Your Flatest Route - A Challenge
06-29-19, 12:07 AM
#51
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Around Bangkok, where I cycle once in a while, every ride is flat as a pancake and the only climbing you'll ever do is the occasional overpass. I guess the same must be true of New Orleans (which is very similar geographically) but I've never ridden there.
07-01-19, 06:57 AM
#52
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Cambridge, MD The Six Pillar Century... 2 bridges over and back across the water was all the elevation. 282ft 100.71 miles
100.71mi
100.71mi
- 5:56:04
- 282ft
- 121W
- 2,589kJ
07-01-19, 09:57 AM
#53
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We vacation each summer at Carolina Beach so I bring my bike and ride far into the country side. It is very flat which was a big change from NE Ohio, particularly the first time I rode it. I never realized that flat and constant was so much of a different kind of workout. The ride back to the beach after a long country ride had extra challenge because the headwind coming off of the ocean. I enjoy the small rolling hills more but that ride was a nice change.
07-01-19, 11:07 AM
#54
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Long Beach Island or some of the other outer islands along the Jersey shore. Max elevation is <10 meters for the whole ride.
07-01-19, 11:20 AM
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Katy Flatland Century is coming up. kfc.bike
various routes, but flatest part Texas out in the area.
Lots of good options, up to 100 mile but my goal is to be off the bike before it gets too hot!
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29895277
100.8 miles · +863 ft / -863 ft
various routes, but flatest part Texas out in the area.
Lots of good options, up to 100 mile but my goal is to be off the bike before it gets too hot!
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/29895277
100.8 miles · +863 ft / -863 ft
07-01-19, 01:46 PM
#58
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Central Florida is flat. I do a 70-mile loop where the only climbing involved is 5 highway overpasses.
07-01-19, 02:22 PM
#59
Junior Member
Riding west out of Ogden on 900S going out to the gate at the Hill AFB Annex.
34 mile round trip, With the corrections turned on Garmin says 155 ft elevation, and almost all of it is in the little hill out at the end where you turn around to come back, and the viaduct over the UP RR line. Flattest ride I've ever done.
Ride with GPS says 413, but that's on the barometric sensor on the bike, most of that s probably from bouncing up and down on that rough chipseal.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/10007099
34 mile round trip, With the corrections turned on Garmin says 155 ft elevation, and almost all of it is in the little hill out at the end where you turn around to come back, and the viaduct over the UP RR line. Flattest ride I've ever done.
Ride with GPS says 413, but that's on the barometric sensor on the bike, most of that s probably from bouncing up and down on that rough chipseal.
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/10007099
Last edited by XTR; 07-01-19 at 02:30 PM.
07-01-19, 02:55 PM
#60
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We have something on the east coast called "Delaware". The ride below includes a bridge over the Nanticoke River which accounts for at least half of that elevation.
I started this thread earlier this week - https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...latlander.html - it got me thinking about a challenge: What's your flatest route? I'm gonna say the route should to be roughly 40 miles or more and should be a loop or out-and-back (avoid doing short laps on repeat or a one-way route going down the side of a mountain).
For me, it's the Dakota Trail, it's 50+ miles (out and back) with a total of ~615 ft of climbing, or 12 ft/mile. The Dakota is a paved rail-trail running west of Minneapolis. https://www.strava.com/activities/315912883 I've liked it for constant effort rides, in addition to being flat, there are limited road crossings on the west end of this route.
For me, it's the Dakota Trail, it's 50+ miles (out and back) with a total of ~615 ft of climbing, or 12 ft/mile. The Dakota is a paved rail-trail running west of Minneapolis. https://www.strava.com/activities/315912883 I've liked it for constant effort rides, in addition to being flat, there are limited road crossings on the west end of this route.
07-01-19, 08:02 PM
#61
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Flattest route? As long as you avoid brides it's the state of Florida, as long as you want, & hot.
07-01-19, 08:59 PM
#62
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There are more hills in the northern part of Florida than most folks realize. Not big hills, but a lot of rollers. So even for relatively flat land it averages a bit over 30'/mi on my rides.
Although we do have a rail trail from the coast to the campus that probably rises about 40' over 25 miles.
Although we do have a rail trail from the coast to the campus that probably rises about 40' over 25 miles.
07-02-19, 02:14 AM
#63
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https://www.strava.com/routes/19964819
haven't done it for years and it's a little toasty now. i think this might be the flattest part of southern california.
bonus? it's all below sea level as well. have never done an "underwater" century before but i think i'll give it a go
in late november/early december when it cools down to the low 80's.
haven't done it for years and it's a little toasty now. i think this might be the flattest part of southern california.
bonus? it's all below sea level as well. have never done an "underwater" century before but i think i'll give it a go
in late november/early december when it cools down to the low 80's.
07-02-19, 08:33 PM
#65
Senior Member
Out in the extreme Eastern North Carolina, it is very flat, I have discovered. But there is the wind, which I have discovered may be 30kts or more. It's educational in a sense. A hill that never ends, or at least for the last 15 miles of our 38 mile training ride. Since we're rehabilitating from an ankle injury of the previous fall, the ride takes us to the bottom of our energy well, but tomorrow's ride is 36 miles, and we keep on trucking. What was the question again? Yes, we've been bicycling. It's a lot of fun.
07-07-19, 03:30 PM
#66
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The SeaGull Century in Salisbury MD is a long-running annual event that I do every now and then. This past year my Wahoo Elemnt said 104 miles and 450 feet of climbing. The only hills are the bridge to the Chincoteague beach rest stop near the 50 mile mark(which you do twice) and one highway overpass towards the end. The rest is pretty much tabletop flat - if you aren't pedaling you aren't moving...
07-07-19, 06:26 PM
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Northwest Georgia has little anyone would call flat apart from the Silver Comet Trail.
It is a converted rail trail and people who lay railroad tracks tend to avoid steep grades.
Even so, it is something like 2300 ft over ~68 miles from the edge of Atlanta to the Alabama border.
There are several trestles, one long tunnel through a mountain and many rock cuts which make it much flatter than the surrounding terrain.
-Tim-
It is a converted rail trail and people who lay railroad tracks tend to avoid steep grades.
Even so, it is something like 2300 ft over ~68 miles from the edge of Atlanta to the Alabama border.
There are several trestles, one long tunnel through a mountain and many rock cuts which make it much flatter than the surrounding terrain.
-Tim-
07-08-19, 03:07 PM
#68
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The bottom of the Sacramento Valley is about as flat as it gets. The only elevation change is from freeway overpasses and getting up on the levee road.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1506557880
https://www.strava.com/activities/1506557880
- 65.82miDistance (?)
- 3:51:11 Moving Time
- 371ft
07-10-19, 07:57 AM
#69
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I have always thought that flats are not as easy as people think simply for the reason you mention; to opportunity to recover. Constant effort.
07-10-19, 07:59 AM
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The outer islands along the New Jersey shore are much flatter still. You can go 50 miles roundtrip on Long Beach Island and not go above 12 m of climbing.
07-10-19, 09:27 AM
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Even more so if you do it on a fixed gear. During the winter I'll take the FG down into the Delta and do some 50+ mile rides, no structure, just ride. When you get home, you're just wiped out. Really builds up the long term endurance.
07-10-19, 11:49 AM
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Everything around here is pretty flat, especially the rail trails which I usually use since they are nearby. With a ride in the mountains coming up I for once tried to train with hills, but couldn't find any suitable route around here that was even 1,000' gain. I did the hilliest 20 mile loop I could, thinking I'd hit 1,000' and my app came back with 265'. And that was the hilliest loop around...
So I was a bit worried going on a 3 day ride where we were doing a few thousand feet each day. But to my surprise it wasn't that bad, even with a heavier bike. I think there is merit to how flat trails suck since there is no relief... and then the return being steady against the wind the whole way (and often uphill though only slight).
For a longer ride my usual 50ish miler I do on the Heart of Ohio & Kokosing Gap Trails (parts of the Ohio to Erie Trail) usually comes back 300-some feet like google shows here, ride from Mt Liberty to Danville and back to Mt Liberty...
So I was a bit worried going on a 3 day ride where we were doing a few thousand feet each day. But to my surprise it wasn't that bad, even with a heavier bike. I think there is merit to how flat trails suck since there is no relief... and then the return being steady against the wind the whole way (and often uphill though only slight).
For a longer ride my usual 50ish miler I do on the Heart of Ohio & Kokosing Gap Trails (parts of the Ohio to Erie Trail) usually comes back 300-some feet like google shows here, ride from Mt Liberty to Danville and back to Mt Liberty...
