The midwest is FLAT

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Ok, i just got back from a road trip through Ohio, Indianapolis Indiana, to Springfield Illinois and back.

It is FLAAAAAAAT there.
No wonder everyone there can cycle average at 20-25mph !!
(I realize there are some areas of these states that have a few hills...just not where i was!)

Speaking as a beekeeper...Talk about gazillion miles and miles of only corn and soybeans, as far as the eye could see no matter where I went. No wonder bees have a hard time finding nutritious varied forage there to survive on, and beekeepers have to feed them tankertrucks full of corn syrup to keep them from starving. CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN....

[Pax]

Welcome to my little corner of heaven, you were about 90 miles from me when you were in Springfield. What speed we have on the flat roads gets hammered away by never ending wind... heaven.

[Tri Girl]

Agreed- it may be flat, but dadnabbit- the blasted wind that blows at 15-20 mph every single day (many days much stronger than that) more than makes up for the flatness.


When I ride someplace hilly and tree-lined I always think: is this better or not? I mean, with hills you always get a downhill break, with flats and wind- not so much.

[OakLeaf]

You forgot the ragweed! Corn, soybeans and ragweed!

(happy to live in the OTHER part of Ohio )

[indysteel]

Agreed- it may be flat, but dadnabbit- the blasted wind that blows at 15-20 mph every single day (many days much stronger than that) more than makes up for the flatness.


When I ride someplace hilly and tree-lined I always think: is this better or not? I mean, with hills you always get a downhill break, with flats and wind- not so much.

I can either ride the flats just outside my door and be blasted by wind or go southwest about 20-30 miles to some horrible 15-22% plus gradient hills. Ugh. We can't win in Indiana. That said, I'd much rather ride hills than deal with the wind. If you train, you can master the hills. The wind, however, plays minds games with you no matter how used to it you are.

[Owlie]

Ok, i just got back from a road trip through Ohio, Indianapolis Indiana, to Springfield Illinois and back.

It is FLAAAAAAAT there.
No wonder everyone there can cycle average at 20-25mph !!
(I realize there are some areas of these states that have a few hills...just not where i was!)

Speaking as a beekeeper...Talk about gazillion miles and miles of only corn and soybeans, as far as the eye could see no matter where I went. No wonder bees have a hard time finding nutritious varied forage there to survive on, and beekeepers have to feed them tankertrucks full of corn syrup to keep them from starving. CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN CORN....

We have hills down here. Granted, they're not what you're used to, but still, they leave me in a little pile at the top. But I hear you on the corn. And soy beans. Driving up I-71...corn...more corn...cows!...corn...soybeans...corn...corn...

[Kathi]

Yes, Glaciers have made those areas very flat. There is nothing flat about Southwestern Ohio around Cincinnati, except the Little Miami Bike Trail. Southeastern Ohio has the Appalachian Mt's. Do TRIRI (The Ride in Rural Indiana) especially, the southwestern part, or the Hilly Hundred and you will find plenty of good steep hills. Joe, the organizer of these rides, is out to prove Indiana is "not" flat.

I don't know a lot about Illinois but can tell you that around Galena it is not flat. I did a bicycle tour in that area last summer and was quite surprised how hilly it was.

I will agree I think the the hills around Cincinnati are small compared to the Rockies but there are many and I miss riding the rolling terrain in the river valleys of Ohio, Indiana and Ky.

And how can I forget? The humidity and air pollution in the Greater Cincinnati Area!

[Owlie]

There's something about being run over by a mile-high sheet of ice that tends to flatten places. (Of course, then it dumped some of it here...) And even the bike trail's not totally flat! It hurts more going north than south! (Though it's pretty close to flat...) The connecting trail in Lebanon has some hills. I haven't checked it out yet. On my to-do list.

Kathi, that humidity and air pollution was certainly in evidence today! At least, the humidity was. I went on a ride this morning and if I stopped for too long, my glasses fogged up!

[Pax]

Agreed- it may be flat, but dadnabbit- the blasted wind that blows at 15-20 mph every single day (many days much stronger than that) more than makes up for the flatness.


When I ride someplace hilly and tree-lined I always think: is this better or not? I mean, with hills you always get a downhill break, with flats and wind- not so much.

I have a friend here who goes out to CO and does Ride the Rockies and some other ride where they ride up to Ouray, she says riding against wind non-stop makes hill a breeze for her.

[Roadtrip]

Hummm.. I think I'm in the hill over wind club here. The wind just DOSENT stop. You get to the top of the hill. You get to go down the hill. The only reward to riding in the wind is a nice tailwind the pushes you along, but you could slog along and finally get out of the headwind only to have the wind change or swirl and try and take you off your bike by gusting from the side.

My only least favorite is going uphill INTO the wind. OY.

Shannon

[OakLeaf]

There's a park near me where you can stand on top of a hill and see where the glacier stopped. It's more a diagonal across the state, from northeast to southwest.

PS to BSG - Come down here and ride Columbus Fall Challenge one time, then tell us about "a few hills."

[WindingRoad]

As someone who lives in hills but goes back to IN a lot I always feel so beat up riding out in the flats! The wind is relentless! I was thinking of driving to southern IN just to get a break from it.

[Biciclista]

I think BleekerSt's hills are more like jumping jacks or pushups. you get one done and there's another and another. the downhills are so short they don't give you any respite.
now the hills we have out my way are carefully graded so they are not so horrible.
I couldn't bear your wind nor Bleek's hills. Our trade off is we didn't really get spring and we might not get summer! we have to be prepared to ride in the rain.

[Owlie]

I must say, I don't care for riding in rain. And I'll take hills over winds...except when it's like this! I think we skipped May and June and headed straight for July...

[Kathi]

Owlie, I taught in Cincinnati Public Schools for 25 years, only 2 of the 5 schools I worked in had air conditioning. I acclimated to the humidity throughout the spring so it didn't bother me so much when the summer heat and humidity hit. I found the Loveland (Little Miami Bike trail) the most comfortable on hot, humid days. However, humidity and air pollution triggers my asthma.

I too will take hills over wind. On Ride the Rockies I got blown off the road on Rabbit Ears Pass outside of Steamboat Springs. The wind caught my front wheel and I went off the road down into the woods. On the third day I had to pedal DOWNHILL into Rifle. Some of the hottest winds I've ever experienced was blowing uphill.

Cross winds literally kill me, I'm pushed around so much I feel like a drunken sailor, whereas, I'm not bothered so much by head winds.

Biciclista, for reference, Seattle reminds me a lot of Cincinnati. The terrain in the rural areas of Southwestern Ohio is dictated by the rivers and not graded so you can get some short, steep climbs out of the river valleys then rollers after rollers. Often rides start in the river valley which means you climb first to get to the nicer rolling terrain. Once you get farther north, near Dayton, the terrain begins to flatten.