Jersey Jaunts - Biking in (and around) New Jersey
HOME

Pumpkin Patch Pedal

Club Ride by Staten Island Bicycling Association (SIBA)

Distance: Multiple: 25, 50, 62, 100 miles
Topology: Rolling - generally flat Open-roads, light traffic
 Surface: paved  Start: Thompson Park - Jamesburg, NJ

The Pumpkin Patch Pedal is your typical multi-distance SAG supported public club ride put on by the Staten Island Bicycling Association (SIBA) in Jamesburg, NJ. The ride offers 4 distances, of 25, 50, 62, and 100 miles, with full service rest stops and SAG support.

We chose to ride the 25 mile route (actually 27.6 miles). Here is a track of the route Upper portion including Start/Finish and lower portion including connections to longer route.

Here is a “bread crumbGPS track for the 25 mile loop in GPX format (use save as and save with .gpx extension).

The Pumpkin Patch Pedal, like most club rides takes place on open-roads with vehicular traffic; some of the roads on the route had little or no shoulder, and cycling in the travel lanes was necessary. The 25 mile route provided a single rest stop at around 14 miles, this stop was exclusively for the 25 mile loop, the stop features pumpkin and apple pies, and was across from a large horse farm. Roughly the first and last 10 miles of the 25 mile route share the same roadways as the longer rides so we did intermix with riders on the longer routes, for most of the ride. We rode past a number of horse farms, and of course pumpkin farms on our route, as this part of New Jersey is still somewhat rural. Sadly though we did pass a few developments where giant "McMansions" have been built on former farmland.

Since we're not fans of open-road cycling, and generally avoid even secondary roads it's tough to evaluate the traffic on the day of our ride. A large portion of the ride takes place on county roads that are long and straight so cars can get going pretty fast. The lack of a wide shoulder is perhaps what I disliked most, as you must rely that drivers see you and give you space.

I've mapped out the 50 mile (52 miles) route from the cue sheet even though we didn't ride it. Here is the Upper portion where it splits from the 25 mile route, and Lower portion where the 75 and 100 mile loops split. It is interesting to note that the first rest stop isn't until the 25 mile mark on this route, however I did notice a few riders going in the "wrong" direction from the 25 mile rest stop, and I assume that they took a detour from the 50 mile route to visit the rest stop, adding another couple of miles to the longer route.

We saw many additional street markings for other rides that use these roads, including the habitat for humanity ride which also leaves from Thompson Park.

All riders were given a water bottle, and those who pre-registered additionally received a long-sleeve tee shirt.