I found a hill
 

Admittedly it's just one, but it at least passes for a respectable hill in our neck of the woods.

It identified as "Garbage Mountain Climb EB" on Strava. 1.1 miles at an average grade of 2.34%. I think Strava continues it for another .4 miles, but you just go down and back up to the same 1034' altitude.

Two of my younger sibs and I are doing the 51 mile Zoo-de-mack ride on the 18th, and my sister was concerned how much climbing we need to do on that ride. I made a chart based on a MapMyHike map of that route, and added in this nice hill we've been doing in the last couple of weeks to answer her question as to how this climb compared with those on the Zoo-de-Mackinaw. It shows the 5 significant climbs on the ZDM, then the Garbage Mountain climb. By the way, it's called "Garbage Mountain" as it's the remains of a huge land fill...

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=314704

Obviously, if we can do this one the climbs on the Zoo won't be bad, but there are a lot of them - we're gonna be pretty tired at the end of that day, but it'll be good training for the Metric I hope to do in July! :thumb:

Average of 2.34 does not sound very much but I have one hill I hate. 2 miles at 3 to 5% and it just gets through to me. No idea why but I can relate to you if this is the "Major" hill in your area.

Most if not all of those hills are on the DALMAC route I do every year. Overall, the route through the Tunnel of Trees and beyond to Mackinaw City is fairly easy, so don't let it psych you out. It's not as if it's a race, after all; and if it was, the fact that you're worrying about hills most likely means you're not going to be anywhere near the front. Just gear down for the climbs and enjoy the ride.

I had no idea that that part of Michigan was so flat. I commonly wish we had better hills here in Minnesota (he says, gazing longingly in the direction of Wisconsin) but your neighborhood is even more topographically challenged.

It just depends. There is a Strava segment callee Iroquois Hill Climb that is 2.4% for 1.1 mile. That isn't a lot, but the only time I ride it is in the middle of a club ride when I've been hanging on for dear life. It always feels like Mt. Everest by the time I get to it.

Ride it in a taller gear (a gear you'd normally use to cruise on the flat), and do repeats of that hill (say 5X to start).

2.4% isn't really a proper hill, so to use it for training to climb proper hills, you have to make it harder.

I like to do that when going up short hills, though I usually stand on the pedals instead of staying seated. I'll have to do some of that in the hopes that I'll have a chance to do real hills some day. :rolleyes:

The area in which this hill is found has a number of small lakes, and it's not dead flat as it is where I've ridden in northern Indiana. A lot of little rollers, up 50 ft and back down, grades of from 1-4%, but none of them is longer than a quarter mile, and most you're up and over in less than 20 yards or so. It's really fun though, kinda like being on a self-powered roller coaster. you can see what these trails are like smack in the middle of this route.

The biggest concern for me is that with the lack of cooperation from the weather, 51 miles is a lot further than any of us have ridden this season. My sister and I are going to make some correction to that as we're doing an organized 45-miler tomorrow. Unfortunately, it IS over some dead flat terrain! :)

Dead Flat terrain is not a problem unless it is open to the elements. I have just such a ride and I always look at the weather before doing it. It is the wind that is the problem and if 10 mph is forecast for the area- it can be 15 on this ride and as it is an out and back it will be a headwind for at least 50%. 20 miles into a headwind can get tiring on even the flattest of routes.

Wind is what I've been dealing with for a while. Lately with a Northerly or North Easterly wind, I get a headwind/oblique headwind about 70 to 80% of the time.

No choice here in Northern California, and one really appreciate hills and the steepest the better.

Having a brand new MTbike fully suspended, so these days have been mostly mountain bike with hills of 20/25% and makes your heart pound--what a pleasure.

I could not imagine a ride without hills!

We call that a speed bump around here. :)

Which we had today on an organized event. We did the 45 mile loop, and the 5-15 mph winds were an annoyance.

Ride around Ann Arbor on the northeast side. Broadway / Plymouth Rd are challenging, as is Geddes Road and Huron Parkway.

On the Zoo-de-Mac, the key is to take your time at the start. The third hill can surprise you. I only made it to the Good Hart 1/2 way point, because I got 3 flats in quick succession, but my friends who went the distance said if the wind comes from the east after the Pellston Airport, your screwed.

Good luck!

The Bridge over the Shipping Channel is taller.

Check out "the hills of Ann Arbor" either on www.aabts.org or on MapMyRide. It includes the Broadway hill, and a lot more.

I need to ride that route more.

I just downloaded the GPX file for that.

Apparently that means the route goes inland after Good Hart? DALMAC follows M119 to Cross Village, then takes Lake Shore Drive, north through the dunes area, and ends up on Lakeview, which becomes Gill Rd. Inland is hillier than along the shore. Depending on which roads you're on, it could get fairly challenging. Same advice holds, though. Expect hills to make you go slower. Downshift and survive!

In a headwind, do the paceline thing, take turns leading while the rest tuck in behind. You don't have to ride very closely spaced, even 3 feet between wheels makes a noticeable difference.

I ride solo but have to admit that where a headwind is involved on an organised ride-I try to find a pace line to ride with. The amount of energy you save is phenomenal and you do notice it. Only problem is trust and you have to know that the other riders know what they are doing.

The problem with Zoo de Mac, as I understand it, is that about half of the group is only there for the party. I'm not sure I'd want to get into a group of strangers on that ride. Dumb and dangerous behaviors might happen.

I ride a shortened version of the 80-miler - a real butt-kicker!