Garmin autopause

[Miranda]

Just curious as to what other Garmin owners have their autopause feature set at for mph to activate the pause?

I think the unit defaults at zero mph. Or you can 'customize'. One option that was already in mine was 3mph at customize. I let mine set at that. Wondering if that's reasonable? Or not?

I am a cautious rider. Stop (or almost totally stop) when legally posted (vs. a lot of guys I see just fly through the stop sign full speed etc.). Am carefully corning due to our nasty sandy / gravel country roads etc.

Soooo... in my fantasy delusion here I'm wondering if my average mph speed is actually better when pedaling steady... *IF* I set the Garmin autopause higher.

Yes... it's petty and picky... but I'm curious if maybe I'm a bit faster than the Garmin reports. It's Friday... humor me lol.

[Mr. Bloom]

didn't even know about the feature...I might experiment tomorrow

[OakLeaf]

Actually, I turn the auto-pause off, but use SportTracks to calculate moving average. I forget what I have the "stop" threshold set at, but it's pretty low (because I'd rather see - and log - my entire distance, than a higher speed ). That way I get both "real" ET and moving average.

Just another reason to love SportTracks.

[SadieKate]

I have my set to off and I can't remember exactly why. Off means it stops recordng when stopped and does not record time at rest. I know that since I use it for mtnbiking, it has to be at zero or it could be stopped a great deal of the time. It does mean that walking the bike gets recorded as distance and I don't get funny hops and skips in the route.

I suppose I could turn it on, leave it set and zero, and then know how long I've paused, but I'm not sure that I care.

Avg speed when riding door to door through traffic is always going to give you variables so just pick one and stick with it.

Editing: yeah, what Oakleaf said. Word for word.

[Miranda]

SportsTrack... hmm, I don't know about that. I will have to check it out.

I'm still in the learning curve on the Garmin too.

But, how I figured out the autopause feature was by having a lower average than my old bike that was making me looney lol.

I thought, "how in the world on my new, correct fitting, lighter carbon bike, can I be slower!" Well, THEN...

I figured out that my Shimano Flight Deck has some type of autopause in calculating the averages. The Garmin would not pause unless you activate it.

I knew my overall ride time was longer with taking longer breaks at the intersetctions. I'd unclip both feet for a stretch due to healing my broken foot bone injury etc. But, when in the saddle going... no messing around. HOWEVER, without autopause activated, all that "stopped" time went into my mph average. As soon as I activated it... the mph went up w/same effort.

Then I felt a bit better.

[OakLeaf]

Another thing you can do with SportTracks is add in lap splits after the fact. So, let's say (for instance) on last night's ride, eventually I got frustrated with the pace, and set off on my own. Once I downloaded the ride, I could set a lap break where I left the group, then another one where I hopped on the bike path to avoid the busy streets at twilight. In between I had a pretty nice average speed.

[Miranda]

I have my set to off and I can't remember exactly why. Off means it stops recordng when stopped and does not record time at rest. I know that since I use it for mtnbiking, it has to be at zero or it could be stopped a great deal of the time. It does mean that walking the bike gets recorded as distance and I don't get funny hops and skips in the route.

I suppose I could turn it on, leave it set and zero, and then know how long I've paused, but I'm not sure that I care.

Avg speed when riding door to door through traffic is always going to give you variables so just pick one and stick with it.

Editing: yeah, what Oakleaf said. Word for word.

Yea... that was a total PITA when I switched bikes on my holiday camping trip. I'm able to take the roadie plus the mtb cuz a club has a nice route map outside the park. Then I did remember to switch to "bike 2" for the mtb when trail riding. BUT, as I approached the first tight switchbacks and really slowed... the Garmin was doing a lot of beeping. Oh, great I thought... the autopause thing is not working so great here at 3mph. It needs to be zero, or not at all. On the trail I was mainly intereted in it measuring the grades. Plus, the compass is nice too. I'm waiting on my mount order for that bike so it's been riding in the Camelback so far when in the woods.

[Miranda]

Another thing you can do with SportTracks is add in lap splits after the fact. So, let's say (for instance) on last night's ride, eventually I got frustrated with the pace, and set off on my own. Once I downloaded the ride, I could set a lap break where I left the group, then another one where I hopped on the bike path to avoid the busy streets at twilight. In between I had a pretty nice average speed.

OH! That's awesome! There are some sections of my routes I just work in a speed interval. I try to keep glancing down to check myself. But, I don't want to crash being glued to my bike pc lol. Sorta like the driver on his cell phone not paying attention to the road.

I need to work on using my techy options better. It's sorta mind blowing what all you can do with the data.

[SadieKate]

I never change the Garmin from Bike 1 to 2 or whatever. Does it make any difference unless you're trying to calculate calories so you need the weight of the bike?

SportTracks is pretty good at guessing the sport (cycling road or cycling trail) based on the speed of the activity. It'll get a little confused when I swap between BC skiing with the ForeRunner and mtbiking with the Edge in the spring, but once I'm only riding it knows whether I'm playing in the dirt or on the pavement based on speed.

[Miranda]

I never change the Garmin from Bike 1 to 2 or whatever. Does it make any difference unless you're trying to calculate calories so you need the weight of the bike?

SportTracks is pretty good at guessing the sport (cycling road or cycling trail) based on the speed of the activity. It'll get a little confused when I swap between BC skiing with the ForeRunner and mtbiking with the Edge in the spring, but once I'm only riding it knows whether I'm playing in the dirt or on the pavement based on speed.

Besides the weight of the bike, there is a setting for tire size too if I recall. Meaning if you have standard 700c on the roadie bike, vs the smaller mtb tire.

I know this made a diff with a couple of my other computer and calculating the wheel rotating distance. But, not mega tons. Yet, a diff.

[tctrek]

How well the satellite is picking you up also impacts your speed reading. Yesterday we were riding on a very wooded trail. DH's computer is wired and said 18 mph. Garmin said 12 mph under the trees. Then we'd break out of the trees into a sunny spot for a few minutes and Garmin would read 18 mph. Then back under the trees and the speed would drop. I didn't realize it was that touchy.

[AnnieBikes]

I have a Garmin and I set the autopause for 3 MPH. I think it gives me a pretty good reading for average at the end. If I switch it to the MTB, I put it at zero as the speed is much slower and there are obstacles to get over and around and that would shut it down constantly! I am happy with the settings and I spent alot of time playing around with it before I settled on 3! I use a cateye as "backup" ...well, because I had it before I had the Garmin!...and they are very similar at the end of the ride, so that was my reasoning for using 3 MPH as the autopause point.

[OakLeaf]

How well the satellite is picking you up also impacts your speed reading. Yesterday we were riding on a very wooded trail. DH's computer is wired and said 18 mph. Garmin said 12 mph under the trees. Then we'd break out of the trees into a sunny spot for a few minutes and Garmin would read 18 mph. Then back under the trees and the speed would drop. I didn't realize it was that touchy.

What model do you have? I haven't had that trouble with the newer model with the high-sensitivity receiver. Also, the wheel sensor is supposed to take priority over the GPS - although there have apparently been some software issues with that.

[SadieKate]

Besides the weight of the bike, there is a setting for tire size too if I recall. Meaning if you have standard 700c on the roadie bike, vs the smaller mtb tire.

I know this made a diff with a couple of my other computer and calculating the wheel rotating distance. But, not mega tons. Yet, a diff.

I don't use the wheel sensor and I doubt the satellites identifying my GPS coordinates care about wheel diameter, or tire size, or tread design, or color of my hydration pack, or . . . .

[witeowl]

Actually, I turn the auto-pause off, but use SportTracks to calculate moving average.

Wait, how do you tell SportTracks to figure that out? All I've found is that it calculates the average speed for the entire trip, which includes my stopped time.