Hi. I'm a Minnesota flatlander and have decided that I need to get stronger by working on some hills. Trouble is...there aren't really many around here, aside from some of the hilly streets in our neighborhood. I did find a two-block stretch that has about a 9% grade and about killed myself on it yesterday. But geez...two blocks? And so many of you ladies are out climbing mountains?

Why do I care at this point? My brother in law has asked me to do the bike leg of a co-ed duathlon with him the end of this summer...and I want to do well, and I feel like I need to do this so that I can be stronger all-around. We rode over the weekend, and I was able to keep pace with him, but know if we would have hit a hill, I would have been left in the dust!

What makes a hill a hill?