Northeast - Bike paths in Northern NJ?

Hey everyone,

I am new to New Jersey from Northern California. I know, what was I thinking right?

I am wondering if anyone knows of any beginner/intermediate bike paths in Northern NJ that I can ride on? I live in the Maywood/Paramus area and can ride around the neighborhood, but I have a feeling that will get old very fast.

Thanks!


Ashleigh

The Upper Saddle River bikepath is an obvious choice, try to avoid the nice weekends though if you want a nice ride. Also the Rockland Lake bikepath (in Nyack, NY) is not far and along the hudson. Both are paved so any bike is fine. Watch for baby strollers!

Jay

Yeah dude, you're clearly nuts. :D

http://www.njbikemap.com is an excellent resource, tons of maps with easy ways to differentiate between various types of roads, plus it marks out rail stations, stores and so forth.

In general your best bet for longer rides is to join the masses on Route 9 (a few miles East of Paramus). It has very wide shoulders and moderate traffic, so tons of cyclists ride up to Piermont, Nyack or even Bear Mountain if they want a hilly century.

Hi Ashley and welcome to New Jersey,
Very near you, there is a beautiful path that goes from Ridgewood to Saddlebrook. It is about 6 miles, if I remember correctly. So, if you did the whole thing out and back your lookin at 12 miles - not bad if you are riding a hybrid/comfort bike. Of course you can alays shorten your trip as is your wont.

The most direct route from your area is to take Rout 17 north to Ridgewood avenue going west. You'll go perhaps 1 mile or so and you'll come to the intersection of Ridgewood Avenue and Paramus Road. Continue on Ridgewood for 100 or 150 yards and teh entrance to the park is on your right. From there the path takes you south. Simply ask someone, if you can't find it, where the path starts.
The whole drive from Maywood is maybe 4 miles.

Alternatively, you can also enter the path via Century Road or Paramus road further south. Again take route 17 north and go to Century road West. Make a right turn on to Paramus road and teh entrance to the park is about 1/4 mile on the left.

The above assumes you'd drive to the park/bike path. Otherwise, there are many other entrances/exits all along the path.

Best regards

This is the same Upper Saddle River bikepath I mentioned. The park along Ridgewood Ave, just south of Paramus road is commonly known as the "Duck Pond" because, as you've guessed, it has a small pond in it that are commonly habited by ducks. It has restrooms and lots of parking in various places...and the bike path goes under Ridgewood Ave..

Jay

I feel like such an idiot. I've seen that pond about a million times. Not only do I pass it every time I go to the Ridgewood Bicycle Shop, but it's right across my dermatologist whom I visited every month for two years... I never even knew that there was a bike path there. I now know the first place I'm going once I get a cyclocomputer.