208 miles in one Day
(Last updated: Thu. Sep 24, 2009)
The Longest Day
Wow, is
this page under contruction. Tranportation and accommodations are
the most difficult aspect of this ride (well after actually doing
the ride itself ;-). Most of the riders of the Longest Day get a
ride to the starting point and home from the finish with their
team. It is possible to ride your bike to the start and home from
the finish and there are a few who have done this, but not many
(you end up with a total of 400 miles or more for three
days). Some folks have asked about mass transit and unfortunately
NJ is not well setup for mass transit (I blame the cows). The
group in charge of mass transit is NJ Transit. They handle
trains and buses in the state of NJ. Trains go to Port Jervis and
Atlantic City. There is bus service from Cape May to Atlantic City
(and maybe Cape May to NY). If you are looking to use mass transit
make sure that you know the schedule of the service and make sure
they can carry your bikes. NJ Transit trains are notorious for not
permitting bikes on the train during rush hour (6 AM - ? PM). So
double check.
This is very unofficial and not supported by the Central Jersey Bike Club. The reason I'm creating this page is that the club does get asked about transportation and accommodations for not just the Port Jervis starting point and the Cape May end point but also for the century and double metric. Since we've been asked I decided that I'd put a little extra effort into investigating what is available. It may help someone in their efforts to do the ride.
None of what is posted here has been tested (Aug. 2008). Even if it was tested you still should check the appropriate transportation service(s) as schedules may change
None of the information here is a paid for. The NY, Port Jervis Days Inn gives us a discount for reserving a block of rooms for the Longest day participants. As does the Regal Plaza Beach Resort in Wildwood NJ.
Accommodations
Port Jervis
Days Inn
2247 Greenville Turnpike
Port Jervis, NY
(845) 856-6611
Somerset
Allentown
Cape May
Regal Plaza Beach Resort - $129.96 (Tax included) for 2 people, $11.40/day/person (tax included). Reservations must be made by May 1st to gaurantee a room and rate.
9501 Atlantic Avenue
Wildwood Crest, NJ
1-888-522-5670
609-522-5670
Transportation
There is bus and train service to Port Jervis (train, bus?), New Brunswick (train), Somerset (bus?), Monmouth Junction (train) and Princeton Junction (train).
Port Jervis
train, bus?
Somerset
bus?, Train to New Brunswick.
Allentown
No direct transportion.
Cape May
By train - The closet rail terminal is Atlantic City, NJ (about 45 minutes by car or two hours by bus to the North). This station is served by NJ Transit's Atlantic City Line from Philadelphia and is connected to Cape May by a NJ Transit bus, see below.
By bus - New Jersey Transit runs the 552 bus route from Atlantic City to Cape May.
From the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal, take New Jersey Transit bus route 319 to Atlantic City. A Few 319 buses wiil terminate and begin in Cape May, check the schedule.
Note: New Jersey Transit runs a summer schedule on these two routes when school is out for the summer. So pick up a printed schedule when in doubt. The Web site for New Jersey Transit publishes the normal schedule.