Cycling UK Forum

Ayesha wrote:......... the RAF cycle team rode from Cosford to Skegness and back at 'Evens'. 16 hours !

145miles or so each way is 290miles.
That is some feat!

However, there was only about 6,000ft of total ascent - almost flat.

Mick F wrote:My point is that "Evens" is a strange concept.
It's easy on the flat, and hard on the hilly.

It means nothing because it is a variable.

Evens is not a variable. It is 20 mph. That is a constant. What is variable is the ability to achieve "evens" depending on your fitness and the terrain. If you can't do 20 mph then you can't achieve "evens". It is a simple as that. I am sure many of the guys currently riding the TdeF could achieve "evens" even in hilly Cornwall. I on the other hand, couldn't.

I did 25miles in 1hr 10mins when we lived in Scotland 12.5miles up the Lomond Road just south of Luss and back. That was in 1983, and I reckon I could do it now on that road. Many riders could.

No doubt the TdF riders could easily do Evens all over Cornwall. I watched the TofB climb onto Dartmoor last year and they shot up Pork Hill - I reckon Pork Hill is one of the toughest climbs I regularly do. They shot up, and I have to be in "bottom sub granny" to struggle up!

Evens is Evens of course, but Evens isn't really Evens always.
It's easy or it's hard, therefore you have to state where and on what terrain.

Mick F wrote:I did 25miles in 1hr 10mins when we lived in Scotland 12.5miles up the Lomond Road just south of Luss and back. That was in 1983, and I reckon I could do it now on that road. Many riders could.

No doubt the TdF riders could easily do Evens all over Cornwall. I watched the TofB climb onto Dartmoor last year and they shot up Pork Hill - I reckon Pork Hill is one of the toughest climbs I regularly do. They shot up, and I have to be in "bottom sub granny" to struggle up!

Evens is Evens of course, but Evens isn't really Evens always.
It's easy or it's hard, therefore you have to state where and on what terrain.

Agreed. It is easy or hard, but it's still evens.

Aha....

Back in the day... when a cycle track was 1/4 mile round, 40 laps in 30 minutes was "Evens".

Read this and weep....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Park


Trivia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_a ... r_Olympics

As a demonstration of the 'new' sport of "Soccer", a match was played between Great Britain ( wearing a Union Jack patterned jersey ), and Aston Villa ( wearing claret and blue vertical stripes jersey ).

A comemorative 'Table Soccer' game was made by Chad Valley. One appeared on The Antiques Roadshow and the 'Expert' didn't know a thing about it...

More Trivia.
I bought one of Scalextric's 2012 Velodrome sets. Its still in the Amazon box cellophaned up and not opened. In 2112, my great grandson will show it on The Antiques Roadshow

Whatever way you cut it, evens is a term in the cycle racing world meaning that a rider does a three minute mile [20mph]. So a 25mile TT completed in one hour and fifteen minutes is termed evens irrespective of the terrain. Be it road, track or mountain. No if's, buts or whatevers will alter the meaning of the term as it is recognised in bike racing circles!

whoops wrote:Whatever way you cut it, evens is a term in the cycle racing world meaning that a rider does a three minute mile [20mph]. So a 25mile TT completed in one hour and fifteen minutes is termed evens irrespective of the terrain. Be it road, track or mountain. No if's, buts or whatevers will alter the meaning of the term as it is recognised in bike racing circles!

Wot 'e said ^^^^

I agree too.

My point is that as Evens is an absolute term, it needs a qualification to be of any practical use.

Mick F wrote:My point is that as Evens is an absolute term, it needs a qualification to be of any practical use.

Only if you are using it to denote an average speed. Evens is simply a shorthand way of expressing 20mph in the same way that a ton is 100mph regardless of anything else. It is just a speed, not even necessarily an average speed as in "my speed did not drop below evens on the way home"; or in MickF's case "I was over evens going down that hill but nowhere near evens on the way back up".

I suppose all this is irrelevant to a modern generation of riders who insist on considering speeds and distances in km even in this imperial country. The nearest equivalent is 30kph but that is slower than 20mph. All these old terms will become meaningless and then lost if/when we become another metric country.

That sounds a bit different to the way I understand it.
I was under the impression that Evens was an average speed over a set distance, not a specific instantaneous speed.

"Evens" is a psycological milestone that new TT cyclists aim for.

There are no prizes given for going 'evens', just a knowledgeable wink from the club coach that the young cyclist's apprenticeship is half completed.

Its about 2/3 of what the Elite class riders are doing !!

The term can be used to express an instant or an average speed. e.g a novice time trial rider might say "I got inside evens for the first time" meaning he exceeded 20mph average for the first time over whatever the distance of the time trial was. Equally I might say "I saw evens on that piece of road for the first time ever" meaning at some point on that road I was riding at 20 mph.

The main point is that evens is just a speed of 20mph independent of distance or terrain. Many years ago I worked with a chap in his 30s who recently started competitive cycling. I recall him telling me that evens meant 20mph over 10 miles, or 18mph over 25 miles, or ------ then he got confused. Terms like evens and bonk (see a different thread) are all terms that I have grown up with since I started riding in the 1960s.

And me, since I started riding in the 1950s.
Some people just can't resist complicating a simple and established concept.

Rand.

A bookie would only offer Evens on a cyclist racing a Horse over a distance greater than ten miles.

eg From Horseguards Parade to Aldershot Barracks.

Before the First world war. it was a decent bet. Now, the cyclist would be ten to one ON...

Basically it is cycling in a 10 mile tt in half an hour!