AchiLLe..s

ok i have Chris Carmicheals book "the Ultimate Ride" and its a great book but the porblem is almost all his training programs call for flat ground, well if you live in georgia you know theres no flat ground especially in the cumming area. Anyway i really dont want to use a trainer to do the programs b/c thats stupid and would always be inside. Only a couple of his programs call for a long steady climb. and well thats a problem to b/c all the hills here are short hills but there everywhere. So it sucks, ive had to ride in my neighborhood since ive started biking with exceptions. Also the roads are very crowded busy and fast and have little or no room to ride on the side. I dont know what to do. My only chance to actually ride for real is on group rides but thats only 1 day a week. Please help i really want to do these training programs.

C4Byke

Well if you can't do chris carmickals plan you may as well switch to golf...

DocRay

...or that other great growing sport, texas holdem poker.

Az B

I know what you mean about hills. I have two local rides from my house, one is ~16 miles and has 800ft of climbing, and the other is 25 miles and has 1200-1600ft of climbing depending on the exact route. I can't get a flat ride for nothing.

For flat, try the Silver Comet Trail. From Hiram to Rockmart it's usually pretty deserted. From the Smyrna start point, there are a lot of other trail users and road crossings that make training difficult. Unless it's a weekday morning.

I'm also using the Carmichael training plan and usually use the indoor trainer for flat rides and recovery rides if I can't make it to the SCT.

Az

AchiLLe..s

ya but the thing is the silver comet trail is to far away just for training, hmm oh well, georgia sucks for training.

C4Byke

Come on dude, you can't be serious, where I live it's dead flat and windy as hell; I would trade you my locale for your short power climbs any day of the week, you obviously have no idea how boring a long flat ride is.

60cycle

you just need to ride.

rcyclist68

I have to drive my truck 50 miles to get light rolling hills. I don't feel special that my flat surroundings would help me with one specific training program/book. Oh, and forget any long steady climbs anywhere that I know of in Texas.

bigbossman 

I've never been a climber, but am surrounded by hills. I often dreamed of a long flat ride - until I actually did one. 54 miles out/54 miles back, across the Sacramento River Delta.

Hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it, hated it.

If I didn't pedal, you I go anywhere for long. With hills you get to spin up and fly down. Much more fun!!

SteveE

Option 1 - Move to a place that has the roads to meet Chris's training regimen
Option 2 - Find a coach in your area who will establish a training program that works for where you live.

Az B

50 miles? I'm in Duluth and it's like 30 to get there from here. I usually go up there once a month.

At any rate, there's you option. Ride the hill, drive to the SCT, or get on the trainer. At least you have some options.

Az

jameyj

I live in Southeast Texas, Houston, I have hundreds of miles to ride that is flat. I wish I had a few bigger hills to practice some hill climbing but I don't.

Pedal Wench

Better yet - I ride to the SCT - it's about 13 miles straight through Buckhead and out Paces Ferry. Add the 37 mile trail to Rockmart and back, and I've got a century out my front door! Hills through town, then flat, flat, flat. Unfortunately, hills back through town on the way home...

Az B

You're lucky. I live in Duluth where the traffic is bad, the drivers are angry, and the roads have many lanes. It is not friendly for bikes.

I can ride from my house to Stone Mountain with only a mile or so of white knuckle riding. Stone Mountain has some nice riding, but tons of steep hills.

Az

AchiLLe..s

wow where do you live, you got everything.

rule

Hmmm...I think you are going a bit to the extreme here.

You can ride rollers (short hills) all day long using CTS workouts. As for climb repeats (long climbs) you have the choice of either going where the hills are, or simulating with what you've got. Use a big gear sit up or get out of the saddle and ride your rollers into the wind. You can get a lot more benefit from your terrain than it sounds like you think.

I do lunch rides during the week on a 3 mile neighborhood loop. It can get repetitive, but it is quiet, traffic free and I can get in quality training rides in plenty of time to hussle back to work. What exactly is wrong with that?

The one time that a flat section might be helpful is for conducting a field test. I don't have one reasonably nearby either. So I use the neighborhood loop. As long as you ride the same route each test you can get the necessary training data. Repeatability is what you are after, not necessarily a flat section of road.

If you have specific questions I'm sure that most of us can help you figure out how to get your training in with the roads and conditions that you have. Otherwise, ask the other riders on your group ride where they go on the rest of their days.

sleepystarz

Hmm... don't feel so bad. I live in Taiwan for work right now and I can guarantee it's worse than Georgia.

Red light means stop??

What are traffic lanes??

What does a smooth road feel like??

Humidity and tropical weather can be this sh$^ty??

So the mountain roads are tighter than an a$$hole??

Anyway... hope you can make do with what you got.

Billy

af2nr

Move south! I lived in Valdosta for 5 years and it is nothing but FLAT, Warner Robins was flat too for the most part...

AchiLLe..s

anybody who does cts workouts could you give me advice on how to put together my workout with the type of terrain i have. By the way anyone live in the suwanee georgia are or near, maybe we could go ridin sometime.

kmoses

I believe G. Hincapie lives in Columbia, SC for part of the year and trains. Columbia's terrain is pretty close to north central GA. I fear for my life on roads in GA,so I would go ride around Dahlonega. And I lived in Roswell.

gapowermike

Dude, enjoy the hills. I'm in Statesboro and it's flat as a pancake.

I'm going to Lithonia the 3rd week of March and would love to ride the 6-Gap ride or Brasstown Bald. Think you can be free on a Monday?

Michael

AchiLLe..s

sorry cant monday

patentcad

I'm sure there's a way. I lived in Bergen Cty, NJ (adjacent to NY City) for many years and I can assure you we had PLENTY of traffic to contend with. I rode. I averaged 7K miles annually while living there. Many of my riding pals were Manhattan residents and they rode and raced as well. Now I live in Orange Cty NY. Hills? Come stay with me some weekend. You can't ride 500 yards here without hitting a 5-15% grade. Trust me. I live on a mile long 350+ vertical foot hill I've nicknamed 'Mt. Doom'. I regularly grind up that bad boy with 50+ miles in my legs. And I don't like that. But I ride.

If you want to ride, nothing will stop you. Ask Lance.

Maybe you're not that motivated for it? Nothing wrong with that. It's not for everybody that's for sure. You do sort of have to have half a screw loose to do this sport.

C4Byke

that was simply inspirational, how many miles a year do you ride again, I forgot what you said in your last boastfull post...

Starclimber

Boastful? Seems pretty fact-based and rational to me, that 'cad.