Best Motorcycle Road in U.S. Has Been Deleted

There are so many great roads to ride that you could spend a lifetime doing it and not cover them all. I’ve been on a few. Some of my favorites are well-known destinations within the riding community and include the Tail of the Dragon, Blue Ridge Parkway, Pacific Coast Highway, and Route 89A near Jerome, AZ. One of my other favorite roads is known by almost no one and probably wouldn’t be too interesting to most, but it holds some of my favorite riding memories.

It’s a short section of road in Bay Point, NJ, and it’s not even paved. It’s a dirt road that runs along the Delaware Bay. I was maybe 14 or 15 years old, and this road ran right in front of my friend’s house. Frank and his family had just moved there recently. Frank and I were nearly inseparable when we were in school when we were younger. He lived next door to me, and we spent nearly all our free time together. We’d ride the school bus together in the morning and bicycles in the afternoon. He showed me how to play guitar, and we got into plenty of mischief together.

We kept in touch when his family moved to Bay Point, and I’d spend a lot of time down there. His dad would pick me up on his way home from work. I’d usually ride my bicycle to meet him at the motorcycle shop along his route. I could visit as often as I wanted. His only rule was that I had to be on time. He’d slow down near the bike shop and if he didn’t see me waiting, he’d keep going. I was never late, though, because I knew we’d have some unforgettable adventures when I got there.

I remember one visit that proved particularly adventurous. We showed up and I saw Frank working on some type of motorcycle. It was an old Honda Trail 90. Frank always had a knack for fixing things, and his skills were put to the test with that old bike. He got the Honda fired up and we took turns riding it around.

The dirt road in front of his house was more than a challenge for our limited skills at the time. It was deep sand and it was difficult to get the Trail 90 to go where we wanted it to. We’d take turns trying to make it to the end of the street, but we were barely able to make it a few feet before falling off, riding into the ditch, or breaking something. Still, we were undeterred and practiced every day, getting faster and more confident.

It didn’t take too long before we were easily able to make it to the end of the road, so we started looking for ways to make it harder. Sometimes it was by putting up obstacles that we’d have to navigate, or riding two-up, with the passenger doing his best to make things difficult. By the end of that summer, our biggest challenge was keeping the old Honda running.

I’ve ridden a lot of fun roads since then. I’ve ridden across the U.S. a couple of times, exploring backroads and remote areas of the country. Still, when someone asks me what’s the most fun ride I’ve ever done, I always think back to that dirt road.

It doesn’t always matter what road you ride or what you’re riding. It can be a long cross-country journey on a touring machine, or a trip around the block on a moped. Sometimes, what makes a ride so great is who you’re riding with. Of course, sometimes it is the road.

I found out recently that much of Bay Point, including my favorite motorcycle road, has been demolished and is being returned to its natural state. Severe weather, namely 2012’s Hurricane Sandy, prompted many residents to move and sell their property to the state of New Jersey.