Originally Posted by
Iride01
If I'm on a fairly level road that goes up and down a foot 20 times over the course of a mile do I count that as 20 feet of gain/loss?
Sure, as it's valid elevation gain/loss, but you'd never measure it accurately and, as you noted, it's not worth even considering.
What if it's 5 feet 20 times in one mile?
Then it's 100 feet, you'd still never measure it accurately.
On relatively flat territory I don't think it's worth worrying about this stuff at all. There isn't any place within 100 miles of here where I'd even acknowledge an elevation gain/loss measurement as noteworthy, much less significant.