SomniumCycle

Hey all, I'm actually from Jersey, pretty far up north, just about 10 miles from the GWB. I know the area up here really well so just about any route that starts up or around NYC would be great.

I downloaded a set of maps from NJ Bike Maps, so I am fairly confident I can plot myself a route, but if anyone has taken the ride before I would love to get some input.

I searched on the forums a bit but am having trouble finding this particular trip.

ckelly49

Where are you starting and ending? The Jersey Shore is pretty general. I have a route I could possibly hook you up with.

SomniumCycle

yeah, I probably should have been more specific. I will be ending down on Long Beach Island, I am starting up in Bergen County, but I'm confident I could use anywhere north of Newark as a starting point.

A friend just suggested up through Montclair, down through Bound Brook, to Princeton then all the way up Old County Rd 539 to rt 72. I really like the 539 idea, but the area up in Montclair is may be a bit to hilly for us to enjoy.

Which route did you take?

ckelly49

I went from Dumont to Lavallette on a route also through Montclair. It would have been more direct for me to head straight south, but that would have taken me through Newark and Elizabeth which I was not really comfortable with. I enjoy climbing and there are some hills in the Montclair/South Mountain area, but definitely not anything that I would consider hilly. Over the course of the 100 miles there was roughly 3500ft of uphill.
Truthfully, the worst part for me was past that, especially after I went over the Victory Bridge and Raritan Bay. Route 34/35 is just flat and straight with unchanging scenery for many miles.

A friend of mine rode from here down to LBI. I'm not sure of his route, but next time I see him I'll ask. He did say it was around 160ish miles.

You are going south so just keep telling yourself it's downhill the whole way.

SomniumCycle

haha, very true south = down

The first thing I tried was this lovely google maps for bike's feature, it to had me treking through Newark which is what I'm looking for alternative routes.

I think Montclair is going to be it.

ckelly49

I plugged the start/finish addresses into the google bike map also just to see how it compared to the route that I put together, it was terrible. That feature seems to work well in cities and places with well established bike paths. For my ride though the route had me riding on RT17, through Newark and Elizabeth, on RT9, all sorts of places you don't want to be riding a bicycle.

If you want to PM me your start town I could modify the route I took and map out something for you to work off of.

SomniumCycle

Thanks, I just sent you a pm.

Oh yeah, i used Google Maps also, it put me onto 17 also, 1 - 9, i just imagined myself on 1 - 9 in North Bergen trying to dodge all the 18 wheelers... I think I would feel safer taking the GSP all the way south.

AngryScientist 

hmm, i'm interested in this myself. i live about 1 mile from montclair (nutley) - can someone hook me up with the actual route?

also, if anyone is interested in taking the ride on a sat/sunday morning i'd be down to join...

ckelly49

You've got mail.

corbett1010

i ride rt 72 and 539 on a regular basis.

from new brunswick area you could take 527 to 537 to 539 to rt 72. dont know a thing north of that though, thats up to you

SomniumCycle

I worked up a route guys. Now north up to Montclair I know really well so I am comfortable with the leg of the trip. I went to school down in Lawrenceville, so I know the roads from LBI up through 539 fairly well, and with corbetts input I'm fairly certain I can make it to Princeton or even New Brunswick without any problems. It's the area between Montclair and Princeton that makes me nervous, I dont know it well at all.

This is my first try and the route, and input is really appreciated.
https://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united...26997479439049

I was thinking of dropping my route east a bit and riding on Glenside next to Watchung Reservation, then taking 527 through Warren where it intersects with Elizabeth ave. That will bring me down to County Rd 533, like Corbett suggested.

Suggestions are welcome, I'm really open to editing my route

zowie

I also live sort of near Montclair. Here's generally how I go -- I might have turn-by-turn at home, but this should get you started:

Branch Brook Park

MLK Blvd

Frelinghusen/Rt.27

Convery/Rt. 35

Local streets of your choice through South Amboy

Back on 35

Henry Hudson Bike Trail

A couple miles on 36 or use the hilly but scenic local streets and you're at Sandy Hook and can head South along The Shore; or first head south to Rumson, ride along the Navesink, and cross the Oceanic Bridge and get to Sea Girt.

Figure roughly 50 miles and mostly flat. Only intimidating part crime-wise is the first couple miles of 27, and traffic-wise is the section on 35 between South Amboy and the Henry Hudson Trail.

From there I've taken Ocean Avenue, 71, etc as far down as Manasquan/Bradley Breach. Never ventured as far as Long Beach Island.

zowie

That's an awful lot of extra mileage so hope that's what you want, and I think you've got some nice mountains after you get beyond Montclair.

If you're willing to give up scenery, you could eliminate a ton of turns by simply taking 27 straight through from Newark to Princeton.

AngryScientist 

is anyone interested in taking a BF escapade from the Montclair area down sometime this spring?

Papa Tom

>>>You are going south so just keep telling yourself it's downhill the whole way.<<<

I thought I was the only cyclist who thinks that way!

Dahon.Steve

Google Maps is worthless. Get a Garmin Legend Cx and the software and create your own route. I've traveled from Suferen New York back to Newark Penn Station many times with no problem. Don't be afraid of Newark or Elizabeth especially during the day.

SomniumCycle

We did want scenery, but we also want to make it to LBI with enough energy to enjoy ourselves. I am going to look into rt 27, as I said getting to Newark is easy. is route 27 generally a safe ride from Newark to Princeton?

gepilling

If you don't want to go through Newark, you might also consider going East of it rather than West, to save yourself a longer distance. I haven't done this ride before, but what I would do just by looking at the map is:

1. Go into NYC on the George Washington Bridge

2. Go down the bike path along the West side of Manhattan

3. Take a ferry from lower Manhattan to either Sandy Hook or Atlantic Highlands in NJ (I personally would choose this to give myself a bit of a rest since I don't know if I'd have the endurance to go nonstop)

4. Go down Ocean Ave which runs along the coast the whole way down to LBI. (Ocean Ave isn't the most bike-friendly road on the Northern section, but it widens out and has less traffic and wide shoulders South of about Long Branch... you can check it out on Google Street View.)

Overall, this route would be much more direct / fewer miles, and you'd get to see the ocean for a much longer time, which I'm assuming is the point of going to LBI anyway.

EDIT: Wait, I was thinking of Island Beach State Park, not Long Beach Island. To go to LBI, you'd have to go inland at some point because there's an inlet at the South end of Island Beach State Park, but you could still take Ocean Ave down to maybe Point Pleasant, and then figure a way to go slightly SW and on down to LBI.

Something like this

SomniumCycle

I like the ferry idea, if we get down there by 11:15 we can take a nice ferry ride to Sandy Hook, could be really nice.
I am gong to run it by my friend see what he thinks.

dendawg

https://www.seastreak.com/faresandschedules.aspx

$40 RT + $5 for a bicycle. Not sure if the bicycle charge is each way or RT. Sure wish they had better weekend service

SomniumCycle

We decided against the ferry for this trip, our first time we're going to stick to cycles.
So I'm back to plotting a land route, specifically from Newark to Princeton, does anyone have any experience riding rt 27?

gepilling

I can't help you with Route 27, but if you're going from Newark/North Jersey to Princeton then I would recommend using the D&R Canal Path starting from its Northern-most reaching section in Bound Brook and going down to Princeton. You'd be able to avoid traffic for a good distance (maybe 15+ miles) doing this and it's very scenic. Or at least take Canal Road which runs along the East side of the canal which is a small country road and generally has little traffic.

Also a word of warning when you get further South into the Pinelands: A lot of the roads Google takes you on if you're using the bike directions are actually dirt roads, and down here that means soft, powdery sand, so they are not appropriate for roads bikes at all. (Google presumably does this to take you on roads with lower volumes of traffic, which is nice, but it doesn't seem to know the difference between dirt roads and paved roads so you can't always trust it.)

So, you will want to go from Princeton towards County Road 539, which starts maybe 10 miles SE of Princeton near I-195. Take 539 down through Fort Dix/Lakehurst Air Base and continue until you get to Route 72/Barnegat Rd. You make a left onto 72 and it will bring you straight out over the bridge onto LBI. This is the most direct way on roads that I know are actually paved.

Here is a map of that

Finally, Route 72 gets wider and busier as you get towards the shore, and the bridge is NOT bike friendly, but it is your only option to get across the bay to LBI, so just be very careful, or you may even want to walk over the bridge on the bit of sidewalk it has.

SomniumCycle

Ok, thanks for all the input... I think we found of route, this is what we came up with.

River Vale to Rutherford

Rutherford to Bound Brook

Bound Brook to Princeton

Princeton to Beach Haven

A note on our trip from Bound Brook to Princeton. We have heard different opinions on the D&R Canal Path. We are going to be on road bike and have heard both that we can take them on the path and that we should avoid it. We figured once we got there we would decide and if we decide against it we'll be taking one of the roads that runs parallel to the canal.

We are taking the trip May 6th, once I get back up north I'll be sure to post the actual route with all the good info I can come up with. Thanks again!

ckelly49

You definitely aren't picking the scenic route through your first two sections.

SomniumCycle

Oh that's definitely true, but we live up here so I dont feel like I'm missing much. From Bound Brook to LBI will be scenic enough.