The Montauk 125

The Adventure.
To cycle from Brooklyn to Montauk in one day on a single speed bicycle. – Approximately 125 miles.

Terrain and Route
Good news, it’s flat, only a couple of small climbs near Montauk. It’s a very straight forward route once you escape Queens.
I took a pretty dull route down the center of Long Island, Starbucks, Subway, Gas Station…. Starbucks, Subway, Gas Station…… . Traffic on a Sunday was very light along the HW25, and for the most part it either has a wide shoulder or bicycle lanes. Things improve for bicycles once you get to Hampton Bay as there is a bicycle route along H.W 80 and 27. (Follow the bicycle route signs).

I heard there is a good bicycle route along the coast from Babylon to Montauk (85 miles) but unfortunately I couldn’t find a safe route from Queens to Babylon.

Transport back to NYC
Good news, you can take your bicycle on the long Island Railroad for a $5 bicycle permit. Exchange the temporary permit at a station for a free lifetime bicycle permit. Brilliant.

Random Facts
I was bitten through my shoe by an angry millipede. I also had a flat tire just as I rolled into the train station at Montauk. Lucky or unlucky, you decide.

I completed the route in about 8 hours + one hour lunch break. The map below is the route I took, but not my actual route data. My iPhone died half way :( Need a Garmin. In the end, my route was just short of 125 miles – Approximately 121 miles.

View Larger Map

Riding 125 miles wasn’t the only challenge I set myself, I also wanted to document my ride in photographs. The idea was simple. Every half hour I would stop and take a photo. Easy? No. It’s far harder than it sounds, just the idea of stopping, getting the camera out, taking a photo and then having to start up again is so demoralizing when you have so many miles to cover. But still, I persevered and came out with a rather ~~interesting,~~ ~~fascinating~~ ‘American’ set of photos. Judge for yourself.

I shot all these photos with a Fujifilm Natura Classica on Kodak Portra 800 film.

7:00am