The Eddington number (E) for cycling is the maximum number where a cyclist has ridden E miles on E distinct days. For example, an E-number of 100 means you have cycled at least 100 miles on 100 different days.
It need not be cycling. You could use it for any activity of interest. Mr. Arthur Stanley Eddington came up with the calculation. His primary interest was in astronomy, physics, and math. He also rode a bike. His life time Eddington number was 84.
I have a lot of rides logged on RWGPS. Inspired by Matthew Conroy I had a go at working with Python to draw on the data from these rides and work out what my Eddington number is. After a few hours wrangling code (with help from an LLM) the result is an application that calculates your cycling Eddington number and provides detailed riding statistics using the Ride with GPS API.
Key Features
The app provides comprehensive cycling statistics through an intuitive command-line interface:
- Eddington Number Tracking: Calculate your overall Eddington number and track your progress toward the next milestone
- Yearly Statistics: View Eddington numbers broken down by year, including your highest yearly achievement
- Year-to-Date Analysis: See your current year’s progress and how many rides you need to reach your next yearly Eddington goal
- Ride Distribution: Analyse the distribution of your rides by distance thresholds
- Milestone Achievements: Track century rides (100+ miles/km), double centuries, triple centuries, and quad centuries
- Top Rides: View your top 5 longest rides with titles and distances
- Monthly Statistics: See your riding patterns month by month
Technical Details
The application uses:
- Token-based authentication with the RWGPS API
- Intelligent caching to minimize API calls
- Support for both miles and kilometers
- Decimal precision management for accurate calculations
- Command-line interface with various subcommands for specific views
You can easily switch between miles and kilometers, force refresh data when needed, and get a clear overview of your cycling achievements.
CLI (Command Line Interface)
Cycling Statistics Analysis
positional arguments:
{summary,eddington,ytd,yearly,metrics,distribution,distance,longest,monthly,unit,status}
Command to execute
summary Display full statistics summary
eddington Show Eddington number progress
ytd Show year-to-date statistics
yearly Show yearly Eddington numbers
metrics Show ride metrics
distribution Show ride distribution
distance Show distance achievements
longest Show top 5 longest rides
monthly Show monthly statistics
unit Set or toggle distance unit
status Show current unit setting and stats
options:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
--unit {miles,km} Distance unit (miles or km)
--refresh Force refresh data instead of using cache
Metric Display
=== CYCLING STATISTICS (distances in km) === Current unit: km (use --unit option to change) Total rides analyzed: 4111 === OVERALL EDDINGTON PROGRESS === Current overall Eddington: 129 In progress: E=130 (129 rides of 130+ km) Need 1 more rides of 130+ km for E=130 Next goal after that: E=131 (127 rides of 131+ km) Will need 4 more rides of 131+ km for E=131 === EDDINGTON YEAR TO DATE (2025) === Rides this year: 42 Distance this year: 2,462.8 km Current year Eddington: 33 In progress: E=34 (33 rides of 34+ km) Need 1 more rides of 34+ km for E=34 === YEARLY EDDINGTON NUMBERS === 2025: 33 2024: 58 2023: 48 2022: 48 2021: 49 2020: 48 2019: 56 2018: 48 2017: 49 2016: 61 *Highest* 2015: 58 2014: 56 2013: 51 2012: 28 === RIDE METRICS === Longest ride: 1463.6 km Average ride: 37.2 km Total distance: 153020.8 km === RIDE DISTRIBUTION === Range | Count | Percentage ----------------|--------|---------- 0-50 | 3375 | 82.10% 50-100 | 543 | 13.21% 100-150 | 88 | 2.14% 150-200 | 31 | 0.75% 200-250 | 39 | 0.95% 250-300 | 5 | 0.12% 300-350 | 16 | 0.39% 400-450 | 5 | 0.12% 600-650 | 6 | 0.15% 1200-1250 | 1 | 0.02% 1400-1450 | 1 | 0.02% 1450-1500 | 1 | 0.02% === DISTANCE ACHIEVEMENTS === Randonneur 50 km: 543 Randonneur 100 km: 88 Randonneur 150 km: 31 Randonneur 200 km: 44 Randonneur 300 km: 16 Randonneur 400 km: 5 Randonneur 600 km: 6 Randonneur 1000 km: 3 === TOP 5 LONGEST RIDES === 1. 1463.6 km - audax: LEL 2. 1411.2 km - audax: LEJOG 3. 1225.6 km - audax: PBP 4. 624.0 km - audax: Willesden's Last Gasp 5. 622.8 km - audax: Orbit London 600k DIY === MONTHLY STATISTICS === 2025-02: 19 rides, 1133.6 km 2025-01: 23 rides, 1329.1 km 2024-12: 31 rides, 1642.3 km 2024-11: 20 rides, 1537.2 km 2024-10: 22 rides, 1300.8 km 2024-09: 12 rides, 720.6 km 2024-08: 21 rides, 1546.2 km 2024-07: 19 rides, 1296.2 km 2024-06: 19 rides, 1166.4 km 2024-05: 49 rides, 2422.1 km 2024-04: 31 rides, 1040.2 km 2024-03: 34 rides, 1208.9 km
Imperial Units
=== CYCLING STATISTICS (distances in miles) === Current unit: miles (use --unit option to change) Total rides analyzed: 4111 === OVERALL EDDINGTON PROGRESS === Current overall Eddington: 98 In progress: E=99 (98 rides of 99+ miles) Need 1 more rides of 99+ miles for E=99 Next goal after that: E=100 (98 rides of 100+ miles) Will need 2 more rides of 100+ miles for E=100 === EDDINGTON YEAR TO DATE (2025) === Rides this year: 42 Distance this year: 1,530.3 miles Current year Eddington: 28 In progress: E=29 (27 rides of 29+ miles) Need 2 more rides of 29+ miles for E=29 === YEARLY EDDINGTON NUMBERS === 2025: 28 2024: 42 2023: 31 2022: 33 2021: 33 2020: 31 2019: 39 2018: 34 2017: 35 2016: 43 2015: 44 *Highest* 2014: 39 2013: 38 2012: 20 === RIDE METRICS === Longest ride: 909.5 miles Average ride: 23.1 miles Total distance: 95082.7 miles === RIDE DISTRIBUTION === Range | Count | Percentage ----------------|--------|---------- 0-50 | 3857 | 93.82% 50-100 | 156 | 3.79% 100-150 | 63 | 1.53% 150-200 | 20 | 0.49% 200-250 | 1 | 0.02% 250-300 | 5 | 0.12% 350-400 | 6 | 0.15% 750-800 | 1 | 0.02% 850-900 | 1 | 0.02% 900-950 | 1 | 0.02% === DISTANCE ACHIEVEMENTS === Century rides (100+ miles): 98 Double centuries (200+ miles): 15 Triple centuries (300+ miles): 9 Quad centuries (400+ miles): 3 === TOP 5 LONGEST RIDES === 1. 909.5 miles - audax: LEL 2. 876.9 miles - audax: LEJOG 3. 761.6 miles - audax: PBP 4. 387.7 miles - audax: Willesden's Last Gasp 5. 387.0 miles - audax: Orbit London 600k DIY === MONTHLY STATISTICS === 2025-02: 19 rides, 704.4 miles 2025-01: 23 rides, 825.9 miles 2024-12: 31 rides, 1020.5 miles 2024-11: 20 rides, 955.2 miles 2024-10: 22 rides, 808.3 miles 2024-09: 12 rides, 447.8 miles 2024-08: 21 rides, 960.8 miles 2024-07: 19 rides, 805.4 miles 2024-06: 19 rides, 724.8 miles 2024-05: 49 rides, 1505.0 miles 2024-04: 31 rides, 646.4 miles 2024-03: 34 rides, 751.2 miles
The code is on GitHub if you have an interest. Lot’s could be done with it to make the app more visual and accessible online. Very interested in anything anyone else is minded to do with it.