Big Hills in the Columbus Area...???

Dave,

  That may be tough. I'm in Hilliard and have faced the same issues. It's just so flat around here. I have been to Mount Vernon a few times  for rides. The hills there are very challenging (for me at least). I usually go with my buddy who lives in Westerville. It takes about 30 minutes to get to Mount Vernon from his house. If you're interested, I'll let you know the next time we go up for a ride, which will be as soon as the weather begins to break.

where exactly are you riding from? let me know and i can find some good routes for you. (there are hills out that way).


As for in columbus, you are pretty limited and the best ones are in neighborhoods and are more short and steep.

for flat riding, mentally its up to you, but physically it will help to do more zn5 type intervals, HARD, 1-4 min on rest about as long as the intervals, lots of them, 10x1 or 2 min, work up to 15 and then 20x1 or 2 min

If you can maybe a few times head out to granville, the hocking hills area, or out towards belfountain/west liberty, etc, somethign out that way for some bigger hills.

let me know where you are riding from though and we'll find you some good routes.

FWIW though if you are a strong rider on flats, you can climb this style of hill well, there are no long sustained climbs like out west or in the blue ridge mountains. its short, steep stuff (like most of ohio, just a bit longer).



this is an amazing course and as of tonight i am in for just the half and not TTT

DLaw,

I'd be up for a ride when it starts to warm up. It would have to be on the weekend for me though. I work out of town close to 100% of the time, so I'm not sure if I can commit to anything specific now.

I'm going to take some drives out around looking for hills. I'll let you know if I find anything decent.

newbz,

I'm riding from Galloway. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the area. There's a driving range on W. Broad, I'm near there. I know of some small hills (as you mentioned in neighborhoods in West Jeff and on Amity Road), but nothing crazy. I was just hoping there were a few hills like at the Toyota Challenge that I could train on within riding distance of my house.

I have been doing interval training on the bikes at the Y. I am improving significantly on that, so I'm hoping that it can translate to the road.

We'll see, I appreciate the feedback guys. Let me know if you think of anything.

head out towards georesville or around darby creek anywhere, there should be hills going up and down around the creek like at toyota.

FWIW i am doing all of my biking at the Y right now too on the spin bike and doing short hard intervals like hills on there.

I'll head out that way. I've taken a few trips over there, but most of my biking last year was while I was out of town. Most of the biking I do around here I tend to head north for some reason (Amity Rd to Scioto Darby and weave around there).

Thanks for the info. I know there's a good sledding hill over there. Next time I take my son, we may have to detour on the way home to check it out a bit.

I have Google Earth and recently found a download where you can superimpose a topographical (showing elevation and hills) map on top of Google Earth. If you've never used a topo map before, this may be worthless to you.

But I am also training for Little Smokies, and using the map I was able to at least find a few running routes very close to home that climb out of ravine areas and provide some hills.

You could use the same map to check for areas on the west side. I can't think of any offhand, but I think there is a MetroPark out there (Prairie Hills or something?) that has some hills. Might not work for cycling, but would be OK for running.

In general, the farther south and east you go in Ohio, the bigger the hills. The glaciers kind of flattened everything north and west of Lancaster.  But if you have some decent rivers anywhere near you, there are usually good rises coming up from the river.

if you go due west you'll hit them too but will prb need to get out 20 some miles first.

i used to ride out that way.
there are 3 decent hills around the darby metro park.

a short and steep hill on 665 and Norton rd. right by Trapper Johns.
also a longer hill on 665 past harrisbur-georgesville rd heading west.
you can combine these 2 on 1 ride.

and a nice hill crossing the darby crrek on alkire rd just north of darby creek rd.

i would be interested to hear where is a good place to rideon Amity rd .
I live out that direction now.

thanks
Lisa

In Delaware there are some decent hills near Olentangy river area and the hill (plural) near Alum Creek dam. The loop arounf the hill is 12 miles give or take so a couple loops of this is somewhat hilly. Everything else in Columbus is pretty flat as far as I know.

to find the good hills you need to head NE towards granville/jonstown, newark

Cmon down here to Austin TX.  We got some stuff that will rock your world.   I'm from OHIO, (London & Hilliard) so know what your up against.   It was 70 degrees here in Austin today, sunny, wind, and a great day for hill climbing. 

I'll be down in Texas for work the week of March 7. Not bringing the bike, but I'm excited to run outside! I've been in Missouri for a while now, and it's not much better than Ohio.

go ride in the granville area (park at denison univeristy, ) some AMAZING riding

The Mount Vernon/Gambier area has some good rides... I live in Gambier, so I know ALL the biggies! It's a little bit of a haul from the west side of C'bus, but worth it. Having done the Triple-T in the past, the hills are comparable to the hills on the route of the 60-100 mi Knox County Bike Challenge (a C'bus Outdoor Pursuits Ride). I'm sure you can find the route on here or maybe Map My Run... Happy training!

nothing is quite like TTT;-)

From someone who lived in WA state for a good amount of time and spent most his time in the Cascades.

I've traveled from knox county to hocking county, and there is nothing. Anywhere that can prepare you for real sustained, elevation gaining, hills/mountains.

Your best bet is to keep building your aerobic engine to be as strong as it can be because you're going to want to heavily rely on that and gearing if you get into any elevation challenges. Going anaerobic even for a minute or two on a sustained climb is enough to wipe you out for good (from experience).

In WA we used to laugh at the people who 'trained for the mountains' because it's truly 25% physical, 75% mental, you have to believe in yourself you can make it, and you have to have the body to make it happen. So many people give up in the mountains because they believe they will not end.

I'm with you all now though, it's actually amazing how much of a challenge riding flat & fast can be, something I never realized living in the mountains.

Edited by TRDacct 2014-05-01 3:23 PM

if he has not resolved this in the last four years then he probably won't ever figure it out...