Show us your.......newbie progress!

[Big_Dave]

Shorts, long sleeve summer jersey with a short sleeve jersey over the top so I could use the pockets, plenty warm enough

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Reading, emptying dishwasher, and making cakes for me I think. I may even watch a film.

Steady......

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Normal 50 mile spin for me yesterday - was out early so Aldi winter jacket was used..... a little too warm by ten in the morning. The times definitely starting to slip with the colder weather. I was out on a new hybrid - that's been sitting in the garage for five months waiting for me to sell the other one - everything on the new one seems to be dry - need to get some grease into the hubs and everything just seemed a little strange. I'm now wondering if I should sell the new one and keep and spend money on the old one. The two bikes are the same model - but the new one seems to have inferior components in it - feels a little plastic in comparison with the old one - might just be newness.

If I thought my new hybrid was not quite as solid as the old - I saw a true wheel buckle yesterday. I saw a couple of guys walking towards me and asked if they were ok - they replied they were but he wasn't.... their mate about 50 yards back pushing his bike up the hill - the wheel was split in two with half at a 90 degree angle to the other. I thought he had been in an accident with a car but no, it gave way coming up the hill - upon closer inspection it was a BSO. If it had been made of cheese it would have probably been better made!

Spokeydokey - sounds like your trips in the hills of the Lakes are a little like mine......fuelled by the all day breakfast of the Little Chef on the A66 outside of Penrith. Where are you headed? Really envious - not been across to the Lakes since eary summer and looks like my road bike that is still there, will be there to at least Christmas.

Hiking trip this Saturday - not on bike.

We are doing a moderately ambitious (for the time of year) circuit that takes in Blencathra & Skiddaw. I prefer my hiking to cycling although the latter helps with fitness for the former and is accessible from my drive.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

RWGPS gives ascent time so if you take that and elevation gained you get elev/ascent time= ft/hr or convert the ft to meters and get an average V.A.M. the bryton site gives uphill distance and up hill riding time, and it accepts fit files, though I am not sure how accurate it is as I really only have the R20 data to go off, and it isn't very reliable.
RWGPS I have found corrects tcx files quite well, but the fit files from the 500 tended to have trough and peak spikes on correction which is why my ft/mile last year I think are a bit high

View attachment 58302

If you ride starts/ends at the same place the true ft/mile is half the distance, I believe
The climbbybike formula will give an indication of how difficult the ride was in real terms, as it takes climbing into account, I have some short rides using this that turn out to be more difficult than longer riders.
I can go into in further detail later, I have some painting and wiring to do today.

This is the formula if you want to us it in a spread sheet or data base
CLIMBBYBIKE-INDEX
(H*100/D)*2 + H²/D + D/1000 + (T-1000)/100
Whereby: H = difference in height; D = distance in meters; T = top of mountain in meters

The last part of the formula does only apply to mountains above 1000 meters.

I would need to look at how I use it, as the the later bit doesn't apply to me and I may well have dropped from the formula, I think it went something like this h=elevation gained d=distance this gives a number which is quite low and I multiplied it by a number to give a workable number, so long as it consistent from ride to ride it doesn't matter as its relative to your rides.

You can see from this that yesterday was actually more difficult than the ride of 43 miles
View attachment 58305


This also shows the difference in the two units and rwgps corrected data from the 705, the lue is my ride to group on Friday mornings and the red just shows how another shorter ride can be more difficult.

Hope this helps.

That's a great answer - thanks very much Nigel.

I do do the half the distance thing to get a better idea of the real amount of ascent whilst ascending. I sometimes go up some pretty steep hills and then look at my ascent and it bears no relation to the hill(s) I went up if you know what I mean. I guess it's that thing where you could ascend 500' in a mile and then spend 9 miles descending the same and getting an average of 50' a mile.

I have just gotten onto RWGPS and will give that a bash later on today when I have demolished my chores.

***

As an aside, my hiking buddy and I have played with formulas over the years for our mountain forays and we have settled on something that works for us in terms of route planning over different types of terrain and in different weather/ground conditions. We are fairly accurate now having been at it for decades and apart from helping keep you out of harms way best as possible it's good fun working these things out too.

***

Ta again for your help.

 

[Mo1959]

That's a great answer - thanks very much Nigel.

I do do the half the distance thing to get a better idea of the real amount of ascent whilst ascending. I sometimes go up some pretty steep hills and then look at my ascent and it bears no relation to the hill(s) I went up if you know what I mean. I guess it's that thing where you could ascend 500' in a mile and then spend 9 miles descending the same and getting an average of 50' a mile.

I have just gotten onto RWGPS and will give that a bash later on today when I have demolished my chores.

***

As an aside, my hiking buddy and I have played with formulas over the years for our mountain forays and we have settled on something that works for us in terms of route planning over different types of terrain and in different weather/ground conditions. We are fairly accurate now having been at it for decades and apart from helping keep you out of harms way best as possible it's good fun working these things out too.

***

Ta again for your help.

One of the things I like with RWGPS is the elevation map actually seems to show every incline you did including the smaller ones, whereas Strava smooths it all out and makes the ride look much more gentle than it was.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

One of the things I like with RWGPS is the elevation map actually seems to show every incline you did including the smaller ones, whereas Strava smooths it all out and makes the ride look much more gentle than it was.

i like the sound of that Mo - anything that makes an older fella look more hardcore is a big plus for me!

A very large tree has just fallen over in the field behind us - fortunately the horses (3) were over the other side of the field - they were standing under the tree about an hour ago grazing and looking miserable in the rain. Maybe they have a Horsey Sixth Sense and knew what was coming!

Nothing to do with your quote but I thought it was interesting.

 

[Mo1959]

Also off topic, but does anyone else find the site a bit slow and sticky to load this morning or is it at my end?

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@SpokeyDokey a bit like this http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747 a bit of climbing to start than flat than the slog back home
http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747
this being the most awkward
http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4446907826
as its a really narrow lane for the latter part.
http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4445311904

On the whole they don't get much worse locally, though this probably the toughest short climb, roads surface is abysmal, which is why I don't go down it.
http://app.strava.com/segments/1085164

 

[Big_Dave]

One of the things I like with RWGPS is the elevation map actually seems to show every incline you did including the smaller ones, whereas Strava smooths it all out and makes the ride look much more gentle than it was.

I agree mo, you feel robbed looking at the elevation map

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Mo1959 might be your end, seems fine here, and using a 10 year computer (running windows 7, can I build them or what)
@SpokeyDokey I think the paid version of rwgps offers much more

 

[Nigelnaturist]

@Mo1959 you should notice a difference on strava re true elevation and the 500 over the 200

 

[welsh dragon]

Also off topic, but does anyone else find the site a bit slow and sticky to load this morning or is it at my end?

I think its on your end Mo. Mines fine.

 

[Big_Dave]

Also off topic, but does anyone else find the site a bit slow and sticky to load this morning or is it at my end?

Ok here as well, although I did have the same problem on chrome browser until I cleared the cached images and files, then ithe site was normal again andworked perfect

 

[SpokeyDokey]

@SpokeyDokey a bit like this http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747 a bit of climbing to start than flat than the slog back home
http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747
this being the most awkward
http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4446907826
as its a really narrow lane for the latter part.
http://app.strava.com/activities/189349747/segments/4445311904

On the whole they don't get much worse locally, though this probably the toughest short climb, roads surface is abysmal, which is why I don't go down it.
http://app.strava.com/segments/1085164

Yes - I have a few routes like that and some start flat-ish, then go bonkers in the middle and then are flat-ish back. Tbh I quite like those as it gets me warmed up before the real work begins and then I can taper off on the way home.

There are a few hills very close to where I live that I haven't attempted on my CX (that I did years back on my MTB) as a) my legs are older and b) I just don't have the right gears. I'd def' consider a triple for a next bike. I think my MTB had 24 x 32 or poss' even 24 x 34 can't remember properly and I could get up very steep hills with a bit of huffing and swearing.

 

[Big_Dave]

Just had a look on strava flyby, and I "eyeballed" 61 cyclists on my route, probably more for those who wasn't on strava, a lot probably making the most of the nice weather