As you look at the profile, remember that it's in metric--multiply the climbs by about 3 to get elevation changes in feet and the length by 0.6 to get distances in miles.

Training Routes

In 2005 we moved to the Houston area--an area not exactly noted for its hills. This has made training for climbing more interesting. Some of the routes I have available include my normal weekend club training ride (the Southwest Cycling Club ride) from Sugar Land to Fulshear and back:

Although climbing obviously isn't a strong characteristic of this route, I like it as a training ride because of trying to stay with the group--a hit-or-miss thing with me right now, but good training.

Another route I have ridden for convenience is down in Matagorda County:

Obviously this is a very flat route, but sometimes suits my work day. It won't help my climbing ability much, although it lends itself to intervals or steady efforts (especially if it's windy).

Finally (and most promising for hill training), Bob Riggs has come up with a couple of hilly routes north and west of here. The first is from Bellville to Washington on the Brazos:

This route provides quite a bit of climbing, with more or less continuous short hills.

The next route is from Columbus to Fayetteville to La Grange to Weimar and back to Columbus:

This route has some longer hills although probably not quite as much cumulative climbing over all.

I rode the 200k out of Brookshire October 21, 2006. This profile shows some ups-and-downs on it, although no long climbs.