October 2-3, 2021 Bike Camping

9am Denville clocktower. 50 hilly, scenic road miles to a lean-to!! Here is the route! Stock Bridge shelter is just a mile ride from the road and has a great view. No car support. No drop ride w/ regroups. Expect a little hike a bike to camp and I think we’ll need to haul in our water (maybe there is a spring?). There is a fine selection of restaurants & shopping in West Milford at mile 20 and the lovely Delta quickie mart at mile 25. There may be some vending machines along Seven Lakes Rd. Plan your water carefully. I’ll be filtering and can share. It will be Awesome!

“…this road is the gate to a hidden world that we are allowed to visit now and then. It’s a place where you live in the moment, where there are no obligations except to those to your companions, where all that counts is a bike that works and legs that can pedal.  The complexities and responsibilities of our daily lives are stripped down to an almost primal existence for a few days.  When we return, we are recharged for our daily lives.  Yet in idle moments, our minds wander to distant roads and glorious views.”             Heine, Jan. “Bike Test J.P. Weigle Randonneur” Bicycle Quarterly, Issue 50,  22-36. Print

Update: This trip was pretty cool with a couple uncool parts! Getting 4 lifetime members lost on rough hiking trails halfway into the ride, not cool and tiring as hell! But Man!, Apline Deli & Pork Store for Frickadellen & cucumber salads was very cool! Unbelievable to me still!, but I got us lost AGAIN on rough hiking trails as sun was setting. I looked at maps on my phone and I could gaze far across the valley and see about where the shelter we were looking for would be. Oops, we are on the wrong hill, tired and a little pissed! Just before it got really dark Birdman spotted a perfectly suitable camp spot for us, a small clearing, Cool!. We set up camp among boulders and had a great evening slurping beers and chomping on some pork schnitzels! Yes, so cool! We planned a different return route that worked very well, the roads back were quiet, pretty, less hilly, a beautiful fast ride home. We must return to this area, there is so much potential for future adventures, we have barely scratched the surface!!!