The Epic Scale is a tool to associate a number value with intuitive thought and/or feeling.. Every ride Strava comes up with many measurable statistics. Mileage, average speed, power output and many more. Indeed these statistics are fun to keep track of; however, I also wanted a way of assigning a numerical value to what I thought of the ride and how it made me feel. Strava has a “How do you feel?” slider; which is a great idea, unfortunately does not work for me. I want something more personal. Hence I came up with the Epic Scale numbering system.
The number system goes from 0 to 5. Zero being no ride at all. Five being a Tour de France stage winning performance. These are the two impossibilities built into the scale. You wouldn’t log a ride or give yourself zero if you didn’t go for a ride. And I don’t think I’ll be winning any Tour de France stages soon. The range is set. From impossibility to impossibly. The range is graduated like this :
- A one is a very bad ride. Something like a crash, a broken part, a bent rim and/or a puncture that rips the tire and renders it unusable. All of these have happened to me at one time or another.
- A two is a better ride than a one. It’s a ride where something went wrong, but not horribly wrong. Examples are being tired and forcing yourself to go for a ride. I don’t normally have a good ride when I do that. Getting caught in the rain and getting cold. That is rarely fun for me. The worst thing is I didn’t hit the record button on the Strava app.
- A three is the middle of the scale. Most rides will be rated as a three. A ride that doesn’t stand out from the other rides. Fun but ordinary. Often ridden on a route I have been riding for years at relatively the same speed.
- A four is a special ride. A ride that stands out from the other rides. A ride were you felt good all the way through everything was perfect. Your legs were good. You’re breathing hard but comfortable. The scenery was incredible. Your mileage was more than what it normally would be. Unusually fun. You achieve a goal that you worked hard to accomplish. A ride that when you think back on it bring a smile to your face.
- I am also graduating the major graduations to the one hundredths place. It allows for better accuracy. I can properly pin point my thoughts and feelings.
Using the Epic Scale I will be looking for trends in mental attitude. It will be interesting to see the correlation between attitude and performance. Such questions as “Is it true I ride better when I feel better?”; and, “Do I rate my rides better when I feel better no matter what performance was given?”; or, “How many rides rated Three are between rides rated Four?”. All of this and more maybe discovered after crunching the data. At the end of the 2020 outdoors season I will go over the numbers see what transpires. Look for the follow up in the fall.
