December 13, 2020 - Milford, PA, to Newark, NJ

Start: Milford, PA
End: Newark, NJ
Miles: 79.9
Feet climbing per mile: 69
Record of today's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/60259271

I was up at 6:30 and on the road an hour later, shortly after sunrise. It was in the mid 40s and again very foggy. The Delaware River was barely visible as I crossed it.

Walkway and bikeway across the Delaware River

Two miles into my ride I began a four-mile climb on Deckertown Turnpike with an average grade of 5%. I was pleased that I did not need to walk any part of it. From time to time the sun would make a partial appearance.

Deckertown Turnpike

Shortly after that climb, I departed from the route I had taken two days earlier and began the alternate route that would take me to Newark rather than Washington Heights. My inspection of Grau Road and Flatbrook Road with Google Street View had shown some portions paved well and others not so well. I was taking a chance riding this 5.5-mile stretch that would put me on 206, but the pictures I had seen had been enticing.

Grau Road

Grau Road and Flatbrook Road were interesting to ride but not as outstanding as I had imagined. There were some sections paved with chip seal, which I consider a pathetic material for a road. So the two roads through the woods provided a somewhat interesting way to get me where I needed to go with the surface never becoming unridable.

By the time I got to route 206, at mile 13, the sun had come out and the air had started to warm. Route 206 had two lanes with moderate traffic moving at 55 miles per hour or more, so I was glad to be able to ride the very wide shoulder. But as the road became steep the southbound lane became two lanes and the shoulder disappeared. For three quarters of a mile I rode in the right lane, but I didn't feel safe riding into the sun in heavy fog with moderate traffic. Eventually I saw that there was a very wide shoulder on the other side of the road, so I crossed and rode against traffic for 2.4 miles, even when the shoulder reappeared on the other side. It felt a little weird, and I had to pay extra attention at intersections because the flow was not something to which I'm accustomed, but I knew I was much safer than if I had continued to ride in the southbound right lane. When I'm walking on a road I always move against traffic, but I had never done it while riding. I will remember that for future use.

At mile 17, I was glad to be off route 206 for a lightly traveled two-lane road. At mile 23, where the grade got up above 10%, I needed to walk for a fifth of a mile. After riding the remaining half mile up the hill I enjoyed a fast descent into the town of Newton where I again on route 206.

At mile 28, I was traveling part of the route I had taken August 23rd, 2019, near the end of the 4,500-mile solo trip I took that summer. It felt good to ride past the motel where I spent a night and the restaurant where I ate. A quarter mile later I joined the route I had taken from Stroudsburg to Newark in October of this year. As I've previously written in this blog, I enjoy traveling to new places and I also enjoy revisiting places I've been, especially when they're not close to home.

Shortly before mile 31, I stopped at the Andover Diner. Unfortunately they were out of brownies, so I had a piece of chocolate cheesecake along with a hot chocolate.

About mile 41.5, I was struggling to climb Mountain Road with its grade of about 10%, wondering whether I would need to walk. The road was curvy so I took the lane in order to prevent being buzz-passed by any traffic from the rear. When I saw that a car was behind me I pulled over to the right to let it pass. After he went by the driver yelled "Unbelievable! Unbelievable!". What do you think he meant?

• I'm amazed you're able to climb this steep hill!
• How could I have been so impatient about having to wait for you to move over?
• How can you be such a jerk, delaying me for a few seconds?

I arrived in Morristown about 1:30. I always enjoy riding through Morristown, where I spent several weeks each summer from 1987 through 1990 for my training in the Feldenkrais Method. I stopped at Starbucks, which I've never seen so discombobulated. It took a long time to place and a long time to receive my order of hot chocolate and a brownie, despite the fact that there were present as many employees as customers. I asked that the brownie not be heated and was told, contrary to their usual practice, that I would receive the brownie with the hot chocolate rather than immediately. When I was given the hot chocolate I was told they were working on the brownie. I sarcastically asked whether they were baking it. I went across the street to the Green to eat my snack and discovered the brownie had been heated.

Although the neighborhoods became a little funky as I got close to my destination, I thought about how much more pleasant it was riding there than it had been two days earlier while riding through the suburbs west of Fort Lee. But now I wonder to what extent my memory of those suburbs is affected by the traffic noise I experienced on route 23 after leaving the suburbs.

Near the end of my ride I saw a building that had caught my interest on my ride from Stroudsburg to Newark in October. It looked the same as it did last time.

176 Clinton, 12/13/20

176 Clinton, 10/6/20

Throughout the day, as the sun would appear and disappear, I would exchange my warmer jacket for my windbreaker. It was chilly enough that I needed to keep my phone connected to an external battery while mounted on my handlebar. Late in my ride I put my warm jacket in my trunk bag, leaving the handlebar bag rather empty, with the result that the cable connecting the phone and battery would often disconnect from the battery. At about 4:00, 76 miles into my journey, I had moved my warm jacket from the trunk bag to the handlebar bag in order to support the battery, thereby preventing disconnection. When I arrived at Newark Penn Station at 4:30, just before sunset, I discovered I had forgotten to close the zippers of the trunk bag. I'm lucky everything stayed inside the bag. I caught a PATH train to 33rd Street in Manhattan and arrived home at 5:45 after a ride of three quarters of a mile.

This was a wonderful three-day trip, almost certainly my last before spring. I rode a total of 186 miles and climbed an average of 75 feet per mile. Now I'll plan my next trip so that I'm ready in the spring!