Originally Posted by
livedarklions
So let's take the comparison between a flat ride workout vs. hilly seriously. As discussed above, there's no reason why either will require a more intense effort than the other. One can adjust their speed and gearing to make it as intense as possible or, as ghostrider points out, with less training stress, and that's true on flats or hills. .
When you ride up a 13% grade in gear 1, there is no way that can be equated to a flat ride of any duration, whatsoever.
30 seconds of that is more chest exploding heart rate than an hour of flat riding.