Eddington Numbers

Arthur Eddington*, who died in 1944, was an astrophysicist and mathematician of some repute.  He defined, for example, the number of protons in the observable universe, though there was, and I gather still is, some debate as to whether he was right.

However, more importantly in this context, he was a cyclist.  Not uncommon in his line of work, Einstein was, too.  But what Arthur did was to devise a handy scheme for measuring your long-distance performance, which has the very desirable characteristic of encouraging you to ride further.  'Mildly addictive', some say.

For cycling, the Eddington Number is defined as E, which is the maximum number of E miles that the cyclist has cycled in E days.  All clear so far?

It's very simple, as an example will show.

If you have ridden 10 miles in a day, 10 times, then your Eddington Number is E10.  Easy as that.  But - and it's a big but - if you want to increase your Eddington Number to, say, E11, then you've got quite a bit of riding to do.  E11 is 11 miles in a day, for 11 days, so none of the 10 mile rides that got you to your E10 score is any good ...

For a real cyclist, things aren't so bad as the example makes out.  Your ten rides for your E10 will likely be a handful of 10-milers, a couple of elevens and, perhaps, a 13 miler.  Any ride you have ever done counts, the rule is the mileage on the day - no time limits.  So some of your rides list is re-usable, but most isn't.  Of course, the bigger the number, the bigger the problem for the cyclist.  If you have, over a period of years, got to, say, E60 but have only a handful of rides over 60 miles, then E61 is going to take quite a bit of riding to get the 61 61-mile days in.

Arthur's own E-Number was E84, which is very respectable.  Mine is E70 at the moment; I hope to slowly increase it, but without any particular effort.  I ride many Audaxes, typically 60-odd miles, some centuries and a number of randonnées that tend to be 120-odd miles in a day.  So I have loads of rides at 70 miles and below, quite a number a hundred and over, and a bit of a soft spot in between.  If I keep doing the longer rides, then the problem will solve itself, and my Eddington Number will rise slowly.

It would be nice to achieve E84, and match the great man himself.

So that's it - simple enough to understand, and a purely personal challenge.  No rulebook, no committee - and indeed no prizes.  If you spend a winter afternoon sorting your rides list into distance order, then you'll know what your E Number is.

And, of course, you'll know how many rides, of what length, that you need to do to increase it by one ...


Mark

*  Well, alright - Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, OM, FRS