Juan Monroy

I lost count how many times I’ve ridden my bicycle from New York Newark to Philadelphia, but I’ll be doing this ride again on Sunday, August 13. The ride will run through the New York Cycle Club and is listed on their Upcoming Rides page (look for the “Cheesesteak Century”). If you are a member, you can sign up for the ride through this direct link.

After a ride to Montauk, I consider this to be a ride that every NYC-area cyclist must do at least once.

More likely than not, we’ll be doing the same route I’ve done the last few times, most recently in December 2015. However, if I have an intrepid group of riders with me that day, I’m tempted to try a more challenging route that crosses the Delaware River at New Hope, Pennsylvania and reaches Philadelphia through the northwest suburbs, instead of the usual route that crosses the Delaware at Washington Crossing.

The last time I tried to do this ride in the summer was as a first-leg of a ride to Baltimore. But this in the middle of brutal heat wave. Temperatures during the ride were as high as 103° so after I arrived in Philadelphia, I packed up my bike and shipped in home. I continued to Baltimore on a Mega Bus.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/juanomatic/20420775683/

Let’s hope that we get more temperate weather on the 13th and a few cyclists get to check this ride off their list.

Here’s the description I wrote for the NYCC ride listing:

This is one of the rides that every New York-area cyclist must do at least once: a century ride from New York to Philadelphia.

Much like a United Airlines flight, this ride from “New York” will actually start in New Jersey, at Newark Penn Station. Take either the PATH or NJ Transit to arrive at Newark Penn by 7:30 AM.

From there, we will head southeast on some rolling hills through parts of New Jersey that I only know from this ride until we reach Bound Brook. We’ll continue along the Raritan-Delaware Canal to Hopewell, and then cross the Delaware River into Pennsylvania either [at Washington Crossing][wc] or [at New Hope][nh], depending on our mood and whether we want to punish each other with more hills.

We will celebrate our arrival with some food, beer, and a lively debate about how we’re getting home.

Speaking of which, there are at least two options for getting home:

1. SEPTA rail with a connection to NJ Transit rail. You will have to bring two bungee chords to secure your bike on the trains.
2. Bolt Bus provides direct service from Philadelphia to either Newark or New York and will take your bike underneath the bus.

Check out the route and decide if this is for you.