JonathanGennick 

Ever wish you lived somewhere flatter? I get that hills are good for me and all, but sometimes it's nice to just cruise along in flatland mode.

Deal4Fuji

It gets boring and flatland usually comes with more wind. Luckily decent hills and a good greenway are only an hour & ½ away from me. I love hills, partially because I don't have them that often. Typical human condition, grass/greener & all

hillyman

I get a nice variety out on the road all 48 states. But anywhere there's goathead thorns they can keep them.

Wildwood 

No, never, not in a million years. I'd miss mountains and waterfalls too much.

Milton Keynes

I live in eastern Kansas, it's flat enough for me even though we do have some small hills.

mcours2006

+1. The wind is just evil.

Around here there's enough variety of terrain to make every ride interesting. No mountains, unfortunately.

ph0rk

Climbing is hard, but wind is soul-sucking. Having done both, I'd rather climb.

GerryinHouston

I live in Houston! It doesn't get any flatter than here...

TimothyH

Flat. Hills. Whatayagonnado?

shrtdstncrdr

I moved from the rolling hills of southeast Wisconsin to the rolling flats of central Minnesota.

jefnvk

Milton Keynes

I don't disagree. Climbing 100 feet or so in a half mile is easy compared to riding 20 miles with a 15 MPH headwind.

Bookie512

I live in the deep South. Beautiful rides on flat trails through small towns, marshland, and bayou country. I rode my cruiser 54 miles today. I look at a map and check the weather for wind and route myself accordinglaccordingly. It is great

ph0rk

JonathanGennick 

Thanks everyone. I live in a beautiful place, and really cannot complain.

I'm in the U.P., and my town is sort of in a bowl and surrounded by hills. All but one route out of town begins with a climb.

All good though. I get to see Lake Superior every days. There's that. Sometimes I have to pause and remind myself how lucky I am.

OldTryGuy

On the road at 12:13AM this morning for 72.11 miles with 66' elevation gain according to Garmin. No hills to climb and then coast down so maybe 100 yards of coasting.

ph0rk

Harsh!

JonathanGennick 

LOL! Ouch. Thanks for pointing that one out. How on earth did I miss that? I've put in the correct word. Bowl. We are in a bowl. Oh my....

ethanscott

You said it man and to be honest I want better roads too.
The roads around here are just terrible

dmanthree

I've recently spent some time cycling around Naples, FL, which is *very* flat. The only rises you see are bridges. Honestly, you get used to it. Around Naples you don't climb, descend, corner (much...), or shift a lot. I guess if I bought a bike specifically for Naples it would be aluminum with caliper brakes and aero wheels. Note: flatland riding is way better than no riding.

jefnvk

Yeah, if I still lived in Houghton, I doubt I'd be complaining about flatness! The area between Detroit and Midland, where I generally am, is pretty flat tho.

JonathanGennick 

I spent a week in Grayling last year. Delightful! Relatively flat. I rode for miles just exploring. Fun times.

CanoeU92

I am not a huge fan of hills, but since that's all there are around my part of Maryland, I do not have a whole lot of choice in the matter. It's either hills or no riding, and like someone else was saying, at least the scenery is good.

BobbyG

Here in Colorado Springs, north and west are uphill.

My commute is downhill in the morning, about 450' overall elevation gain over 9 miles with many ups and downs along the way. Then in the afternoon it's the reverse. I have a 7-mile "shortcut" I take occasionally in to work. It is like a bobsled run and saves me 25% off my commute time (30 min vs 40). However it has a non-shouldered downhill 50mph bridge section that can be a little hairy. It's a mere 15-20 seconds going downhill, where I reach speeds around 40mph.

I tried taking that bridge home a few times when it still had a narrow shoulder. Because of the steep uphill, I'd be on the narrow shoulder for 2 or three minutes. The shoulder is now blocked by concrete barriers, due to a deteriorating rail. I see some folks walk and walk their bikes between the barrier and the rail, but it's too narrow, and people have fallen over the railing. Also, there is an exit-ramp at the top that cars take at 50mph, again, too much time exposed to impatient rush-hour speeders. There have been a couple of fatalities there in the last 10 years.

Before the barriers, I tried riding the short route home three times, absolutely exhausting as the overall elevation gain is steeper, and I saved only 5 minutes, versus the longer route.

Other than the overall elevation change, I have four main commute routes and over the last 26 years they have evolved to avoid as many difficult hills as possible. Shifting over a couple/three streets, or adding a quarter mile can give me a longer, more gradual hill. Also, going slightly out of the way to take a short but steep hill can save me an agonizingly long moderate rise.

I have to regard the overall elevation change, when I take longer weekend rides. I must say I favor riding uphill on the way out, so I can take advantage of riding home downhill. But I do need variety, so I sometimes ride downhill to the south and east first and return uphill.

It's funny when I return to visit Chicago and surrounding areas. I never realized how flat it was. I remember some small hills there and in Iowa that I probably wouldn't even notice now.

And now at 56, I have just replaced the gearing on my two road bikes to give me a lower low gear to help my aging knees. My MTB-based commuter has a very low range already, which gets more and more use the older I get.

Overall, I like the variety of hilly terrain where I am now...not to mention the beautiful mountain scenery.

JanMM

Small bowl or large bowl? Ha