So on yesterday’s ride Rick asked Bill if there was a hilly-ness rating we might use to rank routes… intrigued, as “flat” “rolly” and “hilly” was always subject to the interpretation of the ride coordinator, and what Norm called “flat” was not what everyone else experienced as flat.
Now that RWGPS gives us a +/- elevation change on every route we design, we can calculate the factor of elevation divided by the miles of the ride to come up with a “feet per mile” number we’ll call the “Climb Factor”.
Bill ran the numbers on the Tuesday Routes and found a range from less than 20 feet per mile to over 50 feet per mile: Tues14 & 18 are less than 20’/m; (Climb Factor 1)
01 & 13 25 are in the 20’s. (Climb Factor 2)
Most routes are 30’/m to 40’/m. (Climb Factor 3 & 4)
06 & 17 30 are over 50’/m. (Climb Factor 5)

Our Weekend Routes range from CF 0 (less than 10 ft per mile on DCP01 S with 109 feet in 18.2 miles) to CF 7 (over 70 feet per mile on DCP21 L+ at 4,594 feet in 59.7 miles!)
So when a Climb Factor is on a route, it can give you an idea of how much elevation you can expect, relative to the distance. (Probably TMI but maybe it will catch on!)

Since most rides start & end at the same location, the climb and descent are the same. Some rides - like Riverside down stream to Anaheim may have a Climb Factor in a negative number.
You can do your own calculation: If the route is 38.3 miles & elevation is shown as +/- 1,234 ft just do the math: 1,234 / 38.3 = 32.2’/m (feet per mile) so that would be a “Climb Factor 3”