Which ride is right for me?
CCBUG ride grades are the easiest way to assess which rides might suite you best. Ride grade is an indication of the relative difficulty of the ride taking into account route length, elevation gain (how many metres climbed over the course of the ride) and pace. Ride pace is a word describing an average cycling speed range of that ride, which excludes stops and rest breaks.
As ride grades are dependent on pace, if a ride leader decides to lead a ride at a different pace to the “normal” pace for that ride, the grade may be different on that occasion. So you do need to check each ride event on our calendar or our Facebook page for the grade being run. Other factors affecting the difficulty of a ride are: your cycling fitness, your health, the type of bicycle you are riding and the weather.
If you are unsure about your ability to successfully complete a ride, please contact the ride leader or our Rides Coordinator to discuss your situation before the day of the ride. Ride leaders give specific information about the ride and related directions to the group at the ride briefing prior to the ride starting.
Please refer to the Ride Comparison Chart, which lists many of our popular rides and compares them to help you gauge other rides that may be of interest to you.
Ride Pace
Our definition of ride paces are:
Note that to achieve an average cycling speed of say 20kph on a typical ride you would need to be riding on the flat at around 25kph, on the downhills over 30kph and on the uphills at least 10kph.
Ride Grade
Our ride grades are Beginner, Easy, Easy-Medium, Medium, Medium-Hard, Hard and Training. See the table below for a detail description.