RIDE RATING SYSTEM
Club rides vary in terms of terrain, pace, distance, and regroups. This system is designed to describe what you should expect from a club ride. All riders are responsible for choosing rides that are suitable for themselves.
Ideally, all club rides have an attached route on the calendar event so everyone can navigate themselves. If there is not an attached route, the ride leader is responsible for navigating all members of the group for the entirety of the ride. All club rides are rated on 4 criteria, detailed below.
1️⃣ DISTANCE
The total distance of the ride. All rides must specify the distance of the ride.
2️⃣ TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED
The total elevation gained on the entirety of the route. Coupled with the distance metric, this should give a pretty good idea of the kind of ride. See the table at the bottom of this page for some examples of common routes and distance & elevation gained metrics.
3️⃣ DROP FACTOR
There are 3 ratings for drop factor:
4️⃣ AVERAGE FLAT GROUND SPEED
Speed can vary depending on the type of ride and the elevation gain, so we normalize this factor by specifying that this is for flat ground. This means no more than a +/- 1% grade on average for ~30 minutes. This metric is not meant to represent the fastest anticipated pace on the ride, but rather an average over the entire course of the ride. There are 4 ratings for this metric:
Flying: 18+ mph
Fast: 15-18 mph
Moderate: 12-15 mph
Chill: 8-12 mph
SAMPLE RIDES & ROUTES
Ride Route |
Distance |
Total elevation gained |
Legion of Honor and GGP | 14.51 mi | 1176 ft |
Hawk Hill and Backside from SB | 15.74 mi | 1494 ft |
Fairfax from GGB | 33.91 mi | 1742 ft |
Paradise Loop from GGB | 34.44 mi | 1599 ft |
Pt Reyes Stinson Loop from GGB | 74.42 mi | 4794 ft |
Alpine Dam from GGB | 48.08 mi | 4191 ft |