The Annual Lunacy Climbing Challenge Chatzone

[Sea of vapours]

I'm double posting too, triple in fact, since most of my rides are Metric Centuries, Lunacy Challenge and now Simplified Lunacy Climbing Challenge. Oh! And one a month is an Audax AAA brevet for my on-going AAA round the year (which is my 'main thing' really), so that's a splendid four for the price of one :-)

As I may have said before, it's all about personal motivation anyway, and I see keeping threads active as useful in its own right, to encourage people to 'sign up' for challenges and get some use out of the threads' existence. That seems especially true of the climbing challenge as, at least historically, such things don't get much traction for reasons discussed at length in the past.

Oh, and I did try and split my Lunacy Challenge and Simplified Lunacy Climbing Challenge lists by doing a somewhat flatter ride last Friday, but failed. It would have worked, but on the way back I couldn't face the relatively flat route around the Forest of Bowland so I popped over the Cross of Greet and hence exceeded the 2,500m 'climbing budget' quite comprehensively. I may have a go at approaching it from the other end once the Lunacy Challenge is done. i.e. plan a route which is less than my 150km Lunacy target but with more than 2,500km climbing. That'll be somewhat painful though.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It might be worth putting a note in to the "rules" to say that this challenge welcomes rides that are also posted in other challenges. Or might that be unnecessary poking of a hornets' nest?

 

[bluenotebob]

It might be worth putting a note in to the "rules" to say that this challenge welcomes rides that are also posted in other challenges. Or might that be unnecessary poking of a hornets' nest?

Hahahaha ... for a guy who died last night from eating unpeeled potatoes, you seem to be in fine form today.

One of my favourite expressions on this forum (from 2019?) was "to obsessively de-hill" when route planning - I wonder who said that?

Seriously though - could someone please explain in very simple terms how to measure elevation when riding.

All my bikes have simple SIGMA compteurs fitted which tell me precisely the time and distance travelled on a ride (plus total distance for the bike and a clock). What would I need to buy to tell me the elevation achieved on a ride - and what sort of price would it be?

Thanks

 

[Dogtrousers]

Hahahaha ... for a guy who died last night from eating unpeeled potatoes, you seem to be in fine form today.

One of my favourite expressions on this forum (from 2019?) was "to obsessively de-hill" when route planning - I wonder who said that?

Seriously though - could someone please explain in very simple terms how to measure elevation when riding.

All my bikes have simple SIGMA compteurs fitted which tell me precisely the time and distance travelled on a ride (plus total distance for the bike and a clock). What would I need to buy to tell me the elevation achieved on a ride - and what sort of price would it be?

Thanks

That's a real can of worms. There are various ways:
- Plan the route in a route planner that tells you the elevation gain
- Look at the total elevation number on your GPS at the end of your ride (If it has such a thing - my Garmin 530 does)
- Upload the ride to a site like Strava or RideWithGPS and see what it says.

They will all give you different numbers. And Strava will even give you different numbers for the same ride on different types of GPS. And the same ride uploaded to both Strava and RideWithGPS will give you different numbers. Generally similar, but different.

So to avoid this minefield I just stick with one method. That is - what does RWGPS say after I've uploaded it? I use that because it's my permanent record.

To get a measure of total ascent on the GPS device, the best thing to look for would be a GPS with a barometric altimeter.

 

[Sea of vapours]

Seriously though - could someone please explain in very simple terms how to measure elevation when riding.

[Deleted comments which are much the same as @Dogtrousers ' ]

I concur on the above so I've removed my version of the same. The key thing is to choose a method and stick to it if you want to be able to compare your own rides over time.

In practice, absolute simplest would be to buy a gps device, ideally with a barometric altimeter, and read the number it gives you (either on its screen or from any on-line service, such as Strava, you choose to upload your recorded track to). Equally good, and a different sort of simplicity, would be to plan each route on any of numerous web-based route planners and read that number, something you can also do retrospectively provided you know where you've been.

And if you do start doing this, don't get involved in arguments, as distinct from debates, about what's 'correct'. It's true that some methods are better, in the sense of more accurate, but ultimately most are close enough for 'record my bike ascent' purposes. Plus, what constitutes 'correct' is at some levels rather philosophical. For example: whether a descent and ascent of 1m on an otherwise pan flat road should be recorded is very much open for debate (suppose it's a hundred, one centimetre dips, rather than a single one metre dip; what is 'flat'? ...).

 

[bluenotebob]

That's a real can of worms. There are various ways:
- Plan the route in a route planner that tells you the elevation gain
- Look at the total elevation number on your GPS at the end of your ride (If it has such a thing - my Garmin 530 does)
- Upload the ride to a site like Strava or RideWithGPS and see what it says.

Thanks very much for that - I really appreciate it.

I currently don't have any form of GPS (not even a smartphone - and I don't want one).

I'll start a conversation with my LBS about a Garmin attachment for my road bike (probably in September - it's hopeless trying to do anything in France in August). Not sure that I would want to upload rides to Strava or RWGPS - I imagine it would all be in French based on my IPS location - and I really struggle with French websites (I speak French all the time - but 'internet-speak' drives me crazy and I generally just give up).

I don't think I'm doing anything significant in terms of height gain on my rides - but it would be interesting to know. So far, all I've been able to do is compare spot heights on a map - and that's really just a waste of time.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Thanks very much for that - I really appreciate it.

I currently don't have any form of GPS (not even a smartphone - and I don't want one).

I'll start a conversation with my LBS about a Garmin attachment for my road bike (probably in September - it's hopeless trying to do anything in France in August). Not sure that I would want to upload rides to Strava or RWGPS - I imagine it would all be in French based on my IPS location - and I really struggle with French websites (I speak French all the time - but 'internet-speak' drives me crazy and I generally just give up).

I don't think I'm doing anything significant in terms of height gain on my rides - but it would be interesting to know. So far, all I've been able to do is compare spot heights on a map - and that's really just a waste of time.

Probably easiest would be to use a route planner like Strava or RWGPS or Komoot maybe. I doubt they'd be in French.

 

[bluenotebob]

In practice, absolute simplest would be to buy a gps device, ideally with a barometric altimeter, and read the number it gives you (either on its screen or from any on-line service, such as Strava, you choose to upload your recorded track to). Equally good, and a different sort of simplicity, would be to plan each route on any of numerous web-based route planners and read that number, something you can also do retrospectively provided you know where you've been.

Thanks !

I've not investigated web-based route planners mostly because I rarely, if ever, plan where I'm going to go - I usually make it up as I go along. But I do know (and note in detail) where I have been .. so that's a great suggestion .. if I can find one that covers France, but in English.

I completely understand your point about using one method and sticking to it.

I really have no interest in uploading rides to Strava (or any other online service) - I much prefer to keep my rides private (and I really dislike having to be too specific when it comes to posting ride details on CC).

As I said in my reply above to @Dogtrousers , this is just to satisfy my curiosity .. I don't live in an area like the Pennines or the North Downs, so significant ascents are few and far between.

 

[Sea of vapours]

https://ridewithgps.com/
Free, in English, gives elevation data in France. Given that you know where you've been, it's a very simple solution :-)

EDIT: if it comes up in French based on your IP-derived location you can change that under 'Preferences' once you've set your account up.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I really have no interest in uploading rides to Strava (or any other online service) - I much prefer to keep my rides private (and I really dislike having to be too specific when it comes to posting ride details on CC).

I'm not saying you *should* use these, it's entirely up to you, but all of my uploaded rides are private. Only I can access them. Just sayin'

 

[bluenotebob]

all of my uploaded rides are private. Only I can access them. Just sayin'

That's interesting - I didn't know.

Strava's a subscription service? or it's free but you have to pay for a 'privacy option'?

After your ride, you post evidence of your ride on CC as a link to Strava - which only you can access?

I had always assumed that all CC-posted Strava links were available to anyone also on Strava who was curious to know the ride details - but apparently that's not the case .. ?

 

[bluenotebob]

Free, in English, gives elevation data in France. Given that you know where you've been, it's a very simple solution :-)

Thanks ! I'll check it out a bit later this afternoon. No chance of going out on my bike as it's over 30C again here.

I'd ignored RideWithGPS earlier because of its name - as I said before, I don't have a GPS device. So .. if I don't need one, then that's a perfect solution.

 

[Dogtrousers]

That's interesting - I didn't know.

Strava's a subscription service? or it's free but you have to pay for a 'privacy option'?

After your ride, you post evidence of your ride on CC as a link to Strava - which only you can access?

I had always assumed that all CC-posted Strava links were available to anyone also on Strava who was curious to know the ride details - but apparently that's not the case .. ?

On Strava, with a free account you have 3 options.

I rarely post to Strava, when I do it's to let the few people I'm connected with on Strava know I'm still alive. So I set it to "followers" and then after a week or to I set it to only me. You can also choose a default that newly uploaded rides take.

Similar applies to RWGPS. RWGPS also has a handy "make everything private" button, in case you've left something shared.

I don't post strava or RWGPS links on CC, except occasionally routes that I've planned. People just have to take my word that it happened. I suppose you could post a link that only you can access, but that would defeat the object of CC a bit.

 

[bluenotebob]

I rarely post to Strava, when I do it's to let the few people I'm connected with on Strava know I'm still alive. So I set it to "followers" and then after a week or to I set it to only me. You can also choose a default that newly uploaded rides take.

Similar applies to RWGPS. RWGPS also has a handy "make everything private" button, in case you've left something shared.

I don't post strava or RWGPS links on CC, except occasionally routes that I've planned. People just have to take my word that it happened. I suppose you could post a link that only you can access, but that would defeat the object of CC a bit.

OK - that's all clear now.

Thanks for your help and patience.

 

[steverob]

I'm definitely double posting - most of my Climbing Lunacy rides are also Metric Century rides, but as one challenge is distance and the other is elevation, in my mind it is justifiable!

You could possibly say triple posting as well, as I always put all of my rides in the Half Century thread in order to claim my points, but I make sure I do at least one ride in each month that is just over 50km and hasn't been posted anywhere else, before I can say that month is "completed". Usually it's the first ride of the month, but not always.