Camel, thanks for the link, I hadn't seen that. Unfortunately though they are "gone forever" as according to the checkout page.
Raybo, it pains my soul to have my training bike labeled a fixie, but I should have known it would happen. It does have brakes and I wear a helmet so maybe that makes up for it. I completely agree with your comments though and I am currently training with a loaded bike in an area with short steep hills. I suppose that this is different than less steep long hills but I am not simply hypothesizing about this with no experience.
thanks again folks