ride to Montauk LI

Last Saturday I joined my friend Jason and we rode across Long Island on a big organized ride. Dubbed the Ride to Montauk, it consisted of upwards of 3,000 bicyclists of all walks of life with four routes (30miles, 75miles, 108miles, 152miles).

Our original plan was to do the 152mile route but the week leading up to the ride both Jason and I put in too many hours in the office (12+hrs/day) so we were pretty burned out. Alas, the 108mile route would suffice for the day.

Starting in Babylon NY we hopped on our bikes and headed east. Destination was the tip of Long Island.... The Montauk lighthouse.

We were greeted with a stiff headwind for most of the ride and no matter what we did [in terms of drafting] it seemed like we couldn't get away from the headwind.

My iPhone battery died partway through the ride so I did not get a chance to record the entire ride. We basically kept jumping on and off Montauk Rd as we headed east to the Montauk Lighthouse. 108miles total for the day.

We went over that bridge.

from ontop of the bridge

Then we made our way into the Hamptons...

and were passed by a Bentley and a few Ferraris

Aid stations were every 25 miles. We stopped at 75miles for a bit to relax and rest. That was at Watermill, just east of South Hampton.

Getting closer:

The last 10 or so miles seemed to put a hurting in on many people. We saw quite a few people sitting on the side of the road.

It was a great day to be out on the bike. Temperatures were in the lower 80s with humidity down. The headwind, stiff at times, was bearable but it certainly would be more fun without. The ride was organized extremely well. I was blown away by how the promoter was able to manage so many riders in such a highly populated area of the country.