Start: Newark, NJ
End: Stroudsburg, PA
Miles: 76.2
Feet climbing
per mile: 67
Record of today's ride:
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/57186443
This was the first day of a three-day trip to the Delaware Water Gap. After
riding to Stroudsburg where I would stay in a motel, the next day I would
ride to and from Port Jervis, first on one side of the Delaware River and for
the return on the other side. On the following day I would return to Newark.
Without an alarm I awoke at 8:20 and was out the door at 8:45. As I rode to
the PATH train which I had planned to take to Newark, I reconsidered taking
the ferry across the Hudson and riding to Newark, but I forwent that option
because I knew that much of that ride was unpleasant and the day would be long
even starting from Newark.
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Looking northwest into the Delaware Water Gap from the Portland-Columbia
Pedestrian Bridge
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Since I wouldn't be camping I was able to travel with just my trunk bag
and a small bag mounted to the top of my top tube to hold a battery to power my
phone. The total weight of my loaded bike was 40 pounds, nine pounds less than
on my 4,500-mile solo trip in 2019. The distribution of weight was not as good
as with my
handlebar bag
and
top tube bag, but I experienced no difficulty from the change.
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Bag used to carry the battery to power my phone
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I've ridden to Morristown several times, each time improving my route. As a
result I found that portion of my ride satisfying, with good
surfaces, a usable shoulder when needed, not too much traffic, and plenty of green. Along the
way I found on the road a short bungee cord (the type I use to stabilize my
trunk bag) and a USB-microUSB cord. At mile 22.5 I stopped at Starbucks in
Morristown to buy a hot chocolate and brownie which I ate across the street in
the Morristown Green.
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The fountain in the Morristown Green
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At mile 35.1, with the grade as high as 15%, I was forced to walk about a
tenth of a mile. After the grade eased I rode the remaining mile and a half up
Mountain Road and then enjoyed a swift descent for two miles (Who goes up gets
to come down). At mile 41 I entered highway 206 with substantial traffic and
often no usable shoulder. I was glad it was Sunday rather than a weekday when
I'm sure the traffic would have been worse. After riding 206 for six miles I
stopped at
Firehouse Pizza
(mile 47) in Andover, NJ, to enjoy my favorite riding beverage.
The ride from Andover to Portland was on beautiful roads through rural
countryside. I enjoyed my familiarity of the portion of it on route 94, which
I had taken on my 4,500-mile solo trip in 2019 (see
RIDING DAY 69 - AUGUST 23RD, 2019). I crossed the Delaware River on the
Portland-Columbia Pedestrian Bridge, as I had done August 23rd, 2019. With
one foot in New Jersey and one in Pennsylvania, I took my only selfie of the
day, as well as the picture looking northwest into the Delaware Water Gap
(the first picture in this post).
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| The state line on the Portland-Columbia Pedestrian Bridge |
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The sign on the Columbia, PA, side of the Portland-Columbia
Pedestrian Bridge
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Much of the five-mile ride on PA-611 from the Portland-Columbia Pedestrian Bridge to Stroudsburg had heavy traffic and
an inadequate shoulder, and at 4:00 on a cloudy day it was
starting to get dark.
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Mount Tammany as seen from the west side of the Delaware River
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I arrived at the
Rodeway Inn & Suites
at 5:15. After a shower and shave I went to the indoor pool, but feeling
chilled swam just one lap. During the summer, I find that a swim after a day
of riding is a wonderful pleasure, but I discovered that in the fall it is of
no interest to me. After getting dressed I walked a third of a mile to
the
Sycamore Grille, where I had a delicious dinner consisting of a salad, hamburger, sweet
potato fries, and cheesecake. After dinner I used the computer in the lobby of
the motel to revise the route I would ride back to Newark in order to avoid
the dangerous sections of PA-611 and NJ-206. I watched most of Martin
Scorsese's movie
Casino before falling asleep about 1:00. Forgoing the movie and getting to
sleep earlier would have been smarter. The next day I would ride to Port
Jervis on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River and return to
Stroudsburg on the New Jersey side for a total just over 80 miles.
I am in stillwater near where you rode! Very ambitious!
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, the second day of my trip, I rode very close to Stillwater. I'll write about that ride in a blog post to follow.
DeleteI see that I rode close to Stillwater all three days of my trip.
Delete