Climbing, how much?

[mythste]

Sorry for the vague thread title, but I couldn't think of how to phrase what I'm asking, so I'll explain!

I know where I'm at in distance, 30 miles is a blast, 40 miles is a ride, 50+ is a slog, but after doing a little hillier route than usual last Sunday (2000ish feet in 30ish miles) I realised I have no idea what that means!

I suppose there is something to be said for how steep the climbs are etc, but what do you consider a "good" amount of hills for a challenging ride?

Curious.

 

[fossyant]

In the Peaks you can easily average 1000ft of climbing per 10 miles. That's generally a hilly ride.

 

[ColinJ]

In the Peaks you can easily average 1000ft of climbing per 10 miles. That's generally a hilly ride.

The same round here. The audax ride that I did on Sunday (plus the extra bits up and down the A646) was 127 km with about 2,400 m of climbing (79 miles, about 8,000 ft.). Some stretches of 17+%. I would say that it was a fairly tough route - unfit riders would have really struggled, fairly fit riders found it hard work, and fit riders rode it fast so they found it hard too!

 

[tallliman]

I'd say a good amount of hills is about 50-70 ft per mile here in the East Midlands.

 

[winjim]

In the Peaks you can easily average 1000ft of climbing per 10 miles. That's generally a hilly ride.

That's about what my rides average. Sheffield & the Peaks.

 

[fossyant]

That's about what my rides average. Sheffield & the Peaks.

It's the magic formula. Things start to get out of hand when it's 2000ft per 10 miles.

 

[mythste]

Well I certainly enjoy going up more than I enjoy coming down on long descents!

Good to know some vague figures. This is my first season of "proper" cycling and though I'm proud to have a good few thousand winter miles in my legs, It's time I started hitting the steep stuff more often.

Thanks!

 

[Ajax Bay]

1000ft in 10 miles is 300m in 16km which is seriously hilly: for 100km that's 1900+m. Don't believe many people are doing rides of any length with that percentage much (I'm not saying they don't exist).
@Sea of vapours , who's based in Clapham (as in Yorkshire!) has done 9 x 100km plus rides in 2016 and is averaging ~1650m per 100km with a max of 2203m. I think that Audaxes need to have more than 1250m per 100km [Edited: it's 1500m - see post below] to get an AAA rating, which seems as good an objective 'climbing' threshold as any.
I have done a number of 100s (km) this year (Devon). Can't get a ride of less than 900m per 100km. Flat and fast is less than 1100m of climb per 100km. Hilly is more than 1400m and is 'good'. 1600m+ is probably over Dartmoor or across the grain towards Dorset.
2016 Average: 120km + 1403m

 

[Sea of vapours]

Audax AAA (Audax altitude award) climbing rate is 1,500m per 100km (it goes down a bit for longer distances, but not much!). That is certainly 'quite hilly'. Around here, picking a random loop of 100km will typically be distinctly over that target, though the ones I've done so far this year have often been chosen to stay [relatively] low and avoid ice and snow. The flattest I've managed was something like 1,200m for 100km and that did feel quite flat, so it's to a degree all about what you're used to I think.

 

[Hacienda71]

On a mountain bike in the Peaks you quite often are doing 1500 ft plus every 10 miles. Road bike as said 1000ft per 10 miles is hilly.

 

[Bollo]

Around my way (Winchester/mid Hants) most rides usually deliver around 100m per 10km or 500ft per 10miles. It can't compete with the more mountainous parts of the country, but the constant up and down on roads that don't pay much attention to the landscape often takes people by surprise. Think interval training on real roads.

 

[jamin100]

My training loop is 20 miles with 2000ft of climbing. I've recently got to the point where I quite like the hills and go out seeking them

 

[Cubist]

In the Peaks you can easily average 1000ft of climbing per 10 miles. That's generally a hilly ride.

I cannot find a ride that isn't 1000 feet per 10 miles. Town centre and back from here is 900 feet in six miles if you go the long way round. It's 750 feet in the last 2.5 miles out of 4.5 if you ride as the crow flies. The joys of living at 1300 feet!

 

[jowwy]

100ft per mile is the golden number of a hilly ride....anything above that is seriously hilly

 

[Firestorm]

My 26 mile ride on Sunday had total elevation of 100ft. I think that was the railway bridge.
I will now sit this thread out....