# Diamond Hill Road, Union Ave in Berkley Heights



## nismosr (Jun 27, 2007)

Any one of you guys ride on this road - I take this road going to work and home ad i've seen riders a couple time on diamond hill road. It's a heavy traffic travel road not good maybe ?


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## mr meow meow (Jan 29, 2004)

*Only sometimes*

I'm on that road to cut through sometimes when traffic's not too bad. I'm from Chatham and ride though BH 2 or 3 times a week. Sometimes I want to hit Watchung/Warren so I take a left on Snyder ave and meander my way out to Diamond hill. If I see you I'll wave


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## nismosr (Jun 27, 2007)

Hey I work in Madison - I take it on my way home .. from Woodland to Loantakaway which I see riders going straight takes them prob to Gillete ? and take Shunpike to Southern ave to New Providence. I'm new to Road Biking and I still have to gather my strength to tackle that road. I don't wanna embarass myself getting off my bike and people see me walking side by side with my bike . lol


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## Climbing_Clyde (Jun 16, 2007)

My Aunt lives on that road and has for near 40 years, up towards 78. 

It's not a favorite of mine due to traffic and merging by 78 but it is a good hill. The loop by the reservation is really nice, that is a great ride spot.


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## mr meow meow (Jan 29, 2004)

*Watchung reservation*

Yeah, that's a great loop. What a great race route that would be. Twisting turns, rollers, steep climbs, fast descents. If it weren't for all the rice-eater motorcycles flying through there and the rush hour type traffic it would be bliss. 

Seriously, do motorcyclists know there's other roads out there than the reservation?


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## Climbing_Clyde (Jun 16, 2007)

nismosr said:


> Hey I work in Madison - I take it on my way home .. from Woodland to Loantakaway which I see riders going straight takes them prob to Gillete ? and take Shunpike to Southern ave to New Providence. I'm new to Road Biking and I still have to gather my strength to tackle that road. I don't wanna embarass myself getting off my bike and people see me walking side by side with my bike . lol



You know I was thinking about this post on my way home and it dawned on me. If I can lug my fat ass up and over the hills in this area ANYONE can, you simply have to try. The trick to climbing (IME) is to stay cool, you have to accept the fact that you will max out. The test is how long you can handle that pressure and how you deal with it mentally. It is a tough balancing act of staying cool and conserving energy but at the same time having the absolute rabid tenacity to REFUSE to drop a foot and let the hill win!! 
Stay calm and kick the hills ass, once you get a taste for it you will seek them out more often.


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## Hunyak (Apr 1, 2007)

I drive Diamond Hill Rd on the way home, when not on my bike. When ride my bike to & from work in Union, I cross the hill at Shunpike Rd in Springfield.

A manager at High Gear rides Diamond Hill Rd every day - I mean every day. He rides no matter how cold, windy, rainy, snowy, seriously hard core....


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## Pinoyrello (Jul 31, 2006)

mr meow meow said:


> Yeah, that's a great loop. What a great race route that would be. Twisting turns, rollers, steep climbs, fast descents. If it weren't for all the rice-eater motorcycles flying through there and the rush hour type traffic it would be bliss.
> 
> Seriously, do motorcyclists know there's other roads out there than the reservation?



what the heck is a rice-eater motorcycles. You must be a racist. Do you know the term "share the road".


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## thegock (May 16, 2006)

*Rice Burner NOT Rice Eater*

Only kidding...wink, wink; nudge, nudge.:wink: 

I feel a kinship with motorcyclist of all races when on my bicycle. We are, after all, subject to the same traumatic injuries at the hands of those insane soccer moms in SUVs. 

In any event, I used to commute up Diamond Hill to a client's office three years ago. Coming down in the afternoon was OK but going up in the morning approaching Interstate 78 was a little insane. 

Drivers would be accelerating up the hill to enter the ramp towards 78 eastbound and you had to choose your spot carefully to cross their line while cycling up Diamond Hill Road. I used to pray for a fully loaded dump truck from Weldon Quarry to appear on my six because I knew I could beat them through the line. My thought always was that I was taking my life in their hands.

At off hours, of course, it isn't bad but not in my top five choices of routes to ascend the second ridge of the Watchungs. Try Glenside which is half a mile east or anything to the west expecially Dock Watch Hollow Rd which is near Martinsville.


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## mr meow meow (Jan 29, 2004)

*Sorry if I offended*



Pinoyrello said:


> what the heck is a rice-eater motorcycles. You must be a racist. Do you know the term "share the road".


I was merely making the distinction between throaty piped Harley davidson type cruiser motorcyclies and Japanese made racing motorcycles. I will usually see the racers more often as perhaps the racing type motorcycles benefit from the twist and turns of the reservations' roads. 

I have no problem sharing the road. That's what it's all about. I just have a problem with motorcyclists treating the reservation as an actual race course with speeds hitting the upper 70's on part of the course.

The term "rice-eater" of "rice-burner" is perhaps a bit derrogatory but it doesn't identify a certain type of rider. THAT would be racist. It simply identifies a certain type of motorcycle. A bit Nationalistic? perhaps. Racist? No.


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## HouseMoney (Oct 28, 2002)

Other than the short section between McMane and Mountain Ave, I try to avoid DH Rd. at all costs. The part between McMane and Valley Rd. (which passes the 78 onramps) is more trouble than its worth with all the traffic.

My favorite way up over Watchung Res. is Summit Rd, although last time there a few wks ago, it looked like they were in the process of repaving it so I had to re-route. New Providence Rd to either Tracy Dr or Deer Path is my usual way up/down the lower part of the reservation from/to 22. After that, to get to (or return from) above 78, I'll take either McMane, Glenside Rd, Plainfield Ave., or if further west, Stirling Rd near the Watchung circle. If I'm really spent after a ride and don't want to climb back over the reservation via Sky Top, I'll bang a right off Valley onto Bonnie Burn and get home through Scotch Plains & Westfield. If my legs are still fresh, I'll throw in Johnston Dr before getting onto Valley.


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