The Metrication of…
Here’s a logo I would’ve said represented some city’s metro transit system until a few minutes ago. It’s actually the logo for Metrication in the United States, which was supposed to take place starting in 1975 when it became legal to use metric measurements.
“So what?” you say. Having never lived abroad, metrics is largely an academic endeavor for one such as myself. That is until I inherited a used, expensive Ciclo Hac4 heart rate monitor, with altimeter/thermometer/speedometer/etc.
For those interested in any kind of cardiovascular training (road and mountain biking for me… running’s too slow and hurts my knee) HR monitors are pretty much de rigueur. The alternative—a finger on the carotid while watching the clock—is just asking for trouble.
Thing is, the cost of ‘free’ is that I have to convert KM and M to Miles and Feet and °C to °F to get the full use of this powerful little computer.
My brain doesn’t do Celsius to Fahrenheit math at all well: Tf = ((9/5)*Tc)+32
I’m lucky if I spell Celsius and Fahrenheit right by the second attempt. But I can remember this (relative to Colorado living where the air is dry):
- 0°C / 32°F - great temp. for skiing
- 10°C / 50°F - layer up for biking; conditions questionable
- 20°C / 68°F - I love spring; wind could be a factor
- 25°C / 77°F - uh… why am I inside? “no weather” means anything goes
- 30°C / 86°F - check skies for cumulonimbus
- 40°C / 104°F - I know… I’m crazy, but I promise I won’t run out of H2O this time.
I just noticed tonight that 20C is 68F and 30C is 86F, and 25C is +/-5°C while 77F is +/-9°F. Luckily I did well in 2nd grade math! And Keiran just gave me a refresher course. Long division is coming up though.
One other factor in my favor is that my hometown of Durango, CO is at 6,500 Ft., which is just shy of 2,000 Meters (1,981.2 to be exact). I’ll use a calculator if I need to work out total altitude gain, but that’s a nice starting place.
Luckily I have a standard MPH speedometer affixed to the bike for the rest of my gadget fix needs. Though you do go a whole lot faster when it’s ticking off KPH…
