I’m probably relocating to Florida, I am racing TX70.3, SYR 70.3, IMLP (pending if I actually relocate) Rev3 FL.
I was wondering for those who live in FL now, how do you find your performance on hilly courses? Does it really matter flat vs hilly? I know there are many ways of mimicking hill in training. I live in MA now and it has its rollers, but come summer I spend a lot of time in NH riding. I know that theres some short hills in the Clermont area. But the rest of Florida is flat. Who here has moved from a hilly location to a flat location? Have you noticed any change in your climbing or race performance in hilly courses?
Clermont tires out a lot of people even if they are from places with hills, but it obviously is harder for those of us who live in flatter areas. I currently live in haines city which has rolling hills, pretty much all along 27 you can find some measure of hills. But unless your plan is to repeatedly ride around sugarloaf mountain in Clermont, you aren’t going to get any sort of mountain training.
I’m probably relocating to Florida, I am racing TX70.3, SYR 70.3, IMLP (pending if I actually relocate) Rev3 FL.
I was wondering for those who live in FL now, how do you find your performance on hilly courses? Does it really matter flat vs hilly? I know there are many ways of mimicking hill in training. I live in MA now and it has its rollers, but come summer I spend a lot of time in NH riding. I know that theres some short hills in the Clermont area. But the rest of Florida is flat. Who here has moved from a hilly location to a flat location? Have you noticed any change in your climbing or race performance in hilly courses?
The lack of hills is no problem in terms of climbing. Climbing is a power to weight issue. Training on hills is not necessary. Going fast downhill is an issue though. Bike handling in the mountains takes some practice and that is hard to come by in Florida. North Georgia is not too far away though and there are some good climbs there (i.e., Hogpen Gap, Brasstown Bald).
Clermont tires out a lot of people even if they are from places with hills, but it obviously is harder for those of us who live in flatter areas. I currently live in haines city which has rolling hills, pretty much all along 27 you can find some measure of hills. But unless your plan is to repeatedly ride around sugarloaf mountain in Clermont, you aren’t going to get any sort of mountain training.
Thanks Mike, never been to a place that was so flat so I just wanted to see how I could expect things to go. People always say specificity is important and I guess I can always go do repeats at the hills in Clermont.
I live in Sarasota. We tend to make the 1.5 hour trip to San Antonio in the Tampa area for some hill work. It’s definitely not like riding up north but it helps.
As far as performance in the hills, I haven’t had any issues. Actually, I’ve talked to people from up north who have had a tough time with Florida races. 1. Because it’s humid as hell and 2. Constant power to the pedals rather than more of the interval efforts that hills present.
Thanks Mike, never been to a place that was so flat so I just wanted to see how I could expect things to go. People always say specificity is important and I guess I can always go do repeats at the hills in Clermont.
I spent 5 years in the Pensacola area. There are no hills to speak of. However, some of the local cyclists did very well in the mountains of northern Georgia, in some cases winning races outright, with no training in the hills whatsoever. Pushing into a headwind along the beach for an hour at a time is pretty good training. There is not much difference between sitting on your bike and pushing hard on a 0% grade VS a 10% grade if the effort level is the same. It is plenty of specificity if you don’t have hills to train on. You can develop a monster power to weight ratio training on flat terrain. It would be silly to try to train for the hills by zipping back and forth up and down on a short overpass. Just working on increasing sustainable power across multiple time domains, even on flat ground, would work better. Bike handling in the mountains is another story entirely.
i moved from boston to florida, i live 45 min from clermont. i had no problem doing well at 6 gap in georgia the last 2 years. we’d hit the hills once a week for about 6 weeks to get the feel of it. other than that just a lot of hard riding and pushing down on the pedals.
sarasota is about 1.5 hrs to San Antonio, which is just as good as clermont so maybe hit that a few times. otherwise, just train hard.
i think the key to practice is learning gear selection. when to shift and how many cogs in order to keep a good feel for cadence. around here i can do a 50+ mile ride with 3 gears but when i get to the hills i need to think about gearing - standing too. but once you get that down then it’s just pushing hard on the pedals.
the other thing is the weight penalty. no penalty on the flats so you can easily forget what it’s like to carry an extra 10lbs up a hill!
good luck.
The long open roads are East of town. East of I -75 is very open. Check map my ride or Strava and you will see endless alternatives. You can ride Longboat Key for 10 miles each direction with only one light. Then you do repeats on the bridge after.
I live in Sarasota and we have a great Triathlon community. Wonderful roads on Longboat key to ride with views or head east and you have some nice rides. I’ve raced off and on for 12 years. Sarasota is an great place to live, work and race.
yorkcb7, I vacation and race inSarasota as often as possible, the area is as close as you can get to heaven on earth. Long Boats a good ride, maybe some areas east of 75 in the early morning or Sundays, but traffic is hell and dangerous everywhere. Too many cars, too little shoulder. I used to ride up and down siesta key multiple times to get the miles in and then settled for life on the trainer to stay safe and be able to ride with consistancy. Regadrless, the races, the pools and the beach runs year round are well worth it.
