What’s the Best Balance of Hills and Flats?

Question: I usually ride solo in flat terrain but have begun riding with a group in the hills. What is the correct balance of flat and hilly training? — Chris J.

Coach Fred Matheny Replies: Good question! The proper mix depends on two things.

First, decide what your goals are. If you want to do well in hilly races or group rides, you need to include more climbing than if you specialize in flat criteriums.

Second, you need to determine what cycling coach Joe Friel calls your “limiters.”

If you climb poorly, you either need to spend more training time on climbs to improve this weakness, or you need to decide that you’ll never be a good climber (for genetic reasons) and stick to flatter events where you have a greater chance of success.