The PJAMM Cycling Story

PJAMM Cycling is the leading global resource for cycling climbing around the world. We have assembled the most comprehensive information, incredible photos & videos and proprietary software tools to help cyclists plan and complete any cycling climb. As you visit our website you will find thousands of climbs from around the world that provide climb statistics & data, travel tips, road conditions, where to park and more...even the weather forecast at the bottom and top of every climb. Our proprietary interactive profile tool allows you to visualize the grade of any section of a climb to provide unparalleled insights to a climb’s difficulty. Whether you are a cycling novice or die-hard enthusiast, PJAMM Cycling is here to help you prepare for any climb in the world!

When I first started PJAMM Cycling I never dreamed it would become what it has today. Since its early days as a place to share my travels and cycling climbs with friends and family, it has always been about building a community to share in my passion for cycling climbing. This year we have launched our newly redesigned website to allow for a better user experience and navigation, we are most excited about our new member’s page where you will be able to personalize your PJAMM Cycling experience. Signing up for a free membership will allow you to rate climbs, create bucket lists, post comments & questions, upload photos and interact with others in the PJAMM cycling community!

2021 is going to be an exciting and transformational year for us and we have much more in store for you. We are developing our PJAMM Adventures page capabilities and exciting new mobile application which will allow you to plan and create your own cycling climbing adventure and take PJAMM on the climb with you on your mobile device. In the meantime become a PJAMM Cycling member and join the cycling climbing community today!

We are truly grateful for allowing PJAMM Cycling to cycle with you to the summit!

John Johnson
Founder & CEO | PJAMM Cycling
February 2021
John Johnson | pjammCycling.com
About PJAMM Cycling

PJAMM Cycling group photo at Team Swift annual fundraiser Ride with Champions

2015 Team Swift fundraiser (PJAMM is a proud supporter of Team Swift)

Welcome to all cyclist climbing enthusiasts who are interested in learning more about climbing the most challenging ascents by bike within your area, state, country, and beyond.  Also welcome to those who may just enjoy reading about these climbs. At PJAMM Cycling, we have created an index that ranks the Top Climbs in any area (including region, canton, autonomous community, state, county, province, department, city, and more).  We know that while we have located most of the world’s top bike climbs, we do not have them all. ​

PJAMM Cycling group photo at Team Swift annual fundraiser Ride with Champions

2019 Team Swift fundraiser -

John in middle with Team Swift director Laura Charameda (1992 & 1995 National Champion; 1993 World bronze medalist)

​PJAMM Cycling would like to have available to all cyclists a reliable, trustworthy, and accurate website that lists and details the world’s top cycling climbs. To do this, we need your help! Afterall, it takes a village...to create a Top 100 Climbs resource!

If you know of a climb that you feel should be in the Top 100, whether because it is beautiful, challenging, or otherwise deserving and significant, we appreciate you taking the time to fill out and submit the form located on our “Contact Us” page or email me directly at johnson@perrylaw.net.

PJAMM Cycling John Johnson and Mark Hoffenberg in World and National championship jersey 

John Johnson (left) and Mark Hoffenberg - Montgomery High School, Santa Rosa, CA Class of ‘75

Mark wearing his PJAMM Masters World and National Champion Jersey.

World Champion (1990), National Champion (1988-1990, 1997, 2013).

HOW DID PJAMM CYCLING GET STARTED?

In 2009 I (John Johnson) was introduced to cycling by my law partner, Max Beach, who is an avid collector of vintage bikes and master cycling historian. Because my primary objective relating to cycling was exercise, I quickly began to focus on climbs in Sonoma County, California where I grew up and still reside today.  The first cycling book I ever purchased was John Summerson’s The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike), First Edition.  I augmented Edition 1 with Edition 2 in 2013 and also purchased several other Summerson cycling guides along the way in addition to many other cycling books.

PJAMM Cycling library circa May, 2019.

In January 2014 I learned how to build a very basic website using GoDaddy.  I published the site for the first time in July 2014 as a “static” website (each page was independent of all others and fixed -- like the pages of a book).  The original PJAMM Cycling website included only bike climbs from the United States.  As the website grew in popularity, I decided to begin travelling internationally to climb the top cycling climbs in other countries.

In 2016 I tried to upgrade the website to make it more dynamic and give it more tools.  I quickly learned that I was in over my head.  Fortuitously, Matt Jewett (the son of one of my best friends from high school) was relocating to my hometown of Santa Rosa from San Diego.  Matt has a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science.  I asked Matt if he was interested in helping me build a new and more dynamic website -- one with all the tools and capabilities that other websites had, along with new features that I had searched for but could not find on the internet (e.g. modifiable “routes in area” and a navigation feature that could be used to get to and up a climb without having to plot the route in advance and then load it onto my cycling computer).  The “bad” news -- Matt had only built one website before -- for his wife Kristin’s yoga studio (koyogafit.com).  The great news is that Matt is brilliant and capable of building anything, and I do mean anything, I asked him to build!  Matt is the labrador retriever of website builders; he always brings the ball back (he always creates the feature).

PJAMM Cycling’s website creator and designer - Matt Jewett. 👍

In May 2017 we launched the completely rebuilt the PJAMM Cycling website, and are currently in the process of developing a PJAMM Cycling App that will assist in navigating to and up climbs and to all key locations on your cycling trip, as well as providing a memory map for photos and a blog format -- similar to our adventure pages, but with navigation capabilities.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE?

In 2011, I decided to climb Summerson’s Top 100 US Bike Climbs (p. 164 Edition 1).

The Complete Guide to Climbing (By Bike).

From 2011 until 2015 when we turned our sights international, we travelled the US with the intent of documenting Summerson’s Toughest 100 US Bike Climbs. As of September, 2020 we have done all but #59 Okemo, VT and we’ll finish that one on our Fall Colors trip to the east coast in October.

From 2015 to 2020  PJAMM has travelled the US and world to document the hardest, most epic, and top bike climbs.  From 2011 through 2019, PJAMM will have travelled to the following locations to document bicycle climbs throughout the US and world:

  • States (west to east):  Hawaii, Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Georgia (2019), South Carolina (2019), Tennessee (2019).
  • Countries:  USA, Canada, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile,  France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Slovenia, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Montenegro, Iceland, Thailand, Taiwan and Japan.


O.K. -- WHAT'S WITH THE FUNKY NAME?

In 2010, our law firm (Perry, Johnson, Anderson, Miller & Moskowitz) created what we thought were some pretty cool jerseys. The logo was a cyclist climbing up a volcano (yep -- it's always been about climbing) along with the slogan Citius, Altius, Fortius (the Olympic motto, “faster, higher, stronger” thank you for that goes to my law partner Jeremy Olsan!). Well, the jerseys became a club, and the club became philanthropic (sponsoring, participating in, and/or contributing to local meaningful rides such as the local junior cycling team Team Swift, and the Law Enforcement Chaplaincy Service of Sonoma County).

John Team Swift - 2019 Ride With Champions.

That's the story about the name. As a disclaimer, PJAMM Cycling is a completely separate and independent entity from PJAMM Law. But, I love the firm, my partners, and cycling, so, hey, I'm sticking with what brought us to the dance! If you need, or are ever in need of, high quality professional legal assistance in almost any area of the law, give us the opportunity to represent you.  Check us out at ​Perrylaw.net, and read more about me during my day job at John Johnson​.  The attorneys at this firm, their commitment to the practice of law, and their abilities are second to none -- they are to the law what PJAMM Cycling is to climbing by road bike.