Here’s an unhappy calculation about riding in hilly areas.

Let’s say you are cycling somewhere that is mainly hills, and they are symmetrical (same length up as down).  For sake of argument, let’s say you have a 6 mile long climb followed by a 6 mile long descent, just to keep the math simple.  I am a pretty aggressive climber (right Jenn and Frank?) and can go about 6 mph up with my loaded bike.  On the descent, 24 mph is easy without even peddling. That means the ascent would take 1 hour, whereas the descent would take 15 minutes. So, out of the 1 hr 15 min period you traveled that hill, 80% of the time you’d be climbing.  Ouch!

Also, no matter how fast you ride down,  you can never do better than doubling the uphill rate as an average speed for the hill.  Thus, in the previous example, if you came down the hill at the speed of light, you’d have covered 12 miles in one hour, twice your uphill rate. Any realistic downhill speed gives you a slightly slower average.  Moral: Climb quickly.

I still like hills.  In the Tour de France, I would be the guy with the polka dot jersey, the King of the Mountains.

(Photo credit: Tour de France)

(Photo credit: Jenn Langheld)