Anyone else better at estimating elevation gain than Strava?

It’s quite scary how much better I am than Strava at calculating elevation gain on a ride…

Strava reckoned the B’ Bash + Sprinkling Tarn was 1490m, and I thought that was a tad generous so hit correct elevation and it dropped to 1420.

Last weekend the family went for a very gently 22km bimble around hodge close which Strava showed as 448m, which I thought was too high. Corrected to 378.

Today’s Peak ride was showing 968m, which was patently bollocks and I reckoned 700 or 800 max. Dropped to 720 on recalc.

And my big Coniston trip last weekend was showing 2103m, which I knew was very optimistic. My brain reckoned 1780, and it turned out to be 1720 once Strava recalculated.

The weird thing is that it’s not just rides I have done, I recall seeing a route GolfChick did on Strava and posted in the comments that there was an error because I  reckoned the ride was at least 700m more. She clicked recalc and it came out almost exactly what I had estimated… On a route I had only done bits of on different days, and most of which I hadn’t done at all.

If only I had a useful skill..,😟

Happens all the time with strava, garmin, wahoo. I got 900 odd on a blatant 300m ride last week.

Normally gets it pretty much bang on for me, within 20m of the same figure on 20 mile loops I do regularly. Garmin comes up with the same or very similar figure.

I think it is down to the device. If it has a barometric pressure sensor, the accuracy is likely to be much better than just using gps data (which is known to be pretty poor for elevation).

I think recalc on strava probably takes the plot of your ride and calculates it against the map data to replace the gps data from the original recording.

Anyone else better at estimating elevation gain than Strava?

Yes, mine woefully under-estimates, thankfully I can give a much more accurate estimation in the pub afterwards.

It’s quite scary how much better I am than Strava at calculating elevation gain on a ride…

Strava isn’t calculating the reported elevation, it’s just going off what your Garmin (or whatever) says. It’s only when you click “correct elevation” that Strava calculates anything.

My Polar gps watch, which is excellent in all other areas, under-records elevation by about 15% every ride. I always hit the recalc button on Strava.

Are you calibrating the Garmin altimeter before starting the ride?

Presumably if you record it in the strava (watch) app then you can’t recalculate?

Presumably if you record it in the strava (watch) app then you can’t recalculate?

AIUI Strava does this calculation by default if you aren’t using a standalone device with a barometric altimeter so no need!

The original elevation figure is coming from the barometer equipped GPS computer, not Strava.

The “correct elevation” uses Strava’s best guess at the elevation covered.

Sometimes my Lezyne Super Pro is horribly out compared to Strava data, but the typical difference is far less than it was on my old Lezyne unit bought in ’17.

Are you calibrating the Garmin altimeter before starting the ride?

Yes this is very important to do. I can’t find the link, but luckily I wrote the instructions down.

Before each ride you need to hold the device at three different heights and each time spin around 8.5 times exactly. The heights are 30cm off the ground, 1.6m off the ground, and 2.5m off the ground. Saves you having to hit that button on Strava.

Before each ride you need to hold the device at three different heights and each time spin around 8.5 times exactly. The heights are 30cm off the ground, 1.6m off the ground, and 2.5m off the ground.

You forgot that it must be completed on one leg and repeated for the other leg also. This is to force you to hop,  thus simulating bumps on off-road routes. Also the spin must be anticlockwise in the northern hemisphere.

Or, hit the Strava button as you say.

And to add…..if your device uses barometric pressure and the barometric pressure changes whilst you are out on your ride it’ll mess with your ride height gain too. The longer the ride, the bigger the chance of a barometic pressure shift as a front comes through or whatever.

This is why pilots get an updated pressure (QNH or QFE) even when returning to the airfield they took off from otherwise the runway can appear to have suddenly dropped or gained height on your instruments which can get a bit hurty.

I read a long time ago that Garmin devices (and I presume others) need to climatize before giving true and accurate elevation readings.

Not sure how long this takes tbh but most of us using them probably go from house or car to ride quite quickly, thus throwing it off straight away.

I’ve noticed this with my 530 when looking at the elevation profile. The start should be the same as the end and many times it isn’t.

I fix alot of problems with strava by not giving a shit 🤣

I don’t want my numbers to come down, I’m actually thinking of getting a Wahoo so I can actually increase my elevation gains. 😜

On Garmin Connect you can toggle between “what the device measured” and “what the map says”  to give you a bit more accuracy. I’ve got to say; unless it’s huge amounts out – back in the winter I did a 30km ride with over 1100m of climbing that the Garmin thought was about 450m, I very rarely care to check what it says otherwise.  It’s just for my fun after all.