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Sunday morning's ride was from Homebase, eastbound to a small town called Pemberton, in New Jersey. Not far into the ride, I clicked over the odometer to 18,000 total miles since putting the Haibike FullFatSix into service, April 2017.
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Burlington County, NJ was once the largest agricultural county in NJ. Not so much anymore with farms being sold off for housing developments and warehouses. But there are still pockets of agriculture, like here, coming up on Juliustown, NJ.
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Pemberton, NJ and my turn-around point. I'm at a canoe portage site on the north branch of the Rancocas Creek. The creek here will flow eastward to Mt Holly and then empty into the Delaware River. Up here in Pemberton, there is no tidal flow influence from the Delaware as there are a series of small dams between Browns Mills and Mt Holly. This kicks off a short ride of a mile and a half of buggy, forested trails that will lead me back to Hanover Street. Much better riding here in the fall and winter months, when the biting insects are gone.
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On the former Pemberton & Hightstown Railroad bridge crossing of the Rancocas at Pemberton, NJ. About the bike; Haibike Full FatSix, Old Man Mountain racks, front and rear, Schmidt SON28 dyno hub making power for a front Schmidt Edelux II headlight and a rear Schmidt SON tailight. Yamaha PW drive system (in 18k miles, no problems at all to report), PearTune speed chip (I rarely use it as my average speeds are at or around 12-13 mph), stock rims, Schwalbe 4.0 Jumbo Jims with Tannus Armour inserts; OneUp composite pedals, Spank handlebar, Ergon fat grips with Cane Creek Ergo bar ends; Hanfy mirror, Ortlieb handlebar bag and for this ride, an Ortlieb E-mate pannier carrying flat tire repair gear. Ergon ST Core Prime saddle. I have for my use, 3 Yamaha 500wh batteries along with the original 400wh battery; all are at or near 100% capacity. I figure I can get 40 miles of riding in the High Power setting with this bike. I kinda chuckle everytime someone on this site poo-poo's the idea that electric fatbikes are not a good idea for riding on asphalt, for most of my riding is done on asphalt surfaces. And to counter their argument, all I can do is refer back to the first picture in this post!
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The Pemberton & Hightstown crossing of the Rancocas had to be a considerable investment for the railroad when first built. This RR was eventually rolled up into the giant Pennsylvania Rail Road. But unlike the PRR's Broadway mainline from Philadelphia to New York, this was a quiet little branch line that helped move farmers crops and milk to market as well as moving troop trains in and out of the nearby Camp Dix, later, Fort Dix, NJ.
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The now closed Pemberton railroad station, near Hanover Street, Pemberton, NJ. One can imagine the hub of activity back in the day. The former Pemberton and Hightstown also carried passengers to and from nearby Philadelphia. And if one were adventurous, you could ride to Hightstown, NJ to the north of here, de-train and catch the Camden and Amboy train leaving for NYC at Perth Amboy, NJ.
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Homeward bound at Springfield Twp, NJ and a nice little northern Burlington County NJ farm vista. Here in the US, New Jersey often and rightly gets the reputation of being an ugly landscape of refineries and run-down cities. To the north and east, this is rightly so. But there are sections of the state that still retain the character of NJ how it once was.
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With that ride over for Sunday, here is a Monday morning, pre-sunrise shot taken at Roebling, NJ; on the Delaware River, looking north towards the lights of the former US Steel Plant at Fairless Hill, Pennsylvania. NJ has gotten quite active in building bike trails and I am on part of the Kinkora Rail Trail, which is a small part of the overall Delaware River Heritage Trail that links Philadelphia, PA with Trenton, NJ and points on the river to the north of Trenton.
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If you can do it, try to get out before the sun rises, just to take in that magical moment where the night sky catches on fire from the rising sun & the start of a new day. The Delaware here recieves ocean going ships that moor up at Fairless to take on scrap steel, coal and other products. 30 plus years ago when the Fairless Steel Works was going gangbusters, American steel made here was being shipped to other parts of the world, from here. There is history in this area as well; to the left of the steel mill is where William Penn built his summer home in the 1600's; Pennsbury Manor. 20 miles on the river to the north is where General Washington made his crossing of the Delaware in the first major victory for the Colonials against the British. And where I am at in Roebling, the Roebling family made a name for itself in suspension bridge construction, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Golden Gate bridge and so many others still in use today. Here at Roebling, the sons of patriarch John A Roebling bought a tract of land called Kinkora and plotted out an entire town that would house the workers of their new Kinkora Works plant. Everything for the workers and their familes were within this town; company stores, doctors, police and fire departments. My grandfather was part of that wave of east europeans who worked in the mills of the Roebling plant. All of that is now part of history as the mill was idled in 1974.
! Really needed to get back to training, though ...
