When it comes to measuring distance on the bike its either in Kilometres/ Kilo meters..whatever you want to call them or good old fashioned miles. Which one you choose will either make you sound like a continental dandy or a road worker digging a ditch…..in the rain.
Here in the UK and the US we measure distance in miles but just about everywhere else in the world uses kilometres. Just because you live in a certain place doesn’t necessarily mean that you are tied to the local unit of measurement.
Regardless of where you live, if you watch the big races like the Tour de France or The Giro d’Italia on TV your default unit of measurement will be KMS. This is obviously because that’s the unit the race organisers use. Because cycling has traditionally been a European sport, cycling at all levels in the UK and US have also adopted kms with a sneaky little mention of miles now and then.
For the record, one mile is approximately 1.61 kms or the other way round, one KM is 0.62 of a mile. If you aused to using one, using the other can be a little confusing, particularly if, like me, you aren’t that hot on mental arithmetic. Firstly there is no right or wrong. If you want to use miles, use miles. I personally like using Kms when on the bike because it makes sense to me. Not only have I been watching cycling on TV for more years than I care to remember, I’ve also lived in France and Denmark for a fair while and I ride over on the continent several times a year. Plus, if truth be told, I just like sounding European. haw he haw.
But if you don’t share my continental background, what are the advantages of using the metric system? The obvious one is conversions and calculations. Because it is based on the decimal system its far easier to multiply and divide by 10 or 100. Another advantage is….well, that’s probably the only practical advantage. It does, of course make you sound like a cyclist when you say that you rode 100kms instead of 62 miles.
Luckily these days all cycling computers and Strava can be set to metric or imperial so if you want to use a different system its as easy as scrolling through a menu and clicking a button. All you have to do then is just get used to your choice.
So will your cycling chums judge you for using metric? Probably but then they might also secretly be just a little bit impressed that you are so cosmopolitan.
If you would like to follow my efforts on the bike you can follow me on Strava. My profile is here: [ Ссылка ]
