Strava bizareness

Hodders · 7 May 2021 at 16:07

So, same segment, same bike, I'm the same weight. But 2m 5s faster aaaannnnndddd I did it using 77 less watts?

How?

I know that the power estimation is shonky, but that's just bizarre. Can anyone explain what is going on?

UTmaniac · 7 May 2021 at 16:30

Without more details about the segment, it could be explained by headwind for slower time and tailwind for faster time.

touch · 7 May 2021 at 16:38

The average power over a segment (particularly a long one) doesn't tell the whole story. Lots of high peaks and lows in your power and therefor speeding up and slowing down will give you a slower average speed than a constant power/speed - because drag increases exponentially with speed and also it takes more force to accelerate a mass than it does to keep it at a constant speed.

Also, I think the power calculation shown there is moving power (not including stopped time) but the time includes and stop time so could make quite a difference if there's lots of junctions on your segment.

Hodders · 7 May 2021 at 16:57

Interesting - no stops. It's basically a lane that turns into a track through a bluebell wood. Steady climb. I guess without a power meter any figures are going to be a bit bizarre. I'm just surprised by the discrepancy!

TallPaul_S · 10 May 2021 at 11:49

No power meter = complete guess by strava. Ignore it and don't worry about it.

mattyfez · 10 May 2021 at 14:16

if the GPS glitches it''l just draw a staight line when it can't 'see', and guess.... that would be more down to connectivity than the app, per-se.

I don't use Strava, use mapmyride, but had a thing where the phone must have dropped out signal for 2 mins and decided that I'd covered that blackspot instantly, thus giving me a silly top speed and a better average speed for the ride.