In search of hills to train on

There are no hills in Chicago

If you live in Chicago it is no mean trick to get some practice riding hills. For those of you who have never been here the Chicago area is flat as a pancake. My normal commute to work is 17 miles and as you can see it is a very flat trail:

Training at Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan

So for one week in July and one week in August I got to go up to our cottage in Northern Michigan where they have some real hills to pratcice on:

This is Sleeping Bear Dunes

Yes it is a beautiful place just off of Lake Michigan. In fact Good Morning America just took a poll of the top ten most beautiful places in America, it came in #1:
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/best_places_USA/sleeping-bear-dunes-michigan-voted-good-morning-americas/story?id=14319616

This is a picture right from our cottage on Glen Lake

Simon Training in Telluride Colorado

Simon, on the other hand went to Telluride, Colorado to find some hills

Looks more like he found some mountains.

No explanation required.

Mike manages to find a hill in Chicago

Mike and I then spending most of our time in Chicago, joined the Morton Arboretum (the only place with any hills.

This actual Morton Arboretum photo may not look like a hill to you, but by Chicago standards it is a big hill.