragging on Long Island, but its a pretty boring place to ride. Mostly East-West flat roads with tons of traffic. Even out East where your sister lives, local one lane streets get clogged up bigtime on weekends with tourist traffic, and you're lucky to get out of 2nd gear. Think that's why we're all looking for a more scenic place to go, like up in your neck of the woods. Moose run sounds nice in a few weeks, but its about a 10 hour hike from Long Island. WVA next summer sounds like a definite plan though. Now that we've located more guys from around here, hope we can make it a group trip to JoJo's.

 

[Geeto67]

Rocketman,

I would like to do some rides, let me know when you get the bike back and we'll figure out when.

btw, did it sound like Geeto67 was volunteering to write up a Bear mountain ride? :-D

I could, my fellow cafe racers and I do a trip up there almost every other week. I have a few really nice ride routes through jersey and westchester, but they are on my home computer and I am at work right now.

We could all do the north shore huntington run (start in port washington run through glen cove, oyster bay, lattingtown, etc), really nice roads but kinda short. "the Shack" seems to be equidistant from all of us, might make a nice meeting place.

By the way, anybody have contact info for chuck wagon racing? I am looking at a gs1100 drag bike he built a couple of years ago and want some more info. Thanks.

 

[Arie]

Where is the Shack?

I would like to do some rides, but I ride quite a bit on LI, It's nace to see a change of place...

fwiw, i like
palisades to bear mtn, back on taconic
23 to High pt NJ
22 north of yonkers, and just head north... there is a roadhouse with great pulled pork sandwiches...

 

[Rocketman]

Hey Geeto,
Chuck is at 151 Allen Blvd, Farmingale, just off Route 110.
631-249-7427
He's closed Sundays & Mondays, but open all other days until 6:00
I'm on my way there within the hour to pick up my ride.
Larry.

 

[Rocketman]

Alright Long Island GS-ers, just picked up my bike, and it looks like all is well. So far, running like a champ and NO MORE STALLING! Keeping my fingers crossed that my problems are gone. Let's figure out how we can get together this weekend to meet and maybe take a short cruise. Saturdays weather is supposed to rot

, but Sunday and Monday look OK so far

. Figure out how we can all hook up and let me know.