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Start: Newark Penn Station. Finish: Branch Brook Park Distance: 4 miles, climbing 192′.
Start: Branch Brook Park. Finish: George Washngton Bridge. Distance: 17.54 miles, climbing 849′.
Description
Branch Brook Park is a great local bike racing venue.
That’s why we’ve been going. And why you should take the train out of the city, download these directions and go from Newark to Branch Brook Park to race.
Newark’s Branch Brook Park has hosted bike races for at least 50 years. The course is flat, winding, fast, and fun.
It’s also a very easy race to get to from New York City without a car. You just need to know the NJ Transit train schedule.
As this typically a “training race,” you might as well put in some miles afterwards to do some more fat-burning, or just pile on the caloric deficit and make it a full day of riding. We’ve got directions up to the GWB from here on a separate page.
These rides, there are two in this package, get you from two train stations in Newark, NJ to the race.
To Get There…
Take the train from New York City’s Penn Station to Newark. Depending on the train you get on, moving time from NY Penn to Newark is between 15 and 20 minutes. It’s legal to bring bikes on trains just about all the time, save rush hours and holidays, so use the app to check the schedule and buy a ticket online, ride to Midtown, clamber down Penn Station’s stairs in your cleats, find the train, and go. At this point in time, I don’t recommend the Moynihan hall; not all the train platforms are accessible from it, an Penn is so over-burdened that the platform assignments are announced with minutes to spare. You can either take a train to Newark’s Penn Station or Newark’s Broad Street Station. Many trains go to both places every hour. Broad street is closer to the race, but if you want to get a bite to eat and a bathroom, Penn is the better choice.
You can also take the PATH Train from World Trade Center to Newark Penn. This takes between 29 and 50 minutes depending on the train and time of day.
The other side, Newark is the reverse. There, the trains are elevated, not below ground, so you’ll take stairs or an escalator down to the street and go.
This ride takes you from Newark to the registration area for bike racing in Branch Brook Park. This first part is uphill at first, and then flattens.
To Get Home…
This ride, NJ18, takes you from the registration area for bike racing in Branch Brook Park to the New Jersey Side of the George Washington Bridge.
Particulars Part 1 (Branch Brook Race Directions)
Start: Penn Station or Broad Street Station, Newark, NJ
Finish: Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ
Going through: Essex County.
Distance: 4.4 or 3.2 miles.
Climbing: 192′ or 135′
Includes: One PDF with intelligence and two GPX files to upload to your bike computer or mobile device. A how-to can be found here. The PDF prepares you for the route and can be glanced at, printed out and/or uploaded to your mobile device. The GPX are to be uploaded into your bike computer or mobile device so you can let the machine give you the directions as you ride along.
