The Toughest Road Climbs in NJ

bigW

Well-Known Member
So, I am planning on doing Haleakala climb in June and I want to start preparing. Looking to do 5000-8000 foot climbing days in increments of 50ish miles to prepare. Any thoughts in good loops within an hour of Union County. I have a friend who said the climb to Bear Mountain is the closest equivalent of the climb and I plan on doing repeats up there. Any suggestions of training loops?

IMHO : Trainer. The climb isn’t steep but NJ roads are gonna give you an UP followed by an immediate DOWN. In the real deal you won’t get a rest.

For bonus points turn on the room AC to 55 degrees when you start to simulate temps and maybe a piece of duct tape added across the mouth every 30 mins to simulate the thin air….
 

thegock

Well-Known Member
When I was preparing to Everest I did repeats on Washington Rock and Warrenville. I did it in 10,000 foot blocks, or 25 repeats in 25 miles. IMO it's the best bang for the buck hill prep.

Warrerville is surprisingly more intense. Probably about 50% higher vf ratio v. Washington Rock, but u can look that up on Strava.

Valley Dr up to where the steep part ends 188 meters from Johnston Drive gets u about the same intensity without the traffic, doe the descent is a bit sketchy. Like when a dump truck is climbing the blind switchbacks towards the bottom.

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xc62701

Well-Known Member
So, I am planning on doing Haleakala climb in June and I want to start preparing. Looking to do 5000-8000 foot climbing days in increments of 50ish miles to prepare. Any thoughts in good loops within an hour of Union County. I have a friend who said the climb to Bear Mountain is the closest equivalent of the climb and I plan on doing repeats up there. Any suggestions of training loops?
That’s a fun one! I have one attempt on it and I made it 15 of the 25 miles up. I pulled the plug when I started feeling sick and couldn’t stay upright any more. It didn’t help that I rode 50 miles from my hotel to get there. It’s not steep but consistent. 8-10% if I remember? I still remember vividly being under the clouds, then in the cloud layer, then riding above the clouds. It’s was unbelievable. I called my wife to come get me and she drove me to the top. The I rode back down. The downhill hurt just as bad as the up. I couldn’t feel my hands or arms from the braking.

Bear mountain would be a great training road.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
So, I am planning on doing Haleakala climb in June and I want to start preparing. Looking to do 5000-8000 foot climbing days in increments of 50ish miles to prepare. Any thoughts in good loops within an hour of Union County. I have a friend who said the climb to Bear Mountain is the closest equivalent of the climb and I plan on doing repeats up there. Any suggestions of training loops?
Hopefully your bike will have a super low gear. You’ll want to spin up that
 

wanger114

New Member
So, I am planning on doing Haleakala climb in June and I want to start preparing. Looking to do 5000-8000 foot climbing days in increments of 50ish miles to prepare. Any thoughts in good loops within an hour of Union County. I have a friend who said the climb to Bear Mountain is the closest equivalent of the climb and I plan on doing repeats up there. Any suggestions of training loops?

In addition to Bear Mtn, all the roads in + around Harriman have lots of great climbing -- you should be able to do 5k ft in 50ish miles just riding around the park. All the roads connecting to Seven Lakes Dr (as well as Seven Lakes itself) are decent climbs in + out of the park -- ride each both ways and it should add up.

For longer more sustained climbing, probably need to go to the Catskills -- near Minnewaska there are some 1.5-2.5k ft type climbs.

In NJ within an hour of Union, my vote would be Peapack-Gladstone area. Start at LewMo and weave over to Tewksbury -- tons of hills.
 

goodvibe

Well-Known Member
IMHO : Trainer. The climb isn’t steep but NJ roads are gonna give you an UP followed by an immediate DOWN. In the real deal you won’t get a rest.

For bonus points turn on the room AC to 55 degrees when you start to simulate temps and maybe a piece of duct tape added across the mouth every 30 mins to simulate the thin air….
This is an absolute no go!! I can't spend more than 10 minutes on the trainer without going crazy.
 

trener1

Well-Known Member
Just as a note, not sure if you are aiming for a time goal or just to make it up, but when I did it, I didn't really train specifically for it but I was in overall pretty good shape as I was racing at the time, and I made it up ok based on my general fitness (though not climbing specific), what really turned out to be the biggest challenge was the altitude once I got above 8,000 feet but not much you can do about that. so I'd say definitely do those hill repeats but also mix in some good threshold intervals when you can't get to the climbs. and (I'm sure a thousand people have/will tell you this) but even if it's 80 degrees at the start make sure to bring some warm clothes with you, the first part of the descent ca get really cold, at the bare minimum some arm warmers. vest and full finger gloves.
 

goodvibe

Well-Known Member
Just as a note, not sure if you are aiming for a time goal or just to make it up, but when I did it, I didn't really train specifically for it but I was in overall pretty good shape as I was racing at the time, and I made it up ok based on my general fitness (though not climbing specific), what really turned out to be the biggest challenge was the altitude once I got above 8,000 feet but not much you can do about that. so I'd say definitely do those hill repeats but also mix in some good threshold intervals when you can't get to the climbs. and (I'm sure a thousand people have/will tell you this) but even if it's 80 degrees at the start make sure to bring some warm clothes with you, the first part of the descent ca get really cold, at the bare minimum some arm warmers. vest and full finger gloves.
Thanks. The plan is to just make it up. I don't really care about the time. I was thinking of bringing a small backpack or frame bag for some clothes and food.
 
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