Introductions - Greetings from Jersey

Hi all,

Just signed on here. I'm the girlfriend/wife that you bike fanatics complain about. Just not into cycling.

I had a Trek 4300 that I bought while living out in PA for a while. I know virtually nothing about bikes (they have 2 wheels right?). After I met my bike fanatic boyfriend, first thing he said when he saw it was that it was way too big for me. The guy at the bike shop swore I needed a 21" bike, when apparently it should have been more like 17". :mad: I was very aggravated and sold the bike on Ebay. That was my first new bike I had ever had. The bike I had as a kid was a Huffy Sun Scamp (I think that was the name) that my dad got for $10 at a garage sale. It was bright orange. Quite ugly, but I rode it all over the place. Until I got the Trek in 2001, I hadn't been on a bike for probably 13 years. :rolleyes:

The house I bought sits near some beautiful old canal paths (Delaware & Raritan Canal), so now I've got it in my head to give those a shot. The bike fanatic tells me to use one of his bikes, but they all cost several thousand $ and I'm afraid to even look at them, let alone ride one. So I have begun my quest for a new bike, the right size this time. I'll be hanging around in the recreational & family forum mostly, so if anyone knows any good (preferably flattish) trails in the NJ-eastern PA area, I'd love to hear about them.

Robyn

Welcome to Bikeforums, Robyn! :)

Greetings and WELCOME, Jersey Girl! The guys on this forum are dreamy. And the girls are pretty great, too. You will like it here!

:)

Welcome to Bikeforums, JerseyGirl. I am originally from Jersey myself.

:D

I just got a trek 6700 at my local bike shop and It was a grand. The bike is very nice, I would recomend a trek because they specialize in making women's bikes. www.trekbikes.com and it depends what type of bike you want (a road or a mountain) and you should really explore your choices.

Howdy ho, there JerseyGirl! I'm in Upper Bucks Co. Pa and really enjoy riding the Delaware - Raritan canal paths. We usually ride from New Hope down the Pensy side cross the river at Washington's Crossing then come back the Jersey side to cross back over on the New Hope bridge. It's a nice ride of about 17 miles round trip. I much prefer the Pensy side of the journey, a meandering path between the river and the canal with a neat little spillway ford. I find the PA side to be ummmm... boring. Table top flat and railroad straight and it feels like it's right on the shoulder of Rt 29.

Welcome back to the fold. Find a bike you like (regardledd of the price) and enjoy. :)

Hi Robyn - You might enjoy some of the bike paths in Tyler Park, just outside of Newtown, PA. Also, Washington's Crossing Park has some dirt trails, but I don't know if they allow bicycles any more. Peace Valley Park (aka Lake Galena) is just north of Doylestown, and they have some scenic paved trails around the lake also. As far as the bikes being too expensive to ride or even look at... Remember that a ship is safest in the harbor, but that's not what ships are built for :) Enjoy the ride, whatever bike you choose.

If the bike fanatic tells you to ride one of his bikes, he must like you big time. If they fit, ride them. If he sees you enjoying it, it will be all the reward he will want.

Hi Robyn,

I am new here, as of 2005. I thought I'd review recent intro posts before introducing myself.
I lived in the New Brunswick area for 12 years including my four at Rutgers, on the banks of the old Raritan.
At the time, I rode a Panasonic 10 speed everyday. It was a thouroughly ordinary bike, I guess, though it seems to have garnered some reputation in retrospect.

Since I only commuted with it, and it was long before mountain bikes became popular, I don't know any trails. I like to think, if transported by some unhappy circumstance (I currently live in paradise-Peoples Republic of Berkeley) back to New Brunswick, I would find lots of places to ride. The canal is tame but picturesque and an ideal place to learn your machine and develop muscle tone.

Good luck with the bike nut and listen to his advice, even if it seems he wants too much credit/authority. This is a wonderful sport and you're prolly in good hands.

Enjoy,
Paul

Freeman's in Frenchtown is selling this past season's rental MTBs at good prices. There are also a number of good LBSs around your area, which your bike fanatic probably knows about already, eh? On the PA side, Guy's, Newtown, Cycle Sports, Evolution; Freeman's in NJ.

I think Stacey meant to write that the NJ side is somewhat flat, boring, and along Rte 29. I agree; however, much of the PA side was decimated by the recent floods and is in very rough condition. On the NJ side, there's two parts to the D&) Trail, I believe, one along the river, the other running inland from near Trenton, I think. The river version runs from about Trenton up to Frenchtown; when open and passable, the PA trail runs about 60 miles, from Morrisville all the eay to Easton. Lots of beautiful old iron bridges across the river where you can cross from one side to the other, for variety.

A "road" trip might be to the trails in Jim Thorpe, PA. There are also several locally-published books about local SE PA trails, probably available to peruse in your LBS or library.

Heck, if you're looking for hills (road or mtn), come up north to western Passaic or Sussex County. We have the hills you are looking for. :D

Jay

Hi - I'm new to forum too. I got back into biking on canal path several years ago. Bought a Trek 930 (front suspension, wide tires, cost about $600) at Highland Park Cyclery. Bought a Trek 2300 road bike ($1500+) this fall and love it. If you aren't really thrilled about biking, but like to get outdoors, the canal paths in the area are great - you can ride from Rutgers to Princeton and on other canal/rail paths in the area. If you want to try road biking, contact one of the local clubs (http://www.suburbancyclists.org/links.htm) and start with a "C" ride using one of Fanatics' road bikes. Very friendly people, lots of women, comfortable rides. Hunterdon County is one of the best places to ride in the whole country - rolling, winding roads, hills/no hills options, generally considerate and light vehicle traffic, etc. Also, a great web resource is NJ Bike Map (http://www.njbikemap.com/index.htm).

I belong to Suburban Cyclists (which Terex mentions) and to another club, Central Bucks Bike Club, www.cbbikeclub.org. For riding along the Delaware River area, CBBC offers many more rides at less-aggressive paces than SCU, and, in my opinion, is much more suitable to newbies or riders getting used to group rides.

greetings! if your interested, north jersey critical masses will be riden monthly starting the last friday in april. for more information, feel free to contact me.

I used to live in Basking Ridge, NJ myself.