Monday, June 11, 2012
New relaxed policy allows bicycle boarding at all train stations effective July 1
Cycling enthusiasts, rejoice! Now, you can take your bike aboard trains at any station in New Jersey. It's thanks to a newly relaxed bicycle onboarding policy from NJ Transit. The policy is effective July 1. Cyclists, however, should note that this new policy does not mean you can take your standard (non-collapsible) bike on any train at any time. There are still restrictions for certain holidays and peak travel times. Read NJ Transit's full release here: NEWARK, NJ — Following Transportation Commissioner and NJ TRANSIT Board Chairman James Simpson’s call for a speedy resolution to customer and bicycle advocates’ concerns about bike access at train stations, the NJ TRANSIT Board of Directors today adopted a new Bike Aboard Program that …
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Freehold Borough mayor leads bike ride through town
It was just an hour. It was just a couple of dozen people. It was just a bike ride, for goodness sake. But it was more. The bike ride recently organized by the mayor of a small central New Jersey town was emblematic of a cultural shift, a national movement toward embracing so-called “alternative’’ modes of transportation, bike advocates say. Any way you look at it, Sunday’s hour-long ride through the streets of Freehold Borough led by the town's mayor, J. Nolan Higgins, was enough to turn some heads. Mine included. “To me, that shows there’s a sincere interest by the walking and cycling public to explore the future of cycling and walking in the town,” said Wally Tunison, a bicycle shop owner and longtime cycling advocate who attended the …
Monday, October 17, 2011
Riding unfettered by a planned route
Abner Thorp is a dead man. He's been dead for quite some time, actually, but I've only recently met him. Some of his family, too. They're also quite dead. The Abner Thorp cemetery is a tiny speck of land adjacent to an access road to the back of the Manasquan Reservoir, along Southard Avenue in Howell. Driving past it in a car, you might not even notice it. But one day recently on a ride through that section of Howell, I decided to go straight through a traffic light instead of turning left, as was my then-usual route. That's when I met Abner. * * * * * Abner Thorp died just a shade into the 19th century. There are other graves in the tiny cemetery that bears his name. It’s tough to tell how many, since some of the markers are clearly …
Friday, September 16, 2011
Long distance cycling to test the mind, body
Take a map of the United States. Draw a line beginning from Wall Township, heading west. Continue for 764 miles, or there abouts. You end up right around a tiny town of just more than 2,000 called Rockville, in west central Indiana. Now, get on your bike and ride there. In less than four days. On a six-speed bike never meant for long distance travel. Oh, and wear a dress, too. That’s what Sophie Matter, a French cyclist, did at the 1,200 kilometer Paris-Brest-Paris long-distance cycling event, held last month. The PBP event is the Holy Grail of long-distance cycling, and the oldest regularly held bicycle event in the world. It’s held every four years. More than 5,000 riders participated in the grueling event this year. One was Matter, who …
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Rediscovering the bicycle
A woman is calmly peddling a bicycle along the shoulder of a road on a bright summer day, the tiny head of a tiny dog poking up from a basket on the handlebars. In the rear of her red, single-speed cruiser hang two, wire-frame baskets holding reusable grocery-sized bags. Not an uncommon sight, if you’re in Berkeley, Calif. But this was just the other day in Wall Township. Right there on New Bedford Road, near Belmar Boulevard. A woman, who had presumably just done some shopping in Colfax Plaza — North Wall’s equivalent to Main Street — peddling home on a Not Giant, Gas-Guzzling SUV. The sight was sublime in its simplicity. And it got me thinking, waxing really, about the simple act of bicycling. * * * * The first bicycle I remember that I …
Richard Berger
8:02 am on Saturday, April 7, 2012
Yes, even though it has two gaps (one in Marlboro and one in Aberdeen) you can take it from Freehold all the way to Sandy Hook! more ›