There is no established formula for grading cycle tours. From 2026 we have expanded from a 4 grade rating to 6, and applied more of a scientific formula rather than instinct (although this still counts too!)
Our new approach counts 200 feet of ascent as one extra mile, which provides an effective mileage bearing in mind ascent. We have then multiplied the effective mileage by a difficulty rating based on how much ascent there is per mile (which takes into account steepness.) If a ride has between 10 and 19 feet per mile we have multiplied by a factor of 1.1. A factor of 1.2 for between 20 and 29 feet. All the way up to 1.9 for 90 to 99 feet and 2 for anything above 100.
The effect of this formula is that ascent counts for a bit more than distance in the below grades. Neither of the Grade 6 rides are epic in distance, but they have a lot of climbing in the distance. And some of the grade 2 rides (eg Road to Copenhagen) may be quite long but very flat, which in our experience is many times easier.
Grade 1
Grade 2
Grade 3
Grade 4
Grade 5
Grade 6
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