WMC Bike Ride Ratings

Points added to each ride rating based on these factors:

Ride Mileage: 1 point for each 10 ride miles.
Total Gain: 1 point for each 1000 feet of elevation gain.
Avg Gain per Mile (GPM):1 point for each 100 feet of elevation gain per mile.
Increase Factors: Each factor adds 1.0 point.
Decrease Factors: Each factor deducts 1.0 point.

Note: Avg GPM uses the simplifying assumption that half the miles on a ride are spent climbing and half descending; so the formula divides Total Gain by Ride Mileage/2.

Increase Factors:

S - Steep climbs, greater than 6%
L - Long, sustained climbs; or a lot of climbs
X - Extreme climbs: climbs greater than 8%
E - Elevation gain in excess of 5,000 feet
H - High elevation: above 10,000 feet
Note: In extreme cases, a factor can be added more than once. For example, if a ride has an especially long sustained climb, an increase factor of LL or LLL could be used.

Decrease Factors:

D ‐ Substantial downhill; climbing done early

Elevation adjustment factor:

Elevation gain is based on the amount of gain that Ride with GPS (RWGPS) reports for each ride. But RWGPS tends to overestimate gain; a regression analysis indicated that a reasonable adjustment would be to decrease the RWGPS figure by about 12%. Thus multiply RWGPS' gain by 0.88

Club Pace Ratings

From  To
NTD 0.1 -  4.0Not Too Difficult: Lightly Strenuous
MOD 4.1 - 10.0MODerate: Moderate to Strenuous
MSD10.1 - 14.0MoSt Difficult: Very Strenuous, Difficult
EXT14.1 -  EXTreme: Requires strong, well seasoned riders

Note: Each rating category can have a + or ‐ attached, indicating relative difficulty within the category. For example, rides in the 4.1 to 5.5 range would be considered MOD‐; rides in the 8.6 to 10.0 range would be considered MOD+.

Club Ratings and Point Ratings

WMC pace ratings are slow, moderate and fast. The pace of a ride can greatly affect its level of difficulty. Please take that into account when deciding which club rides to participate in. Pace translates into speed roughly as follows:

Slow: 8-12 MPH
Moderate:13-17 MPH
Fast: 18+ MPH