How far will you go?

betta285

New Member
How far or long are you willing to drive to reach a destination? For me, Allaire is a solid 30 minutes away and that doesn't bother me at all, but say i wanted to go to Six Mile, then I'm looking at almost 90 minutes. Every once and a while I don't mind it, but I try not to spend more time in transit than I would riding, and that's usually the rule I go by. Even the 2.5 hr trip up to Diablo is legitimated (is this a real word?) by the 7 hrs of riding. So what's your rule/opinion on getting to locations?

Jim
 

BiknBen

Well-Known Member
It depends on how much I like the place. I regularly drive 90 minutes to get to Ringwood which is one of my Favs. I live three miles from Mercer County Park and I don't go there at all.

I agree with you about the drive to ride time ratio. I'm not driving to Ringwood to ride for an hour. It is more likely 3+ hours.
 

pooriggy

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
So what's your rule/opinion on getting to locations?
Jim

I don't have a hard fast rule but the drive/reward ratio has to be there, its gotta be worth the drive. For example I wouldn't drive 45 min. to Shark river park, but I would drive 45 min to Allaire.
Living in the middle of the state I am fortunate to be less than 1 hour from most places. I prefer to mix the rides up; Allaire, Ringwood, Hartshorne, Waway, Lewis...
 

Sircrashalot

New Member
For me its not so much where I am willing to drive, but where I have time to get to & still have time for a decent ride. That darn life career interfering with my riding career is almost as bad as my riding career interfering with my drinking career!
 

al415

Banned
I'm lucky...

I have to travel to various parts of the state on weekends. I bring a bike and GPS and go to whatever is closest to wherever I am going to be. So far this has brought me to Alamuchy, Kittatiny(?), Chimney Rock, Jim Thorpe (PA) and Round Valley. I'd have been nearby these places anyway. As for driving JUST to ride, I have Allaire and Hartshorn within 15-20 minutes so that is my benchmark.
 

syadasti

Wet Rag
Some of my favorite trails (Fell Mountain(AKA Merli), 16 mile ride and Prompton Dam, 16-25 mile ride) are in Carbondale, PA, about 160 miles away (2hr 45 minutes). I usually meet some friends from Ithaca, NY to ride there at least a half dozen times a year as a day trip. Some of the people in the group go even more often than that. Next year I want to check out the brand new MMP trails, they did 8 miles this year and they are supposed to have 8 more for next year.

At the end of summer/early fall in 2007 I did a few thousand mile driving with my friend Pete from NZ to hit 16 trails with about 10-16 miles per day (was supposed to be 17 but he got injured at Ramapo) over three weeks:

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f2f4

New Member
Diablo is about 2-2.5 hrs from me, and it's more than worth the drive.
Allaire is about 50 min from me, and it's worth it.
White Clay/surrounding parks is about 1.5 hrs away, but I only go there if it's with a group of friends.
I'll go to Hartshorne (~1.5 hrs) just because Sandy Hook is nearby! Great road riding there. I have to bring both bikes. :)


On the other side of things, I'll drive 3 hours up to Ellenville NY to go hang gliding every weekend. I dunno if I would drive 3 hrs each way for something like MTB, unless it was something epic.
 
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Fogerson

Former Resident Nerd
Wow, I guess I'm not very dedicated. I ride at MD 99% of the time because it is 5 minutes from my house--I seemingly can't be bothered driving to KVSP (20 min), Wayway (25 min), Allamuchy (25 min), etc...
 

clarkenstein

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
JORBA.ORG
i try to stay local due to my family. with an 8 month old its tough to get out, so i would rather be riding than driving. my normal areas are six mile (5 miles away) sourlands (14 miles away or so) and chimney rock (9-ish miles away). i try to keep my drive under 1/2 hour. i'll ride allaire and hartshorne too, but that's only if i know i have the time to get out... if i get out real early, its a pretty easy shot down rt 18.

riding up north for me is a tough, because i can end up spending more time in the car than on the bike - and i drive so much for work, i would rather not drive.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Before the g/f: My weekends were MINE and I thought nothing of a w/e trip to Maryland and Virginia to ride... an hour drive to ride was nothing...

After the g/f: What is this "riding" thing you speak of? :(
 
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