This Sunday was a busy day. I rode out to my new-found spot out in Captree State Park first thing (though instead of the Belt, I just rode the mid-town tunnel and LIE 495 out to exit 53, then headed South until the road ran out - shaved my drive to 30 minutes). After a quick conversation, and pit stop, I tried my luck over in Fire Island - known by many to be a great getaway, and rumored to be an exclusive, hard to reach spot. Though I had used Google earth to zoom into the area, and saw that there was a road that ran up and down Fire Island, I didn't realize until I arrived there at 10 am that it was all National Park, and only inhabitants/permanent residents with special permits can ride past the Coast Guard watch gate. There was an oh-so-friendly sign indicating that it was a Federal crime to trespass with unauthorized vehicles, so I tried to play it nice and waited for another car to drive up to the gate before me (figuring I could use them as cover). I dismounted my bike around a hilly corner, and walked it up (engine off) to the gate. I was greeted by a not-so-friendly coast guard officer, who told me I couldn't go further, and that I was lucky I wasn't riding, since it would have been a crime. Wow. He was kind enough to let me ride it back out, though. How kind. I'll have to try coming at the island from the other causeway further east... maybe next weekend.
Anyway, I then headed back into the city, and cut through midtown, hopped on the Holland tunnel and took 95 to the Garden State, and then to the Jersey Shore (dun dun dun). I was greeted with two near accidents, half a dozen reckless BMW cagers, and a dozens more obnoxious 20-something Italian meatheads driving midrange autos in a way that would give squids a run for their money. The only thing worse was the ubiquitous minivans driven by middle aged mothers, with children in the sides and backs staring back at me, waving flashy, silvery, toys at me that reflected the sun right back into my eyes. It was a nightmare. I've never felt so scared for my life. I know I'm always greeted with shock and horror when I tell others I ride in NYC, but trust me on this one - it's far safer than rural Jersey.
But it got me thinking, especially since I had just come from what could have been considered a likewise, similar topology in Long Island. But why the drastic change in driver attitude? I can't say for sure, but I think it has something to do with the roadways in Long Island. It seems that every highway and street along the water is either a scenic, sparesly wooded highway, or a quaint beach-town 1.5-laner. Long Island's marshland and beaches are uninhabited, and so you often find yourself riding on highways in the middle of nowhere. Jersey, on the other hand, packs unplanned housing right up to the water front, and retro-actively tries to connect patches of communities together with roads that resemble industrial park back-roads. Don't get me wrong - you definitely get a view of the water - but it is punctuated with broken down bars, decrepit restaurants, and trashy, pot-holed roads. Ugly.
I suspect it takes a direct drive from one to the other to really appreciate the difference, but I can only hope this might save you the misery of experiencing the "trashy" Jersey shore. Me? I'll take the "quaint" Long Island shore over Jersey any day.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment