Let’s face it, sprinting is fun, descending is thrilling, but the real action in cycling happens in the hills. When the road turns skyward, the gloves come off. If sprinting is a duel, over in a flash, climbing is a vicious, bare-knuckled slugfest that intensifies the agony and drags on, leaving everyone battered and bruised, even the victor.

And yet this brutal battle takes place not in a back alley, but in some of the most spectacular places on earth, heightening the drama and the spectacle.

We have a great selection of climbs here in the US, from the short and brutal, to the longest paved climb in the world (34 miles).

Courtesy of GCN, here’s the Top Ten Climbs in the US.