May 27, 2021 - Seaside Park, NJ, to South Amboy, NJ

Start: Seaside Park, NJ
End: New York, NY
Miles: 56.0
Feet climbing per mile: 37
Record of the day's ride: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/68038033

I got up without an alarm at 6:30 and was out the door at 7:10. I was glad to get an early start to avoid the worst heat of the day. I was happy to know that I would follow a route that included almost no four-lane roads with heavy traffic and no shoulder.

At mile 25.5, Old Tavern Road was an example of my favorite sort of road. Unfortunately it was not representative of the day.

Old Tavern Road

I failed to find any Mountain Dew at two gas stations and a laundromat in Farmingdale, but I was successful at Welsh Farms Dairy Store. As I left the store I saw a beautifully restored vintage car parked in the lot. I said hello to the driver and asked about the car. Bob told me it was a 1976 Camaro and that he restored cars professionally. He told me about the many parts of the car he had replaced (and made), and that it had a 600-horsepower engine. When he lifted the hood I asked whether he washed the engine. Bob said he kept it clean, using a toothbrush to get into small cracks and polishing many surfaces. He is now retired, so he doesn't have a big shop, but is still busy because there aren't a lot of people who know how to do what he does.



Riding northwest from Farmingdale towards Freehold and Route 79 rather than northeast to Route 34 allowed me to avoid many miles of Route 34. It did involve riding for 1.5 miles of Kozloski Road with heavy traffic and no shoulder. I now see I could have avoided that trouble, which I also experienced on my return trip last month, if I had ridden into Freehold on Route 33 instead of around it on Kozloski Road.

At mile 33.7 I stopped to pick up a large wrench on the road. I have no need for the wrench so I stopped at the next gas station and gave it to the attendant.

I enjoyed the rolling hills for the eleven miles I was on Route 79. At mile 42.7 I saw a sign for the Henry Hudson Trail which ran parallel to 79. I was told at the Bicycle Hub of Marlboro that the trail was paved so I decided to ride it in order to get some relief from the sun. The trail was paved, but not as well as a road, with roots of trees creating irregularities that decreased my speed. I returned to 79 after a mile on the trail.

I had planned to stop at the Stabucks in Matawan for a brownie, but before I arrived there I saw a Stewart's Root Beer. I realized I would prefer a root beer to a brownie, so I stopped at Stewart's. When I checked my map I thought I had passed Starbucks, but I was mistaken. I ordered a large root beer and was brought a 32-ounce serving which I easily consumed. Clearly I was dehydrated. While at Stewart's I saw that I could avoid another two and one half miles of Route 34 by taking parallel two-lane roads. The mile and three quarters of 34 I rode had two lanes and a good shoulder.

I arrived at the South Amboy New Jersey Transit station at 1:45. I waited about an hour for the train to arrive which would take me to Penn Station New York, less than half a mile from my home. Unlike the PATH train, New Jersey Transit does not have a prohibition against bicycles during the reverse rush hour. As we passed through Newark Penn Station I realized that I would be able to take a New Jersey Transit train from Newark if prevented from taking a PATH train. I arrived home at 4:00.

In three days I rode 181.6 miles and climbed an average of just 32 feet per mile. It was hot and I encountered a lot of headwinds. My routes were substantially better than those I followed last month, but it's clear that within 15 miles of the Atlantic Ocean, New Jersey from the Raritan River to Seaside Park is almost entirely suburban. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "It's the journey, not the destination", but in this case the destination was better than the journey. I loved being in Seaside Park, staying in an inexpensive comfortable motel across the road from the ocean, but the journey was unremarkable.

I ride in urban, suburban, and rural areas. I have not ridden in wilderness. I enjoy urban riding, I love rural riding, and am bored by suburban riding. I found a few songs to represent each of my three types of riding:


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