Silly Commuter Stats

itboffin

99 painful miles this week, my speed is returning but its a real battle :evil:

iPete

bloomin air density I tell thee!"

656.8 miles left for December.

cjcp

Got my target. 730 miles in December to get over 7,000 miles.

Well down on previous years. Plums.

willy b

Well November was the lowest mileage month of the whole year :roll:

iPete

Probably a good idea, wind down and build it up in Jan for racing season?!

On the flip size, I placed 271st / 45,484 in the Strava miles comp and it has bought me valuable December pub time.

dav1

Will have a lot of days off the bike this month but with only 380 miles to go to my 6k target I should be able to do it weather has been good so far to put in a decent start to the month, long may it continue.

stu-bim

Just passed 3,000 miles on Sunday. Nowhere near what you lot are up to. But I hadn't cycled since a kid and started commuting in February.

5,000 is the target for next year

Initialised

Well done, keep it up and you'll get there. I went <2k, 3.5k, 5k now I'm just over 200 miles off my 7000 target this year. I'd like a top ten finish next year and it looks like 9k+ is the sweet spot for that.

CarlosDSanchez

Rolf F wrote:

Well that's cool! Moved up to second place yesterday (CarlosDSanchez seems to have fallen asleep!) and clicked over 10k today! :cool:

All this courtesy of me taking advantage of the nice weather yesterday to do a dawn til dusk ride from Leeds to Newcastle upon Tyne; 125 miles which isn't bad for November.

Moved house and haven't been on a club run for months Hopefully I'll be doing Sunday rides again at some point next year, I'd really like to hit that 12k target at least once.

menthel

All three of the bikes I have used this year are now over 1000km, including the written off one that I have used for most of the year. Total distance is up to 3359km for the year and should be over 3500km before I stop work on the 23rd. All in all, not a bad first 11 months back on a bike!

rolf_f

CarlosDSanchez wrote:

Rolf F wrote:

Well that's cool! Moved up to second place yesterday (CarlosDSanchez seems to have fallen asleep!) and clicked over 10k today! :cool:

All this courtesy of me taking advantage of the nice weather yesterday to do a dawn til dusk ride from Leeds to Newcastle upon Tyne; 125 miles which isn't bad for November.

Moved house and haven't been on a club run for months Hopefully I'll be doing Sunday rides again at some point next year, I'd really like to hit that 12k target at least once.

Tantalising is the 1k per month but I suspect I won't be attempting it - not unless the winter is exceptionally mild and I can manage a 12k in 12 consecutive months (ie not a calendar year) - basically, I need to cut down the miles. I'm climbing half the height of Everest every week and I suspect it is affecting my overall pace and therefore just too much. I need to look a bit more carefully at the numbers but if that's the case then I think I'll be dropping back to the 7-8000 mark next year. Need to think about it.

CarlosDSanchez

Live in Norfolk, so no hills for me. New commute is even flatter than the old one, so exhaustion due to climbing isn't a problem :-)

I think that the commute alone is about 10k per year, so to get it to 12k I'm going to have to make at least half of the club runs and do a fair few 100 mile + events.

rubertoe

Going to need my biggest month to crack 6k.

@Rolf - cant you cut the climbing? I know its hilly up north? Go round (more miles) rather than over (slower)?

daxplusplus

It is an interesting question - how do you know if the commuting and, in particular, the climbing is having a negative or less than optimum effect on our fitness.

I want to know the answer to that question too. Can we rely on how we feel? What numbers can we look at? I'd love to hear people's opinions on this.

willy b

Well I know that I am now the fittest I have ever been. Now that obviously isn't all down to commuting big miles, but it has helped I think.

I'm also lucky, if I can't be arsed I have two commute options. 10 miles or 3 miles each way.

The past three weeks have seen me do very few miles & time on the bike due to holidays, work, beers etc... I feel better for it I think.

Anyway, next year I don't think i'll be doing as many miles, maybe 8000-10,000

Should hit 13,000 this year 8)

rolf_f

rubertoe wrote:

Going to need my biggest month to crack 6k.

@Rolf - cant you cut the climbing? I know its hilly up north? Go round (more miles) rather than over (slower)?

Don't know. I'm pretty wound up at work which doesn't help. Plus weekend rides are now with the club so I ride at their pace rather than my own so speeds might be down for more than one reason.

Besides, maybe it isn't just the hills but the time too. I'm riding about 150 miles of commute a week and then going out at the weekend either to do one 70-130 mile or so ride or two 60s. And even if I avoid the hills as much as possible, it still all adds up - 1500ft or so per day on the commute despite me taking some of the least hilly options! Round is actually harder than straight as I live up the Aire Valley from Leeds - I can either follow along the ridges or valley and keep things relatively short and, if not hilly, at least gradual climb wise or I can start bouncing around from one side to the other which turns the commute into a mini sportive!

It's not easy countryside!

roger_merriman

Well the highest mileage I think I've ever done annually 3,238 Miles though unlikely to add any more this year.

rolf_f

DaxPlusPlus wrote:

It is an interesting question - how do you know if the commuting and, in particular, the climbing is having a negative or less than optimum effect on our fitness.

I want to know the answer to that question too. Can we rely on how we feel? What numbers can we look at? I'd love to hear people's opinions on this.

Simplistically, this below is my starter.



This is my average speed over the last four years. The nearly greyed out line is the actual data - the average speed of each ride. Not weighted to distance so a ten mile sprint (as if! :oops: ) gets the same weight as a 125 mile ride across the hills. There is a solid blue line - the 45 day rolling average of the greyed data which makes it a bit more comprehensible (eliminating weather and emphasising season) and the maximum and minimum monthly temperatures for Bradford (shifted back 20 days to align correctly with the 45 day rolling average).

Now, in 2011 and 12, my average speeds correspond almost perfectly to temperature throughout the year. During those years I knocked up about 7500 miles or so. In 2010 and 2013 the mileage was over 10,000. What is particularly interesting (to me anyway) is that this year, if you look at SCStats, my speed was arguably rather high, relative to temperature, until April - and April into May was when I really cranked up my mileage.

This isn't perfect - I've done far more weekend miles this year (I'll have done over 60 100km rides this year as against about 25 last year) - so that will have an impact (albeit not huge as I ride 10 commutes and one or two leisure rides a week). What I intend to do is filter it so that I get the same graph but only for my inbound morning 18.5 mile commutes. I pretty much only ever do that distance in one direction and solo so it should be a fairer judge of how crap I am now!

CarlosDSanchez

You wouldn't happen to be an engineer by any chance?

rolf_f

CarlosDSanchez wrote:

You wouldn't happen to be an engineer by any chance?

Not quite but I have had my brain addled at Imperial College

willy b

Rolf - Are you on Strava?

rolf_f

But of course - it's another place to laboriously log my rides every evening

willy b

Rolf F wrote:

But of course - it's another place to laboriously log my rides every evening

Link? Interested to see your Leeds commute

daxplusplus

Rolf F wrote:

..
Now, in 2011 and 12, my average speeds correspond almost perfectly to temperature throughout the year. During those years I knocked up about 7500 miles or so. In 2010 and 2013 the mileage was over 10,000. What is particularly interesting (to me anyway) is that this year, if you look at SCStats, my speed was arguably rather high, relative to temperature, until April - and April into May was when I really cranked up my mileage.

..

OK it's difficult to say anything with certainty but how about the following as a hypothesis?

If you up the stress on your body beyond a particular point (level A) within a week then your average speed will come down during that week. This can be done by either riding high mileage and/or sustained efforts (sprinting, climbing etc) during that week.

If you manage to keep your stress levels below level A then your average speeds will be higher during that week.

If you place even more stress on your body (level B, where B is more than A) then your average speed will be affected in the following week (and probably lower both A and B going forward too).

Now the really big question for me is: if a cyclist wants to raise their average speed over the long term* should they be below A, between A and B or B and above?

I'd suggest that if the cyclist is unable to have rest days then B is out and probably the answer is to stay below A.

However what if you can have rest day(s)?

I'm not sure about you but I definitely have rest days (or days with very easy recovery rides). In this case what's the best strategy for improving average speed over the long term? Stress levels between A and B and then a week well below A? Stress levels above B and then a week off?

Just wondering ..

* average speed over the long term. By this I mean is the cyclists getting fitter over the year rather than any one week. Also this is just one measure of performance .. obviously there are others.

gbsahne001

14k by the end of the week and I'm suffering just the teeniest bit; next year will be more sensible perhaps 7k, especially as we might be leaving the UK in July

willy b

gbsahne wrote:

14k by the end of the week and I'm suffering just the teeniest bit; next year will be more sensible perhaps 7k, especially as we might be leaving the UK in July

8) Very well done.

350 more miles to crack 13K, which given the last 3 weeks of rest i'm actually looking forward to.

Also, agree with you regarding a more sensible mileage next year.

rubertoe

239 miles to crack 6k for me.

Going to have to put in a big dig next year to get to my next target.

rolf_f

gbsahne wrote:

14k by the end of the week and I'm suffering just the teeniest bit; next year will be more sensible perhaps 7k, especially as we might be leaving the UK in July

Yes, but you aren't on here so you don't count!

I'm going to have a bash at 12k. Off for the rest of the year so it is doable......

itboffin

I'd just started slowly back on the bike, about 100 miles a week but it seems that was a bit to much to soon, Ive managed to make my slipped disc worse. I'm therefore retiring officially for the 2013 season. Which is annoying because from a form perspective Ive never been so good.

Time to concentrate on 2014 beyond

gbsahne001

Rolf F wrote:

gbsahne wrote:

14k by the end of the week and I'm suffering just the teeniest bit; next year will be more sensible perhaps 7k, especially as we might be leaving the UK in July

Yes, but you aren't on here so you don't count!

I thought it would stop me competing and pushing myself..... :oops: