cycle computer – miles or kilometres?

It’s the West of Ireland that
It’s the West of Ireland that is confusing, still a number of old finger posts in imperial with the newer ones in metric.

But wonderful cycling country though……

the real challenge for me on
the real challenge for me on the metric century side of things is trying to fit one in once a month what with all the other things to do (work/family/domestic life etc etc).

mind you after the Ex Ex i am considering doing several MC’s at night.. now that would be fun 😀

km btw, to return to the original thread of this post, why.. because im a european!

David French wrote:62 miles

David French wrote:

62 miles isn’t really worthy of being called a CHALLENGE though.

Some people would disagree. And there’s no need to dismiss other people’s targets and achievements, whether big or small.

It also depends whether you want a CHALLENGE, as you call it, or enjoy a ride the way I consider it. I did a 40 mile hilly ride the other Sunday morning. I found it quite hard but still enjoyable and I felt a sense of achievement when I got home. I have no desire to grind myself down for 100 miles unless there is a purpose as I don’t find clocking up 3-digit mileages an end in itself.

62 miles isn’t really worthy
62 miles isn’t really worthy of being called a CHALLENGE though. A goal maybe, but not a challenge.

He says knowing that 6 months ago he couldn’t have ridden 100 miles in a day.

simonmb wrote: But I do feel

simonmb wrote:

But I do feel some ‘century-collectors’ have adopted the metric standard because it’s an easier target to aim for. My point was simply that an imperial century is the traditional, and more challenging, century.

It is an easier target to aim for, and much more reasonable training distance, you can ride 62 miles at tempo, and get a good workout, whereas a 100 mile ride tends to be an endurance ride, and so not something I need to knock out with such regularity. I ride at least one 100 miler a month usually, but fail to see the kudos you seem to attach to it.

Maybe we should put down our times for these distances too, for full elitist effect?

simonmb wrote:an imperial

simonmb wrote:

an imperial century is the traditional, and more challenging, century.

If you mean it’s further then you’re right. All else being equal, it is surely harder. But does it matter?

I’ve never been into ticking off lists/Munro bagging and so on. A good ride is what matters to me and with a young family the possible goal of clocking up 62.1371192 miles is a more realistic target on a weekend. That’s 4 hours out of a non-work day while my family waits at home instead of 6 or 7.

This ‘lesser’ century wouldn’t really be a Century anyway as my bike weighs less than half a ton and has those modern fangled gear thingies on, which is cheating. Harrumph! Henri Desgranges would never approve.

If my ride was only 97 miles long instead of 100 would it matter to anyone? Not that I care, I ride for my benefit and not anyone else’s. Which is probably terribly selfish, but I care not a bit for some mythical ‘spirit’ of cycling from an era when miles mattered most and men were men. I’m half way to qualifying as a [url=http://road.cc/content/news/21443-new-research-highlights-rise-mamil-thats-middle-aged-men-lycra]Mamil[/url] too, so feel free to pour the scorn.

It’s Friday evening, I’m tired, and I haven’t even had a drink yet. Does it show? 😉

Continental pro race’s are in
Continental pro race’s are in km so you should be measuring the same 🙂 And GB converted to metric in 1880 sh (can’t be bothered to check exact date) as part of some international agreement. Only 4 countries not switched as it happens.

Having said that my garmin vista is in miles and I set off doing a 300k audax with km measurements on the route sheet. Now I am ok at sums and been converting ok for years but after about 200km trying to convert from km on the sheet to miles to add to elapsed mileage was getting difficult…

simonmb wrote:While a 62 mile

simonmb wrote:

While a 62 mile ride is ALWAYS worthy of congratulation, its conversion to a ‘century’ is another symbol of the ‘dumbing down’ and rampant acceptance of mediocrity in our society.

The needle on my irony meter is going crazy.