Easiest FKTs to Break in Colorado
Problem Statement:
Fastest Known Times (FKTs) represent the fastest time recorded for completing a particular route. With the growing popularity of FKTs, it has become challenging to find routes with less competitive times. This project aims to identify the routes in Colorado that are potentially the easiest to break based on historical data.
Goals:
To identify routes with the least competitive times. To help learn more about web scraping large amounts of data.
Tp provide recommendations for my roommate Noah Miller on which routes to target.
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Data Collection- Collected data from the FKT website and used selium and chromedriver to gather route names, locations, completion dates, athletes, and times.
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Data Preparation- Converted distances and elevation gains to consistent units (miles and feet). Converted completion times to hours.
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Analysis- Used statistical and machine learning techniques to analyze the data. I trained a model to predict expected completion times based on distance and elevation gain. Then I compared actual times to predicted times to find routes where records are easier to break.
Methodology
Results
The analysis revealed that many of the easiest FKTs to break are highly technical routes, requiring significant skill and experience to complete. However, several shorter routes also made it into the top 10 list. These shorter routes are likely less competitive and often overlooked, providing an excellent opportunity for aspiring FKT setters to make their mark. The combination of technical challenges and under-the-radar shorter routes presents diverse options for those looking to set new records.
