Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states)

Feb 25, 21 11:20

Post #1 of 16 (1269 views)

Without any big events early in the year (hopeful for IMLP) I am thinking about doing a couple day trips for a 75-100 mile rides that have some decent long climbs. Riding smaller loops are okay but I want to avoid short loops as I have plenty of spots for 3-5 mile loop with 250ft per loop.

I live in northwest Indiana so my question is; Are their any decent climbs within 3 hours that are either quite long 1+ miles or very steep and get like 75-100 ft of change? Specifically for road bikes?

If you live in the mountains you might laugh and I can go gravel in the Hoosier National forest if I wanted to do that but I want to ride my TT bike so I can better prepare for Lake Placid. Southern Michigan is good but picking routes is tough as roads change to gravel quite often.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 25, 21 13:01

Post #2 of 16 (1229 views)

Depending on where you are at in Indiana and how much you want to drive, there are a couple of options in Ohio. Around Bellefontaine Ohio are some decent hills, one of my favorite routes is 56 miles and pushes 4500ft of elevation. Could also head towards Loudonville Ohio and really get some hills in. I have a route in my To do list that is called "The Frank". It is 102 miles with 13,000ft of elevation. A few friends have done it and say road bike is acceptable so assume tri bike would be as well. The Loudonville area is known for gravel roads as well, but The Frank is all pavement.

https://www.strava.com/.../2752215416104241712
https://www.strava.com/.../2741015924566403550

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [Mambos] [ In reply to ]

Feb 25, 21 14:14

Post #3 of 16 (1208 views)

I trained for IMLP in the hills in the Loudonville, OH area mentioned by Mambos and I think they prepared me decently. I had also ridden the LP course multiple times in years prior to doing the race which I think really helped with pacing. The hills on the run were my weakness in LP. Looking back, I should have done more long runs on hilly paved roads to prepare the legs for the pounding. I did all my long runs on hilly trails. Have fun!

Last edited by: Mark Lemmon: Feb 25, 21 14:45

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [Mambos] [ In reply to ]

Feb 25, 21 17:58

Post #4 of 16 (1172 views)

”The Frank” is relentless. No Flat sections for the entire distance. Watch out for the house with 2 German Shepard’s that like to chasing on a nice little climb :)

Here is a link: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/2659566

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 25, 21 19:25

Post #5 of 16 (1149 views)

What about lake Geneva?

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 6:31

Post #6 of 16 (1121 views)

Putnam county Indiana (city of Greencastle). I live here and on the west side of town you can get in a ton of climbing if you want. I have two one mile climbs that I unfortunately have to do every day when I ride.
PM me if youre interested, I can show you some routes.

Last edited by: Dudaddy: Feb 26, 21 6:32

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 9:33

Post #7 of 16 (1096 views)

rutsackrun wrote:

Without any big events early in the year (hopeful for IMLP) I am thinking about doing a couple day trips for a 75-100 mile rides that have some decent long climbs. Riding smaller loops are okay but I want to avoid short loops as I have plenty of spots for 3-5 mile loop with 250ft per loop.

I live in northwest Indiana so my question is; Are their any decent climbs within 3 hours that are either quite long 1+ miles or very steep and get like 75-100 ft of change? Specifically for road bikes?

If you live in the mountains you might laugh and I can go gravel in the Hoosier National forest if I wanted to do that but I want to ride my TT bike so I can better prepare for Lake Placid. Southern Michigan is good but picking routes is tough as roads change to gravel quite often.

Thanks in advance.

Would be curious to know town/city you live in (I grew up in NW Indiana as well... will be helpful to know where exactly 3 hour circumference). Bloomington IN area and Madison WI would be my first reccos.

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [Dan Funk] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 9:35

Post #8 of 16 (1095 views)

I would second Madison if that is within 3 hours of you. I am far west suburbs of Chicago and Madison and west has a ton of tough hills.

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 9:56

Post #9 of 16 (1087 views)

rutsackrun wrote:

Without any big events early in the year (hopeful for IMLP) I am thinking about doing a couple day trips for a 75-100 mile rides that have some decent long climbs. Riding smaller loops are okay but I want to avoid short loops as I have plenty of spots for 3-5 mile loop with 250ft per loop.

I live in northwest Indiana so my question is; Are their any decent climbs within 3 hours that are either quite long 1+ miles or very steep and get like 75-100 ft of change? Specifically for road bikes?

If you live in the mountains you might laugh and I can go gravel in the Hoosier National forest if I wanted to do that but I want to ride my TT bike so I can better prepare for Lake Placid. Southern Michigan is good but picking routes is tough as roads change to gravel quite often.

Thanks in advance.

I live in NWI and easily trained for IMLP in 2017, where do you live exactly?

Last edited by: teddygram: Feb 26, 21 9:57

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 10:09

Post #10 of 16 (1082 views)

There's a ride just west of Madison, WI called "Horribly Hilly Hundreds." They have several routes, but the 150k has about 9,500 ft of climbing. https://www.horriblyhilly.com/ride-details/. You could ride it any time of year, but would have to figure out your fueling.

Basically anything west of Madison is going to be pretty hilly, but the HHH routes are proven and entirely paved (if you want to train on the bike you are going to do IMLP on). There's people training for IMWI on those roads every weekend. Mt. Horeb is a cool place to spend a night as well. If you don't mind riding gravel, look out for 'The Ten Thousand' for some pretty fantastic climbing in the midwest. They usually have an 80 mile-ish option.

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 11:32

Post #11 of 16 (1057 views)

Thanks for the replies and ideas everyone. I am in Chesterton so some of the Ohio ideas are a bit far. I have thought about going to Madison and just riding that bike course but even then that is 3.5 hours. I do like the Greencastle place in southeren indiana. At the least it would be a nice change of pace riding on different routes.

But pretty much the best hills by me are between Michigan City and Laporte. Pretty much ride between the toll road and 94. You will end up with some small hills that add up to a decently hilly ride.

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 12:54

Post #12 of 16 (1039 views)

There’s Portsmouth Ohio, Shawnee State park. Long drive for you but they have cabins and also fire road trails to run. It use to be the site of the American Triple-T race weekend and I recall many participants there saying it made IMLP seem flat.

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 13:15

Post #13 of 16 (1035 views)

rutsackrun wrote:

Thanks for the replies and ideas everyone. I am in Chesterton so some of the Ohio ideas are a bit far. I have thought about going to Madison and just riding that bike course but even then that is 3.5 hours. I do like the Greencastle place in southeren indiana. At the least it would be a nice change of pace riding on different routes.

But pretty much the best hills by me are between Michigan City and Laporte. Pretty much ride between the toll road and 94. You will end up with some small hills that add up to a decently hilly ride.

That is fantastic!

I am in Valparaiso, basically if you do loops around Art Barn, Suman, Tratebas, 50W, 700N and N200E and around that general area at proper pacing or efforts it should get you more than enough prepared for placid in my opinion. This is what I did, everyone thinks that placid is non-stop climbing when IMO that's just 1/3 of the course, you have 2/3 downhill and 3/3 flat.

Do you attend the Thursday night ride from Ironwood in Valparaiso? If not you really should consider it and join the Strava group

If you want some pretty good training routes or looking for some more info please feel free to send me a PM. If you do insist on traveling for more aggressive climbs I think you will not beat a couple of trips to Brown County.

Last edited by: teddygram: Feb 26, 21 13:17

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 15:10

Post #14 of 16 (1018 views)

The Illinois River Valley bluffs around Peoria, IL are 300-400 ft high. I counted over 40 climbs on either side with 200-350 ft elevation. All are steep. 2h 50 mins from Chesterton.

Doesn't compare to the Driftless area, but I managed an Everesting there.

Last edited by: carlosflanders: Feb 26, 21 15:11

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [teddygram] [ In reply to ]

Feb 26, 21 20:40

Post #15 of 16 (979 views)

teddygram wrote:

If you do insist on traveling for more aggressive climbs I think you will not beat a couple of trips to Brown County.

Yeah, that's what I'd recommend, too. Get on I-65 and try to stay awake for the mind-numbing drive all the way to and through Indy. South of there, plenty of hills (but try to avoid the Klan).

Born and raised near both you and OP (Crown Point), but been gone from there for quite a few years. Rode a lot around the Region and broader NW Indiana in my youth, but no good hill recommendations there. Ride the shoulders of the Skyway, maybe? :-)

Last edited by: Mongo: Feb 26, 21 20:45

Re: Good Hills for Road Bike (Indiana +neighbor states) [rutsackrun] [ In reply to ]

Feb 27, 21 6:53

Post #16 of 16 (940 views)

You can get faux hill training riding in a big gear. Not perfect of course

But what matters more than training on the uphill is being fit enough to ride your power, at the cadence you’ll do on the hills of the course

Now practice going downhill is an entirely different story =)

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