Statistical irrelevance

[400bhp]

Cool story bro.

 

[Tim Hall]

Meanwhile, here's what Randall has to say about statistics:

 

[johnnyb47]

Did you stop at any pubs on your ride. The slightly extra mileage could be put down to the wobbling out on the road after a few sherberts :-) :-)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I find on my commutes that the faster I go, the shorter the distance tends to be. I've seen this often enough to be convinced it's a real trend. Obviously, there are limits to the variance on the distance, but your speed does affect the distance.

 

[snorri]

Plus I'm bored and I can't watch anything decent on the telly like a Batman film because the misses is hogging Netflix

To whom at Netflix do I submit my claim for compensation for wasted time on this thread?

 

[lazyfatgit]

I find on my commutes that the faster I go, the shorter the distance tends to be. I've seen this often enough to be convinced it's a real trend. Obviously, there are limits to the variance on the distance, but your speed does affect the distance.

Can you explain? You mean the reported distance on your measuring device changes? Because if not I want to know how to make a commute shorter, without changing jobs. then I could ride instead of driving.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Can you explain? You mean the reported distance on your measuring device changes? Because if not I want to know how to make a commute shorter, without changing jobs. then I could ride instead of driving.

I suspect it has something to do with the fact that if you ride slower, you tend to veer left/right very slightly. This is of course barely noticeable, but over almost 30km (my 1-way commuting distance, on average), it adds up. I tend to get a variance of about 0.2km, which is about 0.6%.
The GPS readings on my Garmin are pretty reliable, I've found, so I'm reasonably sure the variance is due more to the above factor than to the GPS positions I receive.

I could be wrong about this, but I can't think of any other explanation for why my faster commutes tend to be a tiny bit shorter. So if anyone has a better explanation, I'd be interested to hear it.

 

[Alan O]

I find on my commutes that the faster I go, the shorter the distance tends to be. I've seen this often enough to be convinced it's a real trend. Obviously, there are limits to the variance on the distance, but your speed does affect the distance.

The faster you go, the further spaced apart your GPS fixes are, and the greater is the effect of using the "crow flies" approach between fixes? (Assuming you're tracking distance via a GPS device - if you're tracking distance via a wheel-based computer, I have no idea.)

 

[Shut Up Legs]

The faster you go, the further spaced apart your GPS fixes are, and the greater is the effect of using the "crow flies" approach between fixes? (Assuming you're tracking distance via a GPS device - if you're tracking distance via a wheel-based computer, I have no idea.)

Yes, I think that explains the effect nicely: much better phrased than my explanation.

 

[Oxo]

As you go faster you will take differing lines on twists and turns in the road.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

As you go faster you will take differing lines on twists and turns in the road.

Perhaps, but I tend to be very consistent in what lines I take on the roads in my commutes, because I'm used to the route, and so I pick lines that avoid the bumps (since I know every one of them).

 

[johnnyb47]

That's absolutely right. My cars speedometer reads slightly over optimistic compared to the sat nav, which is a good thing really as it keeps you on the right side of speed camera limits.

 

[johnnyb47]

Slightly off topic but can a speeding cyclist trigger a speed camera to flash as they go by.

 

[Tim Hall]

Slightly off topic but can a speeding cyclist trigger a speed camera to flash as they go by.

Yes.

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 4960681, member: 43827"]I lie to my Cateye about the wheel size. It makes me faster and riding longer distances. Garmin would make me have to face up to how crap I am on the bike.[/QUOTE]
....and I thought I was the only one doing that......