Riding My Bike to Montauk Before Teacher Training
I’ve decided to ride my bike to Montauk. I’ve always wanted to cycle long distance and now seems to be the best time to start by going to the end of Long Island. Here is the route I plan on taking: East Rockaway to Montauk. It’s 106 miles one-way, which is about 40 miles more than I have ever biked in one day, so this will be an overnight trip.
Why? Because I need to get out of this mental and physical slump and get going. The only way I know how, is to physically move and do so rigorously. Bikram Yoga Teacher Training begins this Saturday in Acapulco, Mexico. Until then, I am free to do what I want.
I will be bringing my Trek 7500, Laptop, iPod, Camera, Camelbak, GPS and spare clothes. I don’t know which Hotel(s) I will be staying at yet. I’ve debated CouchSurfing, but I don’t really have enough time right now to plan that out. I’ve signed up and perhaps I will visit the site from the road, during one of my breaks.
That’s it for now.
Update 1:
10:00 am, Wednesday, Patchogue, 40 Miles out of 106.
Monday night, my friend Bob K. and his wife Kristen were nice enough to have me stay in their guest room instead of a hotel, in Lake Grove. It was nice catching up with both of them and to see how far they’ve come since their wedding in 2006. I can’t believe she is 8 months pregnant! Congratulations to both of them.
I lost all of Tuesday due to the rain and so I ended up staying at the same hotel I planned on the night before. I am heading out the door now and I hope to get to Montauk which is 56 miles away, by 3pm.
Update 2:
I made it to Montauk and loved it
I’ve been back home since 3 am this morning, Thursday, but have been too exhausted and busy to update my blog. Besides, this is my first blog and will take some to get used to.
I ended up getting to Montauk Point at around 6 pm, much later than my estimate of 3 due to some detours, phone calls and legs of pain and fire. I did 103 miles on Wednesday alone, for a total of 143 miles in 10.5 hours, which included returning to town from the point of Montauk, to finding dinner, warm clothes and the train station which brought me back home. In some ways the trip was easier than I thought and yet harder in others. My bike performed as well as expected, but now needs a serious tune-up and cleaning. I installed new gear cables a few months ago and after being tuned up once already, they still had a lot of stretching to do, so my gears were jumping a lot after 60 miles. My new Trek speedometer/odometer worked well and I fell in love with my Dad’s handheld GPS unit. My legs held up pretty well I thought, considering I didn’t do much riding this season and did 40 miles in one day and then 103 the other. Next time I will be more physically prepared, will plan out the exact times to leave and arrive at destinations and pack much lighter. I loved having my laptop with me, but it added an extra 7 pounds on my back along with 2 full 27 ounce water bottles that I didn’t even use. I estimate that my Camelbak weighed 40-45 pounds. I know this because without the laptop, it usually weighs around 35 pounds full with the 2 full 27 ounces bottles and other typical supplies. I will also be thinking about a new seat because my ass is still killing me.
It was my first time to Montauk ever and I am glad I made the trip. One, because I actually did it and two because I now know of a beautiful place on Long Island that doesn’t feel like Long Island. It had the same atmosphere and feel of Long Beach, but much more of it. There were surf shops, resorts, motels, restaurants, small mom & pop stores, windmills, laid-back people and of course bike lanes running parallel to traffic. Most important though, was the vast open space between everything, unlike the typical suburban landscape we have become accustomed to in Nassau County. The beautiful coast line stretched for miles and the sound was not drowned out by traffic or buildings. I could hear the surf breaking much louder than I ever have at Long Beach and at night the beach was full of campfires and crisp, smokey air. I was tempted to ask a hippie circle if they would adopt me. If I had the money, I would open up a Bikram Yoga studio there and just live the life. I could sense the community feel during the brief time that I was there and that leads me to believe that the studio and practice of yoga would be embraced, not to mention the great word-of-mouth advertising.
So the trip was definitely worth it and I will be doing it again. I proved the goal was not only attainable, but able to be done without much planning and during a short time. It also reaffirmed that things just seem to work out and that fear itself is the main preventer of things. I had no idea where I was going to stay when I left my house, yet I slept at a friend’s house the first night, found a cheap motel the second and then caught the last train back home which didn’t even require a bike pass.