Life without hills
 

Today I went for a ride that I never take for granted, up the local Mt. Lemmon. Not to the top, which is 9100' (roughly) just up to the construction at mile marker 11. Trust me, for me, for now, that's far enough.
There's something about riding up hills, that long steady heart pounding climb. It puts me in a zone. I love it.
On the ride back home through the rolling foothills I hooked up with another rider who came down to visit a buddy and to ride Mt. Lemmon. He made the comment that there weren't any real hills to ride in Phoenix.

Now I'm wonder what it would be like for a cyclist to live in South Florida. Except for the occasional interstate overpass, no hills.

I really want to get down to Mt. Lemmon sometime. There is south mountain real close, that is only 6 miles or so with about 1300' elevation gain. It's the best we have. Takes me less than 30 minutes to climb so not a real long one. If you head east, you can get some real good climbing in. I'm in northern virginia right now, did a ride, 65 miles, close to 6000' climbing, long, fairly steep climbs through forested areas. Definetly don't see that in AZ! What kind of gradient is Mt. Lemmon?

I've spent the past 2,000 miles (1 year) in E Texas w/ few hills. I just moved to the DFW area w/ a mere +1k in elevation change for a 20-mile ride and it's KILLING me! :D Life in a flat area for a cyclist is truly a blessing (but you notice that your thighs don't develop much :) )

Globe and Superior are some of my favorite motorcycle ride destinations. Payson is awesome, but it's burning all up.
I don't know the gradient of Lemmon.
Whenever I go to Oceanside, Ca. to visit my little bro I take my bike and ride the local roads. There are some nice rides in the North County area. You really don't have a choice but to climb hills.

If you ever decide to make it down here, look me up.

For the first 3 years I had my road bike I rode mostly around where I live. I could do a 65 mile ride and only climb 900 feet, and that was one of the hillier rides. This year, I've been driving to more club rides in the Finger Lakes part of NY. North and south aren't that hilly, but riding east and west can get you into some serious hills. I've heard of club rides that includes a 23-25% grade. This past saturday I rode 108 miles and had 7600 feet of climbing with the steepest grade being 16%.

Flats are fine, but hills are finer and make you a more rounded rider.

An above category climb in the Tour exceed 10%. Alpe d'Huez has an average grade of 7.8%, Col d'Agnes is 8.4%.
23% is...well, insane.

Have ridden the Lemmon; now go ride Kitt Peak: smoother road, less traffic(on a weekday) and grade of only 6+ per cent for an 11 mile long climb. Altitude about 7,000'. Have done it on a single bike and also on a tandem.
Have also ridden Globe/Superior area, both on racing bike and tandem. Do the GABA cross state tour some time: 5 days of riding with 20,000+ ft of elevation gain
Also, the Answer to the Challenge starting in Phoenix: 3 days, 325 miles, 22,000 ft of climbing including a climb through Jerome and up Mingus Mountain. Never did it on a single, but did do it on our tandem.

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy & Kay/Zona tandem

Sprint intervals. Believe me your thighs will develop! Northern Illinois has some rolling hills, but nothing too mental. My route takes in some great opportunities for sprints on nicely paved roads (farm entrance on left to farm entrance up on right). It can be a brutal workout. Certainly won't make me a climber, but it's better than nothing!

the 16% grade must have bent that last climb before the rollers and then the 6 mile downhill.

-mark

Kitt Peak, good idea. I'm in. I wonder if there are any group rides up there. I know a while back some folks did a century ride that included Kitt Peak.
Other than the TTM, I would not ride Ajo, to many lunatics driving that road.
Jerome-Cottonwood-Prescott, beautiful areas, lots of climbing.
I'd like to do Oak Creek Canyon, but traffic would be an issue with me.

Nah, it was on the detour when most of us took the wrong turn. At the top of the hill, the pavement ended so we turned back. Outside of that I don't see a grade greater than 10%.

sounds like we missed it ... thankfully.

It sucks.

I really got into cycling when I lived in Northern Jersey and Central PA, we didn't have those ultra high peaks, but we did have some very nice climbs that would really tear your legs up.

Now I live in S. Florida where an overpass really is a good hill, well actually we have a landfill turned park around here which probably has a good climb on it (for S. Florida), but that's about it. On the flip side we do have constant wind blowing which can make for some interesting rides, it's not unusual to have a constant 15-20mph wind going, which makes for a good workout riding into it and a fun ride going with it.

Andrew
But at least I can ride in my shorts 340+ days of the year

How do you figure out what kind of gradient a hill is?

Life without hills is really bad. It s*cks... The hills over here do not satisfy my cravings... they either kill me, or they are never long enough. Hills here and rolling, up and down every less than 500m. They are steep, more than 10% gradient and don't give a good workout, not a good mix and strength and aerobic training. There are even very steep climbs that last for 3m, and elevates about 2m, I think they are like 50% gradient, my estimate, likely more than 30%, I can get past it, but at a really low gear and low cadence and real slow.

I would really love long hills with nice gradients. Give it to me!!! I would like to move over to countries just to enjoy the hills. There is a good part near my house that lasts for only about a kilometre and elevates about a few metres, quite a good workout, but short....

i am in northern illinois, and we hve a flat eastern route and a rolling western route. nothing sustained, but short bursts of rolling hills that make for great intervals. for us, holy hill is the true test.

of course, i am can run a 11-21 cassette, so i'd really be in trouble on 'real' hills in that ratio

Well, for the first time I took my bike last week on our annual trip to visit my in-laws in the Ft. Myers / Cape Coral area. In all I rode about 125 miles over the 5 days we were there. My observations were that while there are no hills there are wicked head winds that can be a good workout. Also, the flat terrain made me glad that I ride fixies. You can't coast or you stop. So, a 2 hour ride is 2 hours of non-stop spinning. Next year I will probably take my fixie instead of the road bike. The other thing I noticed is how PI$$ poor the road surface is. The pavement is very rough so there is a constant buzz in the bars and seat.

Oh and BTW, it was in the mid 90s with strong thunderstorms every afternoon. If I had been a working stiff it would've made weekday rides hit or miss. I did see a group of local riders on one ride. It appeared that recumbents are more popular in the sunshine state. There were 3 or 4 in a group of about 12 riders.

In all, I was very glad to get back to the hills of East Tennessee.

I just got back from the NC beaches and for me it was boring as hell. I live in mountainous Virginia so the contrast was striking. I seriously think I would quit cycling if I had to live in a flat area. I did at least bring my fixie to make the flats fun :)

I'm not sure if I would quit, but I did not enjoy riding anywhere near as much on my trip to the flatlands. Everything looks the same and feels the same when you're riding. Here, I can say "ok, make it up this hill, then a short decent, a long climb to a flat section, then a winding decent to a wicked short climb" etc.etc. Down in Florida, it was.."ok, flat roads to a flat road to a flat road, curve to a flat road..." BLAHH!

Oh, and did I mention the senior drivers? OMG :eek: And a lot of them were gone back to their summer homes up north. Riding in a retirement community is not for the timid...

My wife and I rented bikes in Naples, Fla a few years back. We joined the local group ride which consisted of a 20 mile dead flat out & back through the middle of town starting at 7:00am (it got too hot after 9:00).

They had the audacity to make fun of us riding in Wisconsin for only 3 months a year. At least we can go for a real ride with out dodging Q tips driving Cadillac’s, even if it’s for more like 4 months a year :p

I would give up cycling if that was the riding I had to put up with!

-murray

Where is this? I'm guessing it isn't the Holy Hill in Wisconsin just north-west of Milwaukee?