Originally Posted by
pstock
On a recent trip to the Azores I became well aware of my limitations. One day ride was "only" 83kms / 52miles and shows in Google Maps as being 1306m / 4300ft vertical but on that day, I barely made it back to the hotel. I was exhausted and lost all feeling in my fingers (though that might have been hypoglycemia as I didn't really stop to refuel correctly. and it was VERY early in my season, early March. I had zero 2022 miles under my belt at that point. ).
So I (I am 64 years old) am thinking benchmark days of 100kms and 1000m vertical should be managable.
I get wanting to have a more accurate idea of climbing meters per day, I've learned to use the ballpark figure from Google maps to get an idea of how hard the day will be.
re google maps estimate, I've found it to be fairly accurate , when compared to my old school bike computer that can total meters climbed in a day, so unfortunately I can't speak for the other methods that have been showing you very different numbers.
What I did want to bring up is the whole aspect of having better judgement or conservative call on "what is managable " --particularly depending on how many kms you've put in the legs up to that point, how much climbing kms you've put in the legs, and how heavy your bike is (one rackbag vs four panniers sort of thing) combined with the gearing you have if there's a lot of climbing.
I've also learned a long time ago to plan at least a couple of "easy" days at the start of a trip, it just seems to make things a lot easier working into a multi day trip, so besides your clear question of what method gives a more accurate climbing total, this in my experience makes a big difference--especially if travelling with someone else who may be a less strong rider than yourself.
is this trip a credit card trip, on very lightly loaded road bikes, or loaded up with touring stuff etc?
all the best finding a more accurate method. I've been pleasantly surprised by how my old bike computer compares to both google maps and a friends modern gps unit, even in some very mountainy terrain--this doesnt help you in planning your trip days, but I hope some of the other methods are more consistent.
lots of good suggestions here btw
even (EGAD!) looking at paper maps to see
where the steep sections are.
Back in the day, touring in places like the Pyrenees, the chevron marks on good maps was useful to know when hard climbs were coming. Perhaps you can easily get fairly accurate meters gained for specific sections where you know there will be longer climbs--although we are all aware of how a constant up and down day accumulation can really add up and be a kick in the pants day in the end.....
cheers