I always wonder how much climbing is involved in rides like these. I love rides like this where I can test my limits and from what I read they are necessary to better health and improvement. The other day a group of us did a 26.7 mi. ride with 2500 ft. of climbing at 15.78 mph. At age 66 and being 10 lbs overweight (still) I'm a pretty mediocre climber but the group was pretty good and that forced me to work. Afterwards I felt great.