Why this ride
A rider’s loop: clean exit, memorable middle, calm return. A 306 km loop that starts and ends near Fordham, about 5 h 06 of riding. It goes by way of Highlands, Scenic stretch near Eltingville, Sayreville and near Pompton Lakes.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Poconos River Road
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 306 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 06
- Journey
- Loop
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Fuel stop in Fordham
Planning note
Next is Poconos River Road photo pull-off.
2. Highlands
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Poconos River Road photo pull-off comes up about 97 km into the recorded legs. Next is Scenic stretch near Eltingville.
3. Scenic stretch near Eltingville
Planning note
about 146 km into the recorded legs you reach Scenic stretch near Eltingville. Next is New York / Hudson Valley rides return.
4. Sayreville, on the way back
Sayreville was built on clay. For more than a century the pits along the Raritan river supplied brick works that sent millions of bricks up the river and across the bay to build New York, and the town's lakes and ponds are mostly old clay pits filled with water. Later it became a gunpowder and chemical town, and later still the hometown of Jon Bon Jovi, which is the fact most visitors already know.
Read the complete Sayreville, on the way back 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, about halfway. Next is Food stop near Pompton Lakes.
5. Food stop near Pompton Lakes
Planning note
Food at 163 km, roughly 3 hours into the riding. Next is High point in Fair Lawn.
6. High point in Fair Lawn
Planning note
High point in Fair Lawn comes up about 264 km into the recorded legs. Next is Poconos River Road checkpoint 8.
7. Near East Rutherford
The Hackensack Meadowlands were once written off as a wasteland of marsh, dumps and smouldering garbage, the place where gangsters supposedly disposed of their problems. Today they are something unexpected: a recovering wetland, full of herons, egrets and ospreys, wrapped around a stadium that holds more than eighty thousand people. This finish lies at the edge of that landscape, near East Rutherford, Carlstadt and Moonachie.
Read the complete Near East Rutherford write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Poconos River Road checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is back to Poconos River Road.
8. back to Poconos River Road
Fordham is the Bronx at its most characteristic, a dense, cheerful neighbourhood of apartment buildings, shops and street life around Fordham Road and the Grand Concourse. Fordham University was founded here in 1841, when the area was still countryside, and has been run by Jesuits since 1846, and the campus, with its Gothic stone halls and tree-lined lawns, is a surprising pocket of calm in a very busy borough. Edgar Allan Poe lived in a small cottage nearby in the late 1840s and wrote some of his last poems there, and the cottage still stands in a little park.
Read the complete Poconos River Road write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at back to Poconos River Road. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Scenic stretch near Eltingville to Sayreville, on the way back
Scenic stretch near Eltingville → Sayreville, on the way back is the technical section. Hairpins, gradients and mixed traffic can stack up quickly; use low drama inputs, stay wide of centre lines and expect buses or riders appearing exactly where optimism says they will not.
Food stop near Pompton Lakes to High point in Fair Lawn
Food stop near Pompton Lakes → High point in Fair Lawn is the logistics leg. Watch junctions, villages and speed changes, then let the roadbook do its job: move you out of the clutter without spending your best attention too early.
High point in Fair Lawn to Near East Rutherford
This High point in Fair Lawn → Near East Rutherford stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.