Miles or Km

[snorri]

I don't understand why UK cyclists use Kilometers, do native cyclists in countries that use Kilometers use miles for recording distance?

Yes! Sweden and Norway use mils but they measure 10km.
I was lucky to have been given the low down not long before asking a local for directions to a campsite in Sweden. "It's just half a mil up the road" she said. I didn't feel like cycling another 5km at the end of a long day, but that's what I had to do.

Of course the burning question is, do you say kilOMeters or KILometers?

The latter.

 

[LeetleGreyCells]

Metric all the way.

 

[Jenkins]

Either.

My Garmin is set for miles and my total mileage is recored in them. However, when I go out for a ride I like to aim for a round number minimum distance whether that's 40 or 50 miles or 50 or 100km (31 & a bit or 62 and a bit miles).

Also, just to throw the drinks thing into confusion, it is possible to buy bottles of cider in 1 pint/568ml bottles, but I've not seen beer sold in this volume.

 

[rogerzilla]

And what was wrong with the cubit?

I still use that to set reach on a bike! Cubit plus an inch.

 

[Venod]

Also, just to throw the drinks thing into confusion, it is possible to buy bottles of cider in 1 pint/568ml bottles, but I've not seen beer sold in this volume.

Even more confusing, Newcastle Brown is sold in 550ml bottles, maybe to allow for a head in a pint glass.

 

[Jenkins]

Even more confusing, Newcastle Brown is sold in 550ml bottles, maybe to allow for a head in a pint glass.

And straying even more slightly off topic, packs of ground coffee are mostly sold in 227 or 454g packs (1/2lb or 1lb) while instant is in multiples of 100g.

 

[Pale Rider]

Even more confusing, Newcastle Brown is sold in 550ml bottles, maybe to allow for a head in a pint glass.

Newcastle Brown is unusual for a beer in that it is supplied in a clear glass bottle.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

There are a few bottled beers that are sold in full pint measures. I suspect the main reason for the proliferation of 500ml sizes is a lot of it is exported, and for most brewers, it's more convenient to only have one size container on their bottling lines. You can get Wifebeater in 284ml bottles by the case though, AKA half a pint. Not sure it still qualifies for the name though, as it's not as strong as it used to be. I used to sometimes drink Newky Brown in pubs with no real beer, and I'm sure it used to be full pint measure years ago.

 

[si_c]

My bike computer show speed and distance in miles and elevation in metres. I use Strava for ride-logging and that displays in KM largely because I prefer elevation in metres and you can't select that as a display option separately.

 

[HLaB]

Miles so I can talk about my mileage; talking about kilomage doesn't sound right

 

[Vantage]

The only times I use kilometres is on the 50k a month thread and that's only because just like kilometres, I'm a big girls blouse and can't currently do 50 miles.
I blame those poncy French types fine chaps across the pond and the tdf for kms being the default choice among cyclists.
If distances were people, the mile would be John Wayne. Big, tough, rugged, manly. The km would be some moisturiser using, manbag wearing, boyband wannabe, metrosexual with a stupid bleach blonde wavy haircut.
I'd rather the John Wayne way.

 

[Sterlo]

Okay, you've convinced me, I've just switched back to miles!!!

 

[Hugh Manatee]

And angles (although minutes and seconds of arc seem to be dying out in these days of GPS)

Ah, but GPS (GNSS) relies on the WGS84 coordinate system. This is always expressed as Latitude, Longitude and Elipsoid height. The Lat and Long are degrees, minutes and seconds. All other coordinate systems (including our own OSGB36(15) are transformations of WGS84.
I wrote a guy an export file that would export his WGS data to 9 decimal places last week.

On the other hand, my son who is doing A Level maths and did Further Maths at GCSE didn't even know about degree, minutes and seconds! Apparently, they use Rads.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Here's a fun game for you. Assuming your computer reads out miles, after one mile you wonder how far you have gone in km. You make a guess: It's about 2km so you say to yourself "1 mile is 2 km". It's a pretty poor estimate but it will do.

Now wait until you have done that number of miles, in this case 2. Add together the two previous numbers and you will get a better estimate - in this case 2 miles is 3 km.

And repeat the process: 3 is 5 (ie 2+3); 5 is 8 (3+5); 8 is 13 (5+8); 13 is 21 and so on. With each step your estimate will get better. By the time you get to 8 is 13 the error is already less than 1%.

Unfortunately I lied and it doesn't keep getting better for ever. Eventually it settles down with an over-estimate error of about 0.5%.

Of course what you are doing is calculating the Fibonacci numbers as you go along. Who says long distance cycling is boring?

 

[postman]

View: https://youtu.be/Q0iqg2UanEc