Rockaways via Bedford Avenue to Atlantic Beach

July 3, 2016 | ~26 miles

We’ve biked to the Rockaways before, but this time we did it a bit differently. Instead of our usual  ride along Ocean Parkway towards Coney Island, we decided to take Bedford Avenue to Sheepshead Bay, a much smoother ride than the bike path on Ocean Parkway. It also puts us closer to the Rockaways.

We spent time at Jacob Riis Beach taking in the scene and enjoying the beach.  The feeling of the sun was wonderful!

We rode along the boardwalk all through the Rockaways. It was surprisingly awesome and unexpected to experience the active beach community. There were places along the way where the damage from hurricane Sandy was visible, but also the rebuild was stronger and sturdier than before. There was a designated bike path on the boardwalk. We decided to keep going and to check out Atlantic Beach in Nassau County, Long Island. It wasn’t much further from the Rockaways and very tempting to ride across the Atlantic Beach bridge. We had to walk our bikes across the bridge. All the signs pointed to fines for doing otherwise. You know you’re crossing into Long Island when the signs for fines are big and bold and everywhere.  It was a $250 fine for riding your bikes and $1000 for diving or fishing from the draw bridge.

Atlantic Beach was nice but it was a private beach, resort style.  People were playing bocce right below us when we stopped on the boardwalk.  We biked along the boardwalk for a bit and we resisted the temptation to keep going further out into Long Island.  It was getting late and it was time to head back.  We biked to the Inwood station to get the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) train back to Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn.