data

[totient]

It won't surprise anyone that I time (most of) my rides to work, nor that I keep them in a Google Spreadsheet. And I've posted here about times and goals. Now that I've been doing this for a month or so I have enough data to show a trend, and a couple of close approaches to the goal I've set. So I thought I'd share ...

Comments

[inahandbasket]

Out is to-work and in is home-from-work?
I'd be curious to see your average for each week day compared across all 5 days. See if you're slower on average mondays than fridays. ;-)

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Out is to-work and in is home-from-work?
Exactly. Elevation at work is 170 feet higher than at home, which at least partly explains the time differences.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

When I was doing the same thing, I found my downhill morning trip was slower than my uphill evening trip. I always figured that being awake, limber, and most importantly on my way home was more important than the elevation. That said, I'm curious: what are you using to track hills and elevation changes? Something onboard or some kind of after-the-fact route analysis? (If the latter, and it's something I can use, I'd love to know about it!)

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

My favorite tool for this is the National Geographic 'TOPO' software. But gmap-pedometer.com can do it now too, albeit with lower resolution.

[qwrrty.livejournal.com]

Not only that, but I'm willing to bet that Lexington Center is higher than that. That's clearly the apex of my ride between Bedford Depot Park and Kendall Square.

[ceo]

I think the high point on the bikeway is the Maple St overpass.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

There's a benchmark in Lexington Center at 68.8 meters elevation and another along route 4 just past the fire station at 71.4 meters which I ride past since I like to avoid sections of the bike path that have too-frequent entrances.

This is higher than my office (which is at 58 meters or so) but not the highest point on my ride; that honor belongs to a point on Springs Rd just north of Middlesex Community College which is at an elevation of around 78 meters.

Maple St is above the 60 meter contour line but the bike path in that area is below it.

[ceo]

Pretty clear that your workplace is at a higher elevation than your home, and/or upwind of it.

[donnad.livejournal.com]

You might also want to take into consideration weather and road conditions. Are you faster when the weather is cooler? When the roads are dry?

[omly.livejournal.com]

y axis is minutes?

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

yup. For now, integral minutes; I don't have a bike computer on the Ciocc yet.

[starphire.livejournal.com]

What's the distance to your work, anyway?

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Google Pedometer says it's 16.134 miles.

[starphire.livejournal.com]

OK, so not as long as I imagined, but that give me an idea of how much I slowed you down.

[palmwiz.livejournal.com]

Once a week or so I bring a backpack, and that slows me down nearly as much; perhaps the the thing to do is ride together then? The next time I'll be doing that is next Tuesday.

[starphire.livejournal.com]

Hmm...
::looks at backpack/ballast that's come along every time::
Whoa, it hadn't occurred to me that it could make a difference.

Unfortunately I won't be able to go to work on Tuesdays.
But I'm wondering if doing the same with my stuff and ditching the daily backpack might help me keep up on another day (M, W, Th).