It's Been Awhile.....

After Sandy about two weeks ago, I finally got my act together and borrowed a bike. I have a decent bike somewhere in my parents house, but I am embarrassed to say that I have not physically mounted a bike in probably well over a decade. When I was a kid I would bike to school all the time in Flatbush. But to my defense the last time I did bike, it was a major trip.
After high school I went to study in Israel for a couple of years and during one of our intersessions we decided we would trek up north to bike around the Kineret (also known as the Sea of Galilee). Being young and stupid, I thought no problem, I play tons of sports every day, but I did not realize that stamina is a whole different ball game. It was something like a 35 miles circumference, but it was not even the length that killed me, but all those freakin mountains I had to pedal up.

We started with a group of about 10 to 12 guys and over the course of eight hours we eventually all got separated. We all planned to meet up at the end to relax at the hot springs of Tiberias. I actually completed the entire route completely by bike. But, get this, I found out years later that a bunch of the guys, who by the way were physical specimens, completely wussed out and hitched a ride on a pickup for at least a quarter of the distance. Wusses.

Flash forward a decade later, and for some reason I hadn't been on a bike since that Kineret trip (I think?). I figured that I am living in the epicenter of the storm and that I would utilize this bike trip to check out some of the damage. I was specifically excited to bike across the Atlantic beach bridge which has spectacular views, including downtown Manhattan [although the bridge has a two dollar car toll which in itself is not a big deal, but because they are morons, they don't accept ez-pass, so you have to be carrying cash if you want to drive over the bridge. The worst part about that is that there is controversy surrounding the toll, as it was discovered that virtually the entire toll goes into paying the personnel that man the toll booths. Either it is the worst case of economic mismanagement, or as I suspect, these Atlantic Beachers want people to stay off their island]. The Atlantic Beach section of Long Beach was unfortunately one of the worst hit areas of New York.

My route started along the 878 Nassau Expressway, which is a signaled highway that has it's own dedicated bike lane. I started at Central Ave and made my way south towards the Atlantic Beach Bridge. The dedicated bike lane is very spiffy and has double yellow lines for two-way traffic and many bike-specific road signs. I occasionally would see people using this route for biking, but most people use it as a sidewalk to walk or jog along the 878, and my trip was no exception.

One of the fist obvious after-effects of the hurricane I came across was when I was nearing the water. Obviously this part of the route was flooded and as you can see in the picture below, the bike path was covered in broken sea-shells:

As I got closer to the bridge there was a sign stating that one must walk the bike over the bridge:

 When I got to the bridge there was a more ominous sign warning that riding over the bridge could result in a $250 fine. And yet I saw two bikers flouting the rules and biking over the bridge anyway. So of course like the non-jaywalking citizen I am, I dutifully walked the bike over the bridge which seemed to take forever. The bridge is about 1,200 feet but when you go from speeding on a bike to walking, the difference is extremely apparent. I don't totally get why they call it a pedestrian path as it is connected to a bike lane, although I did see one guy walking across the bridge past me.

Unfortunately, all of the above pictures were taken by my phone while I was riding. I did stop to take a ton of great pictures with a regular camera, but somehow the pictures got corrupted and I cannot retrieve them. I got some spectacular shots over the bridge as well as some depressing shots of the desolation of Atlantic Beach.

When I got across the bridge I turned east to check out the north and south beaches which are only three blocks apart. I wanted to explore Atlantic Beach a little more, but I forgot how quickly it would get dark, and I did not have the proper equipment for riding in the dark. So I circled back around and then took the same route back home.

Overall, my view on the experience was that the bike path needed some serious repaving, but all the other aspects were phenomenal. especially all the dedicated signage and rights of way. If I had to commute from Atlantic Beach to Far Rockaway everyday, I would definitely do it by bike, as the actual bike part (excluding the walk over the bridge) was a pleasure.