False flats? I've experienced a few of them and it they are optical illusions.

Way back when I was a kid, the main highway between Hobart and Launceston in Tasmania had a stretch of road that certainly looked as flat as a pancake. But this stretch also featured "The Disappearing House". As the car progressed along the two-mile stretch, the house in the distance would slowly sink and disappear behind a hillock. An illusion, of course, due to the very very slight decline in the road. REalignment of the highway eventually steered vehicles away from the illusion.

About 50km north of Hobart is a hamlet called Colebrook. Heading north out of town, for all the world a rider would expect to spin through the gears and pick up speed. But it is not unusual for neophytes to puff and pant and check their brakes in a vain attempt to see what is holding them back. The incline is so subtle that is it an illlusion.

The optical illusions can occur even when the road is flat. I could have sworn on the first night of the Last Chance 1200 heading east out of Boulder than the road was rising. Tunnel vision in a bicycle headlight created the illusion this time.

Over the range from where we live, the country appears for all the world to be flat, but putting wind aside, it's not unusual for our legs to start dragging ever-so-slightly as the terrain dips and rises.

Taking all that into account -- a false flat is a climb (or a descent if going in the opposite direction).

The Badger rail "trial" is like that. Where I start from represents the high point on the trail. It slopes in both direstions about 1-2% for several miles. It is a great ride in either direction because you feel like a well oiled machine! At the turnaround point you still feel like a machine, however, one with a sad set of wheels!

Ha, I did exactly that when cycling in the White Mountains last year. Eventually I stopped and let the bike roll backwards; only then I was convinced it was a climb.

When you downshift it's a climb.

When you run out of gears it's a hill. (Am I the only one who adjusts the trim on my biggest cog so that the chain ticks and lets me know that there is no more hope of relief?)

When you stand up it's a mountain.

KeS

Quite possibly.

At what point does a false flat become a climb?

When you stop thinking that there is something wrong with the bicycle (dragging brake, flat tire, etc.) and start thinking "If I'm not mistaken, I'm actually climbing here".

:) Maybe it'll become a trend!

KeS

Ha, well it IS Texas, everything's bigger down there :) Wouldn't trade Oregon's lush greens for bigger shoulders though!