At Dream challenges, we want to offer as many people as possible the opportunity of accomplishing their personal challenge. That’s why our challenges are designed to be physically testing but accomplishable by anyone who puts in the time to prepare and can follow our trekking and cycling training plans.

Each challenge, whatever the main activity, is graded and given a score out of 5. We calculate this score by considering:

• Distance
  • How far will you be cycling or trekking in a typical day.
  • How far you will cycle or trek over the whole challenge.
  • How many days you are cycling or trekking for without a break.
• Elevation gain
  • What is the total elevation gain over the whole challenge.
  • What is the elevation gain on the toughest day.
• Maximum altitude
  • What is the maximum altitude you will be at any time during your challenge.
  • Will it make activity more strenuous for most people.
  • Is there a chance of altitude sickness in some people.
• Environment
  • What is the average temperature of the destination at night and day at the time of year you are travelling.
  • What is the average humidity.
  • What will exposure be like during the challenge.
• Terrain
  • Will the trekking paths be flat and stable, or loose and uneven.
  • Will paths be clear or will you be pushing through vegetation in some places.
  • Are there any other obstacles along the way such as board walks in banana plantations for example.
  • Will you be cycling off road, on unkept road, or on smooth tarmac roads.

The five categories Distance, Elevation Gain, Maximum Altitude, Environment, and Terrain are graded as either Gentle, Light, Moderate, Active, and challenging.

Here is an example using our Cycle Vietnam to Cambodia challenge:

A score of 1 out of 5 will grade the challenge as gentle, a score of 5 out of 5 will grade it challenging.

Vietnam to Cambodia has been classed as moderate. The distances you will cycle each day will be tough and temperatures will be high during the day with high humidity. You will enjoy a rare break in the cycle on day 6 on the Mekong river. This challenge is particularly popular for the relatively flat ride all week on mostly good tarmac roads.

On each of our challenge web pages we will describe why a challenge has been graded the way it has, similarly to how we have in this example of Cycle Vietnam to Cambodia.

• A gentle challenge has been scored 1 out of 5 when considering distance, elevation gain, max altitude, environment, and terrain. A gentle challenge is a great start if you are worried about higher challenge levels. There could be one category classed as achievable level or moderate.
• A light challenge has been scored 2 out of 5 when considering distance, elevation gain, max altitude, environment, and terrain. A light challenge could have at least two categories classed as entry level with two or three categories classed as either moderate or testing.
• A moderate challenge has been scored 3 out of 5 when considering distance, elevation gain, max altitude, environment, and terrain. A moderate challenge could have some categories at achievable level with one or two categories classed as testing or tough.
• An active challenge has been scored 4 out of 5 when considering distance, elevation gain, max altitude, environment, and terrain. At least four of these categories have been classed as active with one category as low as gentle, but an active challenge could also have as many as two categories classed as challenging.
• A challenging grade has been scored as 5 out of 5 when considering distance, elevation gain, max altitude, environment, and terrain. At least three of these five categories have been classed as challenging with the other two categories being no less than moderate to active.

If you have any questions about the challenge and its difficulty, please get in touch with our challenge experts at bookings@dream-challenges.com