Central Jersey here, only road biking and generally long rides (50 -120 miles on weekends, 20 - 40 on week days). I usually lead out of Cranbury on Saturday mornings. I sometimes lead from GS exit 120 (Matawan), Bed 1 (Bedminster), Brookdale College (Lyncroft), or Allentown, NJ. I prefer rides that go south to Chatsworth/Tabernacle but also have rides to Ringoes, Sandy Hook, Brielle, Chester, Lambertville, etc.


My favorite rides are down to the Pine Barrens (Wharton State Forest) and rides that go through Peapack/Gladstone.

Hey Jersey! Essex county over here!

Shore area - Exit 105
Love the 10 mile bike path on Sandy Hook

Ncherry, what time do you go on weekdays? Do you have a big group?

The largest group I've ever had was 8 people, I tend to have about 3 or four people. Next week I'll have three + me. It's 8AM and it's a club ride (which means that I let guests ride 2 rides before I have to say no). I belong to Central Jersey Bike Club and Princeton Freewheelers. Stops are about 20 miles apart except for one section which is about 30 miles long. There are no shops along the way so make sure your bike is in good condition.

Start: 8AM
Location: Village Park Cranbury NJ
Distance: 105+ miles

Take a look at: Cranbury-Chatsworth-Pine-Barrens-Century

Send me email if your going to ride with us. (I think you can do it from here).

+1 on Essex County as well. West Orange for me. Looking for good routes to ride if anyone has any?

I'm a flat lander (I ride the Barrens) but I can tell you about a great place to help you create your own rides. Check out NJ Bike Map. Dustin has been working on this for years and it's one of the greatest resources I know of for creating my own rides. Dustin checks out the roadways and creates the maps. Also, find a local bike club, they'll have routes and the riders can give you ideas!. I've been posting my routes to Bikely.com and you can search for NJ routes there, that might help.

Thanks ncherry! These sites are great. Going to mess around on Bikely to create a few routes on my own. Not sure about the distances they show though - how accurate are they?

Maymyride.com is also cool, especially with the elevation

I've used it for several of my centuries and the routes are pretty accurate. I think I had a mile difference at most on the centuries and double metric I've ridden. I'm pretty good at trying to match the points I add to the turns. It's a PITA but my riders don't like when my ride doesn't match what's advertised.

Eatontown and/or Sea Bright here (monmouth county).

I'm usually riding along the beach on ocean ave.

Sea Bright to the top of Sandy Hook, then back south again all the way to Manasquan.
Then north again to the top of Sandy Hook and then back to Sea Bright.

75 miles of girls in Bikinis.
I LOVE IT!

If you see a pink Bianchi on the road or my soon to be Silver Soma, say hi.

-Dean

Dean, I'm in Middletown, a few miles from Sandy Hook. How is Ocean Ave/R 36 from Sandy Hook down? Never rode that... is the shoulder wide enough? I know it's a narrow busy road....

Anyone have a detailed map of the Bergen County bike path? The one on the NJbike map is pretty buried. Somebody has to have mapped it on mapmyride or bikely or something. I'm hoping to do a ride there soon.

On weekends it's terrible, the BENNYS over run the place and it's crowded. Going from Rumson Ave to Sandy Hook isn't too bad. The shoulder has lots of grates in it and tends to be heavy on the sand. If you ride to the Hook in the morning it's not bad but you will have to deal with traffic. It might be a better idea to come from the Atlantic Highlands or if you daring you can ride the gravel path through the old army base off of Grand Tour to Portland Rd.

Hey man.

36 between the hook and sea bright is a *****. no shoulder and they lane isn't even big enough for a small car. so you have to watch your back. The second you get through sea bright you get a whole lane's worth of shoulder. You can ride that all the way down to asbury park.

south of asbury i just ride through neighbor hoods and along the water.
the beach front is TERRIBLE on weekends. I get a kick out of swerving through traffic and yelling at pedestrians though.

Plenty of cars to draft behind too.
I had some doucshe on a full carbon set up blow past me today. he caught the down hill off the bridge and was drafting. I caught and past him and the car with a head wind. I love stuff like that.

puked once during the ride (ate way too much before hand) and got a bloody nose from launching a nice snot rocket. I was a wreck. BUT IT WAS ALL SO GOOD.

The classic is my former gf who has lived near Manasquan for the last 10 years screaming "Benny go home! Benny go home!" in her New York accent.

^^^Real nice when those "Bennys" are contributing $$$ to your local economy.

We did a nice short ride this weekend - Ocean City (along Bay Avenue until it ended then up to the path on West), over the bridge into Strathmere, through Sea Isle City (on Central - not the main road), into Avalon. One of these days we'll have to get down to Cape May. At 6:30 on Saturday morning it wasn't bad b/c changeover hadn't started yet.

First I'm technically guilty of being a Benny (I grew up in the Bronx, first 10 years). I've been in Jersey since then. I really don't want them to go away, I just avoid the beach as the crowds are too much. I'll ride down the shore before Memorial Day and a few weeks after Labor Day.

cool!
try a trip from ocean city (O/C), nj to O/C, Maryland (MD) and back. the cape may/lewis Deleware (DE) ferry (+/- $10 per bike, $5 per person) gives you a 1.5 hr rest. there is a new bike short-cut from lewis to rehobeth beach, DE, the roads in DE after rehobeth are very bicycle friendly (puts shame on nj). total distance is about 150 miles (75 miles each way).
OCMD is much different than OCNJ, apples to oranges!
enjoy your vacation!
t

Sorry I can't brag about such long rides, yet. Yesterday I did a 30 miler, from Middletown, over the hills of Kings Highway, then to R36 which has a nice wide shoulder, and on Sandy Hook (does the gusty winds EVER stop there?). I just came back, since I should already be tapering for my olympic Tri... but next time I'll try to go down towards Rumson on 36. Weekdays are not as bad as weekends on those roads..

jersey here..new to the forums. i am by no means a cyclist just trying to get in shape and take up riding bikes again.. i used to love riding when i was a kid..

gonna try the sandy hook trip sometime soon

The wind never stops at the Hook! It only changes direction. :-) Weekdays aren't generally bad but be wairy of rush hour.

Anybody here doing the NJ State Triathlon next Sunday?

My girlfreind is. I'll be there too. Not participating but I will be on my bike to kill time while she does her thing.