A grimpeur is a climbing specialist. A lightweight cyclist who can ride especially well up inclines. I am not one of those. I am more Magnus Backstedt, a retired professional cyclist who raced weighing 95 kg (209 lb), than Tadej Pogačar, who won this year’s Tour de France weighing 66 kg (146 lb).
Perhaps fortuitously, I started road cycling in Houston. A city where the only climbs are on overpasses.
This topographic map shows just how flat Houston and the surrounding area are. I hadn’t realised that Commerce Towers, where I lived in Houston, is in the highest part of the city, at 46 m (151 ft) above sea level. It is downhill from there to West End Bicycles where my group rides started. Doña Maria, our Sunday destination for breakfast tacos, is even lower.
You must drive about 48 km (30 mi) west to Katy and onward another 43 km (27 mi) to Bellville (elevation 92 m) to do any hill cycling.
I moved from Houston to Den Haag. Another city not noted for hills. Much of the surrounding area is below sea level.
I lived on Van Hougenhoucklaan which is 5 m (16 ft) above sea level. The sand dunes to the west are a natural form of coastal defence. They form the highest parts of the west of the country. You go 43 km (27 mi) east to Ruiterberg to find land twice as high as Noordwijk. Or 170 km (106 mi) south to Valkenberg which sits at 137 m (450 ft) above sea level.
I moved back to Kuala Lumpur after two years of pan-flat cycling in the western Netherlands.
My first ride in Malaysia was to Genting Sempah which is 637 m (2,090 ft) above sea level. That was a shock to my system.
I don’t have to go far from home to find a hill. Bukit Damansara is 6 km (4 mi) west of Anggun Residences. I climb 80 m (262 ft) to get there. Higher climbs lie to the east. Anything from 158 m (518 ft) above sea level to 500 m (1,640 ft) above sea level.
The terrain to the west isn’t as high, but it is rolling. An 18.7 km (11.6 mi) ride along the Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE) can include 361 m (1,184 ft) of climbing as you cycle up and down between 16 m (52 ft) and 70 m (230 ft) above sea level.
I can’t avoid hills, especially if I start riding from home. Climbing is hard work. In my case, the effort is worth it. I enjoy the payoff a lot.
Old Roots, New Routes 