Dogtrousers
Kilometre nibbler
I note that my favoured ride logging site, ridewithgps only shows "moving average" for a ride, not the actual average speed. Strava, I think, shows "moving time" by default. It's quite difficult to get hold of the real average speed on these sites, you basically have to calculate it yourself.
Now, how useful is this? Other than for flattering yourself than you're quicker than you really are, not much. If you want to plan a ride it's not much use at all. The reason why you stop is due to real world things like needing a rest, road conditions, traffic junctions etc. What use is moving average? Does it tell you how fast you would have gone if there were no junctions? No, not really because it would be a totally different route in that case: you would be less rested, but would spend less time accelerating and decelerating. So what's the use of knowing what your theoretical speed might be in a different universe?
And another thing. It's not even a real measure. Different sites have different algorithms for calculating stopped time, and will differ in their results. So it's just a made up measure, just like "calories burned".
I wrote to ridewithGPS, in green ink natch, making this point. They humoured me with a nice reply, but I suspect they may have considered me an obsessive nutcase. I can't think why.
Now, how useful is this? Other than for flattering yourself than you're quicker than you really are, not much. If you want to plan a ride it's not much use at all. The reason why you stop is due to real world things like needing a rest, road conditions, traffic junctions etc. What use is moving average? Does it tell you how fast you would have gone if there were no junctions? No, not really because it would be a totally different route in that case: you would be less rested, but would spend less time accelerating and decelerating. So what's the use of knowing what your theoretical speed might be in a different universe?
And another thing. It's not even a real measure. Different sites have different algorithms for calculating stopped time, and will differ in their results. So it's just a made up measure, just like "calories burned".
I wrote to ridewithGPS, in green ink natch, making this point. They humoured me with a nice reply, but I suspect they may have considered me an obsessive nutcase. I can't think why.
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