“Iowa is not flat.” That’s become my standard answer after being quizzed about the weeklong RAGBRAI® (The Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa) event across Iowa while I do my training rides. It's my third time doing RAGBRAI.

RAGBRAI is an organized, supported bike ride across the entire length of Iowa sponsored by the Des Moines Register newspaper. The annual 7-day ride takes place the last week of July. It always starts at the western border along the Missouri River and ends at the mighty Mississippi. Tradition calls for you to dip your rear tire in the Missouri on the first day and your front tire in the muddy Mississippi on the last day.

In its 38th year, the RAGBRAI route changes every summer. But you can always count on rolling fields of corn, a plethora of small towns and a lot of food. There are pies, pork chops and homemade ice cream – hey, when you’re burning thousands of calories a day, you can indulge!

Back to those hills. Yes, there are hills in Iowa. Not the 27% grade of Lombard Street in San Francisco. Nor the hairpin turns of Alpe d’Huez in France. The Iowa terrain consists of prairies interrupted by bluffs, ridges and cliffs that often go unnoticed from the comfort of a car. But from the cockpit of your 2-wheeled steed, you see and feel the rolling, twisting, undulating waves that were formed thousands of years ago. Grinding out mile-long hills gives you plenty of time for contemplating the wonders of Hawkeye State geography. (Or, you find yourself asking your cycling companions, between rapid breaths, “Why is again it we’re cycling through Iowa in the middle of July in oppressive heat and humidity?”)

It’s those 3 H’s I've been thinking of most during my training: heat, humidity and hills. Out here in the Pacific Northwest where I train, heat and humidity are pretty much nonexistent. (Summer doesn’t start until July 5, or so we like to concurrently joke and grumble.)

Fitting in a training schedule can be difficult. Trying to find time to get a ride/run/swim in between work, commute, yard work, housework, kids, pets…oy vey, it can be an exercise itself.

What’s your training schedule like? And, more importantly, what fun rides are you training for this summer?