Hi {{contact.first_name}},
October is the month every New Jersey rider circles on the calendar. The summer humidity is long gone, the air runs cool and clear, and the color pours down off the Kittatinny ridge and through the Highlands before it reaches the Shore. The deer are in full rut and the sun drops early, so ride sharp, but a crisp October Saturday with the hardwoods lit up is the whole reason you keep a bike. Get out and use every dry weekend, because the good ones are numbered now.
Ride of the Month: Stokes State Forest and Sunrise Mountain
The high ridge in North Jersey, lit up in peak color, with the whole valley laid out below
Point it northwest to Branchville and climb into Stokes State Forest, then turn up Sunrise Mountain Road, the narrow ridge lane that runs the crest of the Kittatinny. It is a tight, twisting climb through hardwood forest to the Sunrise Mountain overlook, where the Appalachian Trail crosses and the view opens west over the Delaware valley and east across the Highlands. In mid-October the maples and oaks up here hit their peak, and the whole ridge burns orange and red.
Take it easy, the road is narrow, patched, and shared with hikers near the trailheads and the overlook. Stop at the summit for the view, watch for deer and wet leaves in the shaded corners, and loop back down through Culvers Gap and along Route 206, or run the ridge roads over to High Point.
Chasing the color lower down? Run the Delaware River Road on Route 29 from Lambertville up to Frenchtown, the river on one side and the old canal on the other, then thread the covered-bridge back roads of Hunterdon County. Want something you will not see any other month? October is cranberry harvest in the Pine Barrens, and the flooded bogs around Chatsworth and Whitesbog turn a deep crimson worth the ride down. All of it is best midweek, before the leaf-peeper traffic finds it.
Fall Riding Safety: New Jersey Edition
October is peak riding in New Jersey, and the turning season brings its own set of hazards.
- The rut is at its peak. New Jersey is one of the worst states in the country for deer strikes, and late October is when the bucks are moving hardest on the northwest and central back roads at dawn and dusk. Scan the shoulders and tree lines, cover your brakes, and never swerve blind across the line.
- Wet leaves and shaded curves. Fallen leaves pile into the corners on the Water Gap and Sourland roads, and a wet leaf mat is as slick as ice. Give the shaded turns and painted lines easy throttle and long following distance.
- Cold fronts and the first freeze. An October front can drop the temperature twenty degrees in an afternoon and leave frost in the low spots on a clear morning. Dress in layers, watch for frost on the bridges and in the shaded hollows, and give cold tires a few miles to warm up.
- The days are short now. Sunset comes early and the low sun sits right in the eyes of the commuters behind you on the east-west roads. Assume the car back there cannot see you, get your light and reflective gear on early, and keep a lane position with an out.
Know Your New Jersey Law
- No-fault does not cover you on a bike, and that cuts both ways. New Jersey is a no-fault state for cars, but motorcycles are excluded from PIP, so there is no personal injury protection on your bike for your own medical bills. The upside is real: because you are outside the no-fault system, you are not bound by the limitation-on-lawsuit threshold, so you keep full rights to sue for pain and suffering.
- Fault has a cutoff. New Jersey uses modified comparative negligence. Your recovery drops by your share of the blame, and if you are found more than 50 percent at fault, you collect nothing.
- Everyone wears a helmet. New Jersey has a universal helmet law. Every rider and passenger must wear a DOT-compliant helmet, no exceptions.
- You have two years, sometimes 90 days. The general injury deadline is two years, but a claim against a public entity like NJ Transit or a town over a road defect can require a notice of claim within 90 days. Do not wait to get advice.
Ride Nation New Jersey
The local chapter is where Jersey riders post weekend miles, call out fresh gravel, deer, and leaf-slick corners from the Kittatinny ridge to the Pine Barrens, and share the shots worth putting your helmet on for. Post where you rode this month and tag us. It is your scene, run by riders who actually ride these roads.
Last Weeks for the $20,000 BikeWin Giveaway
You are on this list because you entered, which means you are already in the running for 20,000 dollars toward any motorcycle you want, drawn December 10. Got a buddy who would want a shot? The entry page is open and free.
Enter the giveaway
A driver crossing a jughandle into your lane on Route 1. A deer on Old Mine Road. A distracted commuter who never saw you on the Parkway. If you ever go down in New Jersey, remember no-fault does not cover you on a bike, but you keep full rights to recover, so you want a lawyer who rides these roads and fights for them.