# My North Jersey Ride...



## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

I little while ago I decided I liked the idea of bringing a camera on my bike so I bought a backpack that could carry it and some water. Today I rode with it for the first time for a total of 63.1 miles. Btw, camera is a Canon XTi with a 24-105L.

The route: https://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=49191
(Modified a bit while on the bike)
4000+ feet of climbing, 63 miles (with detour)

Sorting out my gear at home... Tall garbage bags are great for keeping things dry.









My water and gatorade (in the polar) for the trip. Roughly 3-3.5L of water and at least another liter of the G.
Do NOT adjust your screens, our remote is that big. And it is awesome.









16+ year old cat gets curious. "Why is he in the kitchen... FOOD!? FOOD TIEM!"









And now for my trip... I didn't know how many pictures I wanted to take, so I just stopped when I found something interesting. Expect large gaps in time / mileage.

About 12-13 miles in I found the first real hill of the trip. If you have spent time in northern NJ you probably know the geology. While we don't have any true mountains, we do have very steep ridge lines. Hiking consists of short ups and downs repeated many times. Likewise I found many of these types of hills today. Short but fairly steep.

Check out the elevation chart on the Summary page of the map (link above) and you will see what I mean about the ups and downs.









A little later, maybe 20-25 miles in, I found myself on this great little country road in the middle of the Peapack, Mendham, Far Hills area. You eventually come up on a nice waterfall...









So I stopped for some food and pictures.









A minute down the road you see the reason for the waterfall. In the heart of NJ is this random and fairly untouched lake. There are only one or two houses on it that seem to be owned by some sort of camp.









Houses to the right, lake to the left. Note the steep gradient there. Welcome to NJ!









After passing through Peapack, I cut back through Mendham which has some amazing houses. And this hill... I was introduced this past Sunday to this monster. One guy said it has a 20% gradient, but I think it is closer to 12% as I can climb it (in the biggest rear gear!). Here is the approach...









Starting to go vertical... It twists to the right and continues going up for a little longer. Past the barn is where it really gets steep.









I didn't take any pictures of my detour through Brookside and out towards Mount Freedom because it was a tough little addition. A part of the climb (Horizon Dr on the map) lasted for quite sometime with a good gradient. This thing would put the hurt on for almost anyone because of its relentlessness..

Anyways, I came back and entered Jockey Hollow (Morristown National Historical Park on the map) instead of going on with the pre-planned route. Decided to stop at the welcome center for food.









The area in which I live is famous for housing Washington's Headquarters (not visited) and several Revolutionary War sites.









At this point I have gone roughly 40-45 miles. Farthest this season and farthest this early in a season. Gotta love the helmet dent! Also notice the jersey.  









The famous soldiers' huts. I wonder if they are the original ones... Also seems like a silly place to put them what with no cover from the field (battle).


















A short time after I would find myself climbing up to Fort Nonsense for no reason at all other than I was going insane. I knew I would have a hard time getting up it but knowing it was the last "true" climb I decided to go for it. The following is a view pointed sort of towards Morristown, but more so past it to a NE direction I think. Morristown is actually to the left of the shot and down a couple hundred meters.









Big wheels, small cannon...









Note that there isn't an actual fort. Based on the rock I guess it was made as just a natural fort. The sides of this open area drop off considerably and any man trying to come up it would be met with death easily.









I guess Treks ARE good bikes because mine has survived so much abuse. I did have to replace the rear wheel because of my weight. However the new Bontrager Classic is a nice wheel and matches the front Race Lite nicely.









After the last picture I still had roughly 10 miles to make it home and they were tough. My legs kept blowing up, but fortunately the going was fairly flat from Fort Nonsense back to Chatham.

Hope you enjoyed the post.  I also hope you now know all of New Jersey isn't like Newark. :lol:


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## knucklesandwich (Feb 23, 2007)

Nice report. I grew up in Basking Ridge so these pics take me back. We did lots of running on the Brigade trail thru Jockey Hollow/ Lewis Morris.

Do you ride in the Great Swamp? Lots of smooth quiet roads back there.


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## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

I did go through the Swamp for a short bit. I made a run down Pleasantville Rd and then down New Vernon. Was actually quite busy today so I was glad to get off of it. Now that Pleasantville is chip-sealed the name is quite ironic. So bumpy the whole way.


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## FatTireFred (Jan 31, 2005)

what is that black thing on the far right of first pic, and blue thing on th left in the second???


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## MB1 (Jan 27, 2004)

Now that is some dedication to stop on an uphill to take photos....not something I would do all that often.

Nice stuff, I remember riding in New Jersey and being suprised by how rural and hilly it was (we were at the Water Gap and High Point).

BTW that is a nice lens but a fairly long focal length for that body.


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## tober1 (Feb 6, 2009)

How do you like the 24-105?
I've been eyeing that bad boy for some time now but just can't seem to justify the purchase. Will you help me justify it?


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## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

FatTireFred said:


> what is that black thing on the far right of first pic, and blue thing on th left in the second???


Black thing, in the background? Dishwasher.

Blue thing in the second is the CamelBak water bladder. Fits in a pocket in the backpack between my back and the contents. Fits 3L if you fill it all the way supposedly, but I never measured it. The nice thing is since it is out of the sun the water stayed very cold the whole trip (I did put ice in it).

Btw, the backpack definately hurt my back after 3-4 hours of wearing it. But that could be attributed to the bike's geometry. If I were in a more upright position more of the weight would have been on my shoulders instead of my lower back. My only other complain is that the bladder isn't wide enough. When filled it has a very big/round size which pushes the pack out. A wider bladder would mean a flatter bladder which would bring the pack in closer to my back.



MB1 said:


> Now that is some dedication to stop on an uphill to take photos....not something I would do all that often.


Haha, you should see all the hills I didn't stop on! I also learned something important here: if stopping on a hill to take a picture, make sure you go down a bunch of gears so getting back on is easier. That first time I had to go down a little to clip in because I was still in a high gear.



tober1 said:


> How do you like the 24-105?
> I've been eyeing that bad boy for some time now but just can't seem to justify the purchase. Will you help me justify it?


If I had to choose a single lens to use for the duration of having this camera, it would be the 24-105L. The quality is simply amazing and its zoom range is just perfect. A 70-200L would be nice, but a little too long on the shorter end of the zoom. I find that if I need to go over 105mm I am either shooting too far away or need something closer to a 500 or 600mm lens (birding).


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## brentster (Jul 12, 2007)

You were asking why soldiers would choose that exposed area in battle. 250 years ago there would have been solid trees and/or brush there (No lawnmowers or chainsaws yet). It actually looks like a nice spot to fire from.

What a fantastic place you live in, except for the cold. Great report!!!


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## knucklesandwich (Feb 23, 2007)

brentster said:


> You were asking why soldiers would choose that exposed area in battle. 250 years ago there would have been solid trees and/or brush there (No lawnmowers or chainsaws yet). It actually looks like a nice spot to fire from.
> 
> What a fantastic place you live in, except for the cold. Great report!!!


There were no battles in that area- it's where the army bunkered down for the winter, much like Valley Forge the year before. The whole area is relatively high ground though.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 20, 2007)

Hey, that`s nice stuff! I have to admit I was expecting Metropolis shots and was pleasantly surprised by the woods and narrow country roads. Thanks for the post.


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## AllezCat (Jun 2, 2006)

Grat route. I think that I will take it this weekend when I visit my folks in Chatham. Thanks for posting this!


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## Becky (Jun 15, 2004)

Thanks for posting this route! Can't wait to try it out next time we're at the in-laws!


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## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

Becky said:


> Thanks for posting this route! Can't wait to try it out next time we're at the in-laws!


Have fun! There are a lot of great roads to explore in there.

If you guys are in town on the weekends there are always group rides.. Rides almost every Saturday and Sunday with the Marty's Reliable crew. Tomorrow I heard would be around 30-40 miles with climbing and a decent average (16+) speed. (8:30AM start time at Loantaka - check the site for map/directions as there are 4 parking lots for the park).

On June 13 there is the Revolutionary Ramble which will probably use this route or something like it and has 12, 20, 40 and 62 mile versions. I heard 400+ people have signed up so it should be lots of fun.


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## Becky (Jun 15, 2004)

Jsedlak, I think we saw you and the Marty's crew on Saturday. You were wearing a Lounge jersey? I was the chick in the orange and black jersey catching my breath at the top of Skyline, and that was AllezCat with me. Looked like a nice group that you were riding with- maybe AC and I will join up with y'all next time we're in town.


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