rosefarts

You can really tell the geography of the posters here. In Colorado, a flat century like Elephant Rock still has close to 5000'. In other parts of the world, that's a hilly day.

I'm "lucky" I can do a century east of town with barely 1000' of climbing and one west of town with over 10k, not quite from the front door but close.

fietsbob

One ride, over months? Dublin to Aberdeen via west coasts of Ireland & Scotland ??

Foyers on the south side of Loch Ness is a lot higher than the north where the main highway hugs the shore..

Hydro drop powered an electrical generator powering an aluminum smelter, which the Germans Bombed in WW 2..

started that part from Oban a seaport..

canklecat

Around 5,600 feet over 100 miles or so. That's about all the climbing we can manage. Lots of rollers here, very few real climbs within riding distance of home. Some of the rollers are so regularly spaced along a couple of rural routes it's like doing hill repeats without needing to turn around and actually ride the same hill.

It's so flat east of me that when I ride that route too often I lose conditioning. So I ride west of town more often for a better workout. Helps since I'm a mediocre climber.

diphthong

two that come to mind in the last few years were an 88+ mile/11,000+ ft effort in the santa monica mountains near los angeles and a 109 mile/12,800+ ft effort
in the santa barbara area. first ride...planned on rounding it up to a century and probably adding another 1,500 ft but both legs started cramping. second ride...
knocked out the first hc climb early but the last hc climb was near the end and i have never experienced swollen feet pain as i did that day. really not a good time
and took a lot of joy out of the accomplishment.

have done a few century rides with 10,000 ft+ climbed recently and haven't had major body issues other than expected fatigue. possibly in better shape now vs then.

KevinF

The Mt. Greylock Century in Western Massachusetts is 100 miles, 10,000 feet of climbing. I've done that twice.

The King's Tour of the Quabbin century in central Mass is 7500 feet of climbing in 100 miles... but 6,000 feet of the climbing comes in the last 70 miles (i.e., the first 30 miles are pretty easy). I do that one most every year.

I've done various supported cross-state rides that typically averaged 70, 75 feet of climbing per mile. Multiply that by 400 miles or so and you get some pretty big climbing totals.

jgscisum 

Aspen to Independence Pass. Aspen at 8000', 19 miles to Independence Pass at 12,095'. 4095 ft on a Woodford touring bike. Hardest part was dodging motor homes.

Machka 

10,000 feet is 3048 metres.

Here in Tasmania, I have made an effort to find flat routes for one of our Super Randonneur series.

Our flat 300 km is 2677 metres.
Our flat 400 km is 3044 metres.
Our flat 600 km is 4636 metres.

So ... once you get your distance up, it really isn't hard to do a reasonable amount of climbing, even on relatively flat routes.

50PlusCycling

In the late 90's I rode in a Spanish team, and we climbed the Alto del Angliru. The last 13km of the climb brings you from 300 meters to 1500 meters, so about about 3800 feet of climbing over 8 miles. The grade averages 9% or so, the worst part is 24%.

banjaboy

Well...............In 1968, yup,, a lifetime ago I was 18, my hero was an English rider called Tommy Simpson, he had died on Mont Ventoux the year before in the Tour de France. I used to write to himn, get handwritten letters back regarding gearing as I was a schoolboy and we were restricted to gearing, 76.5???? Not sure now in the mists of time, but needless to say my hero died. So young and stupid as I was I decided to head off to Europe mainland Europe, I was living in England at the time. I took my bike, a tent and little else. Took that Raleigh Record and my dreams. Over the next few weeks I rode Mont Ventoux in hie memory, did the Col Du Tourmalet, the Galibier, L'alpe D'huez. Young and stuoid but man, I learned what pain was, what an adrenalin rush was, elation. It was the trip of a lifetime for a young lad like me. I was young, as fit as a butchers dog but man, I suffered. I guess that one ride though it lasted a few weeks. Now Im 70 years old next week, I really want to do it again, will I? I WILL do at least one of those climbs.

livedarklions

You sound delightfully crazy--that's a compliment, btw.

I find as I get older that it isn't the steep ascents I worry about, the worst that will happen there is embarrassment. Steep descents make me nervous.

banjaboy

Lol!!!!!! True! At 18 years old you dont think of danger of any kind, now? All the time. Im watcvhing this years Tour de France at the moment, the descents are madness, 94 km per hour!!!!!! But you know what? I bet I went that fast back then but no bike computers then lol!!!!

expatbrit

10,000', 35 miles up Halekalea.

Ouch.

jimincalif

11,500' in 108 miles - Breathless Agony in SoCal.

zacster

I only made it up to 6000' in about 20 miles on Haleakala. It is on my list to make it to the top before I'm below ground.

mercator

I did Mount Ventoux twice in one day. Didn't have a garmin at the time, but it probably works out to a little over 10,000 ft. It was pretty hard but I was younger then.

spdntrxi

I won't even do a century anymore (unless it with loads of friends).. dont know how many times I've ridden 80+miles solo with 5-6k of climbing and I simply dont enjoy myself when I'm done ( too beat) 60-70miles is the sweet spot for me.

banjaboy

Twice ? I did it once and that was it for me lol!!!!

woodcraft

OK, for that measure, 196, 835'

billyymc

111 miles, 11,065 feet. When I finished my GPS said 111.1 and 11,111 feet (ok I had to ride a few hundred yards at the end to make this happen), BUT when it uploaded to ridewithgps their program must have lost a little of the elevation. SO disappointing

This year I was planning on doing the ride linked here but suffered an IT band injury riding across NYS: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/31141463

Lots of this ride is pretty remote, and the climbs get steep, so I really need to be 100% to do it. My plan is to make this a goal for next June so it's motivation to stay in shape over the winter.

Edit to add: the linked route is largely dirt/gravel/forest service roads.

Branko D

For me, 3509m (about 11.500 ft) of climbing as part of a 301km ride with my wife, but it didn't feel like a lot of climbing because there was nothing particularly steep about the route, a couple of long gentle climbs and some (well, many) short hills at a moderate gradient.

I've had shorter rides which felt much harder, climbing wise; did a 2400m (7800 ft) as part of a 145km ride recently while on vacation where I also chased a few poorly contested climb segments segments on the way, and then ran out of water between towns (never rode there before, turns out there's a 40k stretch without a cafe or shop in sight, luckily it was something like a long -0,2% but running out of water still takes a bit out of you) and by the end of it, I was really quite glad it was over by the end of it.