G. Ike

Next week my usual group ride is doing a hill climb. All the guys told me Roxburg Hill Road into Fiddler's Elbow Road in Western New Jersey will change this ride from a hill climb to a hill walk. Has anyone ever climbed these hills? Does my group need to HTFU or am I gonna want to die next week?

patentcad

I did Fiddler's Elbow Road on a century called the Hillier Than Thou Century, c. 1991 or so. It was one of the toughest short climbs I've done. As I recall it has a lead in that's about .7 miles @ 6-10%, then it kicks up to 20%++ for .5+. That last half mile is rather unbelievable. I would guess there is one stretch that might be 25% or so. I had a 42 x 21 at the time, don't ask me how I ever kept the bike standing, but I did get over it. I was skinnier then.

urodacus

Taipei has a similar tester: MaoKong to CaoDong. about 5km of 8-13% starter, a few km of flattish stuff to move across the ridgeline, and then about 600m of 20-21% to top out. got a few cheers from a farmer as i crested and found a convenient telegraph pole to hang onto. I have not attempted that one on the single speed yet, but might next weekend to get bragging rights over pCad.

hard on the legs whatever the gearing. no thought of actually taking the camera out on the way up, but i did on the other side of the ridge on the way down.

patentcad

I am always somewhat leery of Taiwanese posts.

mr_tom

urodacus

leer away, old fella. the riding here is good, and steep!

bravo106

Head to the regional forums and check out the northeast section. There are several threads & posts by Ken Roberts, who has plotted out a lot of the tough climbs in NJ. Hillier than Hillier - NJ is an informative thread which includes FE.

From all indications, Fiddler's Elbow will certainly get your attention. Since I love routes that involve challenging climbs, I plan to make a trip out to west jersey later this summer to tackle it.

G. Ike

20 percent for a half mile? sounds good

patentcad

This was like 17 years ago, but I do believe that may be accurate. Ride it and see. Bring your 39 x 25. Or something smaller. Like I said, I did it in a 42 x 21. In retrospect, that's amazing, but in 1991 that was a granny gear.

G. Ike

42x21 up a 20% is very impressive, I have another reason to idolize you

patentcad

That's not impressive cycling. That's keep moving forward or keel over aka stupid gearing. I was 33 at the time not 50. Today I'd just keel the F over. Or have a 39 x 25.

G. Ike

I would keel the f over definitely, so it sounds impressive as compared to me. And you are still my idol stupid gearing and all.

patentcad

If I'm your idol, you need to re-examine your goals in life. But I do admire that nifty Apple logo on your posts. That's cool. Apple stuff ROCKS. I've had Macs since 1984, and we have 5 in our home/home office right now. Plus a bunch of iPods. No iPhones yet however.

We like the Apple stock more than the Apple products.

G. Ike

Maybe I do need to rethink my goals in life, but whatever. With the 3G iPhone at $199 now, its a much better possibility of me having one. I switched over like a year ago, and I will never buy another Windows box.

Terex

Also see Uhlerstown Hill Rd. in PA across the river from Frenchtown in NJ. Last time there I rode around several other people who had fallen over before running off the uphill side of the road when the ride leader fell over. It's 20+% and one of our guys did it in his big chain ring.

urodacus

Gike: good luck with the elbow. it's just a case of stand and grind, and find your balance point early!

and if you fall over, there's always walking. it's not that far. take a camera and show us the view from the top.

G. Ike

Thanks alot, I never would have thought to bring a camera and I'll get the pics up asap (the ride is Wednesday).

patentcad

I'll never forget the top of Fiddler's Elbow Road. The steep grade ends rather abruptly, and you wind up on this flat stretch of road with beautiful meadows on either side. I wasn't sure if I had survived the climb, or if it had killed me and I had ascended to Bike Weenie Heaven. I realized it was the former when I looked down at my bicycle and it was still a Trek (it had not transformed into a Merlin Pearly Gates Ti Custom).

Corsaire

You're in for a walk up that hill, at least half way there. It's a a very tough climb. Be warned.
I'd bring at least a 34/27, even then you might have to stand up just to keep turning the pedals.
I have to be honest I walked it soon after hitting that 21%, but who knows if I would've brought a
the above i could've made it.
Corsaire

patentcad

We have a local climb here that's not quite as tough as Fiddler's, but it's rather nasty. About a mile long, average grade in the last half mile has to be 15%+ with 20%+ stretches. I can handle that with a 39 x 25, although a 39 x 27 would be nice on that hill. I'm about Cat 4 fitness, average to above average climber. In racing I ride an 11-23 cluster, mainly because there's nothing I encounter in competitive rides that a 21 or 23 won't readily handle. In other words if you go to the 25 in a race or competitive ride with racing dudes, you're dumped and your ride (at least in contact with the race or group) is over anyway. I use a 12-25 cluster on my training wheel sets, mainly because I live on top of a mile long hill with 15% grades, and I really do need a bail out gear, particularly on days when I'm trying to go easy.

So the gear you'll need on Fiddler's is very dependent on your cycling ability, training, experience, fitness. I'm confident I'd get over it in the 39 x 25, but it would be tough. I'd be a hell of a lot more fluid with a 39x 25 than I was in the 42 x 21. That latter gear had me barely turning the pedals over at one point back in 1991, I couldn't maintain any rhythm at all. I got over the top without keeling over, but it sucked hard and it wasn't pretty.

The kicker is that hill was about 20 miles into the Hillier Than Thou Century, which included every tough climb they could find in Eastern PA and Western NJ. It was a real ball buster ride as I recall, it took us 6.5 hours or something like that. Probably the toughest long ride I've done. Lots of vertical, and the grades on some of those hills were nasty. Fiddler's wasn't the longest climb, but it was the hardest.