Why this ride
Out of Belmar, one way: 270 km, roughly 4 h 25 in the saddle. It goes by way of Sea Bright, near Stamford, Scenic stretch in Harrison and Harrison.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Jersey Highlands and Greenwood Lake · short arc
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 270 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 25
- Journey
- One way; return travel is separate
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Scenic road chapters
Jersey Highlands and Greenwood Lake food stop → New York / Hudson Vall
Slow enough to look. The surface follows the shoreline, so the corners arrive where the water decided, not where an engineer did. Water arrives beside the road and stays for 72 km. The line follows the shore because there is nowhere else for it to go.
Chapter facts
- Length
- 23 km
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Belmar
In January 1946, at Camp Evans, an army research base a few kilometres inland from Belmar, engineers bounced a radar signal off the Moon and detected the echo for the first time. Project Diana, as it was called, marked the birth of radar astronomy and the space age, and the site is now home to a museum of communications history.
Read the complete Belmar write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jersey Highlands and Greenwood Lake food stop is where the day begins. Next is New York / Hudson Valley rides return.
2. Sea Bright
Sea Bright is barely a town at all in the geographic sense: a strip of sand a few hundred metres wide, with the Atlantic on one side, the Shrewsbury River on the other, and Ocean Avenue running down the middle. A great grey seawall shields the road from the ocean, and on a windy day you can feel the spray even though you cannot see the waves. Beach clubs, seafood bars and surf shops line the street, and in summer the whole place hums.
Read the complete Sea Bright write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
New York / Hudson Valley rides return comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. Next is Photo stop near Stamford.
3. Photo stop near Stamford
Planning note
about 166 km into the recorded legs you reach Photo stop near Stamford. Next is Scenic stretch in Harrison.
4. Scenic stretch in Harrison
Planning note
Scenic stretch in Harrison, about halfway. Next is Jersey Highlands and Greenwood Lake checkpoint 8.
5. Harrison
The New York Red Bulls play football at a sleek stadium on the banks of the Passaic river in Harrison, and on match days the small town fills with fans. Harrison is an old industrial town in Hudson County, New Jersey, across the river from Newark, where factories once made thread, steel and light bulbs. Many of the old works have been demolished and replaced with apartment towers, and the PATH train connects the town to Manhattan.
Read the complete Harrison write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Finish at Jersey Highlands and Greenwood Lake checkpoint 8. That is the ride. Next is Back to Jersey Highlands.
6. Back to Jersey Highlands
This is the Watchung country, a pair of long, curved ridges that rise suddenly from the flat suburbs of central New Jersey and give the area a surprisingly hilly character.
Read the complete Jersey Highlands write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 332 km.
Leg by leg
Photo stop near Stamford to Scenic stretch in Harrison
Photo stop near Stamford → Scenic stretch in Harrison is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch in Harrison to Harrison
Scenic stretch in Harrison → Harrison is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Finger Lakes Overnight · part 3 · 132 km
- Jersey Highlands and Greenwood Lake · part 2 · 103 km
- Taconic Parkway Backroads · 674 km
- Catskills High Peaks Sweep · part 3 · 90 km