Girls Bike NYC: Long Beach
The latest Girls Bike NYC ride was a 50+ mile round trip to Long Beach. I grew up on Long Island and have been to Long Beach dozens of times but never by bicycle and definitely not from Brooklyn!
We gathered at Grand Army Plaza, our normal start point, and left with a group of 28 people! We took the best ever route down to Sheepshead Bay, avoiding Bedford Avenue and Ocean Parkway by taking much quieter and more residential streets. This might have to be my new go-to route anytime I decide to head south.
From Sheepshead Bay, we took the Shore Parkway Greenway over to the Rockaways and began our start of boardwalk riding at Jacob Riis Park.
The boardwalk was surprisingly empty for the time we were riding there but it made for a great ride along the beach. WE EVEN SAW DOLPHINS. This is the first time I have ever ridden the full length of the boardwalk in the Rockaways and I’ll definitely be taking this route again.
Now, for the exciting part - taking the Atlantic Beach Bridge from Far Rockaway to the barrier island that makes up Long Beach. There were signs posted requiring cyclings to dismount on the pedestrian walkway. Ok, we won’t use the pedestrian walkway! 28 of us doubled up and took the lane to make our way across the bridge.
It was easier than expected and my confidence was bolstered by the handful of cyclists who had crossed right ahead of us. After this section, it was back to smooth sailing on the boardwalk to our destination, Riptides. As usual, our group took over.
The food was delicious and the Riptides’ staff were great to us, helping out when we were a couple of bucks short (cash only) and refilling our water bottles for the ride back.
Before rolling out, we got our group photo, Kate included!
Photo Credit: Stranger on the boardwalk
Now, if you thought crossing the bridge to get to Long Beach was fun, wait till you see what we had to contend with once we were back on the Brooklyn side of the Atlantic Beach Bridge!
It turns out, there is only a pedestrian walkway on the west side of the bridge, which meant we were on the wrong side of the toll booth lanes by the time we had ridden back over the bridge. Time for some frogger!
Video Credit: Stephanie
Video Credit: Stephanie
After this last crossing, it was an easy ride back to Prospect Park. The boardwalks were a little more crowded with it being later in the day, but it was still such a nice ride along the water. We took yet ANOTHER beautiful route back north, avoiding Ocean Parkway and Bedford Avenue again.
We got to the southern part of Prospect Park so it was just the Prospect Park hill standing between us and our finish line. For SOME REASON, everyone decided we would book it up the hill, back to Grand Army Plaza. Good for everyone else but I definitely didn’t set any PRs on this attempt.
I hate hills.
