Pick your poison: Traffic or nighttime?

[Ian522]

The driscoll doesnt really have any metal grating. Ive gone over metal grate bridges before at highway speeds (rt. 3 in rutherford to be exact) and I didnt even notice it really. I think you only feel the wobbly feeling if you are going really slow over one of those.

[Septimus]

Cool, thanks. Looking forward to it!

[jstark47]

Wildlife on the NJ turnpike? You've been spending too much time out in the mountains, Shorts

Giant radioactive mutant mosquitoes!

[spin]

im also planning a trip to the jersey shore soon.
i will be honest, i think the NJ TPKE isnt that daunting. it is a major multlane highway with rare traffic for the most part. i think if you stay right and maintain 60mph, you'd be fine. i wouldnt do it at night. i would ride it like 10am, youd be fine. avoid sunday night in the summer

that driscoll bridge is scary since it is soo damn high. the GSP will concern me more.

to Ian's point, the metal grades arent that bad. i too did the RT3 metal grades in the past few months. i guess it is wet it would be worse.

[flw]

I'll take cages that I can see unlike the deer that blend into the trees like the "Preditor" in the same movie.

I can guess what a cage nut is going to due but I don't speak deer. Deer are also to big to fit on the dinner serving plate rule.

If possible make city drives thoughs at night since cages mostly do put their lights on and leave the country for the day. Warning many suburbs have deer problems since they (cities) have only really grown in the past 30 years or so. I'm speaking of Chicago suburbs (collar county areas) mostly but I would assume any major city with semi-new burbs would be similar.

[warnerwh]

I had a friend who lost a leg on wet metal grates. This guy had ridden 16 years and was a good rider.

When I ride over the metal grates here my bikes always feel unstable. I always slow down too. If it's raining I'll go over the Burnside bridge here in Portland that has no metal grates. Don't underestimate metal grates!

If I were you I'd stay in the right lane. If there's three lanes there you could also use the furthest left lane. I say this because you have lots more room to maneuver. In the center you could have cars on both sides of you.

Remember this please: NEVER be in a hurry on a bike. You'll learn all the issues riding a bike brings with experience. I just hope you don't have to learn how hard pavement is at 55mpg or get free flying lessons.

Have a very enjoyable and relaxing ride.

[IcyHound]

Personally I'd ride at night, but then I'm a night person and do 90% of my riding at night.

[DustyJacket]

One issue about riding in the dark in areas you don't ride frequently is the various road hazars, construction hazards. Like when they refinished one lane and there is a serious edge between two lanes, and gravel, and other stuff. Very hard to see at night.

Add some excellent fog lights or driving lights.

I did an IronButt ride and left at 2:30 AM. I-70 ad I-35 until light. I was pretty familiar with the area. All went well. In the daytime I hit lots of construction/gravel that I would nt have liked to hit in the dark.

When I ride in the dark I do so in the early morning. My eyes don't do so well in the dark nights after bright days. (Getting old)

Personally, I would investigate alternate routes or alternate time of day.

[jonnythan]

Wildlife on the NJ turnpike? You've been spending too much time out in the mountains, Shorts

"Wildlife" is generally how I refer to drivers on the pike....

Anyway, nighttime >> traffic. Traffic sucks and actively tries to hurt you. Night riding is just plain awesome.

[Ian522]

Riding around town at night is no big deal, but something about highways at night makes me kinda nervous. Id imagine you may not see road debris like big-rig treads and stuff like that until you are very close to it, and you'll have little time to react as opposed to the daytime. Just keep it slow I guess, maybe ride with your high beam on for extra precaution.