This was a last minute trip for me, and my bike wasn't set-up correctly. I needed bags and lights and some minor junk, so I ordered from places that ship fast (got Wolfman e-12's and Cyclops lights) and finished getting everything together the day before I was to leave. No time for a shakedown ride, which I wasn't thrilled about, but what can you do? Sunday night I had my GPS loaded, and was planning on starting in Jackson (via truck), near Six Flags. Got up early Monday and it was raining pretty hard (crap!) although the forecast looked ok. My ride fell through (crap, again!)... so, I started calling places to see where I could park my truck for a few days. Wal Mart came through (sweet!). My bike is sort-of of a big dirtbike posing as a small adventure bike; I went up one tooth on the countershaft, and with the new bags, it was perfect for this trip (other than the seat). Started pretty close to Six Flags near the Poor Man's Safari: Obligatory bike with wild animals in background pic: Not many pics today, but many "roads" were like this: Got pounded by rain in a flash storm- didn't even have time to zip the vents on my jacket or pants, and got pretty soaked. Hah, good thing I paid extra for Gore-tex. So, I deviated from the TNJT a bit and tried to find the closest fuel stop for some cover. Even while I could barely see, when I passed roads like Central Ave (?), I still road down, because I was afraid I'd miss something good. The weather cleared up and I finished the day at a cheap hotel in Absecon. (I didn't camp on this trip.) Here were my GPS stats: Tuesday morning, the local weather channel was calling for gloom and doom... not a good day to be riding solo with luggage on dirt/sand roads. I needed a place with a garage, and Google said AC was nearby. In front of the hotel: I hightailed it to the cheapest garage I could find using my 4 year old iPhone (3GS) and no wifi... Bally's. When I rolled into town, the locals in the 'hood were staring at me like I was an alien- seriously, it was the same reaction I see more worldly adventurers get in third world countries on their GS's. While in line to check-in, I found a pretty good rate online ($54 pre-tax), and was happy about that. Meanwhile, Bally's was getting pummeled by the storm: One of the workers said the water was deeper than during Sandy. Water was rolling in the lower level doors, and I have to admit, it was pretty cool to see. First equipment failure of the trip... my Klim Badlands jacket wouldn't unzip all the way. It was like getting out of a straight jacket with the zipper closed. No stats today, because there wasn't much riding. I bummed around AC all day (and night) and was antsy to get back to riding. Wednesday, I had to alter my route so I could get back on the TNJT as quick as possible. Once I got off the asphalt, there was a lot of this: Thankfully, that one had a go-around. At one point, I was riding the edge of a water hole and my front tire caught something and I tipped over. Ugh. Gloves soaked, water up my sleeves, in my boots, and the Wolfman on the right side. (I had my stuff in giant zip locks, so it stayed dry, but the inside of the luggage filled with muddy, silty "water"). Eh, it was warm out, so this wasn't a huge deal... life (and the ride) goes on. The destination for this trip was Cape May (although, everyone knows it's really about the ride). This was some beach on the way: Rocky road that led there: My Mom likes pics that have me in them: Had a good omelet here: Getting closer to the "end" was pretty anti-climactic. Mainly because the roads were all paved. Here are a few pics of some of the small, private beaches (and a few houses amazingly built practically IN the ocean): Proof that I made it: The worst part of the trip was definitely leaving Cape May. The place is lousy with cops running radar and traffic was bad enough that I started shutting my bike off at red lights, for fear of overheating. I cruised up Rt 9 to Hammonton, because I knew there's good riding around there. Made it to a roach motel by roughly 9pm and started planning the next day. Batsto was awesome! I love this stuff, even though I high-sided in some sugar sand at one point. Again, luckily there was a go-around for this thing... I got a little lost at one point. Admittedly, I'm not very good with the GPS, and I didn't realize that a couple of the routes had over 50 waypoints, so my Montana couldn't do turn-by-turn. Anyway, after riding for a very long time, I got to this. And, there was NO go-around :eek1: Shit! I can't turn around... I've been riding for hours! Let's walk in and see how deep it is. Shit, again. Over the top of my boots (this water is clean, right?). I decided to go for it, knowing if I dumped it, I was pretty much screwed. Well, it was deep enough that I was reminded I need to re-route my carb vent tubes. If the water hole were much longer, I might have been in trouble, because my bike started to sputter. But, I made it, albeit with my blood pressure 50 points higher. The problem with Gore-tex boots is that when you get water inside, it stays inside. This was an hour or so later: (That water is clean... right?) Got a little lost again, and somehow found my way into Fort Dix, but not through the entrance. Got some pics* before I found some guys who showed me how to exit. They were pretty cool and seemed to like my bike. *Yes, this is technically illegal riding and NOT part of the TNJT. I made it out to Colliers Mills, and again, that was some incredible riding. Where the actual route says "off-road", you could get lost for hours if you wanted. I finished up back in Jackson, which was not near as sprawled-out, but fun riding nonetheless. That was a great way to spend 4 days in NJ! Some thoughts... first of all, thanks to rob23 for putting this thing together. A TON of work went into that, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to ride a big chunk of the TNJT. (I hit part of it last year on this trip.) I've ridden a bunch of times in NJ and the Pine Barrens on various DS rides and whatnot, but I got to see a lot of stuff I didn't know existed. The views from Spring Hill were killer, but I didn't feel like stopping to take a pic. There are a lot of u-turns and back-and-forths, which you could cut out if you needed to make better time. However, you'd miss lots of good riding. There are a few dead-ends/private/gated areas. I wanted to make notes, but I could never get around to it (jerk). I realize photos of off-road riding in NJ can be frowned upon. If anyone wants me to take these down, I will. And, I realize the Ft Dix pics are not legal, but I doubt that anyone really cares about that. I tried to take pics of only legal "roads". The Beta was perfect. The only damage was to my ass. The Badlands jacket had me pretty pissed when it was hot and I wanted to quickly remove it. I ended up breaking the zipper, and Klim said since I broke it, I gotta pay them 80 bucks to fix it. Damn. Anyway, that's way more than I intended to type. So, I'm done now.
nice report great pics! btw, you should route in off-road road, not turn by turn and you can go over the 50 pt limit. Also, some of the roads are not on the map so you're actually supposed to use off-road routing for the all the routes even if they're on the street, . Spread the word.
Clarke- I think it's 3.8 gallons. The only problem is, the petcock tube is sooo long, I've got a gallon left when I hit reserve, so I've never even put 3 full gallons in it. (I prefer not to ride on reserve- I know I can change the petcock tube, but it's low on my priority list.) As for routing... I called Garmin and asked about the 50 point limit, because I couldn't believe that was the max. They said it was, and the only other option was to try and follow the pink line from an overhead view (which I did a lot). I guess that's what you mean by off-road routing? That was pretty tough for me, because I could never get the right amount of zoom. On a Google map, this would be no problem, but I really can't stand Garmin maps- I think they are slow and tough to work with.
Wow, no ones posted up a 'current' link to a gpx file as of yet......every link I tried at the beginning of this thread seems to be a dead link or have no gpx file......OR I'm going blind, LOL! Someone help a brother out? (wrong thread but leaving it here too!)