Elevation question

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2012-07-08 3:48 PM

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Subject: Elevation question

I don't have a fancy computer or watch to help me calculate my rides, but I would like to know how much elevation gain I get during my rides. I map my rides and runs here on BT and never much paid attention to the elevation that it showed, until today. I got out this morning and had my longest solo ride to date, 21 miles, and when I saw the elevation gain I almost gave myself a high five!! Then reality struck and I realized that this could not be accurate, or was it? I will admit that there was no recon to this ride and at mile ten I saw the hill, had a "oh sh*t" moment, and then gave it hell and trudge up that SOB!! Then the fun downhill followed way too quickly by yet another steeper, yet shorter hill. I am really proud of having survived those two and finishing the ride with a respectable 17.5 mph average. How do you all gauge your elevation gain for your rides? What software or mapping do you use and do you count your over-all gain or do you minus the downhills? Just so you all know the BT mapping said I gained 20,712 feet total, I just can't imagine I did that much. What say you?

2012-07-08 3:57 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
I have been using mapmyride.com for a few years and it seems relatively accurate. The user interface is pretty good but the gps tracking on the iPhone app is not always reliable. This is my only experience with gps tracking so I'm not sure if unreliability is common on this platform. I don't have experience with the BT mapping so I can't really compare.
2012-07-08 4:37 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
You were well on your way to climbing K2. I can't imagine that is remotely close to accurate.

Edited by RazorTri 2012-07-08 4:37 PM
2012-07-08 5:03 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
Interesting... I've never used this feature on BT before, but recently my training partner and I have gotten vastly different results on our rides (I'm using mapmyride with an iPhone and he's using runkeeper with an android phone.  On a 50 mile ride, I'm high on the mileage but elevation I'm reading 1700ish and he's getting more like 7100).  I just mapped our route here on BT and it showed over 48,000 climbing.
2012-07-08 5:48 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question

I did try mapping it on mapmyrun.com and was having a hard time finding on that site where total elevation was. I believe it said I gained 312 feet, but my legs tell me something totally different!!! I'm guessing that is taking into account the fun side of the hillclimb, but I'd still like to know how much climbing alone I did.

2012-07-09 5:04 AM
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Subject: RE: Elevation question

If you did 21,000 ft of climbing in 21 miles at 17.5 mph you would be leading the Tour De France at the moment(by a lot)!!!!

 

2012-07-09 5:10 AM
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Subject: RE: Elevation question
Download ENDOMONDO onto your phone.  It's a free app and it does speed, location, distance, elevation, everything
2012-07-09 1:11 PM
in reply to: #4300638

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
mike761 - 2012-07-09 5:04 AM

If you did 21,000 ft of climbing in 21 miles at 17.5 mph you would be leading the Tour De France at the moment(by a lot)!!!!

 

I know right!!! Maybe someone from the BT side of this can help explain the elevation aspect of the mapping portion of the site.

2012-07-09 1:14 PM
in reply to: #4300641

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Subject: RE: Elevation question

zaugfear - 2012-07-09 5:10 AM Download ENDOMONDO onto your phone.  It's a free app and it does speed, location, distance, elevation, everything

Thanks for the tip I'm downloading it right now. I'm hoping to see how it works on my next ride.

2012-07-09 1:29 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question

dont get too caught up in elevation data as no two are simliar. I have used MapMyRide and find it terribly inaccurate. It has one climb where if you get off the bike you will slide down...a ways at only 5%. lol.

Ridde with GPS is another one that I think is fairly accurate. Available for phone

Cant forget Strava as one of the most entertaining. Avaiable for phone

As for actually having a Garmin GPS, I did a 37ish mile ride with two friends this weekend. I had a 310xt and they both had Edge 500's.

Me: 37.4miles at 2,265ft (garmin 310xt)

Friend 1: 37.1miles at 2,240ft (Garmin Edge 500)

Friend 2: 37.0miles at 2,594ft (Garmin Edge 500)

Its no 20k of vertical but take that for what its worth when two exact same units cant come up the same

 

ETA: The original file downloaded to Garmin Connect came in at 36.8miles at 3,638ft Laughing

for th above metrics all came from Strava after exporting from Garmin Connect. So which one is correct????



Edited by psycleridr 2012-07-09 1:32 PM
2012-07-09 2:00 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
I use a Garmin Edge 500 which uses a barometric altimeter to gauge elevation.  I found it to be extremely accurate.  Most mapping tools are a best guess, but can still be as much as 20% off from my experience.

Edited by tri808 2012-07-09 2:01 PM

2012-07-09 2:05 PM
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Subject: RE: Elevation question
2012-07-09 4:54 PM
in reply to: #4300098

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
I recently started using ridewithgps.com. I don't know how accurate it is, but it seemed better than map my ride after I entered a route and it said there was only 800ft of climbing. Ride With GPS had it at around 2200 which appeared to be more accurate with all of the hills I encountered. 
2012-07-09 5:00 PM
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Subject: RE: Elevation question
A barometric altimeter is the only accurate way to do this, GPS is prone to too many errors for elevation.
2012-07-09 5:09 PM
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Subject: RE: Elevation question
Cochip - 2012-07-08 1:48 PM

I don't have a fancy computer or watch to help me calculate my rides, but I would like to know how much elevation gain I get during my rides. I map my rides and runs here on BT and never much paid attention to the elevation that it showed, until today. I got out this morning and had my longest solo ride to date, 21 miles, and when I saw the elevation gain I almost gave myself a high five!! Then reality struck and I realized that this could not be accurate, or was it? I will admit that there was no recon to this ride and at mile ten I saw the hill, had a "oh sh*t" moment, and then gave it hell and trudge up that SOB!! Then the fun downhill followed way too quickly by yet another steeper, yet shorter hill. I am really proud of having survived those two and finishing the ride with a respectable 17.5 mph average. How do you all gauge your elevation gain for your rides? What software or mapping do you use and do you count your over-all gain or do you minus the downhills? Just so you all know the BT mapping said I gained 20,712 feet total, I just can't imagine I did that much. What say you?

If you are using the BT route feature, when you create the route, it goes and grabs elevation data from another source and error gets introduced as it goes back and forth as you create each portion of the ride.

If you hit the RESET ELEVATION button AFTER you finish the route, it will sample the data all in one shot, and be MUCH more accurate.

2012-07-09 5:20 PM
in reply to: #4302325

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Subject: RE: Elevation question
Kido - 2012-07-09 5:09 PM
Cochip - 2012-07-08 1:48 PM

I don't have a fancy computer or watch to help me calculate my rides, but I would like to know how much elevation gain I get during my rides. I map my rides and runs here on BT and never much paid attention to the elevation that it showed, until today. I got out this morning and had my longest solo ride to date, 21 miles, and when I saw the elevation gain I almost gave myself a high five!! Then reality struck and I realized that this could not be accurate, or was it? I will admit that there was no recon to this ride and at mile ten I saw the hill, had a "oh sh*t" moment, and then gave it hell and trudge up that SOB!! Then the fun downhill followed way too quickly by yet another steeper, yet shorter hill. I am really proud of having survived those two and finishing the ride with a respectable 17.5 mph average. How do you all gauge your elevation gain for your rides? What software or mapping do you use and do you count your over-all gain or do you minus the downhills? Just so you all know the BT mapping said I gained 20,712 feet total, I just can't imagine I did that much. What say you?

If you are using the BT route feature, when you create the route, it goes and grabs elevation data from another source and error gets introduced as it goes back and forth as you create each portion of the ride.

If you hit the RESET ELEVATION button AFTER you finish the route, it will sample the data all in one shot, and be MUCH more accurate.

Hey lookie there that is much more reasonable!!! Thanks for the info I knew someone on here had an answer. I'm still going to try using an app as well, just for fun. Thanks!

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