Ascent Rate

[Sharky]

Deliberately took one of my more hilly routes today and worked out that the average ascent rate was 78ft per mile. Total distance was 18.17 miles with 1423.9 ft of climbing. Won't mention the time it took, but I've had quicker average speeds in the past.

How does this compare with the traditionally hilly parts of the UK. This loop was in Kent, where there are no mountains, but there are no flats either.

 

[ColinJ]

Typical round here (hilly West/North Yorkshire, Lancashire, North Derbyshire) is 20 metres per km (~106 ft per mile). Very hilly rides are more like 25 metres per km (~126 ft per mile). I did one killer that was about 28 metres per km (148 ft per mile). That is for rides of 40+ km (25+ miles), starting and finishing in the same place.

I could choose short hilly routes with numbers MUCH higher than those by simply going up a steep climb and coming straight back down again. For example, Pudsey Rd/Shore New Rd from Cornholme up to The Long Causeway. That climbs 200 metres in 1.93 km (656 ft in 1.2 miles) which is a horrid 52 metres per km (273 ft per mile) up then down. Obviously, any practical ride will come in less than that but if I were crazy enough to ride there, do multiple hill repeats, and then ride home I would come up with some huge number.

I did a 179 km (111 mile) ride yesterday the route for which was chosen to be 'flattish'. That came out to be 1,800 metres (5,905 ft) so ~10 metres per km or 53 ft per mile. I didn't start and finish at the same location, but there was only 7 metres in it so not a significant factor.

The Manchester 100 sportive in Cheshire is often described as 'pan flat' but even that has about 1,000 metres of ascent in 161 kms (~6 metres per km) or 3281 ft in 100 miles (~33 ft per mile).

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Not hilly here in Leicester.

I average around 30 feet per mile. I can go out and push that to 50 feet per mile which is more than enough for me.

 

[HLaB]

Definitely not hilly here. We headed to what folk think are hills yesterday and it was 50ft per mile but to escape the rain today we headed to the Fens and it was less than 15ft per mile.

 

[gavroche]

Typical round here (hilly West/North Yorkshire, Lancashire, North Derbyshire) is 20 metres per km (~106 ft per mile). Very hilly rides are more like 25 metres per km (~126 ft per mile). I did one killer that was about 28 metres per km (148 ft per mile). That is for rides of 40+ km (25+ miles), starting and finishing in the same place.

I could choose short hilly routes with numbers MUCH higher than those by simply going up a steep climb and coming straight back down again. For example, Pudsey Rd/Shore New Rd from Cornholme up to The Long Causeway. That climbs 200 metres in 1.93 km (656 ft in 1.2 miles) which is a horrid 52 metres per km (273 ft per mile) up then down. Obviously, any practical ride will come in less than that but if I were crazy enough to ride there, do multiple hill repeats, and then ride home I would come up with some huge number.

I did a 179 km (111 mile) ride yesterday the route for which was chosen to be 'flattish'. That came out to be 1,800 metres (5,905 ft) so ~10 metres per km or 53 ft per mile. I didn't start and finish at the same location, but there was only 7 metres in it so not a significant factor.

The Manchester 100 sportive in Cheshire is often described as 'pan flat' but even that has about 1,000 metres of ascent in 161 kms (~6 metres per km) or 3281 ft in 100 miles (~33 ft per mile).

 

[G3CWI]

I did a 20 mile ride round Holbeach. 16ft ascent. I generally consider 100ft or more per mile to be a hilly ride.

 

[TonySJ]

As a rule I try and ride at 1000 ft per 10 mile ( 100 ft per mile ) but then again I'm in Chesterfield with the Peaks District just up the road.

 

[Skanker]

I do the stairs on my boat multiple times a day, they climb up five feet in 19 inches.

 

[13 rider]

Not hilly here in Leicester.

I average around 30 feet per mile. I can go out and push that to 50 feet per mile which is more than enough for me.

Only because you go miles round every hill . North of Leicester is slightly hillier but I average around 40ft per mile but can do over 100 ft per miles very close to home if I want to which inst that often

 

[johnblack]

I'd never thought about this before. Just gone back over my strava records and it's usually about 50ft per mile, but I have a few shorter loops that are over 80ft.

 

[presta]

I don't routinely record ascent, but I measured it for my last tour. Varies between 19.6 and 97.2:

 

[gbs]

I am unsure of the purpose of yr qn but it is so much easier to compare if we accept the metric, and OS, concept of % gradient. FWIW Richmond park averages 1% ie 52ft/mile. I regard that as undulating although there are pitches of 13% or so. In the Alpine areas day rides often do not exceed 2% - long climbs are offset typically by longer access rides.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Deliberately took one of my more hilly routes today and worked out that the average ascent rate was 78ft per mile. Total distance was 18.17 miles with 1423.9 ft of climbing. Won't mention the time it took, but I've had quicker average speeds in the past.

How does this compare with the traditionally hilly parts of the UK. This loop was in Kent, where there are no mountains, but there are no flats either.

In my own records I divide the miles covered by 2 to get the average per mile ascent rate whilst ascending - all my routes are loops.

Obviously not entirely accurate but it always seems logical to me.

Does this seem sensible?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Different kind of climbing. In Kent the climbs can easily end up being VO2 Max efforts as they are no more than 5 mins of climbing before it levels or descends. In more traditionally hilly areas the climbs are longer you may end up working at your lactate threshold for longer. Of course you can twiddle up either and hit neither of those effort levels.

 

[Sharky]

Different kind of climbing. In Kent the climbs can easily end up being VO2 Max efforts as they are no more than 5 mins of climbing before it levels or descends. In more traditionally hilly areas the climbs are longer you may end up working at your lactate threshold for longer. Of course you can twiddle up either and hit neither of those effort levels.

Also depends whether you are riding east to west or west to east. The underlying rock formation sometimes means you can be riding for 30 mins (at my pace), gradually climbing until you reach the highest point, then a rapid 2 or 3 mins descending to get back to the lowest point.