How to determine a tough ride
Discussion
Evening all
I've been thinking about a ride I did yesterday, which seemed much harder than usual. I managed 42 and a bit miles, which I didn't think would be so tough, but made up a route as I went along (got lost in Chelmsford. Poxy place!)
Heading over towards Danbury seemed like an absolute killer as it was a steady climb all the way and it got me thinking about ft climbed during my rides, and what determines a tough ride.
I know 1000ft climbing over ten miles is tougher than 1000 over 50 miles, but what is considered a big climb over 10, 20, 50 miles etc?
Your thoughts please.
Cheers
I've been thinking about a ride I did yesterday, which seemed much harder than usual. I managed 42 and a bit miles, which I didn't think would be so tough, but made up a route as I went along (got lost in Chelmsford. Poxy place!)
Heading over towards Danbury seemed like an absolute killer as it was a steady climb all the way and it got me thinking about ft climbed during my rides, and what determines a tough ride.
I know 1000ft climbing over ten miles is tougher than 1000 over 50 miles, but what is considered a big climb over 10, 20, 50 miles etc?
Your thoughts please.
Cheers
Its hard to say as most of us ride circular routes so will climb and descend almost the same distances but id say any ride with an average gradient of 10% is a good ride and nearer 15% to be a toughie but If at any point on the ride you were writing the classified ad for your bike in your mind with every intention of selling it the moment you got home and using the proceeds to fund some other hobby, then it was a tough ride...
Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 31st March 20:02
Really it's more about effort required during the ride than elevation gain X amount of 1,000's of feet isn't always an indicator of how tough a ride has been. Two examples of the rides I do - Tues night chaingang ride - just over 50 miles done in well under 2 hours with about 600 ft of elevation - a real killer. Or a solo ride I do once or twice a week - about 85 kms with nearly 6,000 ft of elevation - struggle to get to 20mph average. Both equally tough. Generally speaking a really hilly ride would be 1,000 ft per 10-15 kms.
Edited by mcelliott on Sunday 31st March 20:04
pablo said:
If at any point on the ride you were writing the classified ad for your bike in your mind with every intention of selling it the moment you got home and using the proceeds to fund some other hobby, then it was a tough ride...
Did Box Hill 7 times today as part of a 55mile ride, my thighs still hurt and will do well into next week, I'll class that as a tough ride 
In audax, there's a points system around climbing. Minimum points start at around 1500m per 100km (1.5pts). I did a 200km with 3500m of climbing last month, and I've just entered a 600km with 10150m of climbing (the pendle 600). Those events are considered hard by most audaxers. The toughest events on the calendar are called grimpeurs or super grimpeurs. There's one locally, a 200km, with 4600m of climbing. I suspect that would be a tough ride.
The big ride this year is the London-Edinburgh-London 1400km. Someone said they'd entered the Pendle 600 as preparation, and another person who'd ridden it previously said "using the Pendle to train for LEL is akin to using climbing the Eiger to train for climbing Ben Nevis."
The big ride this year is the London-Edinburgh-London 1400km. Someone said they'd entered the Pendle 600 as preparation, and another person who'd ridden it previously said "using the Pendle to train for LEL is akin to using climbing the Eiger to train for climbing Ben Nevis."
Edited by DrMekon on Sunday 31st March 20:50
pablo said:
id say any ride with an average gradient of 10% is a good ride and nearer 15% to be a toughie
What the hell are you on about? Where would you being doing a ride with an average gradient of 10%?fwiw Alpe d'Huez has an average of 8% or so over the 8 miles.
A good way of classifying a tough ride is the ft/mile. If you climb 1000ft in 10miles then it's 100ft/mile and most people would say that's a tough ride. The Fred Whitton is about 100ft/mile over 100 miles and that's considered one of the toughest sportives to do.
Where I live my rides tend to be around 30ft/mile mark unless I venture into the Chilterns and even then what goes up must come down so it rarely goes above 40. I have done sportives with 50-60ft/mile and because I'm not used to them I find them a lot tougher.
d like me...TKF said:
What the hell are you on about? Where would you being doing a ride with an average gradient of 10%?
fwiw Alpe d'Huez has an average of 8% or so over the 8 miles.
A good way of classifying a tough ride is the ft/mile. If you climb 1000ft in 10miles then it's 100ft/mile and most people would say that's a tough ride. The Fred Whitton is about 100ft/mile over 100 miles and that's considered one of the toughest sportives to do.
Where I live my rides tend to be around 30ft/mile mark unless I venture into the Chilterns and even then what goes up must come down so it rarely goes above 40. I have done sportives with 50-60ft/mile and because I'm not used to them I find them a lot tougher.
Fair point, I was using this as a guide http://www.1728.org/gradient.htm but got confused between angles, gradients and percentages!....fwiw Alpe d'Huez has an average of 8% or so over the 8 miles.
A good way of classifying a tough ride is the ft/mile. If you climb 1000ft in 10miles then it's 100ft/mile and most people would say that's a tough ride. The Fred Whitton is about 100ft/mile over 100 miles and that's considered one of the toughest sportives to do.
Where I live my rides tend to be around 30ft/mile mark unless I venture into the Chilterns and even then what goes up must come down so it rarely goes above 40. I have done sportives with 50-60ft/mile and because I'm not used to them I find them a lot tougher.
[/arts student]
Vladimir said:
My regular 5 mile run has 1200ft of climbing. It does hurt though.
I've just mapped a loop near here that's 10 miles and 1000ft. Max gradient 11% but there are stretches that are over 8-9% for a couple of hundred metres..,I can happily say there's no way in hell I'm going to make it round without stopping ... without practice.
bert11 said:
Rule of thumb for me is 1,000ft climbing per 10 miles covered is a tough ride and you should expect to see a lower average speed than usual.
60 miles 3,000ft is meh
60 miles 6,000ft is ouch
No.60 miles 3,000ft is meh
60 miles 6,000ft is ouch
Anyone could ride up a mountain in a stupidly small gear at 5 mph, it would be easy. You shouldn't measure anything on the terrain but the effort you put in.
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