awesome / painful climbs in your area

[DarrenCT]

give some details/pictures on an awesome climb near you. elevation/distance/picture/how many times you puked on the way up/etc

i'll start

the catskills (about 1hr from me)

1. south gully road - it's about 3.5miles starting from route 52. you climb about 1700 with the average grade around 8% and steep sections that are 16%. mike from the bike depot in np, and another cat did this yesterday. good times

[david]

give some details/pictures on an awesome climb near you. elevation/distance/picture/how many times you puked on the way up/etc

i'll start

the catskills (about 1hr from me)

1. south gully road - it's about 3.5miles starting from route 52. you climb about 1700 with the average grade around 8% and steep sections that are 16%. mike from the bike depot in np, and another cat did this yesterday. good times

cool. i'll have to check it some day.
what's your fav within riding distance of where you live.
i wish there were more sustained climbs around, but keeler road is pretty hefty.

[DarrenCT]

cool. i'll have to check it some day.
what's your fav within riding distance of where you live.
i wish there were more sustained climbs around, but keeler road is pretty hefty.

as cool as keeler is, these roads in the catskills are like 9 or 10 keelers. :)

right around me? riversville to porchuck, to north porchuck, across and up to john street, then to bedford, to new canaan to wilton (north wilton rd), to keeler and then pound ridge and back home some home. lotsa little steep climbs for sure. wanna ride that on saturday?

[justinf]

Grandfather Mtn and the surrounding area will do the trick. Blue Ridge Parkway. . . I always say that but it is my favorite.

[mjbabcock]

Orcas Island- about 3 miles an about 15% in parts...maybe 2000 feet of changeIMG_1605.jpg

Mt baker Highway- about 12-15 miles, maybe 9% in parts....about 3500 feet of changeIMG_3864.jpgIMG_0052.jpg

[DOOFUS]

Caesar's Head

not the toughest, but the easiest for me to get to (even though its a two-hour drive), and the first real mountain I ever climbed, back in '96

Its a once or twice a month trip during the spring/summer.

10k at 6.5%

I'm gonna get 5 w/kg up that sucker this year

[northbend]

The zoo hill is a well known climb in the Seattle area and is one of my favorites because I can ride it during lunch hour from my office in Eastgate.
1200' in 2.5 miles.
Not my picture - but it's a good one of the steepest section:


Route and details can be found here
http://www.bicycleclimbs.com/climbdetail.aspx?ClimbId=6

[suhacycles]

For those in the northern NJ/eastern PA area check out Fiddler's Elbow near Washington, NJ. Supposedly the hardest climb in NJ. About a mile long but around 15-22% grades. Took me about 12 min, in the 34x26, standing all the way, weaving on the 'steep' parts and the road is narrow. There's a video of it on YouTube somewhere but the guy is driving up it so you really don't get the right impression...

[54ny77]

Laguna Beach, CA:

Temple Hills Drive
Park Avenue
Skyline Drive
Summit Drive
Alta Vista
Nyes Place

If you can do all these in an afternoon, you're a rock star.

I can do 1 or maybe two of these, on a good day. That makes me, clearly, not a rock star. More like a lounge lizard in a very off off off broadway dive bar.....

[ThasFACE]

Does Harlem Hill count?

[suspectdevice]

For anyone who knows W North Cackalackey, the steepest little bugger I've yet encountered is the road across the street from the Nantahala Village hotel. Probally 1/2 a mile long, but rediculosly steep, with sand in the corners and so narrow you can't even weave up it...

The most demoralizing climb i've ever encountered is a service road that goes to a bunch of tv and radio towers on top of Mt. Tom in Holyoke MA. It is absolutely straight and has a grade of about 20%, with waterbars every couple hundred feet. 1.25 miles long. It's a totally brutal climb, Even when i was in top top shape (i.e. pro mtb), I still had to stop going up it at least 2 times.
For some reason I always choose to climb it in the rain too.
At 1400 meters it's short, and with a 14.6 degree average it's not all that steep. It's just dead straight


[IMGhttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ks1ZRojRD8k/SB0t30ar-HI/AAAAAAAAASw/6fmEOas2zcM/s1600/Tom_road_LR.jpg[/IMG

Interesting Mt Tom fact- Easthampton and the Mtn were the inspiration for Whoville in Seussian lore. Easthampton natives are pretty inbred looking and culturally and economically depressed and I know for a fact that the Grinch is real and that he lives up on the hill. I know because I saw him, Jesus and Tom Simpson drinking. Someone keeps taking the money that we've raised for a skatepark down at city hall When I first moved into town there was an abandoned victorian era amusement park at the bottom that later burnt up into a Beirut sort of scene. The ski mountain is also abandoned and is an evil place to train in the winter. Skin up the mtn in the crusty powder as fast as you can, and race to the bottom SuperG style shredding as repeats is hard enough to kill a man.
For the riders i coach locally, we use the hill as a benchmark. You carry a stone in your pocket, and you place it as high as you can on your monthly test. We use their PDA's for time and GPS data. Fuck powermeters, i've got a college degree, and I want to use it.

The stupidest, and hardest race I've ever done was a time trial on mtb's with slicks up the Olympic luge track in Park City.

[54ny77]

yes. at the current pace i'm going up that thing, it might as well be mont friggin' ventoux....

Does Harlem Hill count?

[velobran]

This is our highest point. I even go out of my way to avoid it somedays. Somedays, I'll do it twice depending on how frisky I am feeling.



The landing is the hard part

Fcuk Fort Lauderdale

[Peter B]

Iowa Hill is a 40 minute ride from my door, the steepest bit out from the river climbs 1,700 feet in 1-3/4 miles. It's steady 12-15% with pitches to 20%. If you keep going, you'll accumulate another 6,600' over the next 30 miles. A 3 hour ride will get you to the climb out of the canyon from Middle Fork Powerhouse, good for 2,000' in 5 miles. 30 minutes closer is Corkscrew Wall, a monster that ascends 2,200' in 4.5 miles with grades to 18%.

[Saab2000]

Right now where I live there are some rollers which require the small chainring, but for the most part it's fairly flat. In Virginia Beach where I've been riding for past two years it's like that picture of Fort Lauderdale - flat. Michigan is better, with constant rollers.

But for all of the '90s and into the 2000s until 6 years ago I lived in very nice cycling terrain in Switzerland. I have no pictures of the most commonly ridden climb of the area, the Hulftegg Pass in Canton St. Gallen. But there's always Google.....

This hill was about 7.5 km long from the very bottom and probably would have been a 1st category climb in a Tour. There are only about 3-4 km of really steep stuff, but it is pretty steep and for sure long enough for big gaps to form if it were actually used near the end of a stage of a race. It has been ridden in the Tour de Suisse a few times.

It was a normal part of a training route for all the local cyclists in my area. 39x23 was standard stuff but a 25 would have not been out of place on a couple of the turns. Not the high Alps, but that's OK. I'd take the 'lesser' hills of northern Switzerland any day for generally superior cycling to the big mountains.

[Erik.Lazdins]

Talimena Scenic Drive - OK State Highway 1 / Arkansas State Highway 88 between Talihina, Ok and Mena, Arkansas - Grades up to 18% - longest sustained climb on this ridge ride is 4 miles @7% up Rich Mtn from the West. The overall ride is 52 miles - my favorite route is the tougher west half of the ride and back (Talihina to Rich mtn. and back)


Some great climbs on this thread!

[suhacycles]

The most demoralizing climb i've ever encountered is a service road that goes to a bunch of tv and radio towers on top of Mt. Tom in Holyoke MA. It is absolutely straight and has a grade of about 20%, with waterbars every couple hundred feet. 1.25 miles long. It's a totally brutal climb, Even when i was in top top shape (i.e. pro mtb), I still had to stop going up it at least 2 times. For some reason I always choose to climb it in the rain too. At 1400 meters it's short, and with a 14.6 degree average it's not all that steep. It's just dead straight

Mickey - That looks nasty! I'm planning on doing a NOHO group ride over the summer out of Northampton. Might convince my group to try it. What's the nicest approach coming from Northampton by bike?

-Hansen

[rydesteel]

Hardest local climbs I do each year are on TOMRV first day the big hills come at mile 70 or so and the second day they start at about mile 5 when the legs are minty fresh. It's a fun 2 day ride with about 1400riders lot's of wonderful views and great sag stops. Look forward to seeing a few solonistas again this year for the ride. Here's an elevation chart.

[WanderingWheel]

Laguna Beach, CA:

Temple Hills Drive
Park Avenue
Skyline Drive
Summit Drive
Alta Vista
Nyes Place

Ever try the Seven Sisters ride? It has other names, but those come later in the ride. From Aliso Viejo climb Highlands, Pacific Island Drive (from Alicia), Pacific Island Drive (from Crown Valley), Nyes Place / Balboa, Blue Bird, Thalia / Temple Hills, and Park.

[messyparrot]

Wow you guys amaze me!!

I have never ridden up a moutain or any hill that has taken over 5 minutes to climb, I have no clue how not to explode I imagine watching your cadence?
I honestly need to find some new areas here in WI to ride, we have so many Kettles but nothing super BIG.
Maybe that's a good thing. lol