there’s little point in my stubbornly using km to fit some sort of racing derived cycling tradition.
You do know that metric is the 'new kid'....?
I measure my rides in leagues, poles and barleycorns, it just makes so much more sense than the stupid metric system,
Can I get a half litre of beer please ?
They just call it a large (or medium in Italy!) beer.
Half a pint in France is a demi
Half a pint in France is a demi
so a pint is a Demi More?
OS maps are 1kn square using miles for outdoors pursuits when the standard map is metric is making it hard work. I know someone is going come along and say I use god doesn't matter but the metric is maps predate how by a long time. The 1" maps are very old.
You’d want a metric calendar?
The calendar is lunar based it's not imperial rest of the work uses it.
You are trying to do a reduction absurdium by claiming that we should go decimal on everything dispite the fact no one does that.
so a pint is a Demi More?
Sérieux if I recall.
A pint is a serious beer. I like that.
Of course other pints are available…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pint
I much prefer using KM and metres, it just makes more sense. I've noticed when some people try to switch from miles to km they struggle because they keep wanting to try and convert the kms they've done to miles. Just don't do that, you don't need to. After a little while you just get used to how many kms are what, without needing to try and reference it in miles.
I must admit that when living in Europe and all the signs were in km it made things a lot easier. No more mental gymnastics.
Anybody pump up their tyres using anything other than PSI ?
A valid point.
though 1 Bar is 100kPa, but thats not at a useful order of magnitude,
Ive never heard of a pump with Pa/KPa on it,
I'm all for km, but it does make me want to throttle people who mispronounce it.
And you can shove your bidons up your Ooni.
Feels better,
30kmh is pretty much the standard speed for an easy ride for anyone who races, and most people who race work out their rides in terms of hours, so if someone says "lets do 3 hours tomorrow" you know you're going to pretty much be bang on 90km if anyone asks. Makes it so much easier to work out what distance to plan rides for etc.
All other countries are km so we should catch up
Also really miles just feel like they take forever to cover. Km's are easy to lap up
Don't know anyone who uses miles any more, I find it weird when someone speaks in 'miles' now. I think the debate is over and the change has happened
Also easier to quantify and imagine, as everyone is saying. 10x 100m. We all know how far 100m is because of the dreaded school running track as a teen. Waffling lol.
I use kms for MTB too
Partly a Strava thing, but it's also what enduro organisers etc use
Miles just seem silly
You’d want a metric calendar?
The Romans did. Their week was 10 days long, their months were 30 days. and they did the same sort of leap/year insertion stuff that we do now, or just ignored them. The Egyptians had a three 120 day periods a year, no weeks. Just because there's 7 days a week now, doesn't man it has to be that way.
None of you metric fans seem to be pushing for decimal time
Already have it - pretty much all SW runs on Unix Epoch time...
The time now is 1655802738
We all know how far 100m is because of the dreaded school running track as a teen.
Dreaded? The 100m was the shortest and hence easiest. The XC course, now that was grim.
Sérieux if I recall.
A pint is a serious beer. I like that.
Of course other pints are available…
In Germany you can order a Halbe (500ml), Grosse or Maß (litre) or Kleine (250ml)
In Sussex BITD you'd go to the bar when you had a 1/4 pint left and order a Sussex half, and the barperson would fill it to the top. That all ended when they had to give you a clean glass. Shame
The calendar is lunar based it’s not imperial rest of the work uses it.
Which calendar?
Lunar calendars remain in use among certain religious groups today. The Jewish calendar, which supposedly dates from 3,760 years and three months before the Christian era (BCE), is one example. The Jewish religious year begins in autumn and consists of 12 months alternating between 30 and 29 days. It allows for a leap year by following the Metonic cycle with an intercalary month in 7 years out of 19. Another lunar calendar, the Islamic, dates from the Hijrah—July 15, 622 CE, the day on which the Prophet Muhammad began his migration from Mecca to Medina. It makes no effort to keep calendric and seasonal years together.
The solar calendar of ancient Rome gives rise to our modern Western calendar. The Julian calendar, named after Julius Caesar’s reforms of 46/45 BCE, approximated the solar year to 365.25 days and inserted an extra day each four years. That left a rather annoying 11 and a bit minutes unaccounted for.
I'm going to start ordering beer in Scotish Pint.
KM's keep my mind busy on stupid long 5hr climbs up Galibier, or 'home' bound on a 400km Audax. I spend my time converting into miles, time and where I would be on a local ride.
I think its a homage to The Audax Club Parisien, my very old Time French bike and my new Italian Colnago.... Maybe?
Everything about KM's is better than miles. It makes for a much nicer journey if the numbers are ticking down faster.
I've always used metres for height/ascent so kms for distance just works better.
I know my height in feet and inchs but can picture a metre easier than a foot.
Metric all the way for me. 46 years old.
One thing ive never understood is we buy fuel in litres but we measure the distance it lasts in gallons (mpg) surely it would make sense to to measure the distance in litres
We arent the only country to do this, its seems most European countries buy fuel in litres but measure the consumpsion in gallons
I’ve always used metres for height/ascent so kms for distance just works better.
Nah, feet for height, km for distance, that way you've always done more of everything 🙂
We arent the only country to do this, its seems most European countries buy fuel in litres but measure the consumpsion in gallons
Are you sure? Fuel consumption as quoted by manufacturers tends to be l/100km.
Sérieux if I recall.
A pint is a serious beer. I like that.
I think it's 50cl. As is a "pinte".
Are you sure? Fuel consumption as quoted by manufacturers tends to be l/100km.
They also put them in MPG for us. Annoyingly, my Mercedes seems to record consumption in l/100km to one decimal place, then convert it to mpg for the display. So rather than changing gradually it sits at 47.9 for ages, then 48.7, then 49.6 and so on.
Yeah, mostly l/100km is used in countries that use km. That's a way more sensible way of representing fuel usage than mpg.
That’s a way more sensible way of representing fuel usage than mpg.
Because?
You’d want a metric calendar?
Speaking for all software engineers: "yes please"
Because?
If you're coasting down a hill, then it's 0 l/100km or infinite mpg.
Also, I think it's more natural to think in terms of using less fuel, than it is to be getting more distance.
though 1 Bar is 100kPa, but thats not at a useful order of magnitude,
Ive never heard of a pump with Pa/KPa on it,
Why talk in 100s of kPa when you can user single figure bar?
Using kms in the uk is ridiculous. Its tdf wannabe talk. Miles are much niicer. 1760 yards or 8 furlongs. It just makes sense
Speaking for all software engineers: “yes please”
The worst bit is not knowing if 3/6 is 3rd of June or 6th of March - nightmare interpreting date string in SW...
I asked one person at work, in their early thirties, and he answered miles. Proof therefor, miles is what most people* in the UK use .
* excluding users of STW of course, because they just have to be special.
excluding users of STW of course, because they just have to be special.
This, absolutely entirely! We definately need a like button or something similar on here for this kind of reply!
I’m not special mind, just normal. 🤓😝🤪🤪
I asked one person at work, in their early thirties, and he answered miles.
Was he a road cyclist or runner? If not of course he is going to answer miles as the road speeds and signs are in mph/miles and cars speedo is in miles so would be pretty stupid to use KM and look at the smaller KM numbers on speedo, convert distances, convert speed limits to match what you are seeing on the smaller numbers on speedo etc,.
Proof therefor, miles is what most people* in the UK use .
In a car? yep, all the time, 'cause my sat nav works in miles, my speedo is in miles, the road signs are in miles, the speed restrictions are in miles, and I don't have to navigate via an OS map.
Most folks use the thing that's most convenient. If I'm navigating using a map that's in KM and metres, why would do a daft sum in my head just to convert it, when I don't have to?
my speedo is in miles
My speedos work in mm^2... just.
I'll let that image sink in
Can I just point out that the OP is talking about road riders using km, as I all the stuff about OS map navigation is pretty irrelevant.
Everything else is irrelevant really. The relevance is for road riders and I can see the point in using a more international measure for rides and speed.
Urgh, Units, my personal pet peeve.
I ride/run/hill walk in km because that's what maps are in, contours are in, plus having grown up in an era when we ran the 100 m and 400m at school as opposed to yards, I find it easier to visualize. Also, when you're breathing out of your arse in a race, dividing/multiplying by 10 is much easier. It's also what your used to. I know what pace a 30kph average speed ride is and feels like, no idea what that is in mph.
All through Uni and post grad, everything was in SI Units, km, m, Mpa, m2, m3 etc. I now work in an industry which is at odds between European companies who work in meters, km, bar, m2 etc, and US companies/drillers who do everything in ft & psi but strangely horizontal distances in km, and volume in the awful and completely useless acre/ft (1233 m3 for those who are interested). You do get used to converting on the fly in your head, but it leads to no end of problems in exchanging data.
On the whole I wish everything was SI, or at least Metric because for me it's easier and more logical and results in far less conversion errors. Which ever you use, please just pick one, and don't mix the two!
Miles are much niicer. 1760 yards or 8 furlongs. It just makes sense
Miles yes.
For any practical use when describing your road bike ride though, ditch the feet and furlongs and just use quarter and half miles. Silly bringing in another unit when the level of practical precision is so low.
I use km because I’m not a complete Luddite. I can use miles too, because I’m not innumerate. My garmin watch is set to km both because I’m not a complete Luddite and because it matches maps and running workouts etc better for me.
So basically four pages in and we have basically decided that people like to use whichever system they are most familiar with?
Do you want slimline salad dressing on your woofers and tweeters, Grandad?
I don't agree with your premise OP.
I used to work in a high end road bike shop (Cervelo, Look etc.) and any Garmins etc. that went out the door calibrated in metric invariably attracted a comment "why did you do that?"
I set them up in metric as it is the right and proper thing to do as imperial is stupid, archaic, and lacks plain common sense. A measurement system for those who can't do maths or think logically.
So basically four pages in and we have basically decided that people like to use whichever system they are most familiar with?
No, I used to be more familiar with miles but then switched to km and much prefer it. It makes a lot more sense.
We arent the only country to do this, its seems most European countries buy fuel in litres but measure the consumpsion in gallons
Every single car on the market, without exception, does all the calculations and workings in metric, the messy, inaccurate, shitty, pointless conversions to MPG and MPG (US) is done at the last minute by the controller for the displays.
No one uses MPG/MPG(US) outside of the backwards hellholes still using imperial.
Hey,
I worked abroad for 15 years, where they aren't hung up with old measurements. I'm an engineer so SI units. I was never taught imperial and although it's easy to convert, I don't see the point.
OS maps are metric, so why the heck would you want to use imperial? The only place that it's used is the roads and pints of beer/568ml, and only because they can't be bothered to swap out from what I see.
So in summary for me and no offense intended, I see no point using miles it's a pointless measurement.
BR
JeZ
I’m a miles guy, always have been
Everything else is metric, but I guess it comes from driving
However this post has intrigued me, I may try swapping the units on the Garmin to see if I die…some of the points raised (I.e. OS map grids etc) are correct and are a bit sub-optimal
May have to recalibrate my legs too though, I have no sense of how fast 15km/hr or 5min/km is