- Time of past OR future Camino
- VdlP(2012) Madrid(2014)Frances(2015) VdlP(2016)
VdlP(2017)Madrid/Sanabres/Frances reverse(2018)
No, he didn't walk the camino, but if he he had done, I'm positive he would have been thinking about the following calculation. (I'm retired from getting teen-age students to appreciate the sheer beauty of the following, but I can't resist pointing it out to those of you who are tempted think about other things while you climb).
According to Newton's laws, the energy required to raise a load 1 metre, is simply the mass, in kilograms, multiplied by the resisting force of gravity. That force is caused by an acceleration of 10m/sec/sec approximately, forget the units, they're not important to the outcome in this case, the outcome being joules of energy.
So, a 75kg person, (I'm including the backpack for the sake of argument) raising himself to the top of the pass, lifts his or her mass say 1200m. So the energy required to do that is 75 x10 x1200, which gives us a grand total of 900 000 joules, or in a more convenient unit, 900 kilojoules. (If you'll permit me to indulge myself, that word is pronounced kill oh joules, just like kilometre should be pronounced kill oh meet er, so all you kill ommiter people out there ....)
A cyclist on the other hand has a bike too. That's likely to weigh close to 20 kg with rack and so on, and we'll give him 10 kg of gear in his panniers. So 100 kg. His energy requirement, therefore, would be 100 x 10 x 1200, that's 1 200 000 joules, or 1200 kilojoules.
My breakfast cerial, (Weetbix in Oz, add an A in the middle if you're English), according to the packet, delivers me close to 500 kilojoules per serve Wow! Conclusion: if you want to do the Route Napoleon, eat an extra Weetbix for breakfast, or an extra 2 or 3 if you have a bike, (cyclists have to work harder in these circumstances), and, voilá, you're there!
I can't help thinking I'm missing something .....
According to Newton's laws, the energy required to raise a load 1 metre, is simply the mass, in kilograms, multiplied by the resisting force of gravity. That force is caused by an acceleration of 10m/sec/sec approximately, forget the units, they're not important to the outcome in this case, the outcome being joules of energy.
So, a 75kg person, (I'm including the backpack for the sake of argument) raising himself to the top of the pass, lifts his or her mass say 1200m. So the energy required to do that is 75 x10 x1200, which gives us a grand total of 900 000 joules, or in a more convenient unit, 900 kilojoules. (If you'll permit me to indulge myself, that word is pronounced kill oh joules, just like kilometre should be pronounced kill oh meet er, so all you kill ommiter people out there ....)
A cyclist on the other hand has a bike too. That's likely to weigh close to 20 kg with rack and so on, and we'll give him 10 kg of gear in his panniers. So 100 kg. His energy requirement, therefore, would be 100 x 10 x 1200, that's 1 200 000 joules, or 1200 kilojoules.
My breakfast cerial, (Weetbix in Oz, add an A in the middle if you're English), according to the packet, delivers me close to 500 kilojoules per serve Wow! Conclusion: if you want to do the Route Napoleon, eat an extra Weetbix for breakfast, or an extra 2 or 3 if you have a bike, (cyclists have to work harder in these circumstances), and, voilá, you're there!
I can't help thinking I'm missing something .....