avg ascent?

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Perfect timing as I was just wondering the same thing myself.  The ride I just did this evening was 31 miles and included 1293 feet of climbing.  I goofed up and reset my bike computer at mile 17 but based on the time I got from my HRM I figure I averaged about 16.9mph.  On the same route yesterday, but only doing half, I averaged 17.5mph but there was a little less wind and I knew I didn't have to save anything for another loop.

My standard 30 Mile route has about 1700' of gain and I usually avg somewhere around 15-18mph, depending on what I'm doing and traffic. My route has a TON of traffic lights, so that slows me down a ton.

I have a ton of options and terrain for cycling right out my front door...but that is my regular ride.

Down here by the beach I don't know what a hill is.  There are a few slight inclines but that's about it.  The wind is another story.  I hope when I go inland for a tri in July that the hills don't kill me.

How does everyone get the elevation nmubers?  I have compared the ascents of my rides on Delorme, mapmyrun, google maps, my bike computer, the mapping tools on BT, and the "published" numbers for the race courses, and they are all DRAMATICALLY different.

I guess I trust Delorme the most since they build the maps a lot of mountaineering types use.

To answer the question, that amount of elevation gain depends on the length of the ride.  2000 ft would be a lot for a 15-20 mile ride, not so much for a 30.  And if the ascents are rolling vs. steep climbs, it can make a huge difference as well, at least for my riding averages.

My rides are typically in the 70-90 ft/mile average ascent (per Delorme) and I usually come in at the 16-18 mph range.  But that number depends a lot on the type of training ride I was doing.

I guess I'm saying I try not to worry too much about my average speeds on training rides but focus more on the effort being correct as per my plan.  Keep in mind there are some hellaciously fast cyclists on here.