Today was a milestone for me!!!

[LoriO]

Well done! I'm allergic to hills myself....

LOL, don't ever move to Connecticut then!!!! One thing I never noticed until I bought my bike was that I love on top of a fairly large hill. No matter which way I ride I have a hill to climb up to get home! The worst one is the mile long grade up one road to my house. It isn't steep but just enough of a climb for a full mile that it kicks your a$$. After the hills I did the other day, it looks like an anthill now. WHOO HOOO!!

[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

[sundial]

Woot woot!! Yippeeeeee!!!! I'm very proud of you for doing a really steep hill.

[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.

[alpinerabbit]

Yay Berlin Girl!

Hills. The common enemy of the cyclist.

You will get there.

[teawoman]

Woohoo! I don't think I've even seen a 2.5 mile hill...

[Kano]

Hills can be sneaky, Teawoman!

Sometimes, they don't look like a hill, and sometimes, the land around you makes you think you should be going down, but your legs know you're working too hard for that...

And yes, they can be long and keep on going, and going, and going, and going... When I find one of those, I sure celebrate at the top when I surprise myself by keeping going on them!

The most evil hills are the ones like when I ride my bike to work: I go up, then it's flat, then I go up, then it's flat, then I go up, then it's flat, then you go up and it's flat -- no reward! It's about a seven mile ride -- they call 'em benches here.

Karen in Boise

[wiseowl]

I totally know the feeling! CONGRATS! I always think it is funny when some hill I have been dreading turns out...not so bad. Or that hill I expected to be cake...kicked my butt. But mostly, they look big and are big! Yay for you!

[robinmary]

Wow Lori thats fantastic!

[Starfish]

Hills. The common enemy of the cyclist.

Aaaahhh...or the common friend, Grasshopper!

[RoseC]

Eek...2.5 miles is quite a hill! Way to go, LoriO!

[MaineMaid]

Congrats! There is a road near here which is great to ride on. However it has, when driving , an ever so slight incline. There is a meat market half way up this..um incline. I have driven this road for 25 years, noting in passing the "incline".
When I challenged myself to do the Trek Across Maine this July, the road was recommended as a great training ride. So, I rode it and came to the incline, AKA Meat Hill. I was truly amazed at the EVEREST that was before me. The first few times I managed to make it to the "first crack before the guardrail"; that was my goal. Then it was "get the rear wheel past the first crack.."blah, blah. Then it was "get the bike to the crack AFTER the guardrail".
The day I managed to make it all the way to the top I was in tears. I was cranking down in my granny gear but I just knew I could make it all the way. I was so proud of myself. One of my biking buddies who was also doing the Trek was at the top waiting for me...I thought he had rode ahead to a designated rest stop. Nope, there he was, standing in a cloud of bugs, and when he saw my tears he was thinking that I had fallen and was hurt. When I got to him I just reached across and hugged him, laughing and crying at the same time. I felt like I had won an Olympic medal.
That moment has stayed with me because it was the very first moment that I could see how much stronger I had become, how much determined I had become and how much "grit" I had cultivated. Getting up that hill has become almost a defining moment for me in my very new cycling life.

Jan

[indigoiis]

Hills can be sneaky, Teawoman!

Sometimes, they don't look like a hill, and sometimes, the land around you makes you think you should be going down, but your legs know you're working too hard for that...

And yes, they can be long and keep on going, and going, and going, and going... When I find one of those, I sure celebrate at the top when I surprise myself by keeping going on them!

The most evil hills are the ones like when I ride my bike to work: I go up, then it's flat, then I go up, then it's flat, then I go up, then it's flat, then you go up and it's flat -- no reward! It's about a seven mile ride -- they call 'em benches here.

Karen in Boise

I know of the "ghost hills" of which you speak.

They are legendary around here.

You don't know they are there until you are on them.

Look down... do I have a flat??? Nope. Maybe it's that time of month? Nope. Maybe I suddenly contracted lyme disease? Nope. Is this road going ever so slightly upwards??? Ah yes!!!