Theoretical cycling scenario: silly answers welcome

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Q1. The point to point distance is the same, but the distance travelled by kerb-hugging would be longer.
Also, you don't say the width of the road nor how far out from the kerb the bike is riding, so it's impossible to determine the actual distance travelled.
However, in your 10 miles, there are only 4 and a half completed waves from one side to the other, and assuming a relatively normal width road (but which is straight enough for there to be a line between point A to point B that doesn't clip any apexes) the deviation will be miniscule.

Q2. No. GPS head units sample position periodically, some will store the position determined at every "tick", and some only store those ticks that correspond to changes of direction and/or pace. Even if you had two GPS units of the same brand on the same bike, they will almost certainly poll their position at different phases along the "wave" on your road, which causes different amounts of distortion.

I've attached a screenshot of one of my Strava activities going round a track, and that's just one one head unit. Look at the deviation from lap to lap. Over enough laps it gets enough samples to get an idea of the shape and length of the track, but individual laps look like asymmetric hexagons.
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If the curves in B are semicircles , then the distance B would be pi/2 longer, or about 1.57. If they're sinusoidal, it's harder to calculate the length as the result can't be expressed in terms of elementary function. If the curved path has a fractal representation, then B may never finish.
 
Assuming the scale is valid in both directions, then your road is 10 miles long and varies between being 1.2 and 2 miles wide, and is therefore probably not a road at all.

Conclusion: rider B is drunkenly riding across the Salar de Uyuni.
 
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I don't understand the profile thing :sad:
If the road(s) are being viewed from above then the bikes must be laid down to be able to see the wheels, if however the bikes are stood up as stated the road(s) are clearly not flat as they raise & fall
 

srw

It's a bit more complicated than that...
According to the scale on the map, the road is about a mile wide, so obviously the wiggly cyclist will go further, and the GPS unit will register the difference.
 
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Fnaar

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
If the road(s) are being viewed from above then the bikes must be laid down to be able to see the wheels, if however the bikes are stood up as stated the road(s) are clearly not flat as they raise & fall
Aha ... it's a map, seen from above, and the bikes are symbols ^_^
 
OP
OP
Fnaar

Fnaar

Smutmaster General
Location
Thumberland
Assuming the scale is valid in both directions, then your road is 10 miles long and varies between being 1.2 and 2 miles wide, and is therefore probably not a road at all.

Conclusion: rider B is drunkenly riding across the Salar de Uyuni.
According to the scale on the map, the road is about a mile wide, so obviously the wiggly cyclist will go further, and the GPS unit will register the difference.
The scale only works in terms of the length of the road. In terms of width, it is a bit like a normal country road 😄
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
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Bike B is missing a fork , the rear wheels of both bikes have an offset hub. Neither have pedals or spokes. Both will suffer terrible injuries when they fall off within 2 metres of starting.
 
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South East
GPS would give you the distance between both points, so these would be the same, or very similar.
Distance travelled, as in odometer, would be less for the straight line, as a straight line is the shortest distance between 2 points, meaning the kerb hugger cyclist would record a longer odometer.
The silly bit of the answer is why would you be including punks in your deliberations? They would probably not want to be included.
 
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