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Old 01-14-08 | 12:19 PM
  #19  
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Jay H
One less car
20 Anniversary
 
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 981
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From: The Berkshires, MA

Bikes: '08 Soma Groove (commuter/long distance tourer), '97 Lemond Zurich (road commuter/tourer),'01 Seven Axiom Ti, '03 Look KG381i, '01 Santa Cruz Superlite X

I don't really have any cue sheets, but just look at the roads. I've done some road rides through bergen county as far east as Glen Rock but since I live out here and Bergen County is really dense, I really don't know the roads there. However, you can do a very good estimate of the traffic density by looking at the road via a County map or Google Maps these days... Before I-287 was put in, 202 was a pretty major road and right now it still is a pretty high trafficed road with a narrow shoulder. It's a big commuter route for points between Oakland and Mahwah so I would pick a ride there non-rush hour. A good place to start would be the Ramapo Reservation which is a bergen county park for hikers and dog walkers. You might get questioned about your bike cause there is no MTBing in the park but presumably you're on a road bike and you can easily state that you're just parking there (free). You can connect to Pulis via any of the roads that go there, Darlington is one, you can even ride to Campgaw just to check it out and perhaps to add more mileage. It's a dead end.

Just doing the loop via 202 to Darlington to Pulis to Franklin and back is I think only 15 miles and just small rolling hills but a big downhill on Franklin just before it meets 202 in Oakland.

If you want something even more hilly, head even further west to the highlands region of NJ which Bloomingdale is at the base of. Riding from say Norvin Green State Forest, I'm going to spit out roads/landmarks which you can find on a county level map. I don't recall all the road names but with a county level map, you should be able to figure it out.

I would start at my house since I like to ride from my house, but since I don't live there anymore you could probably park at say the Samuel R Donald school which i'm sure you can google for an address.

1)Glenwild Ave head north and west (generally)
2)Becomes otter Hole road (a decent climb!, which is why i say start further away to warm up a bit)
Go past Norvin Green State Forest otter hole parking lot art the bloomingdale/west milford border
3)West Brook Ave going towards ringwood Ave and by the Wanaque Reservoir
4)Cross Ringwood Ave by the Skylands Diner and head towards Skyline lakes.
5)head north towards Skyline Drive (can be busy) via Hilltop (steep hill!!) and Altavista.
6)Make a left onto Skyline drive by the gas station and McDonalds (careful)
7)Descend steep downhill towards a triangle
8)at the triangle make a right onto Erskine road and go towards Erskine lake.
9)Start going clockwise around Erskine Lake but head towards Cupsaw lake
10)At Cupsaw, again go clockwise around the lake and almost go all the way around but make the sharp left to Glen->Stetson->Skylands road. this brings you into Ringwood State Park which you can MTB in and ride around getting to the double eagles at the park entrence which is Morris Road. Ride down a HUGE-ASS hill (be careful of potholes, seriously... to get back to Sloatsburg road.
11)make a right onto Sloatsburg to go into Orange county
12)make a left onto Long Meadow road at the traffic light
13)make a right onto Eagle Valley road
14)take Eagle Valley all the way to a left onto Sterling Mine road.
15)make a left (watch traffic on the downhill) back onto Eagle Valley
16)Make a left at the light onto Rt 17 for a very short time
17)Make an immediate right at the train station to Mill st and take the back way to Seven Lakes drive.
18)Now you're in harriman and you can do the race loop, ride out to Lake Tiorati or any numerous loops...

ride back south.... This is very easily 100+ miles because you can always do options of riding around the lakes completely, or you can even ride into Tuxedo park via Southgate road (just bike around the unmanned gate..shhhhh!). off of Eagle valley road. Heck, you can ride to frickin Maine that way because I did it before

Tuxedo park is a very nice ride cause, as a gated community, you wont find much traffic and you'll be riding among Bentleys and ultrarich mansions... And you can take a short 100ft bushwack to Warwick Brook road and then do a loop.. there too without going into harriman..

Jay
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