Gretchen,

Just re-read your post about hating hills.......Not gonna work, girl! You need to learn to love those hills. They are what will make you a stronger rider. They will challenge you to improve. They will make riding more interesting. Approach a hill as something you will own. By riding up that hill, you have defeated it and it's yours then! You know, if something is really easy to do, the sense of accomplishment is not going to be so wonderful, but those hills, when you get them, you feel awesome! It will happen, but you have to get out and push. It's worth a little struggle and gasping for air and aching legs. It gets better eventually. The hills seem shorter. They never get easy, nope, 'cause when they get easier, we just push harder to go up faster. Duh! But they do end more quickly and you definitely will feel good about how strong you are.

Can you tell I love hills? Didn't always, believe me. I know people think of Iowa as flat - trust me - it isn't ALL flat. I live right next to the Mississippi river and all we have are hills and valleys. It's all up and down. Wonderful training terrain. NOT as good as mountains, but when I've ridden in mountains after training here, I have felt competent. So you make your hill route, when the weather allows. You have plenty of time as long as you keep active all winter. I bet you will find the hills become a great part of your riding.