Originally Posted by
ericm979
I would swear at that metric, not by it. You'll burn a lot more calories doing an interval up a steel hill for a mile than you would doing a flat mile at a 14 mph recovery ride pace.
But when you come down the other side of the hill, you're burning next to no calories. It all averages out.
People seem to forget that unless they are doing a Point A to Point B ride, or unless there's been an earthquake at the start/finish area causing the start/finish area to shoot way up in the air, the climbing and the descending equal out.