The Official Highway to Hell: Merritt Parkway

It's official: I've found the highway to hell, and damn was it fun! I was in Hartford, CT the other day, and I decided to try a different way back to the city besides I-95. I threw the coordinates into the GPS, and noticed this new highway that I'd almost forgotten about, which runs parallel to I-95 almost the whole way along the CT coast:

The Merritt Parkway, or Route 15

Hot diggity damn. This is the most fun I think I've ever had on a bike. How can I explain?

-Two small, narrow lanes
-Average speed of all traffic: 70 mph
-Tight, cambered turns
-Huge hills to climb up and down
-Traffic merging in from on-ramps on the right
-Scenic trees all around, with a nature (not rubber) scent in the air
-Picturesque, little roadway bridges crossing the highway
-Sharing the road with Porsches, Ferraris, and Lamborghinis
-No Jersey drivers
-Dodging and weaving traffic
-Super fast left lane speeders

Seriously, this was an adrenaline ride like none other I've ever felt. It makes I-95 feel sterile, neutered, and sedate. It's probably the closest thing NY and CT has to an official race track circuit, with the added benefit of having full, neck-to-neck traffic spinning around at insane paces.

I recall my youth, when I was driving around in a car in CT and NY, and how scared I used to be driving on the Merritt parkway. I remember dreading the on-ramps, because of having to time the acceleration perfectly (this is so much fun now on a bike). I remember the tight turns and blind hills used to frighten me as well, and I'd be pumping with adrenaline. And that was in a car!

I have three different kinds of advice, therefore:

-Advanced riders: no way, stay off this road. That way I can keep it to myself.

-Intermediate riders: no way, stay off this road, until you've driven a few days in Manhatten traffic - at night - in the fog - on Park Avenue - in rush hour - in the winter - after a light snow - (insert 1 or 2 more compounding factors). That way I can keep it to myself.

-Beginning riders: no one ever considers themselves beginning riders, so why does it even matter? I hate these sections. How about this: drive to the Merritt Parkway, and drive a few exist. If you're sweating like a madman, with heart palpitations, jitters, and dehydration after 3 exits, you're an intermediate rider. Otherwise, you're dead and now you know: you're a beginner :-)

Seriously, be safe.

I've found that the best strategy is to ride near the dotted line, and then ride a car gap when approaching on ramps. Cars tend to drift into the left lane at he last minute. I'm assuming, of course, that you're in the left lane, because trying to ride the right lane is sure catastrophe, especially near off-ramps, where cars in the left rapidly cross 2 lanes to exit.