Strava Category Climbs

thefd

How does Strava decide what category a climb is regarded as?

I have seen this artical which explains how they are decided. But does Strava automatically categorise a climb? Or do riders make suggestions?

On my early morning ride I go up this hill - which is definitely much steeper and harder than any of the other climbs I do (including several category 4) - yet Strava doesn't seem to have it as any category of hill.

Three of us often do it - and we have all mentioned at one time or other how it is much steeper and longer than other climbs we do. It is always the hill we are least looking forward to do.

Just wondering if anyone can shed light on this?

gabriel959

probably because its not very long. It would be good if you could post about the other ones around your area which aren't as hard or long but appear on Strava for comparison.

Speller78

https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/20420292-how-are-strava-climbs-categorized-for-rides

looks like your climb is probably too short

alihisgreat

Here's one of my local hills that shows what a '4th cat' of that length needs to look like according to strava:

http://app.strava.com/segments/352587


(makes your hill look a bit wussy by comparison )

thefd

gabriel959 wrote:

probably because its not very long. It would be good if you could post about the other ones around your area which aren't as hard or long but appear on Strava for comparison.

Ok - here is one which is double the length, but only 55 feet more of climbing. Seems weird that something which is half the length and has almost as much climbing, and certainly feels harder to ride is classed as an easier ride.

nickellis

Tis all bobbins.

Strava interprets the GPS data and decides what it feels like.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1079409 Trust me, at no point does any part of the segment reach 21.3% let alone average it. In fact there is a slight downhill at the S-bend which is a roundabout. You can tell it ain't 20+ but looking at the top 3 times on the leaderboard. 22+ mph up a 20%+ climb. The top two ride in the same club as me, and we joke about it all the time.

Strava could be using incorrect topographical data for the OPs climb. As this one is total horsesh!t.

nickel

nickellis wrote:

Tis all bobbins.

Strava interprets the GPS data and decides what it feels like.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1079409 Trust me, at no point does any part of the segment reach 21.3% let alone average it. In fact there is a slight downhill at the S-bend which is a roundabout. You can tell it ain't 20+ but looking at the top 3 times on the leaderboard. 22+ mph up a 20%+ climb. The top two ride in the same club as me, and we joke about it all the time.

Strava could be using incorrect topographical data for the OPs climb. As this one is total horsesh!t.

Sometimes strava does do stupid things like this, there's a section of false flat round here that strava has decided averages 27.3%, ha! That being said I quite like the strava categorisation, tends to make sense.

Examples from some climbs local to me:
4- http://app.strava.com/segments/725534
3- http://app.strava.com/segments/1440797
2- http://app.strava.com/segments/984583

Fairly logical increase in length/steepness which corresponds to a higher category.

drlodge

It looks like strava sometimes combines several lower category climbs into one higher category climb. On this ride over Leigh Hill http://app.strava.com/rides/13865419 there are 3 x Cat 4 climbs which I assume overall equates to a Cat 3 climb that is shown.

thegreatdivide

This is a Strava Cat 3. Note the highest elevation point. It really is evil... :twisted:

http://www.strava.com/segments/pitroddie-climb-1538696

drlodge

thegreatdivide wrote:

This is a Strava Cat 3. Note the highest elevation point. It really is evil... :twisted:

http://www.strava.com/segments/pitroddie-climb-1538696

WOW, average is 9% with some 1 in 4 slopes.

I think I'm gonna need a bigger cassette!

Cleat Eastwood

strava is rubbish at hills. A 4-6% bump near me is apparently 24%

snoopsmydogg

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

strava is rubbish at hills. A 4-6% bump near me is apparently 24%

theres a false flat near me that has been categorised cat4 and average grade 28.2%.

the top 10 riders range from 18-25mph average and im one of them :shock: other (genuine) local short climbs of 10% or over are around 11-14mph for me

thegreatdivide

drlodge wrote:

thegreatdivide wrote:

This is a Strava Cat 3. Note the highest elevation point. It really is evil... :twisted:

http://www.strava.com/segments/pitroddie-climb-1538696

WOW, average is 9% with some 1 in 4 slopes.

I think I'm gonna need a bigger cassette!

Although I sometimes knock Strava it’s pretty much on the money with this climb. There’s a section in the middle that looks like a wall - we call it the wall. It’s a single track road and the worst thing that can happen (apart from falling off your bike) is meeting a car on its way down the hill. We do it on a Compact 12/25. The reward is the view across the Tay valley and into Fife.

Forum user Nico Weststeyn has tackled this one so I'm sure he'll back me up.

dw300

Sometimes when people make segments using a badly calibrated altimeter, the elevation is wrong. This means when Strava looks at elevation gain versus distance it'll get categorised wrongly. Not really Strava's fault.

Eg. http://app.strava.com/segments/1043088

Surely climb categories have nothing really to do with steepness .. it's all about total elevation gain and distance. A climb of 20km at 5% requires far more effort than a 100m stretch at 25%.

BruceG

nickellis wrote:

Tis all bobbins.

Strava interprets the GPS data and decides what it feels like.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1079409 Trust me, at no point does any part of the segment reach 21.3% let alone average it. In fact there is a slight downhill at the S-bend which is a roundabout. You can tell it ain't 20+ but looking at the top 3 times on the leaderboard. 22+ mph up a 20%+ climb. The top two ride in the same club as me, and we joke about it all the time.

Strava could be using incorrect topographical data for the OPs climb. As this one is total horsesh!t.

It says 2.3% not 20+%

nickellis

BruceG wrote:

nickellis wrote:

Tis all bobbins.

Strava interprets the GPS data and decides what it feels like.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1079409 Trust me, at no point does any part of the segment reach 21.3% let alone average it. In fact there is a slight downhill at the S-bend which is a roundabout. You can tell it ain't 20+ but looking at the top 3 times on the leaderboard. 22+ mph up a 20%+ climb. The top two ride in the same club as me, and we joke about it all the time.

Strava could be using incorrect topographical data for the OPs climb. As this one is total horsesh!t.

It says 2.3% not 20+%

Its been recategorised since my OP. Its even had its laughable cat4 status revoked. Do you think someone from Strava watches the BR forums??? :?

dw300

nickellis wrote:

BruceG wrote:

nickellis wrote:

Tis all bobbins.

Strava interprets the GPS data and decides what it feels like.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1079409 Trust me, at no point does any part of the segment reach 21.3% let alone average it. In fact there is a slight downhill at the S-bend which is a roundabout. You can tell it ain't 20+ but looking at the top 3 times on the leaderboard. 22+ mph up a 20%+ climb. The top two ride in the same club as me, and we joke about it all the time.

Strava could be using incorrect topographical data for the OPs climb. As this one is total horsesh!t.

It says 2.3% not 20+%

Its been recategorised since my OP. Its even had its laughable cat4 status revoked. Do you think someone from Strava watches the BR forums??? :?

No you monkey. They have a flagging system. You do realise it's all automated, until someone flags up an error?

Strava is not the problem. They depend on topographical data sets. The software is sound, the accuracy of the data is the weak ilnk. I'm almost certain they're not playing for Ordnance Survey licencing, meaning most of the UKs data is probably pretty sh*te. At least that's how it seems in comparison to US data.

BruceG

nickellis wrote:

BruceG wrote:

nickellis wrote:

Tis all bobbins.

Strava interprets the GPS data and decides what it feels like.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1079409 Trust me, at no point does any part of the segment reach 21.3% let alone average it. In fact there is a slight downhill at the S-bend which is a roundabout. You can tell it ain't 20+ but looking at the top 3 times on the leaderboard. 22+ mph up a 20%+ climb. The top two ride in the same club as me, and we joke about it all the time.

Strava could be using incorrect topographical data for the OPs climb. As this one is total horsesh!t.

It says 2.3% not 20+%

Its been recategorised since my OP. Its even had its laughable cat4 status revoked. Do you think someone from Strava watches the BR forums??? :?

Yes sure, be careful you dont get that on your shoes.

thegibdog

dw300 wrote:

Strava is not the problem. They depend on topographical data sets. The software is sound, the accuracy of the data is the weak ilnk. I'm almost certain they're not playing for Ordnance Survey licencing, meaning most of the UKs data is probably pretty sh*te. At least that's how it seems in comparison to US data.

To me it seems like they use the elevation data of whoever created the segment. Depending on the recording device and the conditions this can vary quite a lot.

Dougall

There's a segment I ride fairly regularly - it's downhill & not far off a 90 degree right hander on an adverse camber yet Strava has it as a 26.3% gradient. It's downhill for crying out loud!!!


http://app.strava.com/rides/16624695#306569159

Notice the KOM is 38.9mph for it. Have my doubts if you could safely reach that speed in a car never mind a bike on that particular stretch of road.

BruceG

Dougall wrote:

There's a segment I ride fairly regularly - it's downhill & not far off a 90 degree right hander on an adverse camber yet Strava has it as a 26.3% gradient. It's downhill for crying out loud!!!


http://app.strava.com/rides/16624695#306569159

Notice the KOM is 38.9mph for it. Have my doubts if you could safely reach that speed in a car never mind a bike on that particular stretch of road.

Are downhills not graded then? FFS It really is like the madness of King George in here sometimes, firstly some clown pretends Strava has has put a segment at 20+% when it quite clearly said 2.3%, and now someone is outraged that it has dared to grade a downhill slope. Where do these people come from!

dw300

thegibdog wrote:

To me it seems like they use the elevation data of whoever created the segment. Depending on the recording device and the conditions this can vary quite a lot.

Yes you're right. If the rider has an altimeter it uses that data, unless the user clicks on the elevation correction link if there's a problem with it.

nickellis

Bruce you obviously didn't read Dougall's post. He said its a downhill segment with a positive gradient of 26.3% downhill gradients are measured in negative values.

Are you going to tell him that he's wrong, and doesn't know a segment that he rides regularly, like you did with me??? I

I ride my segment example to and from the meeting point for my club ride. So know it extremely well. If you had seen the link shortly after I posted it, you would have seen that it was 21.3% and cat4. Not the 2.3% that it now shows.

BruceG

nickellis wrote:

Bruce you obviously didn't read Dougall's post. He said its a downhill segment with a positive gradient of 26.3% downhill gradients are measured in negative values.

Are you going to tell him that he's wrong, and doesn't know a segment that he rides regularly, like you did with me??? I

I ride my segment example to and from the meeting point for my club ride. So know it extremely well. If you had seen the link shortly after I posted it, you would have seen that it was 21.3% and cat4. Not the 2.3% that it now shows.

YES
What happens when you ride it the other way, how many negative gradient roads signs have you seen, Strava is just grading the slope be it up or down, and you was bullshitting, you just didnt read the given grade before you started posting rubbish on here!!!!!! As if Strava are goign to scan through loads of cycling forums looking for nonsense posts like yours in order to go and change the details on their site.
As I said before careful you dont get that on your shoes

Speller78

BruceG wrote:

Dougall wrote:

There's a segment I ride fairly regularly - it's downhill & not far off a 90 degree right hander on an adverse camber yet Strava has it as a 26.3% gradient. It's downhill for crying out loud!!!


http://app.strava.com/rides/16624695#306569159

Notice the KOM is 38.9mph for it. Have my doubts if you could safely reach that speed in a car never mind a bike on that particular stretch of road.

Are downhills not graded then? FFS It really is like the madness of King George in here sometimes, firstly some clown pretends Strava has has put a segment at 20+% when it quite clearly said 2.3%, and now someone is outraged that it has dared to grade a downhill slope. Where do these people come from!

Er, Strava grades downhills with negative gradients e.g.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1599381

I think you should apologise and then leave quietly...

thefd

BruceG wrote:

nickellis wrote:

Bruce you obviously didn't read Dougall's post. He said its a downhill segment with a positive gradient of 26.3% downhill gradients are measured in negative values.

Are you going to tell him that he's wrong, and doesn't know a segment that he rides regularly, like you did with me??? I

I ride my segment example to and from the meeting point for my club ride. So know it extremely well. If you had seen the link shortly after I posted it, you would have seen that it was 21.3% and cat4. Not the 2.3% that it now shows.

YES
What happens when you ride it the other way, how many negative gradient roads signs have you seen, Strava is just grading the slope be it up or down, and you was bullshitting, you just didnt read the given grade before you started posting rubbish on here!!!!!! As if Strava are goign to scan through loads of cycling forums looking for nonsense posts like yours in order to go and change the details on their site.
As I said before careful you dont get that on your shoes

Bruce is a wind up merchant at it again...

I saw your earlier post nick, before it changed - so don't worry about comments like that. I saw it has changed from when you first posted it.

BruceG

TheFD wrote:

BruceG wrote:

nickellis wrote:

Bruce you obviously didn't read Dougall's post. He said its a downhill segment with a positive gradient of 26.3% downhill gradients are measured in negative values.

Are you going to tell him that he's wrong, and doesn't know a segment that he rides regularly, like you did with me??? I

I ride my segment example to and from the meeting point for my club ride. So know it extremely well. If you had seen the link shortly after I posted it, you would have seen that it was 21.3% and cat4. Not the 2.3% that it now shows.

YES
What happens when you ride it the other way, how many negative gradient roads signs have you seen, Strava is just grading the slope be it up or down, and you was bullshitting, you just didnt read the given grade before you started posting rubbish on here!!!!!! As if Strava are goign to scan through loads of cycling forums looking for nonsense posts like yours in order to go and change the details on their site.
As I said before careful you dont get that on your shoes

Bruce is a wind up merchant at it again...

I saw your earlier post nick, before it changed - so don't worry about comments like that. I saw it has changed from when you first posted it.

At what again? Pointing out the obvious!

BruceG

Speller78 wrote:

BruceG wrote:

Dougall wrote:

There's a segment I ride fairly regularly - it's downhill & not far off a 90 degree right hander on an adverse camber yet Strava has it as a 26.3% gradient. It's downhill for crying out loud!!!


http://app.strava.com/rides/16624695#306569159

Notice the KOM is 38.9mph for it. Have my doubts if you could safely reach that speed in a car never mind a bike on that particular stretch of road.

Are downhills not graded then? FFS It really is like the madness of King George in here sometimes, firstly some clown pretends Strava has has put a segment at 20+% when it quite clearly said 2.3%, and now someone is outraged that it has dared to grade a downhill slope. Where do these people come from!

Er, Strava grades downhills with negative gradients e.g.

http://app.strava.com/segments/1599381

I think you should apologise and then leave quietly...

And I care what you think? Emphatically NO.

thefd

BruceG wrote:

TheFD wrote:

BruceG wrote:

nickellis wrote:

Bruce you obviously didn't read Dougall's post. He said its a downhill segment with a positive gradient of 26.3% downhill gradients are measured in negative values.

Are you going to tell him that he's wrong, and doesn't know a segment that he rides regularly, like you did with me??? I

I ride my segment example to and from the meeting point for my club ride. So know it extremely well. If you had seen the link shortly after I posted it, you would have seen that it was 21.3% and cat4. Not the 2.3% that it now shows.

YES
What happens when you ride it the other way, how many negative gradient roads signs have you seen, Strava is just grading the slope be it up or down, and you was bullshitting, you just didnt read the given grade before you started posting rubbish on here!!!!!! As if Strava are goign to scan through loads of cycling forums looking for nonsense posts like yours in order to go and change the details on their site.
As I said before careful you dont get that on your shoes

Bruce is a wind up merchant at it again...

I saw your earlier post nick, before it changed - so don't worry about comments like that. I saw it has changed from when you first posted it.

At what again? Pointing out the obvious!

Just look at this thread - everyone here was telling you to stop being a plonker. And once again you are at it on this thread.

Oh - by the way - really hard of you sending me an abusive PM because I agreed with someone else.

If anyone else disagrees with Bruce be ready for an abusive PM!!! That seems to be his way!!

slowbike

TheFD wrote:

Oh - by the way - really hard of you sending me an abusive PM because I agreed with someone else.

If anyone else disagrees with Bruce be ready for an abusive PM!!! That seems to be his way!!

Just publish the PM ...

BruceG

Slowbike wrote:

TheFD wrote:

Oh - by the way - really hard of you sending me an abusive PM because I agreed with someone else.

If anyone else disagrees with Bruce be ready for an abusive PM!!! That seems to be his way!!

Just publish the PM ...

He cant the had to run to the mods because he cant fight his own battle ergo his public display here quite pathetic