TiHabanero

Perhaps the question should be expressed this way: In counties where the metric system is used, are 100km rides called metric centuries or just centuries? Do they use the optional nomenclature of "62 miles" as well? In countries that use the English measuring system why call a 62 mile ride a metric century? Why not just call it what it is, 62 miles? Seems to me that calling a 62 mile ride a "metric century" is trying to make it something it is not. It is not a "century ride", which is 100 miles, however it must make a lot of people feel good about themselves because they did some kind of century ride, although they did not do a century ride.

ThermionicScott 

Piggybacking on my earlier question, what would be the point of a 62-mile ride if not in reference to 100 km? Wouldn't you just ride 60 or 70 miles and call it a day? I've never ever heard of someone setting out to ride 62 miles, in those words.

hubcyclist

Well, I'm doing a granfondo in Europe and they have a mediofondo of 97km and the granfondo is 174km, I think that's the nomenclature they use and that century term may be more of an American doing.

UniChris

I'm getting increasingly tempted to cancel this weekend's ride as I just can't shake the nagging fear that the wheel diameter I enter into the computer might be off by a few millimeters, or that I might go over a bump and have the battery jiggle enough to reset it again.

I mean, what if I sweat it out all day and come back with no idea what I actually accomplished????

(In all seriousness, in thinking about exploring on a network of paths with some repeated sections, it is more of a thought than a typical point A to B and back to A ride)

winston63 

Around these parts I've regularly seen 100 km ride called a Century. 100 miles is called an Imperial Century. I've participated in organized rides of both lengths and that's been the terminology I've observed.

I don't particularly care what someone calls it, just be clear about what distance you are talking about!

TiHabanero

Winston63, you just sparked the answer. I see now it is a "name" for a certain distance. Easier to say and somehow easier to understand than 62 miles. I get it. Problem solved.

Cougrrcj

Geeze, I remember when Canada used Imperial gallons, as opposed to US gallons. Then they went and converted to the Metric system...

jefnvk

Why not just call a "century" 100 miles? It isn't some sort of logical accomplishment, it is just a nice round number in the Imperial system.

Oso Polar

Yes indeed! ;-)

Hmm, this is an interesting thought, I've never considered it from this point of view (as if this temperature system is really designed around 0 - 100 scale). I guess for me negative - cold, positive - warm makes more sense. May be this is just a software developer speaking in me... Zero as a center just somehow feels logical. Zero also happens to be more or less halfway between the general average extremes of temperature. Did I mention that I grew up in Russia? Casual temperature range is about -25 to +25.

Or, it definitely is! Pretty much all living beings on this planet, including ourselves, are made out of water for the most part, so these two particular temperatures have everyday practical implications in all areas of life. E.g. refrigerator in the kitchen that will have (usually) two sections: freezer (below 0) and just cold. There is a bid difference between just cold water and piece of ice.

Celsius scale is actually for casual use, not for engineering or science, it is not a SI unit - it'll be Kelvin (which is compatible with Celsius in size but highly impractical in "normal" life due to its scale).

Exactly the same experience. No problem with other measures but temperature in F always feels as a riddle.

BTW, in metric countries measurement systems are also composed of the mix the of scientific SI units and customary metric units outside of it. Like Celsius, for example. At least conversion from C to K is straightforward (and no one uses K temperatures in real life). There are much worse cases, the most obvious one will be speed measurement. Everyone measures vehicle speed in km/h. This is what you see on your speedometer. Yet wind speed in weather forecasts (at least in Russia) is always listed in m/s. I can't relate m/s to km/h, I know how fast is 60 km/h, how fast is 60 m/s I have no slightest idea (except that it'll be exceptionally strong wind, probably a hurricane or so). Also, someone mentioned pressure units... This is another oddity - in Russia weather forecasts use mmHg as a pressure unit. If I select metric temperature scale then the majority of weather software will show me pressure in mBar - which tells me absolutely nothing. Old habits die hard!

Cyclcist11023131

jfoobar

Scientifically, Celsius obviously makes more sense, as does Kelvin (which is just Celsius with the goalposts shifted by 273). For people to describe temperature commonly found in nature, Fahrenheit does make more sense. 0F to 100F is a more or less even range of habitable temperatures. It is also more 80% more granular without having to resort to decimals.

jfoobar

Do let us know when either Liberia or Myanmar puts a man on the moon.

jefnvk

By that logic, it makes even more sense to make 0 absolute zero. Are you a fan of the Kelvin scale, or would calling out room temps as 296K not be acceptable to you

Iride01 

If metric makes so much sense, why was it one of the last measurement systems developed?

Happy Feet

Why quantum when we already had newton
Why gasoline when we already had steam
Why cell phones when we already had letters...

Marcus_Ti

People who care about decimal accuracy are probably already using metric. For anyone out in the wilderness (urban, suburban, or rural) the difference between 23C and 24C isn't a whole lot. It is "everyday" good enough.

bogydave

desconhecido 

No, no, no!. You need to keep your freezer at 0 degF, about -18C. Your refrigerator section should be just above 32F (a little above 0 C -- maybe about 4 deg C, just to keep things dense) Also, there is no temperature difference between cold water at 0C and a block of ice at 0C.

I'm not understanding this. If metric countries don't use metric units but use a combinatiion of metric units and customary units, what's the point? If you use the non-metric speed km/h instead of the proper SI metric unit m/s, what's the difference if you use mph instead?

My point is, you're only a virgin once.

scott967

So, what's a 100 nautical mile ride called?

scott s.
.

Reynolds 

Some countries use metric for 95% of measurements, but still keep old units for a few ones, like psi or lbs in certain uses (not all) - or sell some items in 454 grams containers.

OBoile

How is km/h not metric?

GerryinHouston

h (hour) is not a decimal multiple of the time unit s (second). m/s or cm/s or mm/s are correct metric units for velocity in various metric systems.

Happy Feet

Yes and no.

In Imperial you could also use feet per second (fps) as in ballistics which would equate to meters per second. But for car or bicycle speeds those numbers would be too large and complicated so they use MPH or KPH which, in context, is correct.

GerryinHouston

You asked whether km/h is metric. It is not!

Any customary use or contextual argument dos not make it metric. Metric units are the basic units (m/s in this case) or decimal multiples (km/s, mm/s etc).

Troul 

a century translates to me as a ventury.

Venting along the way for a rather longer then usual distance.