This weekend...

[Greenbank]

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Elenith-Audax-300km

305km. 4727m of climbing (bikely's figure of 2852m is a big underestimate). 46x18 (67").

7am start on Saturday. Have to finish by 3am Sunday.

This will be, by far, the hilliest ride I've taken the fixed out on...

 

[stoatsngroats]

Ohhh..I'm envious of you!

(I wouldn't get far though)

Have a great time...

 

[Greenbank]

That was fun.
My legs ache.

 

[Crackle]

Just an aside question. How do you know Bikely underestimated it. I always thought Bikely tended to up everything?

 

[Crackle]

Oh and well done - quite a ride that.

 

[Greenbank]

Just an aside question. How do you know Bikely underestimated it. I always thought Bikely tended to up everything?

This route dates back to the mid 80s and has been analysed by other methods such as contour counting from OS maps (painfully slow, but quite accurate). GPS Tracklogs of various rides have also confirmed it (once you remove the obvious spikes/glitches and smooth out the flutter).

The reason Bikely's estimates are out is because of the elevation data it uses. It's basically a grid of points 30m x 30m covering the UK (the SRTM Digital Elevation Model data). If you want an elevation of a point somewhere between the other points on the grid it interpolates (i.e. guesses) based on the heights of the points around it.

If you plot a route at the bottom of a steep sided valley you'll get some interesting results for example. Or along the side of a cliff road.

In gentle terrain Bikely can be quite accurate. Take it into the hills and you may be off somewhat.

This one: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Audax-Bryan-Chapman-2004-route bikely claims 3900m of climbing. The real figure is 8300m. That's the next ride in 3 weeks' time. Also on fixed. Ho hum.

 

[MacB]

that's very impressive, how did your averages work out if I may ask?

 

[Greenbank]

Cycle computer went into usual rain ingress mode after about an hour so I'll have to make a guess based on what the GPS says...ok

17:50:59 total time moving for 347km. But this includes to/from stations and hotels etc (which the cycle computer was working for). So, subtracting those:-

347 - 8.71 - 12.17 - 9.43 - 12.17 = 304.52km (about right since the ride is quoted as being 305km)

17:50:59 - 22:17 - 29:01 - 24:27 - 31:20 = 16:03:54

That gives 18.96kph average speed, not bad for a very hilly ride on fixed. I averaged 19.4kph last year with gears.

[EDIT] Ran the tracklog through a few of my scripts which work out when I had stopped. 15:56:20 moving time, so 19.14kph average.

57.3kph max speed. 177rpm.