$4.50
Start: Newark Penn Station. Finish: Branch Brook Park Distance: 4 miles, climbing 192′.
Start: Branch Brook Park. Finish: George Washngton Bridge. Distance: 17.54 miles, climbing 849′.
Description
Welcome to The Island of Many Hills”
New York City is actually quite hilly. Many of the hills are hard to get to or don’t link together easily. But uptown Manhattan is different. That’s why this is the Uptown Hills ride.
Lore has it that Manhattan once translated into “the island of many hills” in the language of the OG, the Lenni Lenape. It might be hard to see many of the hills in downtown and midtown, partially a result of all the tall buildings, but also thanks to many of the hills being flattened, sometimes with explosives. All that changes north of Central Park. once past 110th street you can find the uptown hills. There’s a ridge running north from Morningside Heights to Washington Heights, with the easier way up riding north on St. Nicholas Avenue. This ride tackles the ridge from the east, the west, and the north.
Many hills, little distance
This is a short ride, but the idea is to pack in a workout in as little time and distance as possible. The ride goes up and down the ridge many times in search of roads that allow you to do battle with gravity. No need to noodle to over to Jersey to get in some leg-burning, lung searing resistance, just thread your way uptown and back. There are 18 hills in all, nothing longer than a kilometer, some as short as 100 meters, but pitches that go up to and over 10% at times.
I guess this could be called a polarized ride, where you’re either going really easy (between climbs) or full-gas (on climbs). Don’t bother looking at average speed; your legs will tell you how hard the ride is. It’s a marked contrast from Central Park, where you can cruise along at a steady pace; nothing is steady here.
Climbing is something all cyclists have to do. Practicing is one of the ways to make it better, easier, possibly faster. Making it accessible and fun is a means to improve without thinking about it.
Particulars Uptown Hills
Start: Morningside Park, New York, NY
Finish: Morningside Park, New York, NY
Going through: New York County (aka Manhattan)
Distance: 16.61 miles.
Climbing: 1,339’
Includes: a PDF with intelligence and a GPX files to upload to your bike computer or mobile device. A how-to can be found here. The PDF prepares you for the route and can be glanced at, printed out and/or uploaded to your mobile device. The GPX is to be uploaded into your bike computer or mobile device so you can let the machine give you the directions as you ride along.
