tools to predict elevation? total climbing & difficulty?
 

so let me preface this by saying that i just biked from trenton nj to ledgewood nj mostly along 206 north (which has decent shoulder for 80-90% of the distance of it i was on) and i had no idea what i was in for in terms of hills and grade of those elevations. i am beat. i would have done the trip anyway but knowing always helps. same thing happened when i went from philly to wilmington.

distance/touring gurus: what tools do you use? commercial? free? online? it'd be great if google maps would add a contour view that took your driving/walking directions into account and told you total climb, but...

www.mapmyride.com lets you see the elevation profile and estimated amount of climbing. I also use the MapSource maps that I got for my Garmin GPS. Plot the route using the street maps and then look at the profile using the topo maps - it shows the profile but doesn't give a cumulative gain figure. DeLorme's Topo map programs are another option - they also give a profile and cumulative gain estimates (but I've found the latter to err on the high side).

+1
Just don't take the elevation change that tools like this give as being really accurate, they can be off by a good bit. They are close enough to be useful though. Similarly take what your GPS says with a grain of salt.

Sometime if I want a general idea I just use google earth. I just hover the cursor over the roads and look at the elevation as I go. Then if I want more than a general idea I use mapmyride.

I've found http://ridewithgps.com/ to be the most accurate and by far the easiest to learn and operate. YMMV.

Zagnut

Dunno if this iPhone app can predict total elevations, but B.iCycle keeps track of your cumulative. FWIW.

wicked, just the sort of answers i was lookin' fer.
i'll have a look-see and try these out.
thanks all!

mapmyride.com is pretty excellent.
looks like my dover->millsboro ride today is fairly moderate.

http://www.mapmyride.com/route/us/de...25387010986702