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Re: [RC] 50 or 25? - Truman PrevattSky Ranch wrote:I really hesitate to even send this question to the list, since I know the LD issue has been beaten to death. So, I apologize to the list. But I am confused, and concerned, about how to start ... so many posts have been complaints about LD's "racing" and I do NOT want to be in that situation. LD's are going faster than 50's. You would think so. It seems logical. To test this conventional wisdom to see if it was true or an urban legend, I looked at the 2002 season (I did this some years back). What the ride result data says is: A) In every region the regional average ride speed for a 50 is faster than that for a 25. This conclusions have a high statistical significance (tested to a 99% confidence). B) In every region the regional average ride speed for the top 5 finishers (the "racers") in a 50 is faster than that for the top 5 finishers in a 25. For comments on the statistical confidence - see below. C) That means that the 50 riders on average are riding each 25 miles of the 50 faster then the LD riders - for both the total riders and the top five finishers. It seems to be common to think the LD riders are going faster, when in fact the opposite is true. I have not looked at more recent data, but I doubt if there has been much change especially since the statistical significance betwee the speed difference between the LD and 50 was substantial. The most interesting thing that the statistics show is related to the top five. In some regions (CT, NW and SE) the ride speeds are statistically similar (although the ride LD's are a little slower). In the other regions the ride speeds for the top 5 LD are statistically much slower than the top 5 50 (to a confidence of 99%). The three regions above (CT, NW and SE) all have very active regional organizations and all active in promoting education for new riders. The regions that have expressed the most "fear and trepidation" about LD racing have the biggest difference between the speeds of the top five 50 and top five 25's (and the average 25 mile speeds for the top five are much slower than the three regions mentioned above). I don't know what that means except maybe there needs to be a little more education all around. The results can be found at: http://www.seraonline.org/Archives/LDstudy.pdf Truman -- "Problems worthy of attack prove their worth by fighting back." - Paul Erdos (1913-1996) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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