The Ride To Montauk

Volunteering in Mastic

This weekend, I crossed another item off my LI bucket list by biking across the east end of Long Island. “The Ride To Montauk” is an incredible event during which thousands of cyclists bike from Manhattan, Babylon, or Mastic all the way to Montauk (distances of 150, 108, or 73 miles). Riders have participated in this annual event for fifty years, and now that I’ve done it, I see why.

My friend Genai and I started the day by volunteering in Mastic, where we spent three hours helping people find their bikes amidst hundreds. It was clear that we’d be the minority in the field; most of the bikes we were handing off were road/touring bikes, while we’d be riding a hybrid and a cruiser. Challenge accepted.

Volunteering was a great way to start the day. In return for our service we rode for free, avoiding the $150 registration fee. Those who did pay helped fund the many amenities offered throughout the day: Food, water, first aid, bike maintenance, porter potties at every rest stop; shuttles to Montauk for anyone ending early; emergency roadside assistance; PIE FROM BRIERMERE FARMS; hot showers, massages, BBQ, and beer at the end. Yum!

The First Leg: Mastic to Westhampton (~14 miles)

Holy cow!

Due to the mass of riders who arrived on the train from Manhattan all at once, Genai and I volunteered an extra hour to help with the chaos. When it was finally over we took off our volunteer vests, strapped on our helmets, and hit the road. We had a lot of time to make up since we’d planned to leave around 9 AM rather than 10 AM, but based on our estimate we’d bike ~10 mph and still finish by the 6 PM deadline. We had a map, but with so many cyclists going the same way it was easy to follow the crowd. Also helpful were the clearly-marked directional symbols painted on the ground along the route, making it nearly impossible to get lost (somehow a couple people still managed to go the wrong way…very impressive).

Riding with such a large crowd of bikers (more than 2000!) was really cool. Since this wasn’t a race, there was no sense of competition among riders. If someone wanted to pass, they simply called out “Left” and coasted past. It felt so good each time Genai and I were able to pass someone, since in most instances our bikes were not nearly as nice as theirs (okay, so maybe some of those riders started in Manhattan at 5 AM, but it still felt good).

14 Miles In: Rest Stop At The Westhampton Presbyterian Church

Westhampton, our first rest stop.

 Just as we started to waiver, the first rest stop appeared. We pulled in, parked, and went in search of food. First we found big bowls of black grapes…delicious. Next we headed to the sandwich station for real nourishment. Peanut butter, almond butter, Nutella, taboule, and…where’s the bread?! Yes, 11:30 AM and the Westhampton rest stop was already out of bread. There were also no plastic spoons, so no way to eat that wonderful protein without contaminating the metal spoons in each jar. By a stroke of good fortune, a volunteer brought over some pretzel packets while I was standing there, so Genai and I were able to snag one to share in the two seconds they were on the table (it was like magic how fast they disappeared). The bits of peanut butter we spread on those pretzels tasted soooooo good.After waiting around hoping the volunteer who’d left to buy bread would come back, we decided we were losing too much time and should just find something on the road. We ate some of Genai’s emergency chocolate (so glad she brought it!) and discussed our plan. Genai was not doing so well on the cruiser, so we decided to switch bikes for the next leg.

Second Leg: Westhampton to Water Mill (~26 miles)

As soon as I started pedaling the cruiser I understood why Genai needed a break. Holy moly that thing was hard; I definitely had to pedal a couple miles before I got into a groove (once I found a groove though, I was good to go!). To add to the challenge, this part of the route included Dune Road, a beautiful but extremely breezy road along the waterfront. Between the wind, our hunger, and our bikes, Dune Road seemed to go on forever. To help pass the time, we talked about what kind of pie we hoped to eat at the end. For the record, I was hoping for blueberry crumb and Genai wanted raspberry.

At the top of Ponquogue Bridge.

As the miles wore on and there was still no sign of food, we started getting desperate. At one point I saw a squished, unopened Larabar on the road and almost stopped to get it. When we passed a cyclist sitting on the grass eating a sandwich, we just stared at her as we rode past. But then…finally…around 12 miles in as we were about to turn onto Montauk Highway, we saw a gas station. Never in my life have I have been so happy to buy food from a gas station. Its tiny shop was full of cyclists with the same idea as us; I bet that station set a new record for sales of Clif bars that day! We enjoyed every bite of our Clif bars, chatted with the other riders, and pumped up the cruiser’s tires before going back out on the road.

With new air in the tires, new energy in our bodies, and a flat road ahead, the next few miles flew by. The extra air in those wheels made a huge difference; the cruiser was still slowing us down, but to a much lesser degree. During this leg I was even able to ride up the fairly steep Ponquogue Bridge in Hampton Bays, passing riders on road bikes who’d decided to walk up the hill. I was invincible! We stopped at the top for photos and some celebratory chocolate.

Windmill!

40 Miles In: Rest Stop At The Water Mill Village Green

After finishing the final pedal strokes of that 26-mile leg, we pulled in rather gracefully to the second rest stop (aka I rode up and promptly fell over with the bike on the grass). This stop was beautiful, with a giant windmill, soft green grass, and…FOOD!!! Fresh fruit, mixed nuts, peanut butter, almond butter, Nutella, jams, chocolate, Oreos, jelly beans…it was heaven! There was even bread! You could tell that a lot of riders were drained at this point; there were scores of cyclists lying in the grass.

We spent a good amount of time at this stop taking photos and eating way too much (I was so excited about the almond butter that I put a ton on a piece of bread and tried to eat quickly as it dripped on the ground and my shoe). Too soon, it was time to move on. Just another 13 miles until the last rest stop!

Third Leg: Water Mill to Amagansett (~13 miles)

After biking so far to Water Mill, the distance to Amagansett seemed like a breeze. It was a fairly easy ride with minimal wind, but we were feeling the pressure of the time crunch and the exertion of the ride as the miles added up. We also began seeing fewer riders on the road…we were running out of time! We took a quick water break and checked our distance: 2 miles to go. We decided to switch bikes for the final miles, thinking we might have to call it quits at the next stop…

56 Miles In: Rest Stop at Amagansett

…raspberry pie!

“We ride for pie!”

At 5:50 PM we rode into the last rest stop, which closed at 5:30 PM. The few cyclists hanging around were those waiting to be shuttled to Montauk. Knowing we still had 18 miles and 1 1/2 hours to go if we kept riding, we made the decision to load our bikes onto the van and call it a day. Lucky for us, this rest stop was still handing out delicious pie from the amazing Briermere Farms. I’ve eaten my fair share of Briermere pie in my life, but I don’t think it ever tasted as good as it did after those 56 miles. And for the record, the pie we ate was peach and…raspberry.

Camp Hero State Park: Montauk, NY

Cheers from Montauk!

The shuttle ride to Montauk was a great relief. We rode with a handful of exhausted cyclists, all with sore butts and satisfied spirits. We may not have made it all the way to Montauk, but we still accomplished something amazing. Plus, watching all the cyclists we passed during those final miles made me feel grateful I was not having to conquer those steep hills. Maybe next year…

At Camp Hero, we found our bags (which had been driven to Montauk earlier that day) and headed straight for the shower trucks. I’ve never seen anything like those shower trucks; they were great! Then we enjoyed freshly grilled veggie burgers and local Blueberry Ale courtesy of the Bluepoint Brewing Company. Finally, we checked our bikes so they’d be transported back to the right place,  said our goodbyes, and headed to our respective busses home (free transportation to Mastic and Manhattan..perfect). We both made off with fresh fruit and a whole box of pie each, since they had so many extras. A truly wonderful way to end a fantastic day.

Looking forward to the road ahead…

The Adventure Continues…

Genai and I both had a great time at The Ride To Montauk, and I am certainly looking forward to doing it again next year. To have accomplished such a journey on the bikes we had felt like a superhero feat, and neither of us were super sore afterwards! The next day, I am proud to say I continued my amazing weekend of adventures by pitching six strikeouts in five innings during my first softball game, and catching every ball hit to me in the outfield in the second game. Two more wins for our team; we are on fire!

This was definitely one of my favorite weekends of the year. I love riding my bike to begin with, but to do it with such beautiful weather at such a great event was really special. I have a feeling there are a lot more biking adventures ahead, but I will always cherish my first Ride To Montauk. Looking forward to the next one!