July 2: Bayonne, NJ to Doylestown, PA (84 miles)

Or, "The Importance of Being Early"

Another late start this morning.  I left my sister's place just before 11:00 and with no small reluctance rode north, back the way I'd come the night before, toward US 1/9 Truck into Newark.  (How many cross-country cyclists do you think ride through Newark intentionally?) My goal was to hook up with Adventure Cycling's Atlantic Coast route in Watchung, New Jersey, and Newark--the sebaceous sweat gland of our great nation--appeared unavoidable.

View from US 1/9 Truck



Newark: The 20th Most Dangerous City in America

Riding Route 22 West toward Watchung was mostly untraumatic except for a few brief minutes in the beginning during which I wondered if the good folks at Mapquest had steered me onto a major highway.  But before long the road settled down into a well-paved, fully legal two-laner with an ample shoulder.

Around 2 p.m., I turned off Route 22 to follow a vague sign indicating a right turn on the road ahead would lead to Watchung.  I soon learned I was on Summit Road in the town of Mountainside, New Jersey.  In retrospect, I'd say I was provided quite enough hints.  I started up the very first steep incline of my trip, which must have been about a 10% grade.  Even in my lowest gear I struggled to turn pedals and felt every ounce of the thirty pounds in my panniers, barely achieving walking speed up the hill.  Upon cresting the hill and racing down the other side, I was pretty bummed to find that Summit Road didn't connect me in any obvious way to the AC route, or even to Watchung, so I ditched the paper, fired up my GPS and corrected course. 



Park in Watchung, New Jersey

 I spent the rest of that day riding in stop-start mode, following AC's route with varying degrees of success.  By three o'clock, with only five and a half hours of daylight, I estimated I still had 45-50 miles to travel to reach my CouchSurfing destination for the night in Doylestown, PA.  And in fact, time was looking tighter still since the AC maps would only take me as far as New Hope, PA (about 10 miles east of Doylestown), beyond which I would have to improvise.

I was beginning to sincerely regret my late start that morning.

By 6 pm I was still making painfully slow progress on the AC route, having to stop more frequently to confirm directions.  When I noticed on the map that Route 202 South, a divided four-lane highway I'd just crossed, passes right through New Hope, PA, I decided to chuck the obscure country roads in favor of a more heavily-trafficked, but infinitely simpler, route.  I pulled into the extremely wide shoulder and rode that bike like I stole it, racing the sunset the last twenty miles or so toward New Hope.

Since there was no chance I'd make it to Doylestown in daylight, I phoned Ken Sharples, a CouchSurfing member in New Hope with whom I'd made contact before the trip. He and his wife had a house full of guests, but he kindly offered to meet me in town and drive me to Doylestown despite the very late hour.  

Bob Ruddy, my host in Doylestown, was also exceedingly gracious about putting me up for the night despite my arrival in darkness and, more regrettably still, my hours-long loss of phone contact. Ken, Bob, his wife Julie and I sat on the porch of their beautiful home sipping cold beers and sharing biking stories.

The Ruddy's, my first ever CouchSurfing hosts, treated me like family though in reality I was a near-total stranger who had screwed things up pretty badly. The experience of being so thoroughly welcomed into their home was deeply humbling.