Strava adds time to rides?

Iamnot Wiggins
Iamnot Wiggins Posts: 685
edited June 2014 in Road general
I've just completed a ride in 3hrs 8 minutes as displayed on my Garmin. However, when I uploaded the ride to Strava, it added 2 minutes to this time and displayed 3hrs 10min.

Anyone else experience this anomaly? Should I just bin off Strava and stick to Garmin Connect from now on?!

Comments

  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Does a 2 minute discrepancy really matter? How do you know that it is Garmin Connect that is correct rather than Strava? Maybe there is another site somewhere that will tell you you did the ride in 3hrs 6 minutes!

    It's probably just calculating things in a slightly different way (my Brytons calculate the summary stats on the fly and that data is used for the summary info on the Bryton equivalent to Garmin Connect but I know that Strava ignores the summary and recalculates everything from scratch from the individual data points - theoretically, that is more likely to be accurate).

    Strava does seem to add a bit but all that really matters is consistency.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • How Far is too Far
    How Far is too Far Posts: 534
    It is likely to be the way it calculates moving speed, you will find the average speed will often be different when uploaded on Strava to what the garmin displays.

    As long as you comparer times/speeds on the same format they should all be recorded in the same way so if make no difference.
  • dilatory
    dilatory Posts: 565
    I think if you are one of those who pause their Garmin at a junction etc Strava doesn't care about that and fills in the gaps.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    dilatory wrote:
    I think if you are one of those who pause their Garmin at a junction etc Strava doesn't care about that and fills in the gaps.

    Don't think it's that - besides, does anyone actually pause their unit at a junction given that GPS units automatically account for the difference between moving and overall journey time anyway? I think the only place Strava actively ignores stoppage time is for segment times.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • sloppyschleckonds
    sloppyschleckonds Posts: 8,019
    Great, another Strava thread.
    I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    SloppySchleckonds wrote:
    Great, another thread.

    I've edited your post so you can use it on any thread! :lol:
    Faster than a tent.......
  • dilatory
    dilatory Posts: 565
    You'd think he'd be happy with another thread to shitpost in.

    And yes, noticed one or two on club rides stopping the Garmin every time they slow down to a junction haha. I will pause mine at traffic lights only because they seem to destroy my average speed and it never comes back. That said, I only run into about one set in 60 odd miles haha.
  • Iamnot Wiggins
    Iamnot Wiggins Posts: 685
    dilatory wrote:
    I think if you are one of those who pause their Garmin at a junction etc Strava doesn't care about that and fills in the gaps.

    I did wonder this. I do use the autopsies feature on my Garmin.

    I was just pondering which one was correct & more accurate. Yes, 2 minutes isn't much but the climbing data doesn't match either. I climbed more with Garmin but when it's uploaded to Strava, it's less. However, I understand that climbing data on Garmins isn't that great anyway so I'm not entirely sure I trust that bit!
  • dilatory
    dilatory Posts: 565
    I think Strava tries to average it with its map data for elevation.

    I know once when I stopped for a coffee and forgot to start my Garmin again until 5 minutes down the road when uploaded to Strava it assumed it took me 50 minutes to travel a mile and destroyed my average speed haha.
  • joedxb
    joedxb Posts: 15
    I thought the difference in time was total time and moving time. On Garmin connect it shows both but on Strava it only shows total time. I could be wrong but thats what I put it down too
  • dilatory
    dilatory Posts: 565
    joedxb wrote:
    I thought the difference in time was total time and moving time. On Garmin connect it shows both but on Strava it only shows total time. I could be wrong but thats what I put it down too

    Strava always shows both too. Shows Moving Time and Elapsed Time.
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Iamnot Wiggins wrote:
    dilatory wrote:
    I think if you are one of those who pause their Garmin at a junction etc Strava doesn't care about that and fills in the gaps.

    I did wonder this. I do use the autopsies feature on my Garmin.

    I was just pondering which one was correct & more accurate. Yes, 2 minutes isn't much but the climbing data doesn't match either. I climbed more with Garmin but when it's uploaded to Strava, it's less. However, I understand that climbing data on Garmins isn't that great anyway so I'm not entirely sure I trust that bit!

    Ignore Strava elevation. It is fantasy. I've ridden the same route exactly as a friend and lost over 2000 feet compared to him! Distance is pretty precise though as is ride time. Errors are usually down to poor signal strength at the device - so leaving it switched on on a café table is probably the best way to get some additional but very slow mileage. Putting pause on at junctions is a bit desperate!
    dilatory wrote:
    I think Strava tries to average it with its map data for elevation.

    I know once when I stopped for a coffee and forgot to start my Garmin again until 5 minutes down the road when uploaded to Strava it assumed it took me 50 minutes to travel a mile and destroyed my average speed haha.

    If it bothers you that much you can pretty easily delete the dodgy data from the TCX file. You just need to determine from Strava etc exactly when you were in the café and delete the data points covering that period.
    Faster than a tent.......
  • dilatory
    dilatory Posts: 565
    Actually no. That doesn't work. It doesn't bother me much but I did try quickly to fix it just for an idea. The TCX file lists the time and then starts again 50 minutes later at a new lat / long. Strava draws an exact straight line between the two and assumes it took the discrepancy to travel the distance. If I went back further and deleted it'd be the same thing.

    The only way around it would be taking someone elses TCX and copying from their correct start (at the cafe) and when you turned yours on again.
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    If you can grasp a couple of v simple programming techniques it shouldn't be too difficult to knock up a simple macro in Excel. Sounds like you just need to copy the second half of the file into a new file, open that file in your macro and for each node that contains the timestamp subtract your 50 minutes from it. Then copy that modified data back to the original file. It'll be a bit harder than that but really quite trivial, esp for anyone who knows one end of C# Using System.XML from the other and who has an hour spare. You might even find apps online that already do this type of fix. It sounds like a common requirement.

    Actually with a bit of jiggery-pokery & a some sub-stringing you could probably achieve the same result in Excel itself.
  • dilatory
    dilatory Posts: 565
    CiB wrote:
    If you can grasp a couple of v simple programming techniques it shouldn't be too difficult to knock up a simple macro in Excel. Sounds like you just need to copy the second half of the file into a new file, open that file in your macro and for each node that contains the timestamp subtract your 50 minutes from it. Then copy that modified data back to the original file. It'll be a bit harder than that but really quite trivial, esp for anyone who knows one end of C# Using System.XML from the other and who has an hour spare. You might even find apps online that already do this type of fix. It sounds like a common requirement.

    I know how to fix the "problems" I faced but it's all gone a bit off topic and we're de-railing what the OP originally asked. Sorry!
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Good spot. Sorry about that.
  • Mikey23
    Mikey23 Posts: 5,306
    Autopsy feature on garmin? How cool is that...
  • Iamnot Wiggins
    Iamnot Wiggins Posts: 685
    Rolf F wrote:
    Iamnot Wiggins wrote:
    dilatory wrote:
    I think if you are one of those who pause their Garmin at a junction etc Strava doesn't care about that and fills in the gaps.

    I did wonder this. I do use the autopsies feature on my Garmin.

    I was just pondering which one was correct & more accurate. Yes, 2 minutes isn't much but the climbing data doesn't match either. I climbed more with Garmin but when it's uploaded to Strava, it's less. However, I understand that climbing data on Garmins isn't that great anyway so I'm not entirely sure I trust that bit!

    Ignore Strava elevation. It is fantasy. I've ridden the same route exactly as a friend and lost over 2000 feet compared to him! Distance is pretty precise though as is ride time. Errors are usually down to poor signal strength at the device - so leaving it switched on on a café table is probably the best way to get some additional but very slow mileage. Putting pause on at junctions is a bit desperate!

    Not really. On a quick out & back route that I do in the evenings after work, there's 8 sets of lights over a 30km loop. So, 16 for the entire ride! I'm more interested in my actual moving time rather than duration I'm out for as a whole.

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