Category: bike ride

The D&R Canal: The New Jersey tough version of the Erie Canal

Tapping into the history of the D&R Canal.

3C0C266E-30D6-4F17-81AD-AED4BBC775CBI love combining my bike rides with a bit of history.

So to coincide with a couple of one-day road closures of busy Canal Road in Franklin Township, I’ve organized some family-friendly bike rides for the East Coast Greenway. On the first one, a couple of weeks ago, a half-dozen of us braved the rain to pepper Bob (from the non-profit D&R Canal Watch) with questions about the canal, once one of the busiest navigational canals in the country.

FBB503D8-EBBA-41CE-AE32-8817EB2926C9You know the song about the Erie Canal? That one is far, far longer than the D&R, but the D&R is wider (75 feet across) and deeper (8 feet vs 4 feet), so it could handle more kinds of boats. And that line in the song about “low bridge, everybody down”? Not a problem on the D&R because there are no bridges to go under. So not only could it handle barges but also steam-powered boats.

Bottom line is it’s tougher and stronger than the Erie Canal, even if it is shorter. Call it Jersey tough.

Continue reading “The D&R Canal: The New Jersey tough version of the Erie Canal”

Hills and more hills with Bike New York’s Discover the Hudson Valley bike ride

Sometimes you just suck it up.

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and ride hills.

We had decided we wanted to ride Bike New York’s annual Discover Hudson Valley Ride. And while we came to our senses and opted out of the 75-miler (with 4,000+ feet of climbing!), the 55-mile route still came advertised with 2,900 feet of climbing.

Time to try something other than our usual. Continue reading “Hills and more hills with Bike New York’s Discover the Hudson Valley bike ride”

A cheese stop along New Jersey’s Columbia Trail

Two discoveries: New Jersey’s Columbia Trail and Valley Shepherd Creamery.

I find biking is always more fun when you have a destination in mind. This time, the plan was not only would we discover the gravel-packed 15-mile Columbia Trail in Hunterdon and Morris counties, but we would also stop at Valley Shepherd Creamery.

If only it all went so smoothly. Continue reading “A cheese stop along New Jersey’s Columbia Trail”

I got to ride with Lisa and Dee!

Lisa and Dee are riding the East Coast Greenway from Key West to Calais, Maine. I rode with them for one day.

Dee and Lisa

I’ve been religiously following the blog of the East Coast Greenway’s communications boss and her friend as they ride this 3,000-mile route from Key West to Calais, Maine, impatiently checking for the latest update. Their Florida stories hinted at what I have yet to experience, and once they reached Savannah, I could compare to my own recollections of riding the route, a one-week stretch every year for the past few years. But mostly I would just think: I want to be out on my bike too.

So of course I had to host them one night … and throw a weekday party for them. And when they suggested I ride with them the next day, how could I say no? (Unless my boss did, which he didn’t.)

The plan was to follow the D&R Canal towpath up to New Brunswick and then take the road as far as we got, until it was time to hop the train, me back home and them to meet a friend in New York City.

So off we pedaled, past a blue heron picking its way atop the pipeline already in place to dredge the canal, past a dozen or more turtles sunning themselves on one of the many partially submerged tree limbs, past ducks that hissed as we passed too close to their ducklings.

The surface varied. Parts were badly rutted: The canal had overflowed in some spots during recent heavy rains, washing away a coating of pebbles and exposing jagged spillway stones that our bikes weren’t happy about. Lisa’s front handlebar bag jostled loose at one point, and we couldn’t get the screw to reattach. Other damage probably dated back to some nasty Nor’easters in March. But as we moved further north, past East Millstone, the surface was smooth and we could lose ourselves in conversation rather than dodging potholes and puddles.

Of course, it couldn’t last. I got a flat tire around the time we crossed the Raritan River from New Brunswick into Highland Park. Although I had a spare tube and fixed the flat, my pumping skills left it soft enough to want a bike shop … or the train home.

Guess what we chose.

Sorry I was such a bad influence.

Opening Day for Trails: Getting ready for another ride with George Washington

A chilly Opening Day for Trails, Where is spring?

A chilly Opening Day for Trails from Rails to Trails (and for New Jersey’s fishing season) — but at least it wasn’t snowing. A good time to head down the D&R Canal towpath and do some prep work for the second year of the Historical Society of Princeton’s “Chasing George” bike ride.

Yes, this is a ride with George Washington, heading from the Battle of Trenton to the Battle of Princeton. Irresitable!

The bike ride is May 6. Sign up now, before it fills up.

And the trail today? Muddy in some spots. Deep ruts where heavy machinery has been on the towpath while doing work on the canal or bridge. The damage from the winter storms is evident. Several trees on the banks of the canal have been uprooted and have fallen into the water, and the same as happened to even more big limbs. Not great news for canoers and kayakers! There was only one big tree blocking the path where we had to lift our bikes, and I’m guessing that will be gone fairly soon.

New Jersey’s Union Transportation Trail: A cross-county bike ride

This 9-mile trail goes from one end of Monmouth County to the other.

D1394DFE-1F68-45B9-908D-00CD71A06B73.jpegThis is my latest New Jersey trail discovery.  Well, kind of. I knew the Union Transportation Trail existed, but it was disjointed for several years while being built. The last segment was finished early last year, however, and now it’s a 9-mile stone-dust trail in Monmouth County stretching from the Mercer County line to the Ocean County line.

Today’s weather — warm and sunny — is finally a sign that spring is coming. A great reason to get out and finally ride it from end to end. And back of course. Continue reading “New Jersey’s Union Transportation Trail: A cross-county bike ride”

Exploring another section of New Jersey’s Lawrence Hopewell Trail

We explore the Mount Rose section of the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail, sandwiched between two gaps. With a lot of luck, one of those gaps might be closed this year.

Slowly but surely, the 22-mile Lawrence-Hopewell Trail is being built. My understanding is that the section from Bristol-Myers Squibb on Carter Road to a 90-degree bend on Cleveland Road will be built this year, taking the trail off a main thoroughfare that has no shoulder and can be unpleasant, especially if you don’t like riding with traffic. (SEE UPDATE BELOW) Right now, though, there’s only a small section on BMS property before you hit a “trail ends” sign (and then it becomes a private trail to the BMS entrance).

But what’s on the other side of Carter Road?

We recently had a chance to explore it, building on our exploration last fall of a “secret” section in the Mount Rose Preserve. Continue reading “Exploring another section of New Jersey’s Lawrence Hopewell Trail”

Giggles and squeals on an e-bike

We test out electric-assist bikes.

Wow was that fun! Kind of like you imagine one of those speeder bikes in “Return of the Jedi.”

OK, not quite that fast. And this bike was on the ground, not going through the air. But as long as you pedaled, it felt like you could fly thanks to the electric battery that provided a boost. That first time on an e-bike, I felt the assist kicking in — and it was set at the lowest level — and I couldn’t help but laugh with glee, like a kid building up speed going downhill. Me, who thinks motorcycles are scary.

But there I was, accelerating quickly thanks to the the rechargeable battery tucked behind the stem leading to the seat. After a few loops around the bike shop parking lot, it was off to the street. Just with that minimal assist, I went up a hill at 10 mph with no effort. And if you’re starting cold at the bottom of a hill? Flip the throttle for a second or too and the assist kick-starts the ascent. Just hold on for the jolt. Who needs to huff and puff? Or even change gears? Wow.

Then we headed to a quiet road behind the bike shop, experimenting with the different levels of assist. The model I was riding, the Blix Stockholm, has four levels that you can essentially toggle through (plus zero, for no assist) on the left handlebar, plus nine gears you can change like a normal bike just off the right handlebar.

I’m sure there’s a great balancing act between what gear you’re in and how much of an assist you take to stretch out the battery charge. To be honest, I felt level 1 was enough — and that was a 53-pound bike. Kick it up, and not even to level 4, and I could top 20 mph, no sweat.

This one tucks the battery behind the seat post.

So who buys an e-bike? The shop owner says they’ve sold a lot of them, almost always to people over 55. Sometimes it’s a bike widow/er who now can keep up with the other half. Often it’s someone who wants to exercise but finds it all so daunting. Especially if you live in a hilly area, which is where this shop is. You might not be powering yourself at 15 mph on a carbon-fiber bike that’s half the weight (and sometimes close to half the price), but you only get the assist if you’re pedaling — so you have to move. The owner told us of one customer who weighs about 300 pounds who has seen the numbers in his blood work come down substantially, even if his weight hasn’t. That’s the power of moving, of getting some exercise.

OK, the price is pretty hefty — this one was $2,300 in 2017, and the Brit was riding a $3,000 model. But I can see how this could turn you into a one-car family, using the bike to get to work just about every day if you have a reasonable commute. And when it rains? If you can’t hitch a ride with a co-worker, a cab (or Uber/Lyft) might not be a bad deal, especially given how much you save by not owning that second car.  (You really don’t want to know the true annual cost of car ownership.)  States still have to work out just how they view e-bikes — a bike or something more? There’s no assist if you don’t pedal, so it’s certainly not a moped). There’s also the question of limits on speed and power.

But my money is on prices coming down and batteries becoming lighter and more powerful, just like with phones and electric cars.

And who knows? One day I might own one too.

(Apologies for the delay in posting this one. We tested the bikes last winter.)

A weekend bike tour around Princeton NJ: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

It’s easy to spend a weekend biking in the Princeton area.

Time to put some my knowledge about this area in one place. And for those who don’t want to just bike, there’s kayaking/canoeing and walking too.

Princeton, halfway between New York and Philadelphia, is more than the home of an Ivy League university. George Washington’s victory at the Battle of Princeton on Jan. 3, 1777 kept the American Revolution alive. Alexander Hamilton was alongside him, and Aaron Burr is buried in town.

Continue reading “A weekend bike tour around Princeton NJ: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr”

Day 6 — Biking the final 56 miles from Beaufort, South Carolina, to Savannah, Georgia

Some 320 miles later, another WAY tour is in the books.

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We biked a final 56 miles on the East Coast Greenway on Friday and crossed one state line (an unmarked spot between South Carolina and Georgia) to reach Savannah.

IMG_1276The day started with a ride to the end of the delightful (and expanding?)  Spanish Moss Trail in Beaufort and ended with — what else — a rain shower while we were grabbing lunch in Savannah.

The route included a stretch on a no-name side path of a trail along the Okatie Highway (maybe SC 170). Nothing scenic but definitely utilitarian, and we encountered plenty of cyclists going the other way. Hey South Carolina, that’s a sign of hidden demand. How about a bit more?

Alligator Alley has a scary name, but in the end I found it not that fearsome. No alligators sighted, for one. Traffic didn’t seem horrible, or maybe that’s because we had a support vehicle behind us. The road surface, though, was pretty awful, and of course there was no shoulder. Let’s see … lowest gas taxes in the nation, so little cash + road where poor people live = low on the priority list?

IMG_1303We continued our habit of riding in packs, sometimes splitting into a faster group and everyone else, in part to make it easier for motorists to pass. In this group, I can qualify as fast. The slower group got a police “escort” for a few miles once we hit Georgia, though from what we heard, he was pretty far in front.

So where did that crazy smell like rotten bananas come from? Is it somehow related to the paper mill we passed in Port Wentworth? The sugar refinery? And wow, those shipping containers piled seven high or more as we passed the port. But sorry, pack riding means skipping the photo ops.

But it means we took the back entrance into Savannah and didn’t really see its beauty. Next year?

Final tally: 320 or so miles in six days, plus 60 on Day 0 and my 70 or so over two days on the Virginia Capital Trail. Given the amount on crud on the shoulders — chunks of blown truck tires, nails, bolts, wood and more (plus road kill), it shouldn’t be a surprise that 13 riders — more than one in three — got flat tires, some more than one. And eight took a spill at one point, also way more than normal. Fortunately I was not in either camp.

One pleasant surprise: I saw very few Confederate flags, maybe one a day. I know we were on main roads for a lot of the time, but we did go past plenty of homes and businesses. And I saw many, many U.S. flags. Maybe times are finally changing.

I’ve now ridden the www from Newark NJ to Savannah, plus 350 or so miles in Maine and good chunks of the route in Connecticut and New York. The truth is that this was the least scenic of them all, given the need to stick with your pack, and definitely more of an assessment of the existing (mostly interim) route. There are definitely prettier places to ride. We saw two touring companies in Savannnah — Backroads and VBT — and those riders do a lot of shuttling and not much riding in their week between Charleston and Savannah. Now that sounds like a gussied-up sightseeing tour.

As for me, do I do the next two rides and reach Key West?

Oh, and the excitement wasn’t over just because we boarded a bus to head back to Wilmington. A hawk hit the windshield and cracked it into hundreds of pieces. Pro tip if this ever happens to you: slow down and buy a big roll of clear tape to hold everything in place. That got us back safely.

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One last thing: there was another blogger on the trip. Read her take.