Road Ride: Random Hills and Water Views

Looking North up Manhasset Bay to to the Long Island Sound
and toward the drizzle-bearing clouds soon to cool us off.

This one was a bit of a random, hill-torture ride. With a few moments by the water.

Rain, or more, on the way, how soon?

The ride started off in an unusual direction — through town. Needed to drop by the pharmacy on the way to pick up a prescription. With the weather on the radar — storms now well past Scranton, Pa., and on their way in — threatening rain within the hour. So, instead of doubling back to the usual Sands Point Ride, we wended our way south of town's local streets from there. Into some short sharp hills and down to the water. Here we are down at Secor Drive, for a few by the water shots on Manhasset Bay. 

We see what looks like rain in the NW distance, hovering over the Western L.I Sound and The Bronx. There's a little drizzle for 10-12 minutes, but as we climb back up the hill into town, it fizzles out and fades to a hot clearing breezeless sky with fluffy cumulus and high cirrus. Nearly cumulonimbus enough to make you wonder about T-storms later, but increasingly sunny and clear enough in places enough that it just might not happen.

At the southwest end of Manhasset Bay, near Secor Drive.

1,300 ft of climbing in 14.5 miles. Not bad for a flat island with a glacial moraine for its hill country. It only rises about 250-400 ft, but there's a lot of up and down to sea-level, and back-up-to-the-top again involved. 

IMG_20120729_133716.jpg

George Washington was apparently an elite cyclist. Wikipedia says of our highest point, "While the elevation and views are impressive for Long Island, George Washington found the hills to be merely "trifling" when he passed through in April 1790."

TIGHT QUARTERS

The problem with this section of Pt. Washington < named after the elite General and cyclist (just keeding > is that the hills are very steep—but they tend to have STOP signs at the bottom.

South end of  town, a little touch of country.

Relatively busy roads or poor visibility intersections require you to stop, or, if you want to preserve momentum, risk death.  

EMPIRE VIEW - NOT TODAY

Peering over the edge

This hilltop — Luquer Rd. — provides impressive views of the Empire State Building on a clear day, but the cellphone camera was not able to capture the misty frame of the statuesque skyscrapers in the building — which the human eye could see today. All the camera reveals is a humid sunglareflection in the distance. 

If this hill were longer, it think it would be Hors Categorie. It's ridiculously painful. The person who built the road, said, "what the heck, let's just build the road straight up the hill, why not?" 

Luquer Rd. — try a clear day and you can not only see,
but also photograph the Empire State Building,
a little too humid today.

I was beat by some of the hard Clyde-busting climbs already, still dubious about the weather, and whether the G-man could handle the relentless and dicey traffic on tight and busy Plandome Road. ( Also I wasn't coming back UP here again twice today, not even the easier way.) One of my friends got hit on Plandome, and that was before the texting-while driving was even an issue.

Somewhere along the way, our return route took is onto the dreaded Summit Rd. Scene of a double road rash incident. The road has a raised ridge 2.3-3 feet in, and it's a tyre trap if ever there was one.

We stayed well away. Any cars will just have to follow us down. Not a big deal, we're close to the speed limit anyway!

A side trip to the LBS was also on the menu. Unfortunately no gloves in my size, and I discovered to my chagrin that the price of tubes has gone off the charts. 2 MTB tubes and two road tubes cost $38 bucks what? LBS needs to know that at those prices, we'll be shopping online for less expensive deals. That is just too much in this kind of economy. Oh well.

Maps and stats and all that good stuff at:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/204483908

I tried to make up the 2,100 calories later at dinner — I kid I kid —  but I think the number is a little "fugazi." 

All it took was a cold one, a chicken sausage, some spinach, garlic, beans and a few Annie's Mac 'N Cheese shells and the weight lost was back on.

Bike bits: Serfas Secas pumped up to 130 psi — the short and shallow handlebars are raised by a high stem to keep my balky old neck vertebra at more sustainable angle. The Koobi saddle has some rubber inserts to take out some of the roughness of the perennially potholed roads around here. Rims by Odds and Endos. Easton SLX fork. Campy Centaur and Chorus.


All put together in the basement, except for the BB ream, fork and headset insertion.

Local Rider Attains Speeds of 24,000+ mph After Watching Tour De France

SP ride with Gordo - Interruptus by mcphilly at Garmin Connect - Details

If this is what riding with the svelte, hill-climbing monster Gordo as a domestique does for my performance, I am officially forming team Brooklyn Lager & Cheeseburger, and entering next year's Tour de NooYawk.

According to my Garmin Edge 305 unit, which has been specially calibrated by team technician Dr. Zum Finks Fugazi, we blew last month's garmin-registered 60 mph spurts out of the water with a quick 24,890+ mph burst of acceleration. At least according to the "Details" section stats in the chart below.

Sure we felt a few fast moments — attributable probably to a little help from the Garmin Satellite's gravitational tractor beams (a premium subscriber feature) as aliens attempted in vain to abduct us, during what was otherwise a tranquil 9.6 avg./ 12.1 mph. moving avg. day's ride — But everyone knows the electronics do not lie.

One of the shiny craft is visible to the right of Gordo in the photo at top.

Or maybe we were inspired by Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish's Tour de France and Stage 20 win. I'm not sure what other ways we have to explain the one mad 24,862.9 mph dash, the unit recorded.

No doubt it might have happened while we were avoiding these strangely smiling extraterrestrials (see below). Other sources, instead believe it to be a hoaxmobile driven by none other than Lenny the Squid.

There were several sightings ... here's another

You be the judge.

Gordo's First SUP Foray at Kalmus

Gordo gets busy with his first Stand-Up Paddle foray at Kalmus Beach in Hyannis, Mass. 

Mama bear is paddling my 99 ltr FS/Waveboard around keeping an eye on the bearcub.

I am stuck on the beach watching — they stole my boards — oh wait, the Starboard GO 170 lts is Mamabear's board anyway. And it's great to see them having some fun on the water for a change.  

Marg and I have a special connection with this place — near the JFK memorial which is a sublime place on summer's night — and numerous other Cap Cod hangouts that we love. 

Kalmus, near Hyannisport a wonderful low-key beach, and for windsurfers one of the windiest and most well-known places on the east coast in Summer. Plenty of places to stay nearby. I hope SUP-ers keep the vibe going on the light wind days.

(P.S. Who edited this? it ends with a rather bizarre cinematic cartwheel into black. And to think this started life as crystal clear HD video ... oik!)

This is a messy onshore early July day, but the main harbor breakwater to the southwest keeps the chop manageable. Challenging for learning if it's breezy, but still plenty of fun. 

Thee are small swells you can practice catching if you feel adventurous, and it's neck-deep shallow relatively far out, compared with Long Island beaches. 

Just be aware if you are sailing or SUPing Kalmus there's a submerged rock-and-seaweed jetty/breakwater 2/3 of the way down the beach to the west ... your toes and shins will probably bump against it if you don't find it in advance. Booties advised if you don't like scrapes. 

Two weeks later week on Peconic Bay Gordo was paddling a 135 ltr. Randy French windsurf racing board in 15 knots of wind; talk about tenacious.

One of these days we'll procure a real SUP, but for now the big-volume beasts from our windsurf stable fit the bill on flat water. Our dog — he's rather large — is imploring me to attach deck traction to our Mistral Equipe XR so he can get in on the act too! 

When he was but a 20# puppy he used to swim and climb onto my surfboard. #naturalsurfdog 

Shining Sea Bike Path — Easy on the Eyes

Marg enjoys the swans in the pond in the background

No hurry, the Shining Sea Bike Path is best enjoyed at a relaxed pace.

The view from the path from Wood's Hole to Falmouth

One place we make sure not to miss anytime we come here. Ponds, ocean, wildflowers birds, woods, views and sea breezes.

Gordo and Marg at a beach stop

Clydesdale, Rodale, Airedale ...

It's vacation time ... and that means liberation.

Liberation from my usual aerodynamic bike clothing of choice, stiff 130 psi tires/tyres, the "need for speed," the pursuit of fitness and endorphins, and the urge to try to add 1 mph to the average speed...in place of a more simplified form of fun.

Instead, the road bike stayed home and the fatter-wheel bikes went on vacay. A more easy upright stance; a little off-road trail as the sense of exploration invites; sightseeing cruising speeds; smelling the roses, and discovering the new.

Especially new places to grab a bite to eat...and satisfying a hearty cyclist's appetite on an all-afternoon ride.

The view from inside the secret nosh spot

Clydesdale, Rodale, Airedale ...

There's a spot off the Cap Cod Rail Trail that I promised not to reveal — it's very small and the seating is pretty limited, one waitress ... and if an entire bike club drops in, they might have a melt-down, but if you've taken the step to come here then there are enough clues here.

If you're riding all day, chances are you're going to get hungry ... or bonk. Some are minimalists and will get nice and skinny cycling. Me, I have not yet quite evolved from responding to calorie burned with calorie chowed down upon. There's something so satisfying about that balance, and trying oh-so-hard not to wind up on the heavier side of it.

Sure, for hard-core pedalgrinders, clif bars, gu gels and pbj sarnies are fine, but for those looking for epicurean fancies and a relaxing time, the detour for pie or burrito — or whatever takes your fancy — is an indulgence that is easily excused by the simple fact you're on vacation.

So in '08, and again this year, on the way from Dennis, Mass., up to Long Pond, back down to the CCRT bike rotary before Harwich, and then eastward in the general direction of Chatham, we got the urge to nosh. I figured a simple southward detour would quickly re-connect us with civilization.

We passed a tall steepled church and hit busy Main Street. And voila, instantly appeared an ideal little restaurant/cafe.

With my UK background, where lots of things end in -dale ... anything that ends with "-dale" I am pretty much automatically conditioned to pronounce in a way that rhymes with "Clydesdale, Rodale, or Airedale," so when I intoned the name of this cafe in my Brit style, I must have been figuring on country nosh, a ploughman's lunch, shepherd's pie ... that kind of thing.

GG peruses the menu. Just don't eat too much unless you plan to ride for another 4 hours

The family laughed their arses off. The sombrero emblem didn't quite shout out bangers and mash.
Nope, this was a small mexican restaurant, and I had just epic failed my Spanish pronunciation -- the ending of the name should have been "da-lay" as in "the the road to Mandalay."

Anyway, it's nothing fancy; just good solid Mexican fare, a good guacamole, a very fresh salsa and homemade tortilla chips, spot-hitting quesadillas, burritos, enchiladas, ... just don't try to eat it all!

As much as I'd like to be, I'm no long distance road bike rider — my vertebrae just rebel in radical ways that end up in MRIs and months of physical therapy. But after lunch here, you better eat light, or you might want to "ride it off" for a couple more hours.