It's a matter of choice for me. Do I want to do a hilly ride or a flatish ride. Road bike or mountain bike.


I, most of the time, live on a hill in So Cal so any ride involves climbing to finish the ride, and most often to start the ride as well. I can do a road ride that averages 19.3'/mile on a 41.5 mile ride and most of the climbing is in the first mile and last two miles. I can also do one that averages 77.7'/mile over 30.8 miles and I'm rolling all the time. My mountain bike rides are all over 100'/mile with most in the 130-150'/mile range. My commute is 21.3'/mile.


When I go to our house in No Cal, the average goes up on road rides. Largely because we seek out the climbing. We average closer to 100'/mile. The commute is 36.4'/mile.


I live in North Carolina for a few years. When at the coast, a road ride was ~5'/mile. In the mountains it was ~100'/mile. The commute in Raleigh was 50.5'/mile. Mountain bike showed similar variability.


So it's all numbers and what you seek. Best to just go ride.....