This page provides a summary for cycling and climbing by bike of the top climbs in New York including Whiteface Mountain, Glade Hill Road, Meads Mountain Road, Devils Kitchen , Sugarloaf Road and more. These climbs can be viewed via the map below (scroll in to view climbs in particular areas), by a detailed list of the climbs that can be arranged by difficulty, distance (longest climbs in the area), altitude gained, highest elevation (highest summit), average grade (sort the grades by varying distances), lowest start point, etc.
Complete List of Climbs (sort by distance, difficulty, elevation and more)
Cycling New York
We travelled to the northeast US in August 2015 and June 2020
to document the top climbs in this corner of the country.
#1 NEW YORK/#42 US
Whiteface Mountain.
New York is home to only one of the Top US 100 Bike Climbs, but that one climb is extraordinary. As of 2015 Whiteface Mountain was the smoothest roadway for an entire climb we had ever encountered. Additionally, the views along the way, including Lake Placid, are extremely scenic. The castle at the end is the cherry on top of this fantastic road bike climb.
Summit Tunnel
Photo: Green Racing Project
THE MOST POPULAR BIKE CLIMB IN NEW YORK
Bear Mountain Bridge, as seen from Perkins Memorial Drive mountain summit.
Ride 4.5 miles, 1,230’ at 5.2%.
The centerpiece of the wildly popular Gran Fondo New York, from what we can see on Strava and the traffic to our website over the past five years, Bear Mountain -- while not the most challenging -- is certainly the most popular road bike climb in New York.
NEW YORK’S STEEPEST MILE
GLADE HILL ROAD (CATSKILLS)
Cycling Glade Hill -- a brutal bike climb!
Ride 1.9 miles gaining 1,261’ at 12.4% averager grade.
This is the steepest mile in New York State at 13.5%.
OH MY!!!!! 12.3% average grade -- this is a B R U T E!!! This is the third ranked hill climb in New York and has the steepest grade of any ascent over one mile in length (NYCC Steep Hill web page). Glade Hill Road is one of the five New York top climbs in the Catskill Mountains, the primary climbing zone in New York State.
Climb begins in, and runs through, a very rural farming and ranching section of the Catskills.
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