How Accurate Is Strava for Mountain Biking?

Strava is an increasingly popular app for tracking outdoor exercise activities such as mountain biking. It provides users with a wealth of data about their rides, including duration, total distance, speed, elevation gain, and more. It also allows riders to compare their performance with others in their area and even around the world. But how accurate is Strava for mountain biking?

The accuracy of Strava depends on a few factors. Firstly, it relies on GPS technology to track a rider’s location and speed. This technology can be prone to errors due to things like satellite coverage or interference from nearby buildings or trees. This can result in inaccurate readings which may affect the overall accuracy of the data provided by Strava.

Another factor is how users set up their device when they start their ride. For example, if they forget to turn on their GPS or start tracking too late then this will also affect the accuracy of the data collected by Strava. Additionally, some users may not be aware that Strava’s “elevation gain” metric is actually an estimated value and is not always precise.

Finally, it’s important to note that Strava was designed primarily for road cycling and running activities rather than mountain biking. As such, there are certain features which have been optimized for those activities which may be less effective when used for mountain biking.

In conclusion, Strava can provide an accurate record of a rider’s performance while mountain biking if used properly with all its settings correctly configured and GPS fully enabled. However, it should be noted that due to its design focus on road cycling and running activities, some features may not be as effective when used for mountain biking.

Photo of author

Samantha Mckinney