Ferdinand NYC

...is to go around it!

About four years ago I rode out to Morris County, New Jersey from my home in New York City on the Brooklyn/Queens border. At the time I was not in the practice of checking the topographical map, because that is usually not necessary in New York City.

Bad move. That omission led me to choose a route up Eagle Rock Avenue, which is a killer climb. The hill is so steep that there are signs warning truckers about shifting loads. My mother, who grew up in Newark, reports that her first car from the 1950s would struggle to climb that hill.

I know that some bicyclists actually like climbs. This I don't understand at all. I am the exact opposite. For me the best riding is the flattest. For this reason, even though I don't like Long Island very much, I do really enjoy riding on the South Shore. To be able to go thirty-plus miles in one direction and never hit a single hill is amazing.

Anyway, on this trip to Morris County I checked the topographical map and noticed a pass in that mountain range which I foolishly climbed last time. So, instead of the insane assault on Eagle Rock Avenue, I took Springfield Avenue out of Newark, and took that to Millburn Avenue (whose westbound section becomes Essex Street). This is the street that goes through the mountain pass. Then, on the other side of the mountain, I picked up a street that becomes Old Short Hills Road and took it north, turning off at Parsonage Hill Road, and taking that west to Passaic Avenue. I turned north on that street, which becomes Walnut Street, and took it up to the town that I had to go to, East Hanover.






The only significant hill was on Parsonage Hill Road; but that was a baby compared to the monster that is Eagle Rock Avenue.

The ride there and back was 77 miles. I cheated a bit by using the ferry from downtown Manhattan to Jersey City. The last time I did this ride, I went all the way up to the George Washington bridge; and it was a total of 110 miles. On the way home I had to pause several times for rain delays. But I needed to catch the ferry from Jersey City, the last one of which takes off at 9pm. So, at some point I could not afford to wait any longer, and just had to ride in the rain, which I do not like doing.

I wound up getting this great picture at the ferry terminal in Jersey City. The rain clouds and the fog combined with the last remnants of sunlight at 8:40pm to create a very nice effect.

Papa Tom

This weekend, I am doing my annual ride from Syosset, LI to Port Jefferson, LI and then onto some other places in Connecticut after a ferry ride. Over the 25 years or so I've been doing this, I have always taken the same route, which has a few hills that consistently leave me muttering to myself "WHY the hell am I doing this?" This year, I think I've finally come up with a few alternatives that will get me around the worst of the hills. I will share the new route if it works out as I hope it will.

That said, I thought this would be a thread for sharing advice about conquering hills when you have no other choice but to go over them. What works best for me is:

1. Shift to the most upright position you can so that your lungs are not crushed by your shoulders as they struggle to move air in and out.
2. Set small goals as you begin to climb. "I'm going to make it to THAT TREE/THAT SHADY SPOT up there." If you break the hill into smaller portions, it won't seem quite as intimidating. And when you reach each goal along the way, you might even find that you don't need to stop and rest, but just want to keep heading toward the NEXT goal.
3. Try as hard as you can to tune out the noise in your head -- the voices saying you're not climbing fast enough, you look like a loser because you're struggling so hard, etc. Just be in the moment and try to remember that nobody is really looking at you as judgmentally as you might imagine.
4. Always smile as you climb. It may seem silly and people in passing cars may look at you like you've gone zonkers, but there's something about the way a smile breaks your muscle tension that (I find) aids your body with the physical challenge of climbing. I never believed this until I tried it.

UniChris

The one that always hits me as "what was the point?!?!?" is in Mahopac between Bucks Hollow and Mt. Hope Rd, where it seems several businesses on the south side of Route 6 (or maybe even route 6 itself?) squatted in the railbed, forcing the trail up a hill and then even more steeply down. I can get up the northbound side but usually chose to walk down the steep side, especially as there's a busy light right there anyway. Given that I've also tried walking the sidewalk of route 6, but that's not fun in the hot sun. Last time with my ankle bothering me I just walked over the hill.

But in a way no real right to complain - a month back got a ride back from a vacation trip down 87 with occasional glimpses of the trailway through the trees, and in the process saw how many hills there actually are in Yonkers that the old rail route manages to cleverly snake between.

davlafont

Yup. There's a reason why I-78 runs through there. At the north end of this ridge is Patterson and I-80 passes through there for the same reason. The exception that proves the rule is the relatively young I-280 which seems to thumb it's nose at common sense by climbing that ridge just... because.