Union and Middlesex counties in NJ - Ideas for an experimental commute, anyone?

[neilfein]

Hi ho, everybody!

I'm taking the afternoon off this Friday, so I'll have time to try some new twists and turns on the ride home. Anyone have any weird and wacky ideas to add to this route?

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Work-to-Home-7-3-u-a
For comparison, this is the route I usually take:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Work-to-Home-7-2u-bIn particular, I'm looking for any little-known bike paths or walkways that might be interesting. I'm okay with a little longer of a ride, I'll have many hours to kill before we leave for DC that evening.

[HenryL]

Move your first road to Salem, ride to 5 points (evil intersection); Galloping Hill to Kenilworth blvd, busy near parkway but opens up as you pass through Kenilworth, to Nomahegan Park, follow bike path all the way through to Echo Lake Park, (right then left in to Echo Lake Park). Left on Mountain Ave, Left on Dudley to North, first left under RR bridge and straight to w Broad. W Broad to Martine, turn left onto Martine, then right onto Cooper. Ride to end, left on Rahway, can take to Inman and you know where you are.

[neilfein]

Move your first road to Salem, ride to 5 points (evil intersection); Galloping Hill to Kenilworth blvd, busy near parkway but opens up as you pass through Kenilworth, to Nomahegan Park, follow bike path all the way through to Echo Lake Park, (right then left in to Echo Lake Park). Left on Mountain Ave, Left on Dudley to North, first left under RR bridge and straight to w Broad. W Broad to Martine, turn left onto Martine, then right onto Cooper. Ride to end, left on Rahway, can take to Inman and you know where you are.

Salem Road isn't my favorite place to bike; it's lined with trucks that like to back out of the loading docks there at a moment's notice.

Galloping Hill Road: I think you have a deathwish. The area between Chestnut and the GSP is suicide. The speed limit is 25MPH, but cars commonly go 45. Then again, I ride on route 28 near the Parkway regularly, so I really have no right to say anything about this...

But the rest of that sounds nice. I could take Colfax to Michigan and then turn left onto Kenilworth Boulevard. Not for this week, but maybe the next.

[neilfein]

Henry, I worked your suggestions into an alternate route:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Work-to-Home-7-3-u-b

I thought Scotch Plains was a lot hillier than the elevation profile suggests. The couple of times I've bikes there, I always end up on narrow, steep, twisty streets where cars can't see youy until they're on top of you. But this looks like a nice ride. Thanks!

[HenryL]

When I lived in Roselle Park I remember Salem being a residential street but I trust your judgement. You found a nice way around 5 points as well, a much better alternative.

Be careful on Woodland ave, it is narrow with several rises which will make you invisible to overtaking cars, Park ave has a wide shoulder and is dead flat, not as scenic but potentially safer.

[neilfein]

When I lived in Roselle Park I remember Salem being a residential street but I trust your judgement. You found a nice way around 5 points as well, a much better alternative.

Salem is an odd street. One side is indeed residential, the other is warehouses and plants.

Be careful on Woodland ave, it is narrow with several rises which will make you invisible to overtaking cars, Park ave has a wide shoulder and is dead flat, not as scenic but potentially safer.

Thanks for the tip; I've rerouted.

[Feathers]

cool maps!

[neilfein]

cool maps!

Thanks. I have a map addiction; I have almost as much fun playing with the maps as I do cycling the routes.

[The Historian]

Thanks. I have a map addiction; I have almost as much fun playing with the maps as I do cycling the routes.

I can attest to this. Half the travel time of our first tour was devoted to Neil F. playing with maps. Sometimes upside down....