I brought my bike with me to Long Island this past weekend, knowing that I would have some time Sunday morning to get in a ride.  I decided to drive to Newbridge Road Park then ride along a bike path to Jones Beach State Park from there, a nice 15 mile round trip.  Newbridge Road Park played a HUGE part in my youth- I was a BMX racer and that’s where the local track was located.  Every single Sunday morning, April thru October, from 1983-1988, that’s where you would find me, unless I was traveling to a regional- or national-level event, so I figured it would be nice to check out my old stomping grounds.

Here is a picture of the track from atop the starting hill, circa 1985 (yes, I’m one of the riders in the picture….)

And here is a picture from outside the fence, taken yesterday morning.

The starting hill that my dad was standing on when he took that photo of me would have been just on the other side of this fence. To imagine his perspective, climb over that fence, walk about 30 feet then turn right and you’d have the same view he had.

I knew that the track had shut down in the early-90s and I also had heard that Mr West, the track operator (he leased the property from the Town of Hempstead), leveled the track before he turned the property back over to the town.

Still, it was a really sad sight to see.