First, thank you to Thaddeus for putting this route together last summer. A similar idea had been percolating in my mind for a while as well and I am grateful that you beat me to it. I hope to see more people take a crack at this route and I am confident that faster times will be posted.
My goal was to keep my HR sub-150 and cruise at 9:30-9:45ish pace for the first 40 miles and then just fight through the last 10 miles to the ferry to Shelter before the two ferry rides and two shorter sections. This plan was close to what I had done in a similar effort a few weeks back.
Ha. Never came close to achieving this. Between a heavy pack (4L of water/tailwind, 7 bars, spare fleece, and spare beanie and gloves) and some sort of cold/sore throat in recent days, my HR was elevated and my pace was slow right out of the gates.
The first 25 or so miles were enjoyable enough. But miles 25 to 45 were a bit of a battle. Long stretches of monotonous and busy roads with little to no shoulder. Couldn’t keep HR behaved and couldn’t settle into good rhythm.
Caught a second wind when I hit Greenport at mile 48 knowing that I would soon get a break on the ferry and then had only two short sections left - 4.5ish miles on Shelter Island followed by another ferry and then 2.5ish miles through North Haven.
Stopped twice on Shelter to buy water (1.5L and 1.0L) bringing total water consumption to 6L. Highlight of the day was briefly chatting with a WWII Veteran at the Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy.
All in all a successful day. It wasn’t elegant and it wasn’t as fast or as enjoyable as I would have liked. But can’t not be content shaving 2+hours off of the FKT.
Splits:
Start/Finish - Bay Point (Harbor Dr and Noyac-Long Beach Rd) in Sag Harbor
Bay Point to Greenpoint/North Ferry - 49.15 miles, 8:31:01
North Ferry (wait and ferry ride) - 16:01
Shelter Island - 4.74 miles, 55:09
South Ferry (wait and ferry ride) - 10:16
South Ferry to Bay Point - 2.41 miles, 20:09