The internet is full of self-proclaimed challenges, ranging from some absolutely pointless fads to well-intended tasks with an actual purpose. In times of TikTok, the latter is of course becoming rarer, as a quick, effortless jump on the bandwagon is just easier for raising your internet points. Cyclists on the other hand love a good challenge where they compete with one another online, testing their skills and gamifying their favorite activity along the way. One option for that is Everesting, where you pick a hill of your choice, and within a single session you ride it up and down as many times as it takes until you accumulated the height of Mount Everest on it. Intrigued by the idea, but not so much its competitive aspect, [rabbitcreek] became curious how long it would take him to reach that goal with his own casual bicycle usage, so he built a bicycle computer to measure and keep track of it.
While the total distance and time factors into the actual challenge, [rabbitcreek]’s primary interest was the accumulated height, so the device’s main component is a BMP388 barometric pressure sensor attached to a battery-powered ESP32. An e-paper display shows the total height and completed percentage, along with some random Everest-related pictures. Everything is neatly packed together in a 3D-printed case that can be mounted on the bicycle’s handlebar, and the STL files are available along with the source code in his write-up.
Of course, if you’re actually interested in the challenge itself, you probably have an assortment of sports tracking equipment anyway, but this is a nice addition to keep track as you go, and has a lower risk of ransomware attacks. And in case [rabbitcreek] sounds like a familiar name to you, he’s indeed become a Hackaday regular with his environmental hacks like the tide clock, a handheld particle sniffer, or logging temperatures in the Alaskan wilderness.
Cool project and nice packaging, although I’m reminded of an old joke I heard from someone who worked with avionics:
What’s the best way to accurately determine altitude using a barometric pressure sensor?
Drop it into the ocean and count how long it takes to fall.
the 388 does look much better than the older ones – I’m going to get one and try it out… And if you went the same way down as up, to the same spot, and had the readings for the whole trip, you might be able to do a pretty good job of working out the heights…
The system needs a face mask that supplies oxygen at an ever decreasing rate equivalent to the height attained!
It’s a failing of all these esport systems that rely on physical endurance. someone cycling at sea level is going to have an advantage over some one cycling at say 1000m
I was going to make exactly the same comment: climbing a hill from sea level to 100m 88 times is not quite the same as climbing to 8800m!
Cool project that suits my exercise regimen perfectly: All I need to do is sit on the couch for a week or two, and normal barometric pressure variations will make it *look* like I climbed a bunch of hills several times. :-)
I believe you’re getting that idea from government economic accounting.
No, more like more like your average Silly Con Valley company investment prospectus.
Curious if these barometric sensors are temperature compensated. On a warmer than standard day, the entire air column expands, so the actual altitude you have to climb for a given pressure drop increases (and vice versa.)
If they’re not it would be pretty easy to add a temperature sensor and do it yourself on the micro
Or… you could just find out the altitude of the top of the hill relative to the bottom, write it down and Bob’s your uncle. Climbing Everest is overrated and a nuisance.