Today was a milestone for me!!!

[SouthernBelle]

One thing I never noticed until I bought my bike was that I love on top of a fairly large hill.

This is the funniest typo in a while.

I've noticed as time goes on that hills that I avoided are not even noticed now. Unfortunately not all of them.

[pgsmart]

I am not a big fan of hills, either. I live where it is flat with no good hills to train on. I plan on riding in the Livestrong Challenge in Austin again this year but I really want to do the 60 mile rather than the 40 mile. I hear the hills are a little bit worse on the 60 mile. Any suggestions on a good way to train for the ride on Oct. 14? I've been going to the gym and trying to work out on the cross-trainer, weight machines, etc. and am riding my bike of course. I would appreciate any input.

[Kano]

People say wind counts as hill training, so I guess you could ride into the wind -- it always feels SO good to turn around and go the other way!

'Belle -- Me too! It's not the ones I avoided that I don't notice anymore, but the ones that I used to think were monsters are either manageable, or almost not there and I can go happily charging up them!

Karen in Boise

[LoriO]

I am not a big fan of hills, either. I live where it is flat with no good hills to train on. I plan on riding in the Livestrong Challenge in Austin again this year but I really want to do the 60 mile rather than the 40 mile. I hear the hills are a little bit worse on the 60 mile. Any suggestions on a good way to train for the ride on Oct. 14? I've been going to the gym and trying to work out on the cross-trainer, weight machines, etc. and am riding my bike of course. I would appreciate any input.

Put your bike on the trainer and ride. Do intervals of lower gears and higher gears. I would do about a minute at a really tough gear and then back it down to an easier gear for a few minutes and then another minute at a tougher gear again, basically simulating the harder work you will doing going up a hill.

I was doing that while rehabbing from my knee surgery and when I got back on the road again I was really surprised about just how ready I was to do a lot of the hills in my area.