BikeWNC

Here in Western NC most rides of length average around 100' per mile. If I seek out a flat ride I can get that down to 50' per mile. Then there are the specific climbing rides that have for example 8700' of gain in 58 miles and all of the climbs are 8% or better. After a while you just don't think about it anymore.

BSLeVan

Yeah, just 1/4 mile from my house is a river trail that runs 30 - 40 miles with nary a rise in sight. On the other side of the river there are some rolling hills, but in this part of PA, the river isn't running through any mountains.

Tom Bombadil

In West Virginia the only flat trails that exist are those that run beside rivers. That's why the train tracks almost always run besides the rivers.

The Cannon Valley Trail up by you, Solveg, is the same way. It runs down alongside the Cannon River from Cannon Falls to Red Wing. Almost 20 miles long and it drops 115' from Cannon Falls to Red Wing. I very much enjoyed riding it last fall.
https://www.cannonvalleytrail.com/

Hermes

Tell me about it. When we first moved here and restarted cycling this was what we faced. We now agree with the others in the area that this is a flat ride. Our club rides only use this route if it is raining to avoid steep descents. Normal club rides go up Skyline to make it more challenging.

stapfam

If I stand at the top of the slope and look more down than along to see the start of the rise- Then it is not flat. If the heart rate gets above 160 and I am only doing 5mph- it is not flat. And if the ride stats before the ride say you might need a 28 rear sprocket- it is not flat. But Ventoux was just a slope- a very long one but not bad,

BlazingPedals

Flat is flat. Then there's 'mountainous.' You're somewhere in between. That first climb is about 350 feet more than a flat ride would have.

Digital Gee

To answer your question: Paris Hilton.

Hermes

i had this teed up waiting for the appropriate time not wanting to be the first.

"Flat is flat. Then there's mountainous." Blazingpedals.

az_cyclist

LOL Hermes!!

rae

(ignoring Hermes' post)

Here in central Ohio, it is all flat, except short runs down into or out of the ravines of creeks or rivers. Not even little rolling hills until one travels 60 miles or so east, south, or northeast. In my neighborhood, the streets do cross a ravine & the longest up slope is about 0.2 mile. I don't know how I will gain the fitness to tackle real hills on a trip or tour, which I hope to do next year, since I can't travel to the hilly areas even weekly.

Retro Grouch 

I live in St Charles, Missouri. (Actually I live in St Peters but the post office thinks that my condo is in St Charles.) Anyway, north of St Charles is a large area of bottom land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. It is as flat as the top of a table. There is a railroad track running through it that is raised about 6 feet. That's it. It's possible to put together a pretty nice 50 or 60 mile ride with only that 6' climb whenever you cross the railroad track.

Artkansas 

East Arkansas = Flat
West Arkansas = Not Flat

Mind you, the dividing line between these runs down a diagonal southern west to northern east and excepting Crowley's Ridge near the Mississippi. There's riding for anyone in Arkansas.

Floyd

Couple...several, years ago some guy scientifically proved {in his terms} that Kansas is flatter than a pancake. Statistics don't lie, or can they...
peace

Pamestique 

Where I live there is not alot of flat. Basically just a stretch of PCH that runs about 15 miles, otherwise you are either going up or down. We tend to call things "flat" if the grade is less than 3%

soma5

We have lots of flat rides east of town (but they are usually windy) but west is very hilly. We can pretty-much choose our ride profile. I live on the west side of town and any ride that starts from my house is hilly. We have most of the steepest hills in town within a few miles of my house.

-soma5

roccobike

Right, in Raleigh there are plenty of gentle hills, but you have to go to eastern NC to get flat. Once you go east of Wilson, it's hard to find a hill. That's why the MS 150 is held in New Bern, just plain flat.

BillK

Man...I need to figure out how to topo the Seagull Century route near Salisbury, MD. The two big "climbs" are the highway overpass and the bridge onto Assateague Island!

graywolf

Ahh...? 100 feet per mile is a 1% grade, I call that flat. 3% is hilly, 5% mountainous, and 8% is murder. Of course it depends some upon how long the grade is too. Railroad beds usually are under 2%. 5%+ usually has "Truck Speed Limit 35MPH" signs.

ralph12

I was in Connecticut last month. It is very, very hilly. I live in eastern TN, which is also an extremely hilly area. Flat to me is places like, say, Chicago or maybe a lot of the Plains.

Portland, Maine (where I spent Christmas eve) is flat in some parts. It isn't nearly as hilly as what I'm used to, and I really don't like hills much.

Pamestique 

You know it's all relative. I remember when I started riding I thought freeway overpasses were hills, now they are just something to attack. Since it's almost impossible to do a flat ride where I live, stuff most folks would call rolly is considered flat here. I have this argument with members of the bike club all the time. I'll talk about the grade going out on some road and most will say what grade? Most of all climbs are 5 - 8% and we have a few long hills over 8% (I struggle). Of course mountain biking is a whole other thing! Worse hill I ever did was in Utah, 12 - 15% for 3/4 of a mile and then it leverled to 10% for the last 2 (had to stop half way up). There is a Century in Bakersfiled called Spooktacular with a entry called the Hidious 100 where the grade for 35 miles is 8 - 15%. Actually there are lots of steep climbs in California. We do have mountains you know!

luv2cruz

The Mississippi Delta is FLAT! Only about 100' of elevation change, north to south, in over 200 miles!!

We have an MS 150 that I've done several times, though, from Clinton to Vicksburg, that has over 4000' of climbing each day. It's not in the Delta, of course.

soma5

It's actually about 1.9%. 100/5280 = 0.0189, to 3 decimal places. It's still flat, though.

-soma5

cgallagh

We have a choice of rolling hills, flats, and serious climbing right out our back door. This is a profile of Cantelow Road. It is 7 miles from our house to the top so the profile is copied from one of the Davis Cycling groups. Our house is around 120 ft and we get a bit of rollers to warm up. It is a good workout to do repeaters from both sides. We do the ride as shown with the other side being a real booger.


This is a profile of Mix Canyon. This is a real workout. Notice that it is higher than Ventoux but only about 4.5 miles from a starting elevation of 330 ft. I did the first 3.5 miles on my compact and thought I was going to die. When the weather clears and the days get a little longer, this will be my hill workout more often. If you really want to climb you can go over Cantelow, ride about 3/4 miles down Pleasants Valley and face this.

Kurt Erlenbach

I did a 30.52 mile ride in Sarasota last year that had 344 feet of climbing. THAT is flat.

BluesDawg

Here is one of the most popular local rides around here. 2,200 ft cumulative elevation gain in 30 miles. 11.4% max grade.