Going for the record commute time...

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Comments

  • salsajake
    salsajake Posts: 702
    Well, as the OP I can say that despite a terrible start due to an outdoor market on the square right outside the office and having to dawdle along for a good 2 minutes to get on the road, things started going my way and the lights were in my favour. I felt strong, the gps was ticking the average out and it was climbing away, so I went for it. 58 minutes was my best, 2:03 combined, for my 35 mile return trip (actual time, not just moving time, though I agree the latter is the only real proper indication of performance). Despite a few baulks I can now say my best is 54:45, average speed, including all stop/start of getting out of the city centre was 18.7mph, which I am well chuffed with. 1:59:45 is my best combined time, even though I wasn't pushing it much in the morning, so I think the combined time will be the next target!
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    GUYS A WIND ASSISTED PB DOESN'T COUNT. Sorry but it doesn't.
    My Focus / My Bob Jackson
    Blog (incl. bikes)
  • salsajake
    salsajake Posts: 702
    biondino wrote:
    GUYS A WIND ASSISTED PB DOESN'T COUNT. Sorry but it doesn't.

    But Ive just knocked 3:15 off my combined PB as well, in and out! It was an easterly 7mph and I rode hard to beat it. Its real, its mine and I'm claiming it!
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    biondino wrote:
    GUYS A WIND ASSISTED PB DOESN'T COUNT. Sorry but it doesn't.

    OH YES IT DOES. Our PBs are an absolute measure of just how quickly each of us can get to work. What's the shortest time possible to do that journey? It's now 56:31 for me grin grin arms aloft still...

    We're not comparing like with like here - your commute, even it were exactly the same distance as mine - would be over different terrain and road conditions and therefore not comparable, if we were to meet in t'Morpeth Arms to decide who's quickest.

    100 metre sprints with wind assistance don't count because in theory anyone who runs 100 yards - sorry metres - anywhere in the world should be able to stick his time up somewhere and draw a direct comparison with another guy in another continent doing his 100 ya metres. We're not doing that. we compete against ourselves to see just how quickly we can do our unique thrash to work. I submit yer onour that wind assistance in this case is acceptable, permissible and to be taken full advantage of.

    The witness may now step down and stare at his speedo again for a few more seconds. 56:31. Yo. :)
  • The Rookie
    The Rookie Posts: 27,812
    Well howling westerly headwind for me today, was running 2 cogs lower in a lot of places than normal.

    Personally my PB is door to door, without significant tailwind, and I use a mk1 wristwatch, although I only have 3 giveways and one set of lights all journey, so less relevant. PB is 28 on my into work journey (net downhill) and 31 return. (about 7.5 mile) on a 14Kg MTB/road tyre hybrid.

    Simon
    Currently riding a Whyte T130C, X0 drivetrain, Magura Trail brakes converted to mixed wheel size (homebuilt wheels) with 140mm Fox 34 Rhythm and RP23 suspension. 12.2Kg.
  • MTA
    MTA Posts: 20
    I had a still cycle this morning and I also got a PB. I think it's the nice sunny summer weather.

    Mind you I may have to start ging for a longer route in the morning, I got to work at 6:40 today, considering the pupils can't get in the building til 8:30, that's a lot more cycling I could do.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Wind assisted seems fine to me - after all, I don't 'not count' times with headwind (which are most of them :lol: ) so, arguably, even windless could be argued to be a cheat.....

    What is cheating (sort of!) is counting half trips. A commute time, by definition, should be the round trip and I don't really pay much attention to the half trip - doesn't matter if you did 10 miles in 20 minutes and beat your record by 5, it doesn't count unless you still beat your record of the round trip. Of course, that should mean you get a compensatory head wind for every tail wind but, for me, I just seem to get headwinds both directions!
    Faster than a tent.......
  • salsajake
    salsajake Posts: 702
    MTA wrote:
    I had a still cycle this morning and I also got a PB. I think it's the nice sunny summer weather.

    Mind you I may have to start ging for a longer route in the morning, I got to work at 6:40 today, considering the pupils can't get in the building til 8:30, that's a lot more cycling I could do.

    FRAUD! Easterlies in the double figures this AM, especially on the east coast. Unless you were heading east this morning, in which case you did even better than you thought!
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    biondino wrote:
    GUYS A WIND ASSISTED PB DOESN'T COUNT. Sorry but it doesn't.

    POPPYCOCK! :)

    A PB is a PB is a PB!

    I have no way of measuring the m/s speed of the wind, so I'm not under the same restrictions as Usain Bolt.

    There is a stop/start function on my speedo, but I always go by the stopwatch and go by total elapsed time.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • salsajake
    salsajake Posts: 702
    cjcp wrote:

    I have no way of measuring the m/s speed of the wind.

    I record my time each day, and also the weather (from the met office website which gives you readings from a local weather station for the last 24 hours). I won't pretend its not sad, but I do it! The times on their own are fairly meaningless without it. You could say that they are meaningless anyway and I would struggle to disagree... But then I record how much I saved that day from not commuting, and that gets totalled up as my bike fund, so I might as well include all the geek stats whilst I'm at it
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    God you lot are defensive. All you have to do is measure the time of the round trip. Sure, sometimes you'll get lucky and have a tailwind both out and back, but it's not going to be common, it'll likely be less inaccurate than one leg only, and more importantly, it COUNTS.

    Otherwise, tbh, you might as well attach a rocket to the back of the bike and time yourself like that. It'd be as legit.
    My Focus / My Bob Jackson
    Blog (incl. bikes)
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    biondino wrote:
    God you lot are defensive. All you have to do is measure the time of the round trip. Sure, sometimes you'll get lucky and have a tailwind both out and back, but it's not going to be common, it'll likely be less inaccurate than one leg only, and more importantly, it COUNTS.

    Otherwise, tbh, you might as well attach a rocket to the back of the bike and time yourself like that. It'd be as legit.

    Who cares about accuracy? It's the outright speed, the headline figure that counts. It's the legit answer when someone asks me how long it takes to get to work, the self-smugness of beating a prev fastest time to get here. In my world I look like Cavendish and go like him, and my PB to work is derived from what my computer shows me at the end of each journey.

    Like the rocket idea although the roundabouts through Buckingham might be a bit more of challenge. I'll add a checkbox / drop down column onto SC Stats to indicate rocket / wind / other powered assistance.
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    ChrisInBicester wrote:
    Who cares about accuracy? It's the outright speed, the headline figure that counts.

    Zactly! Speed/time from point A to B. Otherwise, you start having to factor in whether you get a free run at certain points in between due to traffic.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    "Yeah, sorry Usain, but Dwain ran 9 secs dead at a specially constructed track on a North Sea oilrig during a sou'westerly gale. You understand, I'm sure"
    My Focus / My Bob Jackson
    Blog (incl. bikes)
  • cjcp
    cjcp Posts: 13,345
    Aircraft carrier is probably a better option.
    :P
    There's enough twists and turns and buffeting from the wind in R Park for it to even out. This runs contrary to what I said earlier.
    FCN 2-4.

    "What happens when the hammer goes down, kids?"
    "It stays down, Daddy."
    "Exactly."
  • roger_merriman
    roger_merriman Posts: 6,165
    cjcp wrote:
    Aircraft carrier is probably a better option.
    :P
    There's enough twists and turns and buffeting from the wind in R Park for it to even out. This runs contrary to what I said earlier.

    no idea if it does even out, but was a lovely tailwind from broomfield hill to sawyers hill went like the clappers, was monday?
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    biondino wrote:
    "Yeah, sorry Usain, but Dwain ran 9 secs dead at a specially constructed track on a North Sea oilrig during a sou'westerly gale. You understand, I'm sure"

    Way to compare an organised professional sporting event to a daily commute.

    Dwain and Usain would both be running on the same track against each other, not comparing their times from different cities/countries/continents using tracks that may or may not contain hills.
    My photography // My helmet cam videos // My bike
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    Whatever. The point is you're only cheating yourselves.
    My Focus / My Bob Jackson
    Blog (incl. bikes)
  • Jamey
    Jamey Posts: 2,152
    That's the only person I'm allowed to cheat :)
    My photography // My helmet cam videos // My bike
  • biondino
    biondino Posts: 5,990
    I do like the 100 metre hillclimb idea though. "And Bolt's going to be disappointed with his 43 second winning time there, Brian"
    My Focus / My Bob Jackson
    Blog (incl. bikes)
  • Kieran_Burns
    Kieran_Burns Posts: 9,757
    My personal best for a run to home: 50 minutes.

    Tonight 52. However it was the fastest run ever as I was stuck in traffic for at least 5 minutes in Derby. The roads were terrible!

    I now know that I *can* achieve a sub-50 minute run home given the right traffic conditions so I have something to spur me on if I choose to.

    It's all part of the fun!
    Chunky Cyclists need your love too! :-)
    2009 Specialized Tricross Sport
    2011 Trek Madone 4.5
    2012 Felt F65X
    Proud CX Pervert and quiet roadie. 12 mile commuter
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Course the other point is that when I'm sitting in my office releasing steam after a thrash in to work and someone wanders past to ask the inevitable 'how long did it take you today?', the answer they're looking for is '56 & half minutes, my best ever [grin smile]', not 'ah - total journey here & back is 56 + 72 minutes return going the longer way so that's 2 hours 8 minutes, averaged out but factoring in the wind speed and slight delays joining the main road at 7.3 miles is...' by which time he or she has gone off to make a coffee. All everyone cares about is the top line figure - how long, how fast? Not some averaged out balanced overview. And the 'go on - how long did it take this time?' is all I care about really in the context of a PB.

    Rockets. Yeah - I could go for that...
    :)
  • nasahapley
    nasahapley Posts: 717
    ChrisInBicester wrote:
    All everyone cares about is the top line figure - how long, how fast? Not some averaged out balanced overview. And the 'go on - how long did it take this time?' is all I care about really in the context of a PB.

    But doesn't that run a bit contrary to using the stop/start function on your computer? If someone asks 'how long did it take you to get to work?' they don't mean 'how long did it take you to get to work, discounting the time for which you were stationary?' They mean door-to-door. I'm sure if I used the stop/start thing my average speed would instantly be a few mph higher, but that wouldn't mean I could get an extra five minutes in bed, which is all I care about!

    I can't believe we're actually arguing about this, my excuse is that it's a very slow day at work.
  • R_T_A
    R_T_A Posts: 488
    After a few tweaks to the bike (seat/chain clean) I flew home last night.

    My main problem for beating my PB is when I'm flying along, I start looking for other roads to go down and explore. That's the beauty of country roads I suppose :lol:

    I'm currently looking for a much longer route on the way back tonight :)
    Giant Escape R1
    FCN 8
    "Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
    - Terry Pratchett.
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Unless my neighbour works downstairs and hasn't mentioned it, it's a safe bet that for me & most us here each of our commutes is unique. Once I set off I don't stop unless I choose a particular route so the stop / start is an irrelevance for me. Yours is different, but we're not comparing my PB with your PB so it doesn't matter - you've got your rules, but I'll stick to mine thanks.

    Isn't that the essence of it? Not that can I do this commute quicker than you can, but that I did it quicker yesterday than I've ever done it before and one day if it's a bit blowy I might do it a bit quicker. For now tho the arbitrary 'best time ever' is 56:31. That'll do for me.

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