So You Think You Can Climb

Next weekend I am planning on going to high point in Warren, Sussex, Bergen, Passaic and Morris. These will be very hilly rides. To get ready for next weekend Laura did a ride today from Lambertville through the hills in Pennsylvania and NJ around the Delaware. The route was a combination of some roads Blake wanted to explore and a hill Laura wanted to do. We only lost one person (Jim) to attrition (broken spoke) although some of us were feeling a little beat by the time we got to the stop in Milford.

Although the route had only 3200 feet of climbing it felt a lot worst probably because the hills we did climb were steep or long and sometimes both. Or as Laura put it the hills were in nasty little clumps. It was also well above 90 by the time we finally finished.  I was definitely was shot by the time I finished the ride and cramped up on the way home. However part of doing the ride today was to beat my legs up to be ready for next weekend so after some recovery I should have no problem with next weekends ride. 

I have done a lot of climbing this year and think I could tackle any hill I wanted to. That was until I saw the list of hills at this web site http://www.pjammcycling.com/home.html which lists the toughest climbs in the US. Except for Mt Washington I haven't been close to any of these climbs. In a few weeks I will be in Maui so I am definitely going to ride the toughest climb in the US (by car). This site also lists the toughest climbs by state so at least I can claim I climbed one of the toughest climbs in the state. Not all states are listed so maybe next year I might try to find of the toughest climbs in other flatter states like Delaware since my legs may fall.after next weekend.