Pogwatigue Perambulations: The Ocean!

Up until about 9:00 AM yesterday, I had written off attempting to ride to the Atlantic Ocean from Philadelphia and back in the same day. Previously, I contemplated this possibility, but in planning a route, I could not find one under 125 miles, far beyound my self-assessed range.

Yesterday morning, after an early start on a ride to the Pine Barrens--an expansive swath of sandy-soiled, scrub forest that covers most of South Jersey--and with the wind at my back, I made excellent time. By the the time I reaching Chatsworth, a small village in the Pine Barrens. I was already reconsidering my route. I knew the wind that had helped me thus far would impede my return ride, but the over arching calculation remained: it was not yet 11:00 AM, I was already 40 miles outside of Philadelphia, and the Ocean was just 25 more miles away. That brass ring was with in reach. Instead of turning south, I continued east.

Four miles outside Chartsworth, I joined NJ Route 72, one of the major routes from Philadelphia to "the Shore." No more bucolic back roads. This journey was now all about getting to point B and then back to point A. Though heavily-trafficked, the road offered a wide smooth shoulder. After a respectable climb to 200 feet above sea-level, I cruised, still with the wind behind me, gently downward to Manahawkin, on an interior bay of the Atlantic. Just one obstacle remained, a dicey bridge over the inlet to the barrier island, which thanks to congested traffic was not as bad as I feared.

Full Screen Version

In Ship Bottom, I rode to the nearest beach access, took off my biking gear (shoes, gloves, and helmet) and waded triumphantly into the surf. Then, after drying my feet, I and headed off to find a place to get lunch. I wolfed down a BBQ dog that looked deceptively like a BBQ burger at Woody's before beginning the long ride back, as expected in to a wind, a wind that took back more than it gave up in the morning.

Staying on the main highway, I rode nearly thirty miles to where NJ-72 merges into NJ-70. Here a Wawa offered a convenient place to pick up some refreshments and rest a spell. While I laying in the shade near a Honda motorcycle, the owner came up to converse and offer free advice, such gems as never buy a Harley, never wear a black helmet, and put mudflaps (I assume he meant fenders) over my wheels.

The last last forty-plus miles were slower and unpleasant, but I pressed ahead. Finally, at Marlton, near the edge of the suburbs, I left the state highway for a quieter secondary street. I rode through the pleasant town of Haddonfield and stopped, a fifth and final time, at a park along the Cooper River in Collingswood. I arrived at the east entrance to the Ben Franklin Bridge Walkway at 8:05 PM, about an hour before it closed and just before sunset. My weary legs pushed up the long climb of the bridge and rewarded me with a beautiful view of a steel-gray skyline silhouetted against a yellow-orange-red sky. A nice coast down the west side of the bridge and two miles of stop-and-go riding through downtown found me back at my apartment at 8:34 PM.

Statistics
Length: 131.8 miles
Ride Time: 10 hours 26 minutes
Total Time: 13 hours 14 minutes
Avg. Speed: 12.6 MPH
Max. Speed: 23.6 MPH
Avg. Cadence: 55 RPM
Max. Elevation: 203 ft.