Ok people. Let me tell you that this post is almost not about Excel. It is about how one Excel blogger’s (yours truly) dream of long distance cycling came true. So sit back, grab your favorite drink and read between sips.
PS: if you just want to see the dashboard, click here.
So what is this all about?
Last Sunday (27th July) & Monday (28th), I finished my first ever 200KM bicycle ride. I rode for a little more than 12 hours, burned 5,179 calories & rode 206 kilometers.
It is definitely one of the most memorable, tiresome & uplifting experiences in my life. So naturally, I want to share the story with you.
Where it all began
Around late last year, I read a book called Free Country by George Mahood. It is a story of two young British lads cycling from Lands End to John O’ Groats (from one end of Britain to another) without spending a penny of their own money. While reading the book, I kept thinking, ‘I should do something mildly similar one day’.
But I did not do much cycling in the next several months. Until…,
I read truly inspiring story of how adc cycled from Manali to Leh (500 km). The story is special because the terrain between Manali & Leh is filled with high altitude passes, dangerous mountain roads, harsh weather, almost no habitat & breath taking scenery.
That travelogue motivated me enough to get out my dusty cycle from garage and start riding it.
Soon I was riding 20 KM per day. I started doing a few long rides (~40km) in the weekends to build strength.
Once I felt confident, I discussed my plans for a longer ride with Jo (my wife). She was a little apprehensive as I have never done something like that and long rides could mean increased chance for injury or accident.
Finally we agreed that doing a round trip to Annavaram (a small temple town 118 km away from our home) would be reasonable. The roads to Annavaram are in excellent condition. There is ample help available all the way (plenty of food stops, villages & towns along the way). Plus in case of fatigue or injury, I could easily hitch a ride back home.
I fixed on the dates 27 & 28th of July for ride. Weather app on Jo’s iPad said there is 70% chance of rain. I kept my plans fluid & wanted to ride only if there is no rain in the morning when I started.
Route Map
Here is the route I took (link).
Day 1 – Vizag to Annavaram (118 km, 7:34 hrs riding)
I woke up at 4:45 AM and unlocked the doors immediately to see if there is any rain. No rain and the skies looked ok. I got ready, had a glass of milk & woke up Jo. She gave me a farewell hug and I left the house at 5:24.
The initial 20 km was a breeze to ride. The route so far is familiar as I bicycle on it almost everyday.
After riding 25 km, I took a short water break.
I barely rode for another 4 km and stopped again, this time to enjoy the view from top of a flyover. The rolling hills, green rice fields, railway track, chirping birds & fresh morning air provided perfect setting for a few pictures.
Soon I left the state highway & joined national highway 45 (and 16 too). This is a 4 lane highway with wide shoulder. Unlike in US (and many other western countries), in India bicycles, pedestrians and many other forms of moving objects are allowed on highways. The best part of riding on national highway is that the gradients are better. Next 15 km felt like one long flat ride.
I crossed Anakapalli (a small town on the outskirts of Vizag) and stopped for breakfast at 41 KM mark. 1/3rd distance completed!
After feasting on Idly, Dosa & a tea (traditional breakfast in south India), I resumed the journey at 8:10 AM.
Still no rains. So I rode on.
At around 50 KM mark, stopped for a quick drink of water & electral (oral re-hydration solution made with essential salts & minerals).
Around 60 km mark I started feeling a little thirsty and wanted to stop for some tea. Soon (after 6km) found a road side tea stall. My original plan is to ride until 80k mark and stop for lunch.
But seeing that I finished 66km by 9:56AM, I have decided to ride until Annavaram (my destination for the day) before lunch.
After the tea stop, I rode for another hour to reach Nakkapalli (a small village on the highway). There I saw a fruit juice stall. Immediately stopped to have a full glass of banana juice. The shop owner told me that Annavaram is another 36 km from there. It started drizzling now. I am a little worried that it may rain heavily.
But my fears were unfounded. Soon the skies cleared and I was on a climb. After riding just another 10 km, I had to stop again to quench my thirst and relax a bit. As I was sitting by the road side, a mini truck stopped next to me. the truck driver was curious to know where I am heading & my story. After chatting for a while they left me.
At 95KM mark, I stopped again for a quick snack (snickers bar). Soon 2 kids on a cycle approached me. They are Siva & Siva Ganesh. Siva Ganesh (eldest one, studying 9th class) wanted to test ride my cycle. He was curious to know how the gears work. He took the cycle for a short spin and returned. They spend another 5 minutes with me asking several questions.
Once again I found myself on a steady climb. And then there are strong head winds. My speeds dropped to the range of 10-15kmph. After a lot of pedaling & sweat, I crossed Tuni at 12:30PM.
Selfie @ 100km mark
It took me another 30 minutes & 6 km of biking to reach a small temple village called Lova Gudi. By now my water bottles are emptied. So I stopped here to purchase a bottle of water. From here Annavaram (my destination) is 15 km. Normally I would have finished this distance in 40-50 mins. But after riding for 6 hrs, I find myself tired & sweaty. Plus the winds have picked up again. And to top it, almost all of this stretch is a climb.
I took a deep breath and resumed cycling.
The wind & gradient made my task all the more difficult. But I pressed on.
See how harsh the wind is. The coconut leaves are all bent.
About 5 km away from Annavaram (around 110 km mark), someone in a car was waiting for me. As soon as he saw me, he waved his hands and stopped me. Turns out he is a biker from Vizag. He got curious upon seeing the site of a lone biker and wanted to know about me. We chatted for a while and exchanged phone numbers.
Finally at 2:50 PM, I reached Annavaram village gate. Yay!. It took me more than 9 hours & 30 minutes to reach here. Out of this riding time is 7:30 (it might have been slightly less than this as my tracking app – MapMyRide was not set to autopause for the first 65 km).
Finally, at Annavaram village gate after 9:30 hours of riding.
Day 1 – At Annavaram
I went to the first hotel I can find and ordered lunch. While waiting for lunch, I called Jo & my mom to tell that I reached safely.
After lunch I asked them if they have any rooms to stay. They have vacancies and I immediately took a room. I quickly showered and took a nap. But I could hardly sleep as my thighs and wrists were aching. It looked like I could not ride back and may have to take a bus to my home.
Originally I planned to visit the famous Annavaram temple in the evening. But my legs & back felt too sore to do anything. So instead I went for a short walk to explore the village in the evening.
Later I ordered dinner and watched some football on TV.
Around this time, I have decided to skip the return ride & take a bus instead. I told the same to Jo when I called her to say good night.
I kept waking up in the night due to one pain or other. I turned off the alarm at 6:15 AM and went back to sleep again.
Finally when I woke up at 8:00 I surprisingly felt rejuvenated and ready.
At that moment I decided to ride back home. My plan is to ride as far as I can and then take a bus.
Day 2 – Annavaram to Anakapalli (88 km, 4:30 hrs riding)
After a heavy breakfast & some coffee, I checked out of the hotel and started my return journey at 8:43 AM.
Since I have climbed & gained elevation yesterday, the first 40 km ride from Annavaram was almost downhill mixed with few flats. So I could maintain speeds between 20-30 kmph. At one point I even reached 43.5 kmph, although barely for a minute.
I did not stop anywhere for first 25 km. But then the views by the road are too breathtaking to ignore. So I stopped for a few pictures at 25k mark & again at 27k mark.
At the later stop, I found several open billed storks in the rice fields. It was a pleasure watching them forage for food & fly elegantly.
Pretty soon I reached the toll plaza. And yay!, no toll for me. Another reason to bike.
Had to stop again at 10:55AM to appreciate the beautiful green & blue views. Took a few pictures and resumed ride. Reached 50 KM by now.
At this point, I changed my plan to ride for 83 km. This will make the total distance as 200km.
By 11:30, I reached Elamanchali (a small village 20 km away from Anakapalli, my destination for the day). By now it started raining quite a bit. My bike accumulated quite a bit of dirt & soot.
By 1:00 PM, I reached outskirts of Anakapalli and spotted a nice road side restaurant. Immediate stopped there for lunch. As soon as I stopped it started raining heavily. So I had a leisurely lunch spending close to an hour there. Finally the skies cleared at 2 PM and I resumed my ride.
When I was 3 km outside Anakapalli, a gentleman on motorcycle slowed down and rode with me for a few minutes. He asked me several questions about where I am riding, what I do, why I am riding etc. He even invited me to have lunch with him. But I had to decline as I already finished my lunch.
Finally, at 3:06 PM, I finished 88km and stopped my bicycle ride.
An empty mini truck going towards Sabbavaram (half way between where I stopped & my home) offered me a ride.
From Sabbavaram I took an Auto (a 3 wheeled taxi, also called as tuk-tuk) to my home.
And that marked the end of my first ever 200 km bike ride.
My impressions:
Growing up, I used to be the least fit kid in my school. I sucked at all sorts of sports. I got kicked out of football, hockey, badminton, cricket and all other sporting teams in school.
So naturally I assumed that I am not good for athletic activities.
Once I completed my studies and got a job, I realized the importance of living an active life. So I started jogging, cycling and playing sports.
Ever since I quit my job to start my own business, I became even more fitness conscious. Every year (since 2010), I have challenged myself to break personal barriers. When I first considered biking, I could not imaging anything beyond 50km per day. But with practice and motivation, I could finish this ride.
Few thoughts:
- Do a few practice rides: I have been riding 20-30km per day for almost a month before taking up this challenge.
- We underestimate our body: We can take on big challenges, endure pain & perform at our peak so much more than we estimate.
- Drink & Eat well: I call my diet really healthy. We eat home cooked food 90% of the time. Most of our diet is veggies, fruits, milk, nuts, rice & wheat. Almost half of the vegetables & fruits we eat are grown in our back yard. We rarely drink and eat meat once a week.
- Enjoy the ride: Stop and enjoy the scenery. Talk to fellow travelers and take ample breaks. Any distance can be covered easily.
Thanks to
- Jo: for supporting & encouraging me.
- My mom: for not freaking out when she learned about the ride.
- Free Country & ADC: for the motivation
- You: for supporting Chandoo.org so that I can chase my passions.
Now for an Excel Dashboard visualizing the ride
Soon after I got back, I started thinking about analyzing all the ride data. I did what I do best. I created an Excel dashboard to tell the 200km ride story.
Here is a snap shot of the dashboard (click to expand).
Click here to download the Excel Workbook.
It is unlocked. So go ahead and examine the file. Break it apart to understand the logic & formulas. Learn something new & be awesome.
How is this dashboard made?
Here I am going provide only the highlights. Please visit Excel Dashboards page for fantastic tutorials & explanations on how to make dashboards.
- Tables: for structuring ride data. All the ride data came from MapMyRide. I used Doogal.co.uk to get elevation profile of the route.
- Column & line charts: for the splits, speed & elevation.
- Form controls: to make the charts dynamic & to control the Ride pics slideshow.
- Picture links: to show one of the many ride pictures thru scroll bar form control.
- Ample dose of formulas: Mainly INDEX, MATCH, SUMIFS & COUNTIFS.
More personal stories
If you are in the mood to know Chandoo.org & me a little more, check out these:
- Story of Chandoo.org startup
- Thank you, we have a home
- Thank you, we have a car (and another one too)
- Travelogues from my visits to Maldives & Australia
- Confessions of a dad
See you again with more awesome Excel stuff.
35 Responses to “75 Excel Speeding up Tips Shared by YOU! [Speedy Spreadsheet Week]”
I see most are saying that array formulas are bad. But I thought that when you use array formulas it grabs all the data at once and performs the calculations in one fell swoop. At least that is how the UDFs that I created work. When I did the time test it was much faster that way. Maybe I'll go back and check to make sure my work is right, but that's what I did.
When I work with array formulas I get a full column of data then work on that column and return a full column of data all at once. Which has shown to be much faster than the alternative.
Anyone have special insights on this?
wow..! thats a pretty impressive list, some real gems in there. I read somewhere the other day that spreadsheet development should be 80% planning and 20% implementation - taking the time to think about layout, how you're going to calculate things and how to structure the data often results in a lot less headaches, and more time for deeper analysis...
Hi Chandoo...
Mixed feeling about this article, while I completely agree with you when you share everyone's points under their name giving credit to contributors, but at the same time I see alot of repeated tips and few those may not be applicable under all cases. (I may have sounded harsh). Some kind of sorting of tips were required than mere 3 categorization. (Tough ask, I know). Some really worthy and awesome tips get lost in occean.
I would have been happy to read only non repititive tips and more like standard chandoo articles.
Well, I have also got two tips (may get lost in the list above), which is not presented above:
1. When using too many pivots - Disable data drilling option. This reduces file size, cache memory and speeds up file.
2. If your macro has used too many files for gathering input, close the file and open. This is also release or kill unwanted space in memory and speeds up. Again this can be achieved by macro to close self file and reopen same file, using timer function.
Please do not count me negative.
Regards,
Prasad DN
Hey, one thing that really speeds up VBA processing of data is to extract ranges into arrays & then working on those arrays. Arrays are a lot faster than using cell offset or any other method for working with a database. After you are done you can also paste the value directly into the range with one single command. This will speed up the macros considerably.
Here is a msdn article with examples in it:
msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa139976(v=office.10).aspx
Hope this helps
oops, noticed a typo in the tip I posted:
Re directly assigning values in VBA rather than copying & pasting should have read:
Sheet2.Range( "B1:B200 ").Value= Sheet1.Range( "A1:A200 ").Value
not
Sheet2.Range( "B1:B200 ").Value= Sheet1.Range( "A1:A100 ").Value
Corrected with double quotes:
Sheet2.Range("B1:B200").Value= Sheet1.Range("A1:A200").Value
[...] posts on speeding up Excel worksheets, one of the posts focuses on formulas and another he let the general readers make their suggestions. I made the suggestion that people use array formulas. But most of the other suggestions said not [...]
OK, I tested it. My UDFs were faster as array functions (like a couple thousand times). But Excel's built in functions are faster when not doing arrays. Not sure this is the case for all situations.
I can't help but to speak up.
Deleting a PivotTable will not speed up your workbook. It will only reduce the file size. There is zero memory processing for a pivot table if it just sits there.
Instead of destroying the pivot table, why not remove the redundant raw data. That would equally reduce the file size of the workbook, while keeping the pivot table functionality.
http://datapigtechnologies.com/blog/index.php/cut-the-size-of-your-pivot-table-workbooks-in-half/
Thanks a lot guys for your valuable tips !!
It really worked for me
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationManual
...
...
...
Application.ScreenUpdating = True
Application.Calculation = xlCalculationAutomatic
I would add:
Application.StatusBar = "Wait a second..."
............
Application.StatusBar = False
Optimizing Speed using Pivot Tables:
If you find that Pivot Tables are becoming sluggish becomes of the sheer volume of tables there is a way to increase performance. By default (xls 2010) pivot tables are designed to autofit the data within the columns as well as preserving formatting. I discovered that unchecking these two options alone will exponentially increase performance.
Here's how to do it:
Right click on your pivot table(s) --->choose 'Pivot Table Options' -->Layout & Format' Tab --->uncheck two boxes at the bottom. Done!
here is my list:
1. Avoid Variants when possible
2. Use long instead of integer
3. Use double instead of single
4. Use booleans as much as possible
5. pull data into arrays, manipulate, then dump back to workbook
6. use .value2 instead of .value if you are looking at strings or numeric values
7. set object variables
dim Wks as Excel.Worksheet
set wks = thisworkbook.Sheets("Sheet1")
8. use with statements...
with wks.cells(x,y)
.value2 = "abcd"
.interior.colorindex=4
with .font
.bold=true
.size =20
.underline=xlunderlinestylesingle
end with
9. use string version of functions (Left$() instead of Left())
10. Test for empty string variables with len() or lenb()...if lenb(String1)=0 then
11. Use the Mid$() function if it is possible instead of split()
12. use the join$() function instead of concatenating strings
13. AscW() to evaluate first characters
14. combine if statements and booleans together
boolean = (lenb(String1) = 0)
16. InStr(), InStrB(), InStrRev() are very fast, InStr() can be used to quickly return a substring occurrence of a string
17. DICTIONARIES!!!!!!!!!!!
18. FileSystemObject
19. My machine runs slightly faster when i fill in all the inputs of a function (instead of InStrB(String1, "abcd"), i use (InStrB(1,String1,"abcd",vbBinaryCompare)
20. Short Circuit If statements: If x = 2 then if y >3 then if z = 5 then b=true or
if x=2 then
if y >3 then
if z=5 then
b=true
c=true
end if
end if
end if
21. use ElseIf
22. my testing indicates ElseIf is slightly faster than a Case Select
23. set strings to empty by: = vbnullstring
24. with application
.screenupdating = false
.displayalerts = false
.enableevents = false
end with
25. UserForms can be very beneficial
26. User-Defined Types are a very neat way to encapsulate data
27. User-Defined Functions are handy, but can increase run-time if called thousands of times
28. if using ElseIfs, nested And Ifs or Select Case statements, put the argument that will occur most frequently at the beginning
29. Looping is not the worst thing...just got to figure out how to do it the most efficiently
30. Use dynamic arrays instead of static arrays
31. if you can figure out Win32 APIs, then they are usually much faster than VBA functions
I worked on a massive spreadsheet and it had become very slow over time as I developed it. I tried stripping down more and more formulas by replacing with pasted values, removed all conditional formatting etc. In the end what finally did the trick was when I removed the last single SUMPRODUCT fomula. It changed the updating time after one change from 7-8 seconds to instantaneously. The SUMPRODUCT I had used the full columns, and if I put it to only look at rows 1-500 it was fine.
[...] Speeding up Excel – 75 tips [Visitors: 36,157 ] Using Excel as your database [ 32,455 ] Comprehensive guide to VLOOKUP [ 23,745 ] 66 Dashboards visualizing Excel salary survey data [ 26,148 ] Interactive Sales chart in Excel [ 21,444 ] Compare 2 Excel sheets – howto? [ 21,820 ] Send mails using Excel VBA & Outlook [ 22,294 ] Customer Service Dashboard in Excel [ 18,136 ] Making your dashboards interactive [ 15,294 ] Extract numbers from text in Excel [ 18,490 ] [...]
TIPS FOR SPEEDING UP EXCEL
(1) Instead of writing a lot of formulas to organise data, you can VLOOKUP() the data in a Pivot table, thereby combining the advantages of Pivot table and VOOKUP().
(2) If you have a range named ‘TotalTaxForTheCurrentFinancialYear’, then it is not compulsory to use this name when making the worksheet. Naming the range as ‘Tax’ or simply ‘T’ will be sufficient. The formula =SUM(T) will be shorter and easier to use.
After completing typing all the formulas, simply edit the name of the range from ‘T’ to ‘TotalTaxForTheCurrentFinancialYear’, in the name box. The formula =SUM(T) will automatically change to =SUM(TotalTaxForTheCurrentFinancialYear).
Vijaykumar Shetye, India
VBA
I don't write many macros and like most of you when doing a recalculation it sometimes takes forever.
I have found that when I looked at my spreadsheet, I could determine which order of calcuations (by column) would produce the least number of iterations. So I wrote a macro to do my calculations on my terms. I picked the order of the columns I wanted to calcuate and it sped up my recalc 5-10X.
I did this so long ago, I believe I used "expression .Calculate".
TIPS TO SPEED UP EXCEL by Vijaykumar Shetye, India
You can view all the formulas in the entire worksheet quickly by pressing [ctrl] and [~] keys simultaneously.
To view results, press the key combination again.
i need help about excle lerning and reports making with dash bord i have no facility to join the on classes.
sajjad.hussain165@gmail.com
Is there any command to get time with seconds
Is there any way to create an excel file for specific time period, afterwards it will not open
[...] are looking for , but give it a try : Optimize Slow VBA Code. Speed Up Efficient VBA Code/Macros 75 Excel Speeding up Tips - How to speed-up & optimize slow Excel workbooks? | Chandoo.org - Lea... [...]
I've had to do a lot of mass calculations for reports etc. that involved repetitive identical, yet complex formulae, which took forever...
I hit on a great time-saver: sort the spreadsheet data; if, for example, the same result was due to a lookup of Hotel Name (A column), Date (B column), and Room Type (F column), the formula (Z column) would be: "=IF(A2&B2&F2=A1&B1&F1,Z1,VLOOKUP(A2&B2&F2,LookUps!A:G,7,FALSE))".
This meant that if the result is the same as the row above, just use the same answer, thus saving loads of time instead of VLOOKUPs. (This is a simplified example, the actual one had INDIRECT(ADDRESS...) in it, too!)
Check files for invalid range names, invalid links and names that aren't needed any longer.
Clearing out some 200 old references in a template made the file open go from 30 seconds to 2.
You can improve the speed by stopping calculation during changing cell value and after that you can enable it. please follow the link.
http://webtech-training.blogspot.in/2013/10/how-to-stop-heavy-formula-calculation.html
[…] 75 Excel Speeding Tips Its a long List, many repeated but worth a visit. […]
[…] 75 Speed-up tips by Chandoo (smartly done by crowd sourcing) […]
[…] Are you opening slow excel files? Use this reference to speed up your excel sheets […]
If you want to highlight the content or result within a cell with colour, use content colour not cell fill colour. This make a large data sheet fast as full colour takes up more resource.
There are already so many useful replies, so don't be mad at me if I repeat someone with the following hints.
While using pivot tables:
1. Link (raw) data from external files, rather then building pivots in the same workbook of the data. => Reduces file size.
2. don't flag "keep source data" in pivot settings. => reduces cache.
Downside is when you want to use slicers, you must allow refresh of the source data and thus people need access to that file.
One extra when using tables above ranges: replace the table header references by cell references in heavy duty formulas. I'm not sure but it seems to be faster and lighter (in #MBs).
hi
iam student and need xloptimizer( no demo) for solving the mathematical model
can you help me
thanks alot
@Reza
We cannot give away XLoptimizer
Why not post a question in the Chandoo.org Forums
http://forum.chandoo.org/
Dear Sir,
Thanks a lot for sharing tips & tricks of excel....
I read it , understand it and then use it in job and that has helped me a lot....
Thanks a lot...
Himanshu.
Mumbai, India.
In VBA, send out values to the worksheet all together as an array then excel will only re-calculate once rather than each time a cell that is output.
to the guy who said avoid looping in VBA - easier said than done, it's one of the most powerful uses for VBA out there. I'd therefore recomend the half way house and break the loop as soon as you've got what you want, don't let it run until the end. Use While etc.
What I would say on VBA in general is minimise sheet to code interations. Suck all your data into a VBA array THEN do the maths don't use cells themselves as stand alone visual variables.
And to the lady who said it's faster offline - that's because Microsoft are constantly contacting their own website be it security verification and/or update checks
Apply some logic to the order of criteria in sumifs / countifs formula
order the most exclusive criteria first. Once one criteria fails the others do not execute.
Bing AI, given the following query, confirms this: "excel countifs. if one criteria is likely to exclude most of the data range then should this criteria go first in the list to prevent frivilous executions".