Originally Posted by BluesDawg
I've been thinking about that and it just doesn't work for me because it ranks intensity backwards. I have a 14 mile loop I do sometimes when I want to get in a ride but don't have time for a longer ride. I consider it a short ride. It is mostly gently rolling with one hard hill about 1/2 mile long.
If I ride it hard, it takes me about 50 to 55 minutes. If I take it easy it takes a little over an hour. So it would be a medium ride if I rode it easy and a short ride if I rode it hard. So I consider difficulty seperately from distance. Short is short. No matter how fast or how hilly.
Not that it matters worth a hill of beans.
Judging ride "length" by time only applies if you're comparing rides done at equal or comparable effort. Used that way, it helps rate rides regardless of other conditions. A dead flat 15 mi. course you can finish in 1 hr or less is very different from a 15 mi course with two or three thousand feet of vertical gain.