Featured Hill climbs

Mount Greylock, MA – Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, Mt. Greylock offers a very respectable climb with spectacular views. The TT course begins just off Rt. 8 in N. Adams on Furnace St., then takes a quick left onto Reservoir Rd., perhaps the steepest part of the climb, and you haven’t even left town yet.

You can park right there at Heritage State Park. It starts out with several sustained, very steep sections, then moderates as you approach the summit. One significant downhill early in the climb will get your speed up to about 40mph, so you’ll need all your gears. The flatter portions at the top will also let stronger riders cruise around 20mph.

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Here you will find information on Hillclimb races. Only mountains that have been raced in the last few years are presented, primarily from the New England states plus eastern New York and New Jersey. The information presented makes it easy for those contemplating a race to compare the relative difficulty of each race.

Some of these Hillclimb events are not pure hill climbs, in that there may be rolling or flat sections leading to the climb. The race profiles are depicted here, where only the climbing portion may be depicted elsewhere on northeastcycling.com. A 10% reference-grade line is included in the graph as a cue in establishing relative steepness.

Not many climbs exceed an average grade of 10%, but most will have sections approaching or exceeding this. The table below gives stats on the climbs. I’ve done my best to accurately show male and female records by manually going through all of the previous year’s results I’m aware of.

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Agamenticus TT, ME – The Mount Agamenticus (Mt. Agi) is a mixed-bag TT with lots of character. Starts just outside of the South Berwick town center near the intersection of Agamenticus and Willow roads. The first few miles of the course are fairly flat, where Agamenticus Road is taken to Emery’s Bridge Road.

However, once you turn right on Belle Marsh Road, the climbing begins, but not steeply. A left is taken on Mountain Road, which climbs a little further before a brief descent occurs. Beware, the descent starts paved and good speed is built up, but before you reach the bottom, the road turns to gravel. The gravel can be loose washboard bumps with large stones, and it is not straight.

One time when I came down this, the washboard nearly rhythmically bounced me right off the road at 30+ mph. Then the steep climbing begins, still on dirt. Depending on the time of year, recent rain or lack thereof, and maintenance, you may have to hunt for a good line to not lose traction with skinny 23mm tires.

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