The Toughest Road Climbs in NJ

capedoc

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Didn't see this road in the thread. How about Tumble Falls Road coming off of Rt 29. Only 1/2 mile long, but strava has it averaging 11%

Tumble Falls

This is a beautiful road. Particularly this time of year. Great view of the river. Highly recommend you check it out. It's definitely one of the steeper climbs up from rt 29 but the grade is very consistent. Consistent grades always seem to mind-fuck me less. Once you get around the bend, it kind of levels out.
 

choop

Well-Known Member
I rode up it once this summer, but it was right after one of the Rt 29 time trials. So maybe thats why I remember it being pretty hard.
 

Paul Longo

Member
Nothing compared to the Apalachin climbs but worth mentioning, the Highlands Boat Basin to the top of Mt. Mitchell. Maybe not the hardest climb ever, but a good solid climbing effort. Bonus points for best view of the NY skyline anywhere and double bonus points for the 9/11 memorial for Monmouth County. Awesome place, just speechlessly awesome. A must on NJ native's list IMO. I can get the data on the elevation per mile...
 

Robin

Well-Known Member
Forgot to check last week to see if it was on "the list" but went up Pickle Rd. On my CX bike. With file tread tires. :eek:

Challenging but a great climb. I'll be back on my Evo for sure.
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
This past weekend I ventured up to Ludlow Station Rd. Enjoyed the challenge - needed to use the entire road and feared any cars coming but I survived. I wanted to stop and take a photo of the "Steep Hill Ahead" sign but I kept pedaling.
QOM in the house! I wondered about this hill and took iron Bridge the few times I have been up there. How does it compare to Iron Bridge?
 

Robin

Well-Known Member
QOM in the house! I wondered about this hill and took iron Bridge the few times I have been up there. How does it compare to Iron Bridge?

maybe it's because I'm coming out of hibernation, but I thought it was harder than Iron Bridge.
 

adogg

Well-Known Member
Some that come to my mind:
  • Alpine approach on Henry Hudson road - 450 feet in 1.5 miles if you start in the parking lot by the river.
  • New Providence Road / Deep Path in Mountain Side - 290 feet in 1.4 miles
  • Old Mine Road / Stillwater Road in Delaware Water Gap - 520 feet in 1.6 miles
  • Cokesbury Road in Lebanon - 510 feet in 2.2 miles
  • Mashipacong Road / Ridge Road (start at Clove Rd and end at High Point monument) - 1,200 feet in 5.6 nearly traffic free miles
Planning to ride Fiddler's Elbow soon. Should be interesting.
 

adogg

Well-Known Member
Taking advantage of the nice weather we have. Went to Merrill Creek Reservoir area today for a 46 mile loop in the hills, including Fiddler's Elbow.

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Fiddler's Elbow:
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So, these are the climbs from today:

Fiddler's Elbow
Vertical: 609 ft
Distance: 1.4 mi
Average Grade: 9.7%
Average Speed: 5.9


Montana Road
Vertical: 750 ft
Distance: 3.6 mi
Average Grade: 5.2%
Average Speed: 7.5


Fox Farm Road
Vertical: 551 ft
Distance: 1.2 mi
Average Grade: 9.2%
Average Speed: 5.2


Asbury/Broadway Road
Vertical: 326 ft
Distance: 1.0 mi
Average Grade: 6.6%
Average Speed: 6.0


Tunnel Road
Vertical: 542 ft
Distance: 2.4 mi
Average Grade: 4.8%
Average Speed: 7.4

I think my actual average speed on Fiddler's Elbow may have been a little slower. At max grade, I was moving so slow Garmin thought I stopped several times.
 

adogg

Well-Known Member
Please ride iron bridge tomorrow and report back.

Rode a 49 mile loop with 5,700 ft going up yesterday around Clinton area taking some parts of HTT route and improvising a bit around Ludlow Station / Iron Bridge climbs.

These two made for quite a challenge:

Iron Bridge
Vertical: 508 ft
Distance: 0.9 mi
Average Grade: 10.2%
Average Speed: 5.6


Ludlow Station
Vertical: 517 ft
Distance: 1.3 mi
Average Grade: 8.6%
Average Speed: 6.8
 

stb222

Love Drunk
Jerk Squad
Rode a 49 mile loop with 5,700 ft going up yesterday around Clinton area taking some parts of HTT route and improvising a bit around Ludlow Station / Iron Bridge climbs.

These two made for quite a challenge:

Iron Bridge
Vertical: 508 ft
Distance: 0.9 mi
Average Grade: 10.2%
Average Speed: 5.6


Ludlow Station
Vertical: 517 ft
Distance: 1.3 mi
Average Grade: 8.6%
Average Speed: 6.8
The grade is based on your garmin or calcs? As always the avg grade is only part of the story.

Which seemed harder?
 

adogg

Well-Known Member
The grade is based on your garmin or calcs? As always the avg grade is only part of the story.

Which seemed harder?

I upload the ride data to ridewithgps, then highlight the part of the route that has only the specific climb. Ridewithgps then displays the average and peak grade over the highlighted section of the ride. The peak grade of those climbs was somewhere in the mid 20% range, although this may have been somewhat erroneously recorded by Garmin due to my rather slow moving speed, I guess. The two climbs from yesterday's ride are shown below. I would say Iron Bridge was harder but Ludlow Station was challenging too. Couple weeks ago I rode Fidler's Elbow and would have to say that one trumps both.

IRON BRIDGE
Untitled - 1.jpg



LUDLOW STATION
Untitled - 2.jpg
 

Dave Taylor

Rex kwan Do
Pickle is another good one and is parallel to Black River Rd and I think it has a little more grade, I used ride both regularly from work
Yes, pickle road is good too...hollow brook is a nice scenic climb as well. Have you ridden jacob's ladder off lake road in far hills? While in pottersville though if you head out homestead about 2 miles and make a right on fox chase that's a nice climb too and then the cslifon side of 523 gets pretty steep as well
 
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