To auto-pause or not to auto-pause?

rumbataz

For those who use cycling computers, is it better to use the auto-pause function or not? How much does using it skew the resulting metrics?

Anonymous

What do you mean by 'skew'?

As opposed to pressing stop?

rumbataz

So if I'm stopped at traffic lights in 'normal' (i.e. non-auto-pause mode), the timer keeps running, thereby affecting my average speed at the end of the ride. The computer also stops collecting my heart-rate data so the calorie count will be different too.

Psychologically, I do find auto-pause useful as it gives me artificially better metrics so it kind of boosts my mood. But I'm sure it's cheating a little so I feel guilty.

Anonymous

Not sure about calories (are they that accurate or useful that it would matter?), but I have auto pause on and a slight delay to try to cancel out having to stop.
each stop still takes about 0.1 MPH off my AVS I reckon though.

Its only cheating if you stop on purpose or for longer than you need to IMO.

I have no real use for actual average speed in 'training'.
It would not be like for like enough to keep motivated.
Guess it could temp you to take risks too.

cougie

Doesn't really matter. It's the miles that get you fit. A few minutes at lights or junctions doesn't make a difference.

StillGoing

rumbataz wrote:

For those who use cycling computers, is it better to use the auto-pause function or not? How much does using it skew the resulting metrics?

Garmin; auto pause. It calculates moving speed and time as well as overall time.

Anonymous

I wouldn't worry about the calorie count. After every ride garmin will say one thing, Strava will be completely different. Which is more accurate? I wouls say neither is very accurate so I dont pay attentionto it. Heart rate is only really important if you are wanting to know which zone you are in on a work out. I.know loads of people who use power to train completely discard heart rate.

ForumNewbie

I don't think there is anything wrong with having auto-pause set to stop the timer when you are actually stopped. However I think you can set it to pause under a set custom speed, e.g. you can get it to stop the timer if you are going under, say 3mph. If someone was crawling up a really steep gradient the Garmin would auto-pause every time their speed drops under the minimum speed they have set. It will automatically start the timer again each time they go above the minimum speed.

Accordingly I think I have read that some cyclists can 'cheat' that way to inflate their average speeds, particular if their minimum speed is set at a relatively high level.

StillGoing

ForumNewbie wrote:

I don't think there is anything wrong with having auto-pause set to stop the timer when you are actually stopped. However I think you can set it to pause under a set custom speed, e.g. you can get it to stop the timer if you are going under, say 3mph. If someone was crawling up a really steep gradient the Garmin would auto-pause every time their speed drops under the minimum speed they have set. It will automatically start the timer again each time they go above the minimum speed.

Accordingly I think I have read that some cyclists can 'cheat' that way to inflate their average speeds, particular if their minimum speed is set at a relatively high level.

Well have you or haven't you? I can't imagine that anyone would do that. They'd only be cheating themselves and nobody else.

ForumNewbie

philthy3 wrote:

ForumNewbie wrote:

I don't think there is anything wrong with having auto-pause set to stop the timer when you are actually stopped. However I think you can set it to pause under a set custom speed, e.g. you can get it to stop the timer if you are going under, say 3mph. If someone was crawling up a really steep gradient the Garmin would auto-pause every time their speed drops under the minimum speed they have set. It will automatically start the timer again each time they go above the minimum speed.

Accordingly I think I have read that some cyclists can 'cheat' that way to inflate their average speeds, particular if their minimum speed is set at a relatively high level.

Well have you or haven't you? I can't imagine that anyone would do that. They'd only be cheating themselves and nobody else.

I agree that they would only be cheating themselves, but I'm surprised that you can't image some people try to make their average speeds better than they actually are on Strava. The following article shows other ways that some cyclists make their Strava rides look better:
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ter-177438
The following also shows that some people seem to want to go to any lengths to change their Strava data to make them look better than they are:
http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/how-to-tel ... on-strava/

cougie

I know someone who set their cut off speed to something like 5mph. So his average speed on group rides would always be a little bit faster than everyone else's.

As I said earlier - it doesn't matter.

norvernrob

cougie wrote:

I know someone who set their cut off speed to something like 5mph. So his average speed on group rides would always be a little bit faster than everyone else's.

As I said earlier - it doesn't matter.

Someone on one of the FB pages said he sets his to 7mph so he doesn't lose as much average speed when slowing for traffic lights. :?

I told him to try climbing Winnats Pass, his Garmin would never even start

Anonymous

NorvernRob wrote:

cougie wrote:

I know someone who set their cut off speed to something like 5mph. So his average speed on group rides would always be a little bit faster than everyone else's.

As I said earlier - it doesn't matter.

Someone on one of the FB pages said he sets his to 7mph so he doesn't lose as much average speed when slowing for traffic lights. :?

I told him to try climbing Winnats Pass, his Garmin would never even start

I wouldn't be surprised if he had never climbed anything more difficult than a speed bump if he is resorting to that level of doctoring of his rides

StillGoing

Incredible! I would never imagine that anyone would see the benefit of cheating themselves.

ben@31

I would use the auto-pause for road cycling. As Ive done some really enjoyable rides, only to get home and find I stopped the Garmin somewhere and forgotten to restart it. The cracking ride is then forgotten in history.

But for mountain biking...

However I think you can set it to pause under a set custom speed, e.g. you can get it to stop the timer if you are going under, say 3mph. If someone was crawling up a really steep gradient the Garmin would auto-pause every time their speed drops under the minimum speed they have set. It will automatically start the timer again each time they go above the minimum speed.

^^^ The auto-pause beeping drove me nuts when mountain biking and climbing up trails, especially tight single-track hairpin bends. Beeps into the hairpin as the speed dropped then beeps out of it as you speed up, I could hear my mates Garmin doing the same further along the trail Garmin must have the most distinctive beep I know

AK_jnr

NorvernRob wrote:

cougie wrote:

I know someone who set their cut off speed to something like 5mph. So his average speed on group rides would always be a little bit faster than everyone else's.

As I said earlier - it doesn't matter.

Someone on one of the FB pages said he sets his to 7mph so he doesn't lose as much average speed when slowing for traffic lights. :?

I told him to try climbing Winnats Pass, his Garmin would never even start

Wouldnt make a different to average speed as Strava only auto pauses once youve been stopped for 15 seconds regardless of what you have set it to do on your Garmin.
As an example if your Garmin pauses 100m before lights due to traffic and doesnt restart until you are through them, Strava will fill in the gap itself and actually lower your average speed.

It amazes me how caught up people are with average speed. I used to be when I started on Strava hence why I probably know a fair bit about it! Haha.

ben@31

AK_jnr wrote:

It amazes me how caught up people are with average speed. I used to be when I started on Strava hence why I probably know a fair bit about it! Haha.

I soon learned not to care. I still end up 1000th place on a segment and I never pay much attention or give a toss to other peoples average speed so I assume they dont care about mine.

Just ride to have fun.

pblakeney

To base any average speed, or Strava sections that include traffic light sections is pointless.
If you get greens all the way you could beat Froome getting reds all the way. Yeh you! :roll:

marcusjb

The worst thing about auto pause is when someone with it pulls up at the lights with you and their garmin beeps like some demented tamagotchi.

At least mute the audio if you do decide to run with it.

napoleond

I leave mine running, even if I stop for a coffee. As its part of the ride, the stop is what it is.

andy9964

If you do get hung up on average speed, Chrome has a couple of Strava plugins (Stravistix is one, I think) which give you different quartile speeds - takes out different percentages of the slower speeds - traffic lights, heavy congestion etc, to give you a "truer" average

ForumNewbie

NapoleonD wrote:

I leave mine running, even if I stop for a coffee. As its part of the ride, the stop is what it is.

Yes I do as well, but it doesn't include that stopped time in calculating your average speed. The Strava average speed is calculated on your Moving Time. The Elapsed Time on Strava shows the total time taken from start to finish of the ride, including any café stops. Some people would argue that the average speed for a ride should be calculated on the Elapsed Time, although I'm happy that it's calculated on Moving Time.

rumbataz

I noticed on the Garmin Connect website that it seems to take into account the auto-pause feature. It shows the following metrics in the Timing-->Speed section for my last ride:

48:51
Time

49:14
Moving Time

50:10
Elapsed Time

19.2 kph
Avg Speed

19.1 kph
Avg Moving Speed

39.6 kph
Max Speed

Now, what are the Time and Moving Time values shown? Elapsed time would be the real time I've been out for a ride.

shmooster

rumbataz wrote:

Now, what are the Time and Moving Time values shown? Elapsed time would be the real time I've been out for a ride.

https://forums.garmin.com/showthread.ph ... -time-quot

Pituophis

ForumNewbie wrote:

NapoleonD wrote:

I leave mine running, even if I stop for a coffee. As its part of the ride, the stop is what it is.

Yes I do as well, but it doesn't include that stopped time in calculating your average speed. The Strava average speed is calculated on your Moving Time. The Elapsed Time on Strava shows the total time taken from start to finish of the ride, including any café stops. Some people would argue that the average speed for a ride should be calculated on the Elapsed Time, although I'm happy that it's calculated on Moving Time.

I also switch mine on and forget all about it, but my riding buddy has his beeping away all ride! His average speed is generally about 0.9mph quicker than mine on any ride we do, though what he has it set to, I can't be bothered to ask!
This seems to please him greatly, to the point that he is always asking me why I don't alter mine accordingly? :roll:
I use mine purely to see how my times compare to me, at this time last years etc., where as he is more interested where he lies on any given Strava segment.
I asked if altering the settings was cheating his Strava segment position, and he said "of course it isn't, I just wouldn't be quite as quick." :shock:

shmooster

Strava segments are always based on elapsed time. Auto pause is good to see average time om commutes where stoppage is variable but i wouldn't get hung up on it.

japiers

marcusjb wrote:

The worst thing about auto pause is when someone with it pulls up at the lights with you and their garmin beeps like some demented tamagotchi.

At least mute the audio if you do decide to run with it.

Couldn't agree more - as annoying as people that leave their phone's keyboard sounds on

awavey

philthy3 wrote:

Incredible! I would never imagine that anyone would see the benefit of cheating themselves.

isnt it on by default though ? in which case if you didnt know about it, it could be cheating without you knowing. I dont know I cant remember how mine was set when I first got it, I know its switched off now because I dont care if my average is hit by stops.

roger_merriman

I just leave it on, the average speed is hugely dependant on lots of factors apart from fitness.

wind both direction and drafting etc. Longer segment give a fairer clue as to fitness tbh

rumbataz

roger merriman wrote:

I just leave it on, the average speed is hugely dependant on lots of factors apart from fitness.

wind both direction and drafting etc. Longer segment give a fairer clue as to fitness tbh

I find a headwind makes pedalling twice as hard!

napoleond

For me it's about time in power/HR zone that's the important measure. Leaving the Garmin running when stationary gives a truer indication of the stress of the ride as I'm recovering when stopped...