Don’t run a power meter so this must be some form of estimate/calculation.

However when I look at other people on the leaderboards my power output is 200w more than everybody, including the guys who are above me.

Wondering if I’ve set it up wrong somewhere. Can’t see anything in settings which I would have thought would affect the power calc.

Any thoughts?

It’s based on your weight and your bike’s weight. Not sure how accurate it is, but it’s a bit of fun!

Weights probably wrong

you may be fit but fat – try time trials.

Weight is down as 185lb and bike as 25lb which is (within a couple of pound) right. (83kg and 11kg ish bike)

It’s vastly inaccurate, ignore it!

ignore it!

Sage advice.

Are you sure the units wanted is imperial? My weights are in kilos and power seems right, there is a guy I know me who seems to have a similar issue to you – I’m always faster on the climbs but his power is rated far more highly than mine whilst we weigh similar amounts.

It’s an estimate. My stats are in correctly but as you say the power is a fair few watts more than the others

i liked the idea of strava for about ten minutes, until i realised all the times were drivel.

I don’t think they are, certainly some spurious ones, and the power is rubbish, but I think most times are sound. If not flag the ride, I’ve seen a few clearly erroneous ones removed.

Apart from phones not recording enough points and being obviously out the timings all look fairly good from mine. Don’t even look at power though.

Was 100m’s in 60km for yesterday and the average stacked up. If your recording device is crap then the output will be.

I use a garmin 800 so I don’t think it is that, stats in properly too ho hum, I’ll just ignore it.

The timing is definitely +/- a few seconds so should be taken with a pinch of salt.

Yesterday my buddy and I were drafting each other through a strava segment (probably counts as cheating….). I started on his wheel behind, and we finished with me in front with him on my wheel.

Uploaded times, he was down as 2 seconds faster over the segment. At no point were either of us more than a foot from each other.

He’s using a garmin 200 vs my 800 proves there is a degree of inaccuracy.

Well it can’t be 100% accurate as the GPS unit is never that accurate so a few seconds tolerance is required – plus the location is recorded less frequently by some units.

I do like the power figure though – just for comparing with my own segments and rides. Calculating power accurately obviously isn’t possible – a windy day can make a huge difference to times – but it’s interesting to see your average power over a ride and over time see improvements.

BTW, this is an interesting tool for calculating power – shows how changes in position affect things:

http://bikecalculator.com/