There’s one big reason people of all ages and from all walks of life rent bicycles and pedal around the island. No one has identified that reason, but the bike rental agencies don’t really care, as long as people continue renting bikes.
During the summer season a bike may be the quickest means of getting from one part of the island to another. This is due to cyclists not having to worry about stopping for those silly traffic signals that operate independently from block to block. Most are located on streets with very little traffic. My favorite is at Aster Road and Park Blvd in the Crest. The school on Aster was demolished and replaced with houses years ago, but the traffic signal lives on. It’s vitally important because of the steady stream of vehicles crossing Park Blvd and driving to the bulkhead a hundred feet away.
Traffic on Park Blvd used to be heavier years ago, partly due to the party boats that docked between Sweet Briar and Aster Roads, but also because more vacationers stayed at the many rooming houses in the area. During the 50’s and 60’s, the buses also ran a Park Blvd route during the summer months. Guests at our rooming house had only to go stand on the corner to catch a ride uptown for a night of clubbing or walking the boards. Nowadays, the Great American Trolley Company runs fake trolleys on the island, but no one seems to know when or where they run, so they run mostly empty.
Back to the bikes. . . The second biggest impediments to bike riders, after vehicles, are beach-going pedestrians, who now enjoy special protection under New Jersey law. Beachgoers dragging folding chairs, umbrellas, wagons, coolers, and kids, step off the curb without looking and play Frogger with the traffic. Vehicles must stop for them, and they apparently assume that bicycles are vehicles. This year could set a new record for shoobie road kill.
The safest place to ride within the City of Wildwood, other than the boardwalk, is in Wildwood Crest or North Wildwood. Both adjacent municipalities have both bike paths and bike lanes. In Wildwood, the onus is on the cyclist to avoid getting run over. Cyclists in Wildwood often ride on the sidewalks, sort of like a payback for the idiots who walk on the bike paths in North Wildwood.
Bikes must be off the boardwalk by 11:00 a.m., and until that time, the walk resembles Le Tour de France. I still see some idiots riding the boards after eleven o’clock, which isn’t that surprising, because some people ignore the no dogs rule also. There’s a reason dogs are not permitted on the boardwalk, and it involves their lack of potty training.
As I’ve pointed out before, people have apparently lost the ability to read, even when pictures replace words. They can’t read speed limit signs, stop signs, and signs designating areas for bikes only, so don’t assume a car will necessarily stop for a stop sign or traffic signal.
At some point in time, someone figured out that rented bikes in a resort town were not nearly as exciting or dangerous as they could be, and neither tandem nor triple seat bikes filled the bill, so the multi-rider surrey was introduced. These contraptions carry several individuals, all with different ideas about the direction and speed of the carriage. They also take up a lot of space on the road, and don’t appear to be as maneuverable as they should be. No one has figured out how to properly work one, so it’s not unusual to see four people yelling at each other about where they’re supposed to go and who’s not pedaling. For some reason they consider this funny and sit there laughing loudly while impeding traffic.
Bike riders will soon see an added element of danger to their rides around the island. The new commissioners in Wildwood held a hearing concerning extending bar hours from 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m, but wisely vetoed the measure, promising instead to consider keeping bars open all night long. This pretty much proves that on any level of politics, only morons are interested in the job. What could be better for a resort town swollen with tourists than to have drunks staggering and driving around 24/7? One commissioner is a former cop, so maybe the plan is to increase revenue from DUIs. . .
The bar owners claim that they are losing vast sums of money by not being permitted to stay open an hour later. I think that any tavern owner who can’t make enough money from booze by three in the morning should have his liquor license permanently revoked and should be appointed to a position in DC.
They advertise the Wildwoods as the cheapest vacation spot at the Jersey Shore. If this law passes people can stop throwing away money on motel rooms and spend their entire vacations sitting on bar stools. Sounds like a lot of fun.
Oops! I forgot that this was about the pleasures and benefits of biking on a crowded barrier island. Does that sound like a fun thing to do?