October 14, 2021 - Sears Bellows County Park, NY, to Amityville, NY

Start: Sears Bellows County Park, NY
End: Amityville, NY
Miles: 57.8
Feet climbing per mile: 20
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/77032451

I woke at 7:00 and immediately started to pack my gear. As I was stuffing my silk sleeping bag liner into its stuff sack, the following question occurred to me:

How much stuff does a stuff sack stuff when a stuff sack is full of stuff?

Below is a picture of my stuff sacks. I forgot to include the orange stuff sock (yes, "sock") I use to hold my rain jacket. You can see it here.

Left to right: air pillow, silk sleeping bag liner, sleeping bag, footprint, tent

I took my time packing and was on the road shortly after 9:00. My return route did not include riding the barrier island but I considered doing so. However, by the time I checked my map to find the road to the bridge leading to the island I had passed it two miles ago. As I continued according to my route which put me on Old Country Road, I sang James Taylor's Country Road, but with two lines changed slightly.

I guess my wheels know where they want me to go
Rolling on a country road

I'm glad I missed the road to the barrier island because Old Country Road was a treat to ride.

Old Country Road

I saw some Canada geese off to the side of Old Country Road.

A little later I saw other water fowl off to the side of South Country Road.

I often encounter hazards on the road that I need to remove. This trip was no exception. The blade, including its handle, was about eight inches long.

A third of the way into my ride I thought that it was time to find a place to stop for ice cream. As I looked to my left I saw such a place. I was surprised to see that it was the Ice Cream Cottage, for which I had included a point-of-interest marker on my route. I enjoyed two scoops of their Black Forest ice cream, which is chocolate ice cream with cherries and chocolate chips. It would have been even better without the chocolate chips, were large and crunchy. The ice cream looks purple in the photo but was actually dark brown.

Black Forest

I saw ducks and swans on Robinson Pond, 29 miles into my ride.

Four miles later a tree on its own island on Stillman Creek caught my attention.

Stillman Creek

At 37 miles into my ride I stopped to enjoy a Mountain Dew.

I have often stopped to take a picture when I ride on a bridge over railroad tracks. I'm almost always disappointed by the results, but I've never known why. I'm pleased by the picture below, but I don't know what distinguishes it from the disappointing photos. The tracks are those of the Long Island Railroad, a little west of the Oakdale station.

When, before leaving on this trip, I had posted on Facebook my plan to take a train to and from Amityville, a few people asked whether it was that Amityville. I told them it was. As I approached the station where I would catch my train back to Manhattan, I took a detour to see the infamous house.

I think the purpose of the dragon on the porch is to scare away gawkers.

I arrived at the Amityville train station at 3:14, caught the 3:16 train to Manhattan, and arrived home at 4:40.

On this three-day trip on the south shore of Long Island I rode a total of 212 miles and averaged 25 feet of climbing per mile. In contrast to my trip the previous month on the north shore, there was minimal climbing and no steep climbing. I'm grateful to Tom Reingold for suggesting both of these trips on Long Island.

My trip on the south shore of Long Island

My trip on the north shore of Long Island

In Gear Update - September 22nd, 2021 I wrote about the following changes to my gear:

• Installation of new headset
• Repacking of front and rear hubs
• Cleaning and lubrication of freehub body
• Installation in bottom bracket of new cups, caged bearing balls, and almost-new spindle (with correct orientation) 
• Installation of new pedals (to be discussed in a forthcoming Gear Update)

The result of these changes is that my bike rides the smoothest it ever has. The correct orientation of the spindle has removed some minor shifting problems and eliminated the jumping of the chain when backpedalling on the 48-tooth chainring and 24-tooth cog. The correct orientation of the spindle has also improved the comfort of my right knee. There's a story I could tell about the challenges regarding my right knee that deserves a blog post of its own. 

At my going-away party the night before my 4,500-mile trip in 2019, Jan Albert said to me, "Be sure to stop and take a picture whenever you see something amazing". I told Jan that if I did that I would never get to any of my destinations. But more and more I think I've been following Jan's suggestion, and I do get to my destinations. (See the section This Road I Ride in How I decided to ride 4000 miles next summer to learn about an earlier contribution Jan Albert made to my cycling career.) I love stopping to take pictures of the interesting things I see.

During the early part of the first day of this trip I thought that I might cut the third day short by catching a train farther out than Amityville. That I didn't do that means I'm able to compare my experiences riding the same roads when the sun is out with when it is not. I'm amazed at what a difference it makes. My impression after the first day was that the first 40 miles of my ride were suburban and boring, but my impression from my return trip is that that stretch of 40 miles provides lots of interesting and varied scenery.

When the sun is not out, we don't see color very well. That's because the cones in our eyes, which are responsible for color vision, need more light. During low light the rods in our eyes provide black and white vision. (See Rods & Cones.) A few lines from Paul Simon's song Kodachrome comes to mind:

Everything looks worse in black and white

They give us those nice bright colors
Give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world's a sunny day

When I look through my blog I'm amazed at how vivid the colors are, but I know that I've done a substantial amount of riding when the sun was not out. When that's the case I'm less likely to stop to take a picture. Does my blog make you think all the world's a sunny day?

Previous day: Sears Bellows County Park, NY, to Montauk Point, NY, and Return

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