Cycle & Mountain Bike Grading

Every holiday listed on this site has a 'Grade' assigned to it. This is to help you gauge the sort of distances you are likely to be riding each day and how strenuous the riding will be.
However, this is only a guide. For example, specialist Downhilling or Freeride Mountain Bike holidays will require 'confident' bike handling skills, yet may rely on ski lifts to get you back to the top of the mountain and therefore entail very little climbing.

If in doubt, always contact the tour operator to be sure your skills and fitness levels are suitable for the holiday in question.

Use the bright red search bar (above) to find a holiday at a grade that suits you!

	Minimum Requirement			Offroad Biking Holidays		Road-based tours / holidays
Grade	Bike Handling Skills	Cycling Experience	Fitness Levels	Terrain / Riding	Miles per day	Riding	Miles per day
Leisurely	Basic	Occasional	Exercise occasionally	Mostly flat – non technical	10 - 15	Mostly flat. 200m max. cumulative daily climb (often much less)	10 - 20
Moderate	Reasonable	Weekend	Exercise fairly hard at least twice a week	Rolling hills – some moderately technical sections	15 - 25	Rolling hills. 250m – 750m cumulative daily climb	20 - 30
Challenging	Competent	Regular	Exercise regularly for sustained periods	Challenging climbs and tricky descents - mixture of double track and technical single-track	20 - 40	Challenging climbs. 500 - 1000m cumulative daily climb	30 - 60
Demanding	Confident	Experienced	Exercise hard and like to push physical limits	Demanding climbs and steep descents, mostly technical single track – often at altitude	30 - 60	Demanding climbs and steep descents. 500 – 2000m cumulative daily climb	40 - 80