If you want to ride for exercise or touring on the road, consider joining a bicycle club. Clubs have tested routes and a variety of other activities that encourage people to ride more places more often. The state offers a list of clubs.

One of the largest and oldest in Northwest NJ is the Morris Area Freewheelers Bicycle Club.

If you want to ride on a designated path or trail, there are more than 19,000 miles of bicycle and multiuse paths throughout the country. An easy Web-based source for trails is available at http://www.traillink.com/home.aspx.

If you like to ride off-the-road and on more challenging terrain, NJ has an active mountain bike community – the Jersey Off-Road Bicycling Association.

Northwestern New Jersey also features one of the best park collections in the country. One example of a bicycle-friendly park route in Morris and Hunterdon Counties is the Columbia Trail.

Cycling also is a great way to tour the many historic sites in our area, including Jockey Hollow where Continental Soldiers spent the worst winter of the Revolutionary War.