Activities recorded in Ride with GPS include a host of data points that shed light on distance, speed, elevation, and more. Let’s dive into the data from a ride recording and learn how to use this information to look back on your ride.
To view your Ride Library, log into your account on the website, and click Rides on the main Dashboard menu on the left side of your screen.
What’s a ride?
A ride (or run, hike, etc.) is a GPS recording of an activity that you completed on a specific date and time. Whenever you record a trip on our mobile app, or upload a trip from a bike computer, you’re creating a ride on our servers. To get started, you’ll need a ride to analyze. There are a few different ways to create a ride using Ride with GPS:
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- Record a ride on our mobile app.
- Upload a ride file.
- Sync automatically with a Garmin device.
- Sync automatically with a Wahoo device.
- Manually log a single ride (note that manually created rides will only have the metrics that you input at the time of creation).
Metrics
Every ride will have a list of recorded metrics on the left side panel. This is where you will find all the details about your ride including duration, distance, elevation gain, max grade, etc.
Available Metrics and Definitions
Metrics measured in RWGPS or a compatible GPS computer:
- Distance: Total ride distance. To switch between metric and imperial measurements, look under Settings > Units.
- Elevation: Total elevation loss and gain.
- Max Grade: Steepest gradient or slope traversed along this route.
- Avg Grade: Average gradient or slope throughout ride.
- Total Duration: Total trip time duration, including stops.
- Moving Time: Total portion of trip time spent moving, excluding stopped time.
- Stopped Time: Total portion of trip duration spent stopped.
- Max Speed: The top speed hit during this ride.
- Avg Speed: Your moving speed, averaged over the entire ride duration.
- VAM: VAM stands for velocità ascensionale media, and can be translated as "Vertical Ascent in Meters". VAM refers to the speed of elevation gain in meters per hour, or (meters ascended x 60) / number of minutes ascended.
- Ascent Time: Total time spent climbing.
- Descent Time: Total time spent descending.
- Pace: The average amount of time it takes to complete one mile during the total duration of your ride, including stopped time.
- Moving Pace: The average amount of time per mile for your ride, not including stopped time.
- Calories: This is an estimate of caloric energy expended on the ride. Note: you’ll need to fill out some Health Info on your Ride with GPS profile to provide some details on your body composition and cardio health. This helps us estimate caloric burn on a ride.
Metrics Requiring a Bluetooth heart rate monitor:
- Max Heart Rate: Top heart rate recorded on the trip.
- Min Heart Rate: Lowest heart rate recorded on the trip.
- Avg Heart Rate: Average heart rate over the entire trip.
- HR Zone 1: Trip time spent in HR Zone 1. This is 50-60% of your max HR and represents very light aerobic intensity.
- HR Zone 2: Trip time spent in HR Zone 2. This is 60-70% of your max HR and represents light aerobic intensity.
- HR Zone 3: Trip time spent in HR Zone 3. This is 70-80% of your max HR and represents moderate aerobic intensity.
- HR Zone 4: Trip time spent in HR Zone 4. This is 80-90% of your max HR and represents hard aerobic intensity.
- HR Zone 5: Trip time spent in HR Zone 5. This is 90-100% of your max HR and represents maximum aerobic intensity.
Metrics Requiring a Bluetooth power meter:
- Max Watts: Top power output from your trip.
- Avg Watts: Average power output over the duration of your trip.
- WR Power: Work reflected power, or your trip’s normalized power rating.
- Work: Energy output from your trip, measured in kJ.
Metrics Requiring a Bluetooth cadence sensor:
- Max Cadence: Top number of pedal revolutions per minute.
- Min Cadence: Lowest number of pedal revolutions per minute.
- Avg Cadence: Average pedal revolutions per minute over the course of your trip.
The Elevation Profile
The Elevation Profile visualizes your speed and grade data mapped over the course of your ride. There's also options here to see heart rate, power, cadence, and temperature data (provided that you have the appropriate sensors for these last few metrics). After making a selection in the elevation profile, the metrics will be highlighted in gray to reflect the selection. You can also see an expanded view of this by clicking on the up arrow icon in the upper left hand corner of the elevation profile.
Segments
Segments are a fun way to measure your own progress along a specific portion of your ride, or compare your efforts to other cyclists in the area. If your ride traverses a segment, it’ll show up automatically in your ride metrics. Click on the results of the segment to show it highlighted on the track on and elevation graph. Learn more about Segments and participation settings.
Hill Finder
Training for elevation gain? Look to the Climbs section to see any portions of your ride that include a significant elevation gain that is longer than a half-mile (800 meters) and at least a 3% gain. Climbs are also available on routes.
Click the climb distance to highlight this portion of your ride on the map and elevation profile. This will also show the grade and other metrics in a box on the map.
The Descents section highlights all significant elevation loss longer than a half-mile (800 meters) and greater than -3% decline. Note that descents are also available on routes.
Click on the descent distance to have it highlighted on the map and elevation profile. This will also show the grade, distance, and speed in a box on the map.
