Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Extreme bicycle hill climbing


The top of Mt. Washington!

In cycling, the challenges are as follows, going faster, going longer and cranking up those hills.

It’s that challenge thing that has me looking up the road and wondering, “I wonder how hard it would be to ride my bike up that hill?” Don’t get me wrong- even though I enjoy hills and the challenge they evoke on my 180+ pounds, I don’t pretend to get up them quickly. I’ve always envied the smaller riders who seem to get up the hills so effortlessly.
Hills are simply a challenge, you against the hill. The challenge for me, especially on the “monsters” is to get up them “without touching.” My rating system is simple, 1-10 with 10 being the hardest. My personal 10’s that I use as a measure are Mt Washington Auto Road in New Hampshire and Pic D’ Paradise, on the island of St. Martin in the Caribbean. The auto road is 7 miles long, 12% average grade with extended stretches of 18%. In addition, above the tree line the winds start and can get quite stiff. The hill on St Martin is about a mile of absurd grade, it’s barely surmountable with a light road bike and a granny gear - a real test.

What turned me on to my quest to search out and get up the steepest and toughest hills was a small ad I saw in a bike magazine for an intriguing ride that sounded right up my alley - “Hillier than Thou”, 100 miles of very tough hills. The grip reaper on the t-shirt clued me in as to the seriousness of the ride. I drove up to Belvedere, New Jersey, paid my 25 bucks along with about 100 others cuckoos and off we went in one happy group. That group stayed happy as a clam until we reached the 1st climb, 7 miles into the ride: the infamous Fiddlers Elbow. After that, reality set in and realized that this is a serious ride that we signed up for and we were on our own. That ride opened me up to a whole new dimension of cycling – extreme hills.

Most of the big hills that I refer to are in Holland and Warren Township in New Jersey. There’s lots of good stuff in Lower Saucon as well.

In my 1-10 rating system, Fiddlers is an 8. It’s a very long hill and really not too bad (ok, I lie) except for the last 100 yards that gets progressively steeper and sneaks up on you. That’s where you see people falling off their bikes because they can’t keep enough speed to stay upright. The road is wide and lots of people zigzagged at the top. New Jersey trivia - Fiddlers is the steepest paved road in New Jersey, 22% at the top. I’ve done Hillier than Thou many times and always liked the earlier versions of the route, namely doing Fiddlers at the 7-mile mark when you’re fresh. The other 6 or so climbs weren’t any picnic but Fiddlers can suck the steam right out of you. The route has been revised over the years and enhanced to the point of insanity, 100 miles, 11,000’ of climbing and moving Fiddlers to the 80-mile mark – ouch!

After barely getting up Fiddlers I couldn’t imagine a hill being any harder. Yes there is! Iron Bridge Road in Warren County is terrible. This 9, although not quite as steep, is about 18% + for what seems like forever. To add to your enjoyment it’s narrow so you can’t weave at all – straight up you go. A little down the road is its brother, Ludlow Station Road, another 9, not quite as long but a little steeper - yippee.

Some other fun hills in the area that come to mind, not in any particular order are:
Rt. 579 out of Bloomsburg. Very long, deceptively steep and often in the hot sun - 8. Norton Church, Shire rd, Adamac, Pinchers point, Quenby Mountain and State park road by Jenny Jump park are 8’s, steep fairly long and painful.

Some formidable 6 and 7’s in the Bucks County area are Uhlertown, Fretz Mill (22% at the bottom), Short road, McNeil, Carversville/Wismer and Eagle rd.

The Lower Saucon area offers a plethora of long hard climbs, Dogwood Lane, Drifting Drive and Bougher hill Rd are some tough 7’s in this hilly area.

There’s also a class of hills that I consider enjoyable - long gradual climbs that allow you to get into a rhythm rather than the very steep ones that survival is the point. Some that come to mind are Loehmans Glen, Turkey Hill, Brass Castle, Millbrook and Montana rd in the high country in Montana, NJ.

Of course what goes up must come down. There’s a few that you can “let it rip” safely. My favorite is Brass Castle and Sweet Briar, both close to 5 miles long, fast sweeping turns with good visibility far ahead. On rare occasions when I feel like being a “wild and crazy guy” I’ll plunge down Carversville/Wismer hill toward Carversville, if the wind is favorable I’ll get the coveted 50mph+ on the computer that’s always a thrill

This hill report contains hills that any CBBC member can get to within 50-mile radius. Even crank some out in the morning and back so you can get back to do some yard work (yeah, right!) There’s certainly steeper, longer ones out there but require more travel.

Those are some of my favorites, what are yours?

1 comment:

SolarPanel-Rental said...

For a great Downhill try Maui's
40 mile DOWNHILL on Haleakala peak.
The hardest part is staying on the road while enjoying the awesome views.

ANYONE can do it!

Mike www.CBBC.org
www.SolarPanel-Rental.com