New Jersey Route Suggestions
 

What is the best way to link up with Pennsylvania Route V from New York City? I will probably take the PATH to Newark, but I can't seem to find a decent route west across New Jersey to East Stroudsburg, PA. Any thoughts?

If it weren't for the fact that the alternative is a lot of climbing, I wouldn't believe they have you going up 611 from Portland to Delaware Water Gap.

Not sure what you mean by "decent". There are a lot of centuries run in the area you are going through. And a lot of sport bicycle riding too.

There are trains out of NYC (out of Penn) that might allow you to avoid Newark (which might not be decent but at least is short) entirely.

Depending on how indirect you might want to ride, you could take a ferry from pier 11 to Atlantic Highlands NJ, this would put you south of the heavy city area and give you a more scenic route.

I would take a NJTransit train from penn station to someplace like Montclair or Millburn rather than take the PATH and start in Newark.

You could run from Montclair almost straight west through Morristown and Hackettstown to Belvidere and the up the Delaware to Portland. If you wanted to meander a little you could catch the Columbia Trail near Washington, intersect the Delaware at Frenchtown and head north from there. That's a nice ride.

Didn't Archie Bunker say, "Sombody's gotta bike in Jersey."?

Cycling Newark isn't my idea of a good time. Not only is it congested/city/industrial but the road conditions are really horrendous in the area. Manhattan is a world better by comparison.

http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/rail/Rail_System_Map.pdf

The Morristown or Gladstone lines look to be in the right direction, the end of those lines is pretty nice countryside too. You'll want to catch those lines out of Penn Station New York.

+1. This is what I'd do. In fact I've included this ferry in a future route, up the coast, that I created.

Great idea, but I'm hoping to find something a bit more direct. I'm trying to bike from the city to Louisville, KY, by way of Cleveland in 14 days, so I need to be somewhat efficient where I can. It looks like it would make for a pretty ambitious day to try to get to Stroudsburg from Atlantic Highlands.

[QUOTE=jerseyJim;15851988]I would take a NJTransit train from penn station to someplace like Montclair or Millburn rather than take the PATH and start in Newark.[QUOTE]

Yeah, I like this suggestion. Originally, I was hoping to avoid trains altogether (biking to Kentucky over two weeks), but I'm thinking NE Jersey is just too rough to avoid it. As long as I have to take the train part of the way on day 1, I might as well take it to an area that's enjoyable to ride.

Is going North out of the question? If I were to take the George Washington bridge, is it just way to congested, etc. to try to find a route through Hackensack or Paterson?

At this point I'm thinking train to Montclaire is my best bet.

I could get you easily over the GWB and through that area but you get out past pompton lakes and montville and you get kind of stuck and have to swing north into NY state and alot of hills or you have to go south towards Morristown. Any route all the way out to the delaware river is going to probably be over 90 miles. If that sounds doable to you I could link a route from RWGPS.

I wouldnt advise riding through Paterson. Lots of crime and shootings.

90 miles is ok but are there really ways to go that far north (into NY) and still come in under a century? If there were a pleasant route, I'd definitely prefer that over taking the train out to Morristown. But I've sorta' resigned myself to the train at this point.

The problem is that other than rt 80 and rt 23 there aren't really any roads that cut straight through west on the line you want to go. Here are a couple of rough routes I would consider, one that swings north and one that swings south. I am less familiar with the roads as you go farther west but I have done a fair amount of riding all over northern and west northern jersey.

Good luck.

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2877593

http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2877592

Pressed for time are you? Take the train to Port Jervis, NY and ride through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area and Worthington State Forest to Delaware Water Gap, PA. East Stroudsburg is right up the road from there. You don't have to take PA 611. There is a "back way" that takes you to U.S. 209 near the junction with PA 447. The ride through there is wonderful. You could camp at Worthington, which is only about 34 miles from Port Jervis. Only two hard climbs of about 1 mile each. The remaining hills are not bad. More like rolling stuff. From Millbrook Village to the campground is mostly a gentle downhill. Only issue is lack of services. Other than water and bathrooms at Millbrook, there are none until DWG.

Unterhausen: PA 611 between Portland and DWG has been fine every time I have ridden it.

The shoulder of northbound U.S. 46 between Belvidere and Columbia sucks in a lot of places. Rode it last year. Ruts, pot holes and gravel. And traffic can be fairly heavy depending on the time of day. Encountered some big trucks on a Friday late afternoon. The PA side of the river is much prettier and quiet. However, it involves more climbing, including a short but, nasty, nasty switchback section. U.S. 46 doesn't have much climbing at all. What it does have is gentle. But there are business. I almost got creamed by a guy who passed me and then tried to turn in front of me into a gas station.