Day 1 - Taking the Scenic Route

We're on our way.  Five of us left Montauk Point around 9am.

Michael, Greg, Michele, and Alice ready to go

Our first day of riding reminded me how much I like the bicycle touring experience.  I observed in my start of the day posting that we would spend the day re-covering the same distance we covered in one and a half hours in the car in the morning, but it's all so different when you do it at a bicycle pace and do it on routes chosen for bicycle riding.  Between the routes that Google maps laid out for us and some spur of the moment detours based on our recollections of past rides, we ended up seeing some really beautiful sections of the north and south forks.   We had beautiful sunny weather the whole way and we didn't let the northwest wind, which was in our faces most of the day, bother us.

A short way into the ride, we left Montauk Highway for Napeague Meadow Road - a quiet road that took us through a low lying marsh area and then through woods before returning us to the highway several miles later.   We met up with Rick Wagener and his TriCruiser at Sag Harbor.  From there it was a short ride to the Shelter Island Ferry.  After crossing Shelter Island, we stopped for lunch at a luncheonette in Greenport.

Filling up the Greenport sidewalk with our bi/tri cycles

West of Greenport, we detoured north onto Soundview Avenue and followed some quiet roads through woods and farms before coming back to the highway near Goldsmiths Inlet in Peconic.  That route was taken based on a combination of guidance from Michael's smartphone and our memories of having ridden through that area on past rides (I recall a Suffolk Bike Riders Assn ride that followed those roads and stopped at the Horton Point Lighthouse).

Figuring out which way to go at a crossroads

Not long after that, we chose a southern route down to picturesque New Suffolk.  Greg and Michele and I rode through New Suffolk not that long ago.  I think it's one of the prettiest spots on Long Island.  We had the good fortune of passing a lemonade stand on the way from New Suffolk to Mattituck (and the 6 of us were a nice bump in the kids' business for the day) 

New Suffolk

The twenty miles from Mattituck to home gave us a taste of the business end of bicycle touring.  We were feeling tired by that point and just wanted to cover those miles and get to our destination.  We rolled into Miller Place around 6:30 and had a party and a feast waiting for us.  My bike computer showed 81 miles of riding - more than Alice, Greg, or Michele had ever ridden in a single day before.