CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A one-way ride of 1294 km, Rumson to Pelham Manor - roughly 20 h 36 in the saddle. On the way it passes in Saint James, Scenic stretch near Suffern and Hardwick. The climbs: near North Castle and Highlands. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
High ground is rare on the Jersey Shore, which is what makes Highlands special. The little town sits where the Shrewsbury River meets Sandy Hook Bay, at the foot of a steep wooded bluff, the Navesink Highlands, which rises abruptly from the water in one of the few real hills along the Atlantic coast south of New England. Down below are marinas, clam bars and a bridge over to the barrier beach; up above are old houses and the twin brownstone towers of the Navesink lighthouse.
Read the complete Highlands write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Montauk Long Island End Run is where the day begins. Next is Food stop in Saint James.
Food stop in Saint James is where this day stops to eat. Next is High point near North Castle.
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near Suffern.
Suffern guards the Ramapo Pass, the narrow gap where the Ramapo River cuts through the Highlands at the New York and New Jersey border. During the Revolution, this gap was a vital route between the Hudson and the colonies to the south, and Continental troops were stationed here to keep it open; Washington himself passed through more than once. Today, the pass carries the New York Thruway, Route 17 and a railway, all squeezed into the valley, and Suffern is a busy small village at its mouth.
Read the complete Scenic stretch near Suffern write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scenic stretch near Suffern, early in the day. Next is New York / Hudson Valley rides return.
Up here in Warren County, in the northwestern corner of New Jersey, the long, straight crest of the Kittatinny Ridge runs along the horizon, and beyond it lies the Delaware River and the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Hardwick is a rural township of farms, forest and small lakes in the valley just east of the ridge, and it feels a world away from the crowded state most people imagine.
Read the complete Near Hardwick, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
New York / Hudson Valley rides return sits at 252 km, early in the day. Next is Photo stop near Bloomingdale.
The long, wooded ridge of Sourland Mountain rises out of the farmland of Somerset County here, a lump of hard volcanic rock that resisted erosion while the softer land around it was worn away. The Sourlands are not high, but they are wild for New Jersey, with boulder fields, streams and forests, and they make a welcome change from the flat suburbs further east. It was on this ridge that Charles Lindbergh built his house, and from which his baby son was kidnapped in 1932, a crime that gripped the nation.
Read the complete Photo stop near Bloomingdale write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop near Bloomingdale comes up 315 km in. Next is Montauk Long Island End Run checkpoint 8.
Edgewater is a thin ribbon of a town squeezed between the Hudson River and the foot of the Palisades, the dark basalt cliffs that line the New Jersey side of the river opposite Manhattan. Across the water, so close it almost looks touchable, lies the Upper West Side, with Riverside Park, the tower of Riverside Church and Grant's Tomb visible above the trees.
Read the complete Edgewater write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Montauk Long Island End Run checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Montauk Long.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Highlands write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Montauk Long. That is the ride. Next is Catskills High Peaks Sweep.
Most people never imagine New Jersey like this: big hills, dense hardwood forest, granite ridges and deep, clear lakes, with barely a house in sight. The northern part of the state, along the border with New York, is the New Jersey Highlands, an old chain of rounded mountains, and this spot near West Milford, Ringwood and Greenwood Lake lies right in the middle of them. Black bears live here, and so do rattlesnakes, and much of the land is protected forest and state park.
Read the complete Near West Milford, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
New York / Hudson Valley rides return comes up 568 km in. Next is Food stop in Mendham.
The winter of 1779 to 1780 was one of the harshest on record, and the Continental Army spent it in huts at Jockey Hollow, a few miles east of Mendham, short of food, clothing and pay. Soldiers froze, starved and deserted, and some mutinied, yet the army survived. The site is now part of Morristown National Historical Park, with reconstructed huts, an old farmhouse and quiet woodland trails, and it is a moving place to stop.
Read the complete Food stop in Mendham write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Photo stop near Lincroft.
Photo stop near Lincroft, late in the day. Next is Catskills High Peaks Sweep checkpoint 8.
The Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge leaps across the entrance to New York Harbor between Brooklyn and Staten Island, and this ride's start and finish sit at its foot, near Fort Hamilton on the Brooklyn side and Fort Wadsworth across the water. When it opened in 1964, the bridge had the longest suspension span in the world, and it is still one of the most impressive structures in the city, especially at dawn or dusk, when its towers catch the light. Every November the New York City Marathon begins on it.
Read the complete Near Fort Hamilton write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Catskills High Peaks Sweep checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Catskills High Peaks Sweep high point.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Highlands write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The high point of this section. Next is Scenic stretch in Rockville Centre.
883 km in you reach Scenic stretch in Rockville Centre. Next is Back to Catskills.
City Island is the quirkiest part, a mile-and-a-half-long island with a single main street, a shipbuilding history and a fleet of small boats bobbing in its harbours.
Read the complete Catskills write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Catskills closes the day.
Food stop in Saint James → High point near North Castle is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point near North Castle → Scenic stretch near Suffern is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch near Suffern → Near Hardwick, on the way back is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Bloomingdale → Edgewater is 95 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fuel stop near Pelham Manor → Near West Milford, on the way back is 69 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Food stop in Mendham → Photo stop near Lincroft is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Photo stop near Lincroft → Near Fort Hamilton is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch in Rockville Centre → Back to Catskills is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.