Sometime this year, perhaps in August, I along with possibly Nibordude and Belisaurius, will be making an epic bike trip from Ridgewood, NJ to Duxbury, MA. The only non-bike transportation allowed is ferries, since large rivers and the such are difficult to cross, and taking a train/bus across is kinda cheating. Plus, most bridges on the large rivers found in CT, MA, etc. are for highways, which we cannot travel on.

The route starts at my house in Ridgewood, follows the Saddle River County Park south, then we turn east through Hackensack and Teaneck to Fort Lee. From there, we turn south all the way to Hoboken, catching a ferry to Manhatten. My aunt has an apartment near Central Park, and we may spend the first night there. Next morning we bike across to the East River where another ferry will take us to Queens. From there, it is route 25A across northern Long Island, up the North Fork, and to Shelter Island. We spend the night at my aunt's house there, then bike to Orient Point the following morning. The ferry will cross the Sound, dumping us in New London, CT. Crossing the Thames River further upstream will take us past Mystic, Stonington, into Rhode Island and to Narraganset. We have a place to stay there. Next morning is the home stretch past Providence, into southern MA, route 44 to the eastern coast. We then follow 3A up to Duxbury and my friend's house there.

My only real concerns are making it from the city to Shelter Island in one day, and making it from Narragansett to Duxbury in one day. Those are very long and probably difficult stretches. But the journey should be fun nonetheless. I am starting to train for it by testing the route to Hoboken, a little bit at a time. I can't test further than that, but since it is there, why not check it out and gain endurance at the same time? I'm really excited about the trip, it's 145 miles. My longest bike trip so far is 25! :rolleyes:

So wait a moment. Is this a race, or a "ride" (i.e. non-competitive). Anyway, it sounds really cool. I'm a biking person myself. It sounds interesting biking to a different state. I can't really do that here in California. :P

It's just a ride, I've been wanting to do this for a while. If you haven't guessed, I used to live in the town we are going to.

I started training today. Did 16 miles [8 each way] testing the route to Hoboken. 8 miles only brought me to Rochelle Park, but it's a good start and the route so far is good. I had to turn back because it was getting dark and it was rather cold out there.

Next weekend I'm testing out to Fort Lee, a good 14 miles or so [each way], then some other upcoming weekend will feature testing the full route to Hoboken. From there I can't really test it any farther because from there we will take a ferry to Manhatten [and I'd rather not if just testing the route].

Damn, I'm jealous. I love biking, probably my third favorite thing to do in the summer besides soak and swim. The longest bike ride I've ever taken was about 24 miles. Long distance biking is really fun because you get into that kind of "groove". Too bad you're not riding near Stratford, or I'd go with you. :lol:


Have fun. B)

I designed the route purposely to avoid most of CT, since it has those big rivers which have bridges mostly for highways, where we can't ride. Satellite maps don't show me ferries or small bridges for small roads anywhere near where the route would have gone. Going through the city and across LI and catching a ferry to New London takes us through at least a bit more familiar ground.

I like the excitement of going somewhere farther away on your own, while being a good challenge.