What's a hilly ride?

[OakLeaf]

Without starting a p*ssing contest about "my hills are bigger than your hills," some of those threads, plus the thrashing I got yesterday , got me to wondering what each of us considers to be a hilly ride.

So whaddaya think?

[Reesha]

I used to live in the Adirondacks where every ride was a hilly ride... so it became necessary to distinguish. You could carefully avoid the mountain climbs, but if you decided to tackle them, that's a hilly ride!

Now that I'm in the gently rolling hills of Missouri, I'd consider any hilly ride any ~20 mile ride that's got at least five >10% hills that are at least 100 yards long.

[Biciclista]

lol i was surprised to see my definition (100 feet of climb per mile) as one of the choices.

But there are hills and there are hills.

[Reesha]

I figure it's all relative to where you live and ride. My perspective changes every time I move!

[tulip]

I can't answer your poll because I don't think of my rides that way. I tend to think of my rides in terms of total elevation gain. But then, that's only for the really hilly rides like on the Blue Ridge Parkway, Vermont, and in the mountains of Arizona. Otherwise, I just ride and when there's a hill, I get over it.

[7rider]

Interesting.
You made me go and download my bike journal into an excel spreadsheet and play around with it.
I classify road rides as "flat" (such as my commute), "rolling" (such as my weekend club rides), and "hilly" (such as no ride I've yet done this year, but I would think the Civil War Century would fall under that category).
I then looked at total elevation gain, as measured by my Garmin, divided by total miles for the ride, also measured by my Garmin - except for my commutes, which use my Cateye computer.
My "flat" rides have an average of 46.85 feet of gain per mile, with a span of 5.5 ft/mi (Eastern shore of Maryland, anyone? ) to 56.8 ft/mi for an extended commute of mine.
My "rolling" rides have an average of 48.86 ft/mi, with a span of 41.7 to 57.0 ft/mi.
I'm no statistician.....but I'd be willing to bet there's no significant difference b/t what I call "flat" and what I call "rolling".
Which leads me to believe that - at least for me - "flat" vs. "rolling" is all in the eye of the beholder!

[indysteel]

It's hard for me to answer your poll. I think of "hilly" in terms of locale, not by how much actual climbing. Rides in and around Indianapolis, where I live, are all flat and are listed as such on my Bikejournal entries. There may be a minor hill or two, but you REALLY have to go out of your way to find them.

If I head about 30 to 40 miles south of Indy, it's what I consider to be hilly--of the short and steep variety. I list most of those rides as "hilly" although the total altitude gain is still pretty low.

If I head even farther south--to Kentucky or Tennessee--then I can really hit some hills, but it's rare that I get to climb an actual "mountain." I think the longest sustained climb I've done is about 3 miles. I'd really like to climb more.

Because I don't climb much, I'm liable to view any ride that has at least 4 or 5good climbs as "hilly."

[GLC1968]

You know, I used to think that what was 'hilly' to me didn't change (which doesn't mean that my 'hilly' is the same as someone else's 'hilly', of course). A hilly ride in the rolling foothills of NC is the same a a hilly ride here in the valley/hills on the edge of the Cascades. And I also use the terms 'rolling', 'flat', 'hills' and then 'mountainous' to distinguish amongst them (for my own records). For the record, I defined 'hilly' as 100 ft per mile by your categories, but that leaves 'very hilly' and 'mountainous' as rides that have more climbing than that.

BUT, what I am finding out lately that rides that used to be rolling to flat for me now feel decidedly hilly. Weight gain, lack of fitness, and lack of solid saddle time really mess with my definitions more than I thought they would. I think that these days what I used to call a 'mountainous' ride I would now call a 'I need to drive the car' ride. *cry*

[crazycanuck]

I want to choose one of the poll questions but I know nothing about how many feet etc I do on a ride. I just want to ride uphill no matter how hilly the area is.

Yay for hills!

[msincredible]

My definition has changed over the years...I grew up in Chicago and thought an overpass was a hill.

Now I live in the mountains and most rides are at least 100 ft/mile. Love my hills!

[Aggie_Ama]

Umm I not a number geek enough to answer but I consider hilly anything west of me in the "Texas Hill Country". I personally live on a plateau but can venture just a bit to find hills.

If I am sore after a ride it was either hilly or windy. I have sent one visiting TE'r on my favorite ride just a bit west and she was sore like I am every time I do it. I don't know the stats on it though.

I don't ride mountains but when the mood strikes me I can find some lumpy rides.

[pinkbikes]

I kind of have a love/hate relationship with hills, so sometimes the fact that to get out of my street I need to climb at 14% is enough to make any ride a hilly ride!

So I fondly expected that my answer to the poll should be at the very flat end! And frankly I was going to say that any bike with a 42-18 as its lowest gear would be unacceptable, until I realised that my ancient roadie that sits on the mag-trainer is exactly that. And that's WHY I dislike hills so much and am so convinced I can't climb them!

But then I loaded up good old Garmin Training Centre and worked out all my favourite rides in feet/mile (gosh I love my Garmin toy!) and I must like hills more than I thought, since most of my usual road rides are at least 36feet/mile and are frequently 63feet/mile.

But when I go out on the mountain bike I was surprised to find they range from125-148feet/mile and the very special one I had a breakthrough on the other week rates 177feet/mile with several climbs at 18%! No WONDER I hate that puppy!!

So I think I have to go with anything with more than three 15% bits. That means I almost knock one over getting out of my street, so I only need two more to get to a "hilly ride" by my definition!

[OakLeaf]

177feet/mile with several climbs at 18%!

I think I'd be good for about ten miles of that. Maybe.

[bmccasland]

I am currently a flat-lander and I admit it. My definition of "hilly" is anything vertical other than the pipelines that cross the Mississippi River levee. In these parts, riding over a freeway overpass constitutes a hill. There's a section of the Miss River levee that has several pipeline crossings that roller coaster, then you ride down off the levee under some more pipes, and back up - it's all rather fun - especially if no one else is on the path and you can hammer it.

On the MS-150, we ride in the "Florida Parishes" and into southern Mississippi, which has right and proper hills, which I suppose most of you would call "rolling."