Good transit shuttle routes?

J

John Bottenberg

New Member
Do you guys ever take public transportation to get to your rides?

I did a ride a few months ago that I can't get out of my head. Probably the best solo ride I've had in NJ so far. Starting from home, I pedaled to the Radburn train station and took a 30 minute train ride to Sloatsburg NY. Then I rode through Ringwood to TOS, down to Oakland, then up through High Mountain and back toward home. See the attached screenshot for the route.

Interestingly, when I got on the train, there was another mountain biker there who was coming from NYC. He said he was going to follow some ride his friend recommended to him, and showed me this Map My Ride route that was basically my ride but in the opposite direction. He got off at Glen Rock and assuming his ride was successful, rode all the way to Sloatsburg.

This got me thinking about whether there are any other creative ways to use public transportation around here. Is the NJ Transit Main Line / Port Jervis Line the king of MTB-friendly transit in the area, or am I missing something? I'm guessing there's nothing like the (free of charge) proper uphill train shuttles in Adelaide, unless I'm mistaken. I can see on the Trailforks heat map that a non-negligible amount of MTB traffic goes from the Mount Olive train station into Stephens, which is interesting to me because that station gets no trains on weekends.

Thoughts?
 

Attachments

  • 1665515199905.png
    1665515199905.png
    629.8 KB · Views: 237
I have not, but it's definitely an interesting idea. In theory, I could take a Septa train from my house into Philly and then ride Belmont and/or the Wissahickon. In reality, the train fare there and back would cost considerably more than the fuel my van would use. And it would take a considerably longer amount of time.
 
I made a route that begins with a train shuttle in red Bank and goes to the end of the line at Peapack Gladstone iI’s meant to be a gravel ride with mixed surface through Bedminster south through Somerville, across Middlesex, ending back at the Redbank train station. Haven’t ridden it yet.
 
Love this, that route looks fun. @Ian F are you coming from Croydon? I would guess similar time, maybe a bit more via rail with the wait for departure, but not too bad. $14 round trip vs. gas prices, the hassle of philly drivers and finding a safe spot to park.

I used to take the train from my house in Mays Landing to Philly when I commuted. I loved hopping off the train in Camden and riding over the Ben before work and had the option to xfer to get out at 8th street. Ironically I haven't used this route since retiring, but I should!

Another really fun train/ride spot I've done was Boston to Lynn Woods. The "T" was free for active military, and the ride from Lynn station to the park wasn't too bad. It was so great to pull in via ship and get a solid ride in without a car.
 
John Bottenberg said:
Do you guys ever take public transportation to get to your rides?

I did a ride a few months ago that I can't get out of my head. Probably the best solo ride I've had in NJ so far. Starting from home, I pedaled to the Radburn train station and took a 30 minute train ride to Sloatsburg NY. Then I rode through Ringwood to TOS, down to Oakland, then up through High Mountain and back toward home. See the attached screenshot for the route.

Interestingly, when I got on the train, there was another mountain biker there who was coming from NYC. He said he was going to follow some ride his friend recommended to him, and showed me this Map My Ride route that was basically my ride but in the opposite direction. He got off at Glen Rock and assuming his ride was successful, rode all the way to Sloatsburg.

This got me thinking about whether there are any other creative ways to use public transportation around here. Is the NJ Transit Main Line / Port Jervis Line the king of MTB-friendly transit in the area, or am I missing something? I'm guessing there's nothing like the (free of charge) proper uphill train shuttles in Adelaide, unless I'm mistaken. I can see on the Trailforks heat map that a non-negligible amount of MTB traffic goes from the Mount Olive train station into Stephens, which is interesting to me because that station gets no trains on weekends.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Was that a road ride? I’ve been willing to put some miles on my el gravelachi and that would be an interesting way to do it without necessarily going the rando way. Just trails I would say it may present a few challenges.
 
Wow that looks like an awesome ride, @KenS! I need to check out Lynn Woods and the other goods in New England sometime.

serviceguy said:
Was that a road ride? I’ve been willing to put some miles on my el gravelachi and that would be an interesting way to do it without necessarily going the rando way. Just trails I would say it may present a few challenges.
Click to expand...
The ride I was talking about in the original post was a mostly MTB ride, with the vast majority of time spent on singletrack. The portion of the ride between Ringwood and the top of Skyline Drive seemed endless. That being said, there was a significant amount of road riding.
1665592844165.png
 
John Bottenberg said:
Wow that looks like an awesome ride, @KenS! I need to check out Lynn Woods and the other goods in New England sometime.
Click to expand...
Lynn is really really good. A local guide helps a lot. Some trails/rock lines are hidden in plain sight if that makes any sense at all. I rode past one particular spine section 3-4 times before a local showed it to me. Tons of other good stuff up in that area, check the outside of NJ section here for ideas/inspiration.
 
KenS said:
Lynn is really really good. A local guide helps a lot.
Click to expand...

I rode there last year and quit after 45 minutes. It was impossible to find where anything was. As a comparison, Sourlands is like a 5 on the frustration scale solo. Lynn is like 10, maybe 11, on a scale of 1-10. I would love to get back up there but goddamn, I cannot express how hard it was to follow anything there.
 
KenS said:
Love this, that route looks fun. @Ian F are you coming from Croydon? I would guess similar time, maybe a bit more via rail with the wait for departure, but not too bad. $14 round trip vs. gas prices, the hassle of philly drivers and finding a safe spot to park.

I used to take the train from my house in Mays Landing to Philly when I commuted. I loved hopping off the train in Camden and riding over the Ben before work and had the option to xfer to get out at 8th street. Ironically I haven't used this route since retiring, but I should!

Another really fun train/ride spot I've done was Boston to Lynn Woods. The "T" was free for active military, and the ride from Lynn station to the park wasn't too bad. It was so great to pull in via ship and get a solid ride in without a car.
Click to expand...
I would... although in that map, I would more likely take the train to 30th Street or Suburban Station with closer proximity to bike lanes/paths towards the river vs. riding through North Philly. It would be great if there was a rail station at the Zoo - since the tracks pass by it. Then it would be a quick ride up to Belmont. It's funny how all of the Belmont trails are on the Septa online map. I suppose another option would be to change trains to the Chestnut Hill Line and get off at Mt Airy - which is around the corner from the Cresheim trail network to the Wiss.

I used to commute by car to Drexel 30+ years ago. Philly drivers don't bother me. They're practically friendly after you've driven around Boston, NYC or DC.
 
Last edited:
John Bottenberg said:
The ride I was talking about in the original post was a mostly MTB ride, with the vast majority of time spent on singletrack. The portion of the ride between Ringwood and the top of Skyline Drive seemed endless. That being said, there was a significant amount of road riding.View attachment 198094
Click to expand...
I could not really tell from the picture. I did that single track once and it does seems endless, it’s also really rough in some points as it’s not really getting much use or maintenance. I was exhausted when I got to TOS. Ironically, going back the same way seems to incorporate quite a lot of climbing, which I always thought made the name TOS inappropriate..
 
Yeah I've similarly thought of taking the trip out to Wiss or Belmont via train. In practice it's just so much easier to dump my bike on the rack, drive to Blue Bell lot, and go for a ride. Especially don't love the idea of hauling my Jeffsy through suburban station. But it's certainly possible to try it out. I think the AC Line to 30th to Chestnut Hill West line would probably be pretty doable.

That being said, last time I was up in High Bridge I noticed how close that station is to Nassau/flow trails. Pretty easy hop up there if you're along the Raritan Valley Line route.
 
robcleary said:
Yeah I've similarly thought of taking the trip out to Wiss or Belmont via train. In practice it's just so much easier to dump my bike on the rack, drive to Blue Bell lot, and go for a ride. Especially don't love the idea of hauling my Jeffsy through suburban station. But it's certainly possible to try it out. I think the AC Line to 30th to Chestnut Hill West line would probably be pretty doable.

That being said, last time I was up in High Bridge I noticed how close that station is to Nassau/flow trails. Pretty easy hop up there if you're along the Raritan Valley Line route.
Click to expand...
Pretty easy to just ride from Cherry Hill area to Belmont or Wiss via Haddon Ave, over Ben and across the city to either location. This was a big ride that included both.
www.strava.com

Celebrated turning 54 by doing 56 - John D.'s 56.6 mi mountain bike ride

Barr to Belmont to Wiss, back to Belmont and a finished at Tonewood
www.strava.com www.strava.com
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom