# NJ hills 2010



## Ken Roberts

I've been out riding my favorite big steep hills in west + north NJ. They're still a good interesting challenge for me. Main thing I've noticed this year is that some of them have gotten better: 

* Fiddlers Elbow: lower half was torn up for construction in springtime, but now it's been repaved better than ever. And the new paving of the upper half from last August has settled in nicely.

* Barry Dr (big interesting climb up north of Vernon + Highland Lakes into the NY state border) has been nicely repaved.

Hard for me to remember any of my usual climbs that's in bad condition any more.

So I'm waiting for a non-hot day to try my big link-up of steep climbs out west, like 15000 vertical feet total for the day, including 6000 ft in sections with steepness at 12% grade. 

Not a "favorite", but . . . 

* Washington Av / rt 529 in the southwest Watchung up from rt 22 near Dunellen has been nicely re-paved. (next road east from Warrenville Rd). I never used to ride it because it's not as wide as Warrenville Rd and has at least one section with questionable visibility with overtaking cars + trucks. But now it seems a little bit wider than before, and I find I sometimes climb it at times of low traffic.
(but the gentle connection from its top to the top of Washington Rock Rd has nasty erosion and potholes, worse than ever).

Ken


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## jkmacman

*alpine climb, alpine climb, alpine climb*

if i only had 1 hr left to live, i'd cycle river rd aka henry hudson dr

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/37778610









i cycle river rd most tuesday mornings, albeit where this pic was taken is not on my weekly route


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## fiddlers25

Ken,

re Barry Drive, is it paved all the way from Rt. 94 to Highland Lakes? i never went that way before, njbikemap.com has it marked unpaved.


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## jkmacman

*my harriman loop*

put this one up already under devil kichen thread, but it's a keeper. when i get my road bikes dialed in, i hope to do this routeunde 2 hours

https://connect.garmin.com/activity/38266937

topo 8










_for the xterra folks..._
dig the appy trail on the topo 8. park the car at lautenberg ctr in sterling forest, bike to lake tiorata for a swim, lock/leave the bike near lake tiorata and trail run appy trail back to sterling forest/lautenberg ctr:thumbsup:


<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='https://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/38266937'></iframe>









<i>annie gone fishing</i>


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## NJcycler

*here is my loop*

I did this ride yesterday. Over 4000' climbing in just under 49 miles. I was going to go and do Barrett Rd in to Highland Lakes but the possible threatening weather, humidity was brutal so I cut my distance down.
Holland Mountain still is one of my favorites. I did the math and the main climb avg is 8.3% with the max in the high teens. 
The bottom of Glen Rd Sparta is an avg of 5.4% with the max in that 10% range.
Drew Mountain is in that avg of 5.4% with Max low teens. Maybe 13%.
The over 3 mile downhill on Rt 515 in to Vernon is so much fun. Speeds low to mid 40's just rolling. Some steep dangerous curves on it before Breakneck RD. Then you can tuck and fly.

I plan on doing Barrett and Iron Mountain very soon.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38351206


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## jkmacman

NJcycler said:


> I did this ride yesterday. Over 4000' climbing in just under 49 miles. I was going to go and do Barrett Rd in to Highland Lakes but the possible threatening weather, humidity was brutal so I cut my distance down.
> Holland Mountain still is one of my favorites. I did the math and the main climb avg is 8.3% with the max in the high teens.
> The bottom of Glen Rd Sparta is an avg of 5.4% with the max in that 10% range.
> Drew Mountain is in that avg of 5.4% with Max low teens. Maybe 13%.
> The over 3 mile downhill on Rt 515 in to Vernon is so much fun. Speeds low to mid 40's just rolling. Some steep dangerous curves on it before Breakneck RD. Then you can tuck and fly.
> 
> I plan on doing Barrett and Iron Mountain very soon.
> 
> https://connect.garmin.com/activity/38351206


cool loop thanks for sharing

you route passed next to mdr which boast the highest peak in morris county 1300', unfortuantly an mtb buddy of mine busted their collar bone there this week-end. i cycled there this past winter on the mtb trails and a bit of weldon rd. albeit the mtbing was not so good w/several feet of snow, but at least the snow would soften any impending fall. good place for the x-c ski:thumbsup:









mdr in the winter


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## NJcycler

jkmacman said:


> cool loop thanks for sharing
> 
> you route passed next to mdr which boast the highest peak in morris county 1300'


MDR? Mahlon Dickerson? 
there are all kinds of trails off Holland Mountain RD. there is a lot of woods back there with no civilization. I think the elevation up there ranges 1200' - 1300'.

I was trying to find the name of the peak.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morris_County,_NJ,_highest_point.jpg


found it 
Bowling Green Mountain. 8th highest in the state.
http://www.mountainzone.com/mountains/detail.asp?fid=6762256


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## Ken Roberts

fiddlers25 said:


> Barry Drive, is it paved all the way from Rt. 94 to Highland Lakes?


Yes, for several years at least. I've ridden it between Breakneck Rd and rt 94 lots of times. 



fiddlers25 said:


> njbikemap.com has it marked unpaved.


Maybe there's some confusion with the Wawayanda road?

Ken

P.S There's a long-term problem with the njBikeMap.com project:
_Roads keep changing._
If you don't know the year of observation for each piece of on-line data, it's hard to know how much to worry that it might have changed.
Most bicycling info that I put on-line is given with the year I last checked it -- like this.


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## Ken Roberts

NJcycler said:


> I plan on doing Barrett and Iron Mountain very soon.


Another hill in that area that I like is Glenwood Mountain Rd (both sides). I like to connect to Glenwood from Iron Mt + Barry/Barrett with little or no use of rt 94 (not wide in that area) by riding on Canal Rd (dirt).

Ken


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## Ken Roberts

*NJ Death Ride*

Looks like Wednesday is promising as my big day for steeps. I was talking with Glen, and he's planning to drive from Philadelphia that day to do his own version on some of the same hills. He's training for a big climbing event out in California.

I was noticing that my set of climbs last year around Musconetcong and Montana [map] has about the same total vertical and distance as the famous Markleeville Death Ride in California -- around 15400 feet and 122 miles. Also like Markleeville, I'm going to ride more than once on some of the same roads, but only once in the _uphill_ direction of each climb.

Two differences: 
* NJ version has 20-30 climbs (versus 5 for California) -- so for most people it makes sense to use a GPS to do NJ.

* NJ version is *steep* -- includes 6000 vertical feet in sections at 12% grade or more. The California course has very little at 12% -- around three-quarters of their climbing is under 8% grade -- just long warmup hills by New Jersey standards.

Ken


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## jkmacman

Not to go on a tangent from the op but since the infamous death ride was mentioned I wanted to mention that team in training head cycling coach arnie baker has an ebook available with specifc detail including training regiment for this ride as well as high intensity training ebook


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## jkmacman

*up from sea level: 0 to 468*

did the river road again today and took the old trek 5600 (2003) post office bike 54 cm. after riding the 2007 giant tcr advanced medium in harriman over the week end, the trek felt like a perfectly worn into shoe. i am getting new set of neuvations tomorrow (for the trek) specificly for cycling river road (its very bumpy)










http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38592940


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## fiddlers25

Ken Roberts said:


> Yes, for several years at least. I've ridden it between Breakneck Rd and rt 94 lots of times.
> 
> 
> Maybe there's some confusion with the Wawayanda road?
> 
> Ken


the njbikemap guy just hasn't made it out there in awhile i suppose. i sent him email once on a section in morris that he had marked as dirt that is no longer dirt and he made the update.

what about iron mountain road, is that paved all the way till the road ends at wawayanda rd.? does it stay paved from that intersection back up towards Barry? is it paved from that Iron Mtn. intersection east to Warwick Turnpike? I'd like to do those roads but it's a bit far away and I've been avoiding it because I don't like riding on dirt. thanks much for the help, and also for putting all that climbing info on your website.


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## jkmacman

fiddlers25 said:


> the njbikemap guy just hasn't made it out there in awhile i suppose. i sent him email once on a section in morris that he had marked as dirt that is no longer dirt and he made the update.
> 
> what about iron mountain road, is that paved all the way till the road ends at wawayanda rd.? does it stay paved from that intersection back up towards Barry? is it paved from that Iron Mtn. intersection east to Warwick Turnpike? I'd like to do those roads but it's a bit far away and I've been avoiding it because I don't like riding on dirt. thanks much for the help, and also for putting all that climbing info on your website.


hope to head up to wayway w/mtb some day

here this route has 2 good hills, actually one decent one and one little one, (i think it might have been on gravel, i remember a dude fell going up it, two rides with him and twice he fell

btw: waughaw rd, was the big climb , apshawa cross rd was the smaller climb
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25123498

<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/25123498'></iframe>


south jersey (maybe one hill on this route), nice route accross from philly through riverwinds, they have a good sprint tri there i did their first one
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/29829771


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## fiddlers25

jkmacman said:


> btw: waughaw rd, was the big climb , apshawa cross rd was the smaller climb
> http://connect.garmin.com/activity/25123498


yes waughaw has a really steep part. this weekend i did a route in the same area as yours with a couple extra climbs: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/106363


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## NJcycler

jkmacman said:


> did the river road again today and took the old trek 5600 (2003) post office bike 54 cm. after riding the 2007 giant tcr advanced medium in harriman over the week end, the trek felt like a perfectly worn into shoe. i am getting new set of neuvations tomorrow (for the trek) specificly for cycling river road (its very bumpy)
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> http://connect.garmin.com/activity/38592940


that looks like a nice climb. I did the math based off your Garmin data. I have 2 sets of numbers. The second set is the climb past the downhill at the top to the next top of the climb.

1. First peak
Climb 412
distance - 3854' (.73 miles)
412/3854 *100 = 10.7% avg for the climb. Thank god it is short. 

2. Second Peak
Climb 434'
distance - 6758' (1.28 miles)
434/6758 *100 = 6.4% avg for the climb.
Very respectable climb.


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## Ken Roberts

fiddlers25 said:


> what about iron mountain road, is that paved all the way till the road ends at wawayanda rd.?


No. And even if you wanted to ride higher on Iron Mt Rd on dirt (My road bike works for riding on dirt) -- the continuation seemed like a big mess when I tried it last year -- not really ridable -- unless you include carrying.

So the connection between Barry / Barrett and Breakneck / Highland Lakes is in great shape (as of last summer), but Iron Mt doesn't seem to connect well with anything. 

What's funny is that when I look at aerial photos on Google Earth, I see very plausible breaks in the trees where Iron Mt Rd ought to run -- but the surface between the trees hasn't been maintained, at least on the NY end.

The SW end of Wawayanda Rd turns to dirt soon after it splits away from Barry Dr. I've tried the NE end of Wawayanda in New York: Starts paved, didn't seem steep enough to seem worth trying again. I don't remember what happens on the NE end after the paved surface ends.

Ken


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## jkmacman

*alpine climb only*

The data I posted earlier is not from garmin, i simply loaded it on garmin site. its recorded on android w/mytracks. i replaced the header and uploaded to garmin.

here's the alpine climb, as recorded on a garmin edge 305 (it's more accurate then my garmin foreunner 405 i used before using mostly android, i also have delorme pn-40 mostly for off-road)

this route is sometimes used by century road club for there club tt
http://www.crca.net/

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/8391929










<i>climb starts here at sea level as you can see the pic of the hudson river as taken from same spot as previous pic of the rier rd </i>


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## Ken Roberts

jkmacman said:


> the alpine climb


Yes it's about the best training hill close to Manhattan.
But often the surface is kinda eroded. How is it now?

Ken


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## Ken Roberts

Great day riding up + down hills on Wednesday, wonderful weather, not too hot, dry, blue skies. 
Pretty much every steep hill on the Musconetcong + Montana ridges, plus a few more on the Pohatcong ridge between them [area map]

Glen come up from Philadelphia, he started later, we stayed in touch by phone, finally met at the top of the Halfway House climb on Montana. Chatted a while, rode on Coleman Hill together, then met again on Lommason Glen / Buckhorn climb -- chatted some more, then he headed south to get back to his closer-to-Philadephia parking spot.

My total for the day was around 17500 vertical feet -- more than 3 miles vertical. Including like 6800 vertical feet _steep_ -- in sections of 12% grade or more. Without repeating any climbs.
(This set of climbs plus 4 more at the end.)

A bit bigger and _much_ steeper than any of the climbing events I've heard of in the western U.S. -- Markleeville Death Ride, Shasta Summit Century, RAMROD.

Great that we have such a set of climbs here in New Jersey. In the midst of such pretty farm country.

Ken


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## jkmacman

a picture is worth a thousand words










had my personal best time today on river rd w/ my new m28 neuvations wheelset. i purchased these wheels specificly for cycling on river rd. although my wrench said another cyclist in the area has been popping many a spoke on the reasonably prices wheels, but later added a good choice for my 2nd road bike 

http://www.trimbleoutdoors.com/ViewTrip/787273


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## jkmacman

*airmont rd*

i use to ride airmont rd in the morning, here's a segment i mapped on delorme for darlington lake up mcarthur up airmont. airmont goes from 288' at franklin tpke to 588' in under the mile. saw roadie the other day on mcarthur never road it myself on two wheels










delorme routes gpx files don't retain all the route data (or i don't know how to do it yet )


here's the data for my darlington airmont delorne route


Code:


<rtept lat="41.062688828" lon="-74.172954082">
<name>Darlington Lake</name>
<cmt>Darlington Lake</cmt>
<desc>Darlington Lake</desc>
<extensions>
<delorme:routePointType>start</delorme:routePointType>
</extensions>
</rtept>
<rtept lat="41.068022966" lon="-74.173656583">
<name>100-333 Macarthur Blvd</name>
<cmt>100-333 Macarthur Blvd</cmt>
<desc>100-333 Macarthur Blvd</desc>
<extensions>
<delorme:routePointType>stop</delorme:routePointType>
</extensions>
</rtept>
<rtept lat="41.100926757" lon="-74.116258264">
<name>Airmont, NY</name>
<cmt>Airmont, NY</cmt>


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## jkmacman

*happy in harriman*

went back up harriman, nearly the same loop as last saturday, but i went over to lake welch and checked out gate hill which i will exit the park next sunday as i ride back to glen rock

saw several fellow glen rock tri members in harriman most likely training for the upcoming tri august 14th. good chance i am in :thumbsup:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/39031324

<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/39031324'></iframe>


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## AlanE

WOW !!! You almost made it into NJ to qualify for a posting under "NJ hills 2010"

Here was my ride today. http://bikeroutetoaster.com/Course.aspx?course=145668

It was in NJ, had some hills, and it's 2010. Beautiful Warren County. Possible bear sighting today, either a small cub, medium black dog, or large black cat.


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## EricH_NJ

For anyone riding up in the Merrill Creek area in Warren County NJ, the Road Department just laid down about 3/4 mile of paving gravel at the top of Montana RD. Fiddlers Elbow, Harmony Brass Castle, and Fox Farm are still fine. Stuff is not fun to ride on especially towards the top of a climb.


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## PulseOx

Here is one of my favorite hilly rides. Great views of the kittatiny ridge, well-paved roads, and not much traffic. 

You can access right off route 80, so its real convenient if you are in the norther part of the state.

http://bit.ly/bQVcPq 

Enjoy!


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## jkmacman

EricH_NJ said:


> For anyone riding up in the Merrill Creek area in Warren County NJ, the Road Department just laid down about 3/4 mile of paving gravel at the top of Montana RD. Fiddlers Elbow, Harmony Brass Castle, and Fox Farm are still fine. Stuff is not fun to ride on especially towards the top of a climb.


heads up for skyline drive too,

they mauled up the road last year in efforts to slow down traffic. i was biking up and around there today, but on a mountain bike. on a road bike you really need to stay on the shoulder which may not be mauled, although it doesn't run the length of the entire skyline drive


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## DrSmile

I finally mapped out Millbrook Rd (Millbrook NJ, north of the gap) against Breakneck Rd (Highland Lakes) and you can see the similarities between the 2:









The dips aren't real they are mapping calculation errors. 

I prefer Millbrook Road because it has very little traffic. Note I am not responsible if you hurt yourself trying to climb either of these...

Also what I believe to be the longest downhill run in NJ (all short rises can be overcome at over 25mph if you carry speed) is WestBrook Rd From Macopin Road (West Milford) into Stonetown. 










I'd like to hear if there are any longer downhill runs.


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## AlanE

DrSmile said:


> I'd like to hear if there are any longer downhill runs.


The longest one I know of in NJ is Brass Castle/Montana from the top of Fiddlers down to Route 57. About 5 miles, and about 900 ft vertical.


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## AlanE

*A couple nasty hills - unpaved*

Did a couple nasty dirt road climbs this morning on Musconetcong Mountain:

Goritz Road - 0.87 miles, 472 ft vert, 
Dennis Road - 0.53 miles, 363 ft, (combined with Warren Glen Rd, 0.88 miles, 508 ft, )

Could not get traction riding out of the saddle, so had to stay seated on the steepest sections.


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## DrSmile

AlanE said:


> The longest one I know of in NJ is Brass Castle/Montana from the top of Fiddlers down to Route 57. About 5 miles, and about 900 ft vertical.


Yep looks like 4.5 miles. Also looks like there's no run-out at the end, do you just have to slam on the brakes? Thanks for sharing, I have to ride down there more often! How is Harmony Brass Castle Road as a downhill? I may go up Montana instead.


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## AlanE

DrSmile said:


> Yep looks like 4.5 miles. Also looks like there's no run-out at the end, do you just have to slam on the brakes? Thanks for sharing, I have to ride down there more often! How is Harmony Brass Castle Road as a downhill? I may go up Montana instead.


No problem at the end, road flattens out before you get to Rt. 57. The only real tricky part is the right turn from Harmony Brass Castle Road onto Brass Castle Road, since you're blowing through a stop sign. If you're thinking of going down the other side of Harmony Brass Castle Road (i.e. heading west to CR 519), that's a sweeeeeet downhill, not as long, but very smooth with nice gradual curves.


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## fiddlers25

DrSmile said:


> Also what I believe to be the longest downhill run in NJ (all short rises can be overcome at over 25mph if you carry speed) is WestBrook Rd From Macopin Road (West Milford) into Stonetown.
> 
> I'd like to hear if there are any longer downhill runs.


at High Point there's a small road above the lake just south of the monument, from the top of that section down to rt23 north to the NY border is a little over 5 miles with c. 1300 ft of a drop off. there are one or two brief false flats in there that you can fly through


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## Ken Roberts

AlanE said:


> Did a couple nasty dirt road climbs this morning on Musconetcong Mountain:
> Dennis Road - 0.53 miles, 363 ft, (combined with Warren Glen Rd, 0.88 miles, 508 ft, )


Yes I like Dennis Rd as an interesting challenge on my road bike. Both more interesting and much less traffic than rt 519 / Warren Glen Rd.
It was in pretty good condition around the end of June.
I've never descended Dennis -- instead I've gone down rt 519 to reach bottom of Dennis. Of course the turn for Dennis comes in midst of steep downhill, so have to think about strategy for how to take it. More interesting with a car behind me.

Ken


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## Ken Roberts

DrSmile said:


> I finally mapped out Millbrook Rd (Millbrook NJ, north of the gap) against Breakneck Rd (Highland Lakes) and you can see the similarities between the 2


What I see in those graphs is that (a) they're both hills of about the same size; and (b) the software used to "map" them is not very accurate.

Inaccuracy is not surprising, because it can be kinda tricky to get good data for calculating the steepness of different sections of a hilly road. If you're going to post detailed raw data (or better a link to it), it's much more useful for the rest of us if you state specifically what the _source_ of the data was, and perhaps what method you used to get the data from the source (if there might be multiple options for that).



DrSmile said:


> Millbrook ... Mean grade 11.1%
> Breakneck ... Mean grade 11.2%


So looks like the software calculated some average steepness for the whole climb.

Now I've measured Breakneck several different ways several different times, and I ride it multiple days each summer, sometimes multiple times each day. But it's never occurred to me to try to calculate its overall average grade.

Because the overall average isn't what kills my legs -- it's the steepness of the _steep_ sections that thrashes me.
So that's what I calculate, and that's what I put out in public: see what the steepest sustained section is, and calcuate the average grade for that specific section.

I guess for riders who are so strong they can just pedal to the top of anything with no strain, the details of the steep sections don't matter. (Or if you're on a bike with very low gears).
But for my legs on my normal road bike, the steepness of the steep section on Breakneck really does matter. It's so close to the edge of my strength, that I doubt I could make it up pedaling early in the season. I train on other serious hills for at least a month before even trying it. Then a month later I've succeeded I feel more confident -- but first time each different day I'm there, there's the thought that I might have an off day and I might have to give up before the top of Breakneck.

Millbrook Rd [ map ] on the other hand -- the one time I was there -- seemed like it didn't have any specific steep sections (nor any gentle or flat sections, which keeps its average higher) -- to me it's about the most boring road climb in New Jersey. I guess that's why I haven't put much effort into measuring it more accurately.

While Breakneck is one of the most intesting climbs in NJ: lotsa variations in steepness, some curves -- including one very memorable combination of steep + curve. Also much of surface of Breakneck has more coarse-sized stones than Millbrook, which makes it harder to climb.

Maybe in some mapping software, Breakneck is pretty similar to Millbrook. But on the ground, out there pedaling my bike, it's pretty different.

Ken


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## DrSmile

Ken Roberts said:


> What I see in those graphs is that (a) they're both hills of about the same size; and (b) the software used to "map" them is not very accurate.
> 
> Inaccuracy is not surprising, because it can be kinda tricky to get good data for calculating the steepness of different sections of a hilly road. If you're going to post detailed raw data (or better a link to it), it's much more useful for the rest of us if you state specifically what the _source_ of the data was, and perhaps what method you used to get the data from the source (if there might be multiple options for that).
> 
> 
> So looks like the software calculated some average steepness for the whole climb.
> 
> Now I've measured Breakneck several different ways several different times, and I ride it multiple days each summer, sometimes multiple times each day. But it's never occurred to me to try to calculate its overall average grade.
> 
> Because the overall average isn't what kills my legs -- it's the steepness of the _steep_ sections that thrashes me.
> So that's what I calculate, and that's what I put out in public: see what the steepest sustained section is, and calcuate the average grade for that specific section.
> 
> I guess for riders who are so strong they can just pedal to the top of anything with no strain, the details of the steep sections don't matter. (Or if you're on a bike with very low gears).
> But for my legs on my normal road bike, the steepness of the steep section on Breakneck really does matter. It's so close to the edge of my strength, that I doubt I could make it up pedaling early in the season. I train on other serious hills for at least a month before even trying it. Then a month later I've succeeded I feel more confident -- but first time each different day I'm there, there's the thought that I might have an off day and I might have to give up before the top of Breakneck.
> 
> Millbrook Rd [ map ] on the other hand -- the one time I was there -- seemed like it didn't have any specific steep sections (nor any gentle or flat sections, which keeps its average higher) -- to me it's about the most boring road climb in New Jersey. I guess that's why I haven't put much effort into measuring it more accurately.
> 
> While Breakneck is one of the most intesting climbs in NJ: lotsa variations in steepness, some curves -- including one very memorable combination of steep + curve. Also much of surface of Breakneck has more coarse-sized stones than Millbrook, which makes it harder to climb.
> 
> Maybe in some mapping software, Breakneck is pretty similar to Millbrook. But on the ground, out there pedaling my bike, it's pretty different.
> 
> Ken


I'm not interested in getting into an argument on what makes a hill a hill, but average rise over distance seems like a pretty darn good measure. the measurements were obtained off of http://www.toporoute.com which I use to map out rides for travel trips.

As for differences in the hills, I'd say that's probably a matter of riding style (spinning vs mashing), although after 13-14% I'm certainly no longer spinning... I personally like straight hills they let me concentrate on climbing not cycling off the road, and they are a blast going back down! BTW mad props to anyone that goes down Millbrook without using the brakes, I hit 52mph on Thursday and chickened out, and that was about 1/3 of the way down.

As for road conditions Millbrook has better pavement and less traffic, which is 2 more reasons to ride it.


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## jkmacman

*going down hill*

i like sloatsburg rd for downhill (from sloatsburg) new tarmac 

i did a new local loop over the week end. the climb up garret mtn is significant, but i come back that way, in fact i missed the turn for crooks ave

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43483571

<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/43483571'></iframe>










this loop uses part of lenapie trail and the watchung range. i also am planning a bigger loop up to campgaw past wpu, i did a section of it on a mtb last winter up to mtb when there was too much snow to cycle through hi mtn preserve. you want to talk about climbs hi mtn is the place, i think it goes up 600' in one mile


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## NJcycler

*millbrook vs breakneck decent*

millbrook is very easy to let it run and fly without to many worries. I've hit that 52 mph area just tucking. you can forget any high speed decent on breakneck. not possible. you will die.
It is so steep and the tight curves you are riding your brakes and keeping you weight over the back wheel as much as possible like a mountain biker would do. trying to go slow the curves still are an issue with the rear wheel sliding out it is so steep and sharp. apples and oranges in type of hill.

IMHO Breakneck is a much tougher climb because of the steepness.


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## goldsbar

I climbed Fiddler's Elbow with wet roads a couple of days ago. That was an experience. Luckily the far left side of the steep part of the road was dry and the road was empty. Not sure I could have made it otherwise as I was getting some serious tire slippage.

I took the climb more aggresively this time compared to my first and only other time a year or two ago. There are, unfortunately (masocistic view), a couple of breaks on the climb. They're short and they're not flat, but they're there.

Actually like the climb up Coleman to Bickel better. Still hard and lots of interesting twists. Demeter to Buckhorn to Lommasons is a fantastic descent. Think there would be good potential for high speed while still having fun corners (i.e. fast) if I (a) learned the road and (b) did the descent on dry roads. Bad part is some of the corners/kinks are partially blind and there's no room for error. 

Ken Roberts - great website. You short Morris County, though, with the exception of a couple of Long Valley area climbs (many more on the same ridge you leave out, BTW). I suspect this is due to your living location. There are many steep climbs and some up to 600 vertical. Not so hard to make routes with 100 ft/mile average. Not complaining.


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## jkmacman

*garrett mtn*

garrtett mtn has to be the most prominent mtn in new jersey. from bergn county you can see it as the largest mtn in the near distance. i road up there two saturdays in a row to garrett mtn, this past one i met a roadie coming down from garrett mtn, he claimed he had a 500' short climb in a short distance, I climbed garret from great notch

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44483226

<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/44483226'></iframe>


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## climbingcue

EricH_NJ said:


> For anyone riding up in the Merrill Creek area in Warren County NJ, the Road Department just laid down about 3/4 mile of paving gravel at the top of Montana RD. Fiddlers Elbow, Harmony Brass Castle, and Fox Farm are still fine. Stuff is not fun to ride on especially towards the top of a climb.


Here is the ride I did on some of those roads on saturday. Iron Bridge was not fun since they chip and sealed is not too long ago. If you want a good loop you can start this ride in Long Valley at the cycle craft then it is just under 50 miles or so.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/45507065


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## NJcycler

*Barrett Road*

I did Barrett Road today since it is at Ken Roberts site as being one of the tougher climbs around the area. The climb starts off Rt 94 just in NY state and goes up the Wawayanda mountain range to Barry lakes. The climb started around 23+ miles from my house and the entire loop i did was 50.6 miles. Barrett was the highlight of the ride. I really enjoyed the climb. Reminded me of Vermont.
My GPS data on the climb.
The climb started at an Elev of 468' up to 1278' in a distance of 1.9 miles.
810' in 1.9 miles.
The avg grade was 8.1% for 1.9 miles
Max grade according to my GPS was 17% and it hit between 15 - 17% on several pitches.
Pavement was excellent. I didn't find the climb to difficult but was a nice challenge.
Pictures from Barrett-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157624877186766/show/

My Garmin data-
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/47506973

Steve


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## NJcycler

*Millbrook RD*

I did Millbrook RD today and my GPS data verifies DRSMILE numbers for the climb.
Came out to an avg grade of 11.1%.

This is the most consistently STEEP grade climb I have done in the area. You get no leveling out easy grades to recover. One solid pitch for a mile. Awesome climb. Easier at the start and end but in between STEEP.

The big thing about this ride there are 3 other good climbs on the loop I did.
Old Mine RD from Dingman's CR560.
256' in .66 miles for an avg grade of 7.3%

Old Mine Road heading south, climb before Millbrook Village.
531' in 1.64 miles for an avg grade of 6.1%

Old Mine RD out of Millbrook heading back North
218' in .45 miles for an avg grade of 9.2%.

Garmin data. As always, check the elevation graph out. It looks cool!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/48016928

Pictures I took-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/sets/72157624778262671/show/


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## jkmacman

*route 52 shawnagunk ridge nys*

was on vacation in nys last week, mtbed around windham, trail ran around cooperstown, back to jersey, then mtb in newburgh, ny, trail ran near frost valley, then more mtb at windham. the route i posted above is how i believe i drove my car from newburgh, ny over shawnagunk ridge through frost valley and past hunter and windham to my camper in acra. i saw lots of cyclist on route 52 on shawnagunk ridge and i would be surprised if no one on this site knows of the awesome climb or did it themselves:thumbsup:





<br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=embed&saddr=Barron+Rd&daddr=New+York+17K+W+to:Searsville+Rd+to:NY-52+W+to:Big+Indian-Slide+Mountain+Rd%2FCo+Rd+47%2FOliverea+Rd%2FOliverea-Slide+Mountain+Rd+to:NY-28+E+to:NY-42+N+to:NY-23+E+to:Joseph+Chadderdon+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FbFreQIdAwaU-w%3BFXy-eQId_C6S-w%3BFRqvegIdNLuS-w%3BFVA1fQIdRLWN-w%3BFQdAgQIdO6aQ-w%3BFeShggIdUpGQ-w%3BFRKPhAId1PmQ-w%3BFSCUhQIdBlKT-w%3BFSiWhQIdfbGV-w&mra=mi&mrcr=7&mrsp=8&sz=12&sll=42.216822,-74.192047&sspn=0.23596,0.417137&ie=UTF8&ll=42.216822,-74.192047&spn=0.23596,0.417137" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>


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## technic05

jkmacman said:


> garrtett mtn has to be the most prominent mtn in new jersey. from bergn county you can see it as the largest mtn in the near distance. i road up there two saturdays in a row to garrett mtn, this past one i met a roadie coming down from garrett mtn, he claimed he had a 500' short climb in a short distance, I climbed garret from great notch
> 
> http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44483226
> 
> <iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/44483226'></iframe>


hey freeride,

That was me! Glad i can help you get back to HH. Here's the ride again even though you saw it on another forum!

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=207102467016784305848.00048dd45959c45287889

As opposed to taking Great Notch, Head down the hill on Main st Little Falls, and make a right on Browertown, You'll pass right under 46 and go about .5miles. Right at the fork into Woodland Park and then take Overmount Ave, which is a steep grade giving about .5 miles of climbing (thank God). My elevation is skewed because it was done on an android phone GPS.

Happy riding!


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## jkmacman

we're doing the loop again, i thought you said you were coming on sunday and brining another 2 roadies? some say the rain is not coming til the afternoon

here below is pics of todays ride 










and another pic of a ride upstate i am planning over shawngunks out of stewart state park


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## technic05

yes definitely showing up on Sunday!


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## jkmacman

technic05 said:


> yes definitely showing up on Sunday!


excellent, i'd like to return from garret mtn via your route, but there are so many turns

if you like the ride and want to do one a bit longer on saturday 9.18, they still need b* rides for september, i did broodkdale to wpu last winter, we can add the franklin lakes tri course, all told it will be about 70 miles

here's the franklin lake course


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## NJcycler

*hidden valley drive*

I checked out Curtis dr in Vernon yesterday. The bottom is very steep but the rest of it isn't bad. I was wondering Ken if you have any stats on Hidden Valley dr off Curtis. That is a steep climb to the top of the mountain and combined with Curtis is a great climb.


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