Sloww Cheetah / How We Rate Difficulty
How We Rate Difficulty
Every difficulty badge on this site — Easy, Moderate, Hard, or Strenuous — is computed from the same GPX-derived distance and elevation numbers behind every route and trek, using a fixed formula. No one sits down and guesses. If the tier looks wrong, the fix is the formula or the underlying GPX data, not a vibe.
Climbing-equivalent distance
We convert every ride to a single "effort" number, treating roughly 20 metres of climbing as equivalent effort to 1 flat kilometre:
effort (km) = distance (km) + elevation gain (m) ÷ 20
Naismith's Rule
For treks, we use Naismith's Rule — the standard hillwalking pace convention: allow 1 hour for every 5km covered, plus 1 extra hour for every 600m of ascent.
effort (hours) = distance (km) ÷ 5 + elevation gain (m) ÷ 600
When a trek's underfoot terrain has been assessed, that estimate is adjusted by a multiplier — neutral (×1.0) for easy underfoot, ×1.1 for uneven, ×1.25 for technical — but a trek without that assessment yet still gets a full, real tier from GPX data alone.
Manual overrides
In rare cases where the formula genuinely doesn't fit a route or trek — a short but technically dangerous scramble, for instance — we can manually set the tier instead. When that happens, the page says so directly: "Manually rated — see notes below," never presented as if it were computed.