The Toughest Road Climbs in NJ

front camera acts like a mirror....so you can use if for shaving.

put the fishing license stub in the window, park in spruce run boat launch.....
 
Norm said:
Yesterday was my 4th time up it and to me, the hardest. Strava tells me it was my 2nd fastest time but I think the other 3 were on compact cranksets. My cadence was 52 - fifty freaking two. And this includes the first & last thirds at a semi-normal cadence. The meat was probably 40. There would be almost no way for me to go slower than I did yesterday with these cranks. My slowest time is 2 minutes longer, which I find hard to believe. Though now I think about it, it may have been Can O' Beans with the triple. Triple B!

So my point is that this climb is just going to be a different animal depending on your gearing. I'm sure my big mtb would have been easier. I'll try to get to Fiddlers over the summer but I can't imagine it being harder than yesterday's climb.

Strava says 10%, but the middle of this looks like about 300 vertical in .3 miles.
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Iron Bridge is tough and there is not too much chance to ease up on the climb.

The last 70 seconds of Fiddlers is just crazy and if one pushes hard on the hill prior to that the TILT light may flash. On the other hand it is very possible to go easy on most of Fiddlers and be in good shape for the final push up the wall.
 
stb222 said:
Has to be a setting for that, no?
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I was curious so I checked. On phone settings I can turn "save as flipped" off and it is not a mirror image (seems backwards). But with instagram the image is mirrored no matter which setting - weird.
 
I made it up breakneck on the way to my sister's house over the weekend. Is that on the list? Fuck it was the closest I ever came to throwing up on a bike. Didn't help that it was at like mile 35 of 100% climbing.
 
gtluke said:
I made it up breakneck on the way to my sister's house over the weekend. Is that on the list? Fuck it was the closest I ever came to throwing up on a bike. Didn't help that it was at like mile 35 of 100% climbing.
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That is a tie between Fiddlers and Breakneck for steepest
 
Yeah, Breakneck is on the list. I don't think I ever rode it but I may have driven it? Is it near the old cross course up by the ski hill?
 
rick81721 said:
Thinking same as today - am before it gets too hot. Start around 9 - 9:30
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Are you still taking a day tomorrow? I can put together a route for you if you are. I don't think I can sneak out for a ride and honestly I may need a down day tomorrow anyway. But if you're going out just give me a general idea of where you want to start and I can try to put something together.
 
i'm around in the morning - my gut is doing flip-flops for the last 24, but never know if i actually sleep. would like to tag along.
got to be home before noon.
 
Norm said:
Are you still taking a day tomorrow? I can put together a route for you if you are. I don't think I can sneak out for a ride and honestly I may need a down day tomorrow anyway. But if you're going out just give me a general idea of where you want to start and I can try to put something together.
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Thanks @Norm but I'm gonna stay local. Have some wifey things to do later. Thinking I'll get some more practice on the little boy hills in the sourlands before hitting bigger ones further north. But I def want to get another loop in that area soon.
 
rick81721 said:
Thanks @Norm but I'm gonna stay local. Have some wifey things to do later. Thinking I'll get some more practice on the little boy hills in the sourlands before hitting bigger ones further north. But I def want to get another loop in that area soon.
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Go up spring hill and aunt Molly north of 518. Those are the steepest grades in the sourlands and the steep stuff is much harder to be come accustom too.
 
stb222 said:
Go up spring hill and aunt Molly north of 518. Those are the steepest grades in the sourlands and the steep stuff is much harder to be come accustom too.
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Ever try Starview off Amwell? It's harder than those. 250 ft of climbing in the first 0.4 miles. I'm hitting that today
 
rick81721 said:
Ever try Starview off Amwell? It's harder than those. 250 ft of climbing in the first 0.4 miles. I'm hitting that today
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Not sure. That calls to 11-12% and those other two are close to that.

Hills are great in the sense that they never get easier but finding steep grades is sometime hard. Nothing in the sourlands or that area is particularly steep and nothing like what you are "training" for. I rode federal twist yesterday and that is child's play next to iron bridge and fiddlers
 
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stb222 said:
Not sure. That calls to 11-12% and those other two are close to that.

Hills are great in the sense that they never get easier but finding steep grades is sometime hard. Nothing in the sourlands or that area is particularly steep and nothing like what you are "training" for. I rode federal twist yesterday and that is child's play next to iron bridge and fiddlers
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I think Starview is a longer sustained climb. Spring Hill never seems that hard, the really steep part is short. Hopewell-Amwell is harder but again pretty short. Try starview and see what you think (whoever created the segment got the name of the road wrong):

https://www.strava.com/segments/2124595

Check this out, easy KOM to snag - I created it today and only have it because no one else tried it. Up starview, down murray, up murray and down again. I hammered the brakes hard going down the first time, second time some lady was afraid to go between two parked landscaping trucks and I had to come to a stop.

https://www.strava.com/segments/9840503
 
Since I'm always doing this stuff in the same gear I feel like I get a good sense of what hills are worse than others. Starview dethroned me my first attempt. That road gets steep. Spring Hell sucks balls at that section by the corner-to-bridge. That makes my lungs come out of my body and slap me in the face while mocking my legs. Sorta like what happens when taking a massive bong hit, only different. Zion bites monkey chunks because those "steps" don't let up. Starview gets my vote for hardest effort in the Sourlands.
 
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