2012-06-23 Sat - The Maths Geek Ride 0001.5 - London to Bletchley to London

My first thought was metres/miles which irritated me quite a bit, but feet/miles looks more likely.

not hills the whole way, just uphill the whole way. like always 1%/2%. Could have been the headwind. Some lovely sections though.

This.

Whoever it was running 46/14 may want to seriously re-think that gear choice. Somewhere in the 69 to 73 inch range would be good.

Additionally at around 56k in following 30k of steady 1-2% there is a relatively steep twisty descent. A front brake is most definitely recommended (Whilst it may be possible to do the route brakeless I would strongly urge against).

Also, hope for a tail wind.

I'm going to re-test/work the first 5k from the start point tomorrow lunch time, so I will publish the confirmed route tomorrow afternoon/evening, along with a link to a GPX file.
If anyone particularly wants a TCX and doesn't have a converter please PM me your email address.

Anyone fancy publishing a gradient profile rather than an altitude profile? Or can they supply raw data? Can you get it out of a GPX file easy enough?

thank you!

not hills the whole way, just uphill the whole way. like always 1%/2%.

bodes well for the return leg?

feet/miles I think.

metres and km would support the circa 2% from km 17 to 34.

km 34 to 36 would be particularly exciting though (25%).

6pt's is definitely miles/feet.

Anyone fancy publishing a gradient profile rather than an altitude profile?
What's the difference? I've only ever used profiles like the one posted above.

My mathematical hypothesis:

A = e^[(n-10)/7] - h/5

where A = anticipation excitedness level, 0 being generally indifferent

       n =  temperature in degrees C
       h = headwind in kph 

Current forecast for 25 mph gusts SW and minimal rain, 16 deg C.

This.

Whoever it was running 46/14 may want to seriously re-think that gear choice. Somewhere in the 69 to 73 inch range would be good.

Additionally at around 56k in following 30k of steady 1-2% there is a relatively steep twisty descent. A front brake is most definitely recommended (Whilst it may be possible to do the route brakeless I would strongly urge against).

Also, hope for a tail wind.

Anyone who turns up brakeless should be told to fuck off and ride up/down Commercial Street for 100k. This ride is not for you.

bodes well for the return leg?

Or we could get train out and ride back
Beer and chips in london

km 34 to 36 would be particularly exciting though (25%).
That's Bison Hill, the highest point in Bedfordshire. The average gradient of the hill is supposedly 10% but it supposedly kicks up to 27.9.

Anyone who turns up brakeless should be told to fuck off and ride up/down Commercial Street for 100k. This ride is not for you.

Agreed, I was trying to be tactful.

6pt's is definitely miles/feet.

What's the difference? I've only ever used profiles like the one posted above.

Well the usual plots show how high you are, but as a cyclist I'm more interested in whether I'm going up hill, down hill or flat... this would be described by the derivative of the usual plots. I'm surprised they aren't more common

All this talk of people "being the cat ahead of me" has scared me off, I'm going to skid up and down commercial street instead.

Owt. Midlands on Monday instead...

The slower group: 100k
Circa 4 - 4.25 hours including stops
Sociably paced 15 average with "comfort breaks" if/when required.
No one will be dropped.
If you like a nice ride with good company and the occasional chat this is the one for you.

1) Skydancer - Fixed
2) Bluefleet - SS or geared, not decided yet
3) Hairnet - SS
4) Oliver Schick - TBC
5) conker (ian) - fixed
6) tom k&e - probably SS
7) bothwell - fixed
8) Lady Liz - tbc
9) Edmundro - geared
10) Skully - fixed
11) Doctor Cake - geared
12)
13) blowfish - undecided
14) Kamilla - fixed
15) BenJam - Gizzered

The fast group - 2×100k:
Sub 3 hours out, no wee stops.
6pt reckons he could do it 19–20mph average solo so we'll be looking to improve on that as a group. I will also endeavour to teach him that his choice of unit is inferior.
People doing the fast ride one way will be frowned upon (unless they happen to carry on for a solo century warm down).

1) 50/14- Winged
2) Dammit - Geared
3) Object - Geared (Assuming I can convince someone to lead the other group)
4) joe smith - geared up to the eyeballs
5) FridayMarch26th
6.pt - Geared
7) zanda - geared
8) laner - fixed probably
9)
10) mmccarthy - SS
11) mountaingoatmatt - geared
12) SRBradley - geared
13) Sean - geared
14) The Bear - geared

Well the usual plots show how high you are, but as a cyclist I'm more interested in whether I'm going up hill, down hill or flat... this would be described by the derivative of the usual plots. I'm surprised they aren't more common

All the data you've requested is achievable on a Garmin but you'd need to configure the various fields. I would assume the same would be true of Brytons or any other random bike GPS unit that may exist.

How about's just ride the fucking ride!

Fuck I wish I could come along.

We'll need a couple of hundred posts more discussing the ride before it's happened, so make sure you do your best to contribute, Jim.

Jim I might do this on Sunday instead- want to do it then?

^Another group riding to Bletchly. If you do it faster than the speed of light you'll arrive the same time as the other groups.
Do the maths

I wish I could come along.

Likewise.
On a semi related note, I still have 4.5 random holiday days to take.

This.

Whoever it was running 46/14 may want to seriously re-think that gear choice.

Also, hope for a tail wind.

Thanks, I got it. Gonna put on a 16t!;) ok?

That's still around 76 inches which is higher than I would personally choose to go.

Where is the start line and what time are you leaving london? I would love to join the fast group, don't know if I can really contribute any intelligent maths banter but then that really doesn't seem like much of a shame to me.

Jim I might do this on Sunday instead- want to do it then?

Would love to, but I'm racing at the Brixton madison on the Sunday.