relentless flats..harder than hills

[bikemoore]

So I find myself deployed to Panama City, FL for 4 months (I know...there are far worse places to be deployed in today's military climate), brought my bike with me and I can't believe how difficult the cycling is. Not a hill or even a turn in sight....the roads are perfectly flat and straight for mile after mile after mile....not even any appreciable incline. Coming from the very hilly country where I live, I thought I could just cruise a steady pace and then crank it up for intervals now and then to stretch my legs. However, I'm finding that riding these relentless flats is REALLY hard. Its not that my legs tire...its my hands and back and neck. I've never had any issues with fit before. I think its the fact that I'm not used to just pedaling and never getting a break from it. Any coasting just results in a loss of momentum. I try to stand and pedal every few minutes, but the rides still feel like I'm riding my rollers for about 4 times longer than I do. After 1.5 hours, my hands are numb and I feel like I can't wait to finish the ride. Yeah, its also dreadfully hot and humid, but still. I am genuinely shocked at how tough if it is to ride relentless flats. I'll never complain about hills again, that's for sure. I might have to go for shorter more intense rides to keep from completely losing my motivation to ride.

[Dekonick]

Time for a fixed gear... :beer:

[Wilkinson4]

Time to mix it up. Sprint every time you see a gator:)

mIKE

[palincss]

So I find myself deployed to Panama City, FL for 4 months (I know...there are far worse places to be deployed in today's military climate), brought my bike with me and I can't believe how difficult the cycling is. Not a hill or even a turn in sight....the roads are perfectly flat and straight for mile after mile after mile....not even any appreciable incline. Coming from the very hilly country where I live, I thought I could just cruise a steady pace and then crank it up for intervals now and then to stretch my legs. However, I'm finding that riding these relentless flats is REALLY hard. Its not that my legs tire...its my hands and back and neck. I've never had any issues with fit before. I think its the fact that I'm not used to just pedaling and never getting a break from it. Any coasting just results in a loss of momentum. I try to stand and pedal every few minutes, but the rides still feel like I'm riding my rollers for about 4 times longer than I do. After 1.5 hours, my hands are numb and I feel like I can't wait to finish the ride. Yeah, its also dreadfully hot and humid, but still. I am genuinely shocked at how tough if it is to ride relentless flats. I'll never complain about hills again, that's for sure. I might have to go for shorter more intense rides to keep from completely losing my motivation to ride.

You get used to the terrain you ride on, and terrain that's very different becomes hard. By the time you spend four months in flat terrain you'll get good at it, and the hills will kill you.

I ride in rolling country. No hills are specially long, either down or up. 0.5 mi is a long hill around here. A couple of years ago I went touring in the the Black Hills of South Dakota. First day after having ridden from our B&B just south of Rapid City to Mount Rushmore, we come down from the mountain onto the Mickelson Trail, a crushed limestone and gravel rail trail. I figure the max grade on a rail trail is what, 4% possibly? Almost flat, nothing at all compared to the endless hills we've just been on. Only thing was, that easy grade went on without a break for 6 miles, and if you stopped pedaling you simply stopped, right then. No coasting possible at all. By the 4th mile, I was bug-eyed desperate to stop and take a break.

[rePhil]

As a Florida resident I understand where you are coming from. So many times we hear that cycling here will be easy because it's so flat. The downside, as you have discovered, is that you never stop pedaling.
I don't think you ever get used to the humidity and heat. Sounds like you will be leaving just as our best weather gets here.

[jvp]

Straight, flat and long got me in tune with my bike's fit for sure. Emerald Isle, NC is ~20 miles of straight and flat. Just be sure to start your ride there heading into the sea breeze, I made the mistake of doing the opposite once. For ~15 miles I marveled at how strong and fast I was riding, then I turned around...

[tch]

...the Dutch riders are so strong at the head of a peloton? Years of cranking non-stop into the wind on the flat.