Plan rides you won't regret. Difficulty, time, energy, and climate data for touring, gravel, and mountain routes.
Collection Analysis
| Route | Time | Work | Energy | Hilly | Steep | >10% | Date | Dist | Elev | Speed | Unpvd | EScl |
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File Upload
Upload a GPX, TCX, or FIT file from any source:
- GPX — GPS Exchange Format (Garmin, Strava, mapping tools)
- TCX — Training Center XML (Garmin devices)
- FIT — Flexible and Interoperable Data Transfer (Garmin, Wahoo)
Limitations vs URL analysis:
- No DEM elevation scaling (uses file elevation as-is)
- No gravel/surface detection
- Maximum file size: 20 MB
Uploaded files are analyzed on the server and cached for 1 hour.
RideWithGPS URL
Paste the URL of a route, activity, or collection from ridewithgps.com.
Route URL format:
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/12345678
Activity URL format:
https://ridewithgps.com/trips/12345678
Collection URL format:
https://ridewithgps.com/collections/12345
The route must be public, or you must be logged into RideWithGPS with access to private routes.
Climbing Power
Your sustained power output on steep climbs (grades above ~7%). Riders typically push harder uphill. For reference:
• Casual climbing: 80-120W
• Moderate effort: 120-180W
• Strong rider: 180-250W
For grades between 0% and 7%, power is interpolated between flat power and climbing power. Full climbing power is used only on steeper grades.
Total Mass
Combined weight of rider, bike, gear, and any cargo in kilograms. This significantly affects climbing speed and energy requirements.
• Rider weight + bike (~8-12kg) + gear/bags
Wind
Wind speed in km/h. Set the direction below to specify where the wind is coming from.
• Wind is decomposed per-segment based on your route's bearing
• Headwind sections are harder, tailwind sections are easier
• No wind: 0
Even a modest 10-15 km/h wind significantly increases effort on exposed terrain.
Physics Model
Speed is calculated by solving the power balance equation: your power output equals the sum of resistive forces times velocity. All parameters below are tunable and have been calibrated against a training set of planned routes compared with actual ride data.
Primary Parameters (Biggest Impact)
- Climbing Power (W) — Power output on steep climbs. Most important input for hilly routes.
- Flat Power (W) — Power output on flat terrain. Power ramps linearly from flat to climbing power as grade increases.
- Mass (kg) — Total weight of rider + bike + gear. Dominates climbing speed since you're lifting this weight against gravity.
- CdA (m²) — Aerodynamic drag coefficient × frontal area. Controls air resistance, which grows with the cube of speed. Typical values: 0.25 (racing tuck) to 0.45 (upright touring).
- Crr — Rolling resistance coefficient. Energy lost to tire deformation and surface friction. Road tires ~0.004, gravel ~0.008-0.012.
Environmental Factors
- Wind (km/h) — Wind speed and direction. Wind is decomposed per-segment into headwind/tailwind based on route bearing. A 15 km/h headwind at 25 km/h means drag as if riding 40 km/h.
- Air density (kg/m³) — Affects aerodynamic drag. Lower at altitude (1.225 at sea level, ~1.0 at 2000m).
Descent Model
Descent speed is limited by gradient steepness AND road curvature (the more restrictive wins).
Gradient-based:
- Max coasting speed — Speed limit when coasting downhill on paved roads.
- Max coasting speed unpaved — Lower speed limit for gravel/dirt descents.
- Steep descent speed — Even slower limit for very steep descents.
- Steep descent grade — Grade threshold where steep descent speed applies.
- Coasting grade threshold — Grade where you stop pedaling entirely and coast.
- Descent braking factor — Multiplier for descent speeds (1.0 = full physics speed, 0.5 = cautious braking).
- Descent power — Light pedaling power on gentle descents (drops to zero on steep grades).
Curvature-based:
- Straight descent speed — Max speed on straight sections (low curvature).
- Hairpin speed — Max speed through tight switchbacks (high curvature).
Gravel/Unpaved Model
- Surface Crr deltas — Per-surface-type rolling resistance increases based on RideWithGPS surface data. Rougher surfaces get higher Crr.
- Gravel power factor — Multiplier on power for unpaved surfaces (default 0.90 = 10% reduction). Models traction limits, vibration fatigue, and seated climbing on rough terrain.
- Max coasting speed unpaved — Lower descent speed limit on gravel/dirt roads.
Gravel sections are shown as brown strips on the elevation profile when "Show gravel" is toggled.
Data Processing
- Smoothing radius (m) — Gaussian smoothing applied to elevation data. Reduces GPS noise and unrealistic grade spikes while preserving overall climb profile.
- Elevation scale — Multiplier applied after smoothing. Auto-calculated from RideWithGPS API (DEM-corrected) elevation when available.
- Anomaly detection — Automatic detection of elevation anomalies: (1) spikes from DEM artifacts like tunnels or bridges where elevation shows the surface above rather than the actual path, and (2) dropouts from GPS/sensor errors where elevation briefly drops to zero or unrealistic values. Both are corrected by linear interpolation and highlighted with yellow bands in the elevation profile.
Flat Power
Your sustained power output on flat terrain. For reference:
• Casual riding: 60-100W
• Moderate effort: 100-150W
• Strong rider: 150-200W
Power ramps linearly from this value up to climbing power as grade increases toward ~7%.
Descent Power
Power output when descending (grade steeper than -2%). Models light pedaling on gentle descents.
0 W = pure coasting (no pedaling)
20 W = light pedaling (typical)
50+ W = active pedaling on descents
On steep descents (beyond coasting threshold), power drops to zero regardless of this setting.
Descent Braking Factor
Multiplier for descent speeds. Models how cautiously you brake on descents relative to pure physics.
1.0 = physics-based speed (aggressive)
0.5 = 50% of physics speed (typical/cautious)
0.3 = very cautious braking
Lower values model riders who brake more on descents due to comfort, experience, or road conditions.
Gravel Grade
Surface quality grade based on the Industry Standard Guide to Gravel (ISGG). Higher grades increase both estimated time and energy.
Grade 1 - Smooth: Well-maintained dirt roads, minimal loose stone. Nearly road-like.
Grade 2 - Moderate: Some potholes and washboard, loose corners. Typical maintained gravel.
Grade 3 - Chunky: Poorly maintained, exposed rocks, ruts, sand. Requires wider tires.
Grade 4 - Severe: Unmaintained tracks, rock gardens, deep ruts. Technical terrain.
Smoothing Radius
Window size (in meters) for elevation smoothing. Reduces GPS noise in elevation data before calculating grades.
50-100m = moderate smoothing for typical routes
200m+ = aggressive smoothing for very noisy data
Higher values reduce noise but may underestimate short steep sections.
⚠ High Elevation Noise Detected
This route has noisy GPS elevation data. The elevation noise ratio (?×) measures raw GPS elevation gain divided by the DEM-corrected gain from RideWithGPS.
A ratio above 1.8× indicates the GPS recorded significantly more elevation change than the satellite-derived terrain model, typically due to GPS signal errors or poor reception.
Automatic adjustment: Smoothing radius is set to 300m minimum to filter this noise. You can increase it further, but not below 300m for this route.
Elevation Scale (EScl)
A correction factor applied to the route's elevation data. GPS elevation is often inaccurate, so this scales it to match RideWithGPS's corrected elevation from their API.
1.00 = no correction needed
>1.00 = route elevation was understated
<1.00 = route elevation was overstated
Values far from 1.0 may indicate poor GPS data quality for that route.
Est. Moving Time
Moving time estimate based on your power output and the route's terrain. This is the time you'd spend actually riding, excluding stops.
The estimate accounts for:
• Slower speeds on climbs (more power needed to fight gravity)
• Faster speeds on descents (limited by safety/comfort)
• Surface type (gravel/dirt is slower than pavement)
Est. Work
Total mechanical energy expenditure in kilojoules (kJ). This is the energy your legs put into the pedals.
Useful for estimating food/fuel needs:
• Human efficiency is ~20-25%, so multiply by 4-5 for calories burned
• Example: 1000 kJ of work ≈ 4000-5000 kJ (950-1200 kcal) of food energy
Est. Energy
Estimated food energy needed to fuel this ride, accounting for ~22% human efficiency.
Unit equivalents:
• 1 medium banana ≈ 100 kcal
• 1 baguette (250g) ≈ 680 kcal
Hilliness
Total elevation gain per unit distance (m/km or ft/mi). Measures how much climbing a route has, normalized by length.
Typical values:
• Flat: 0-5 m/km (0-26 ft/mi)
• Rolling: 5-15 m/km (26-79 ft/mi)
• Hilly: 15-25 m/km (79-132 ft/mi)
• Mountainous: 25+ m/km (132+ ft/mi)
Steepness
Effort-weighted average grade of climbs 2% and steeper. Measures how steep the climbs are, not just how much climbing.
Steeper sections count more because they require disproportionately more power. A route with punchy 10% grades will score higher than one with gentle 4% grades, even if total climbing is similar.
Typical values:
• Gentle climbs: 3-5%
• Moderate climbs: 5-7%
• Steep climbs: 7-10%
• Very steep: 10%+
Time at >10% Grade
Total time spent climbing at grades steeper than 10%, based on the physics simulation using your input parameters (power, mass, etc.).
This measures how long you'll be grinding up very steep sections. Even short steep pitches add up and can significantly affect overall effort and pacing.
Power (Climbing)
Your average power output on climbing segments, where the grade is steeper than +2%.
This reflects the effort required to overcome gravity on uphills. Climbing power is typically 10-30% higher than flat power for most riders.
Power (Flat)
Your average power output on flat segments, where the grade is between -2% and +2%.
On flat terrain, most of your power goes to overcoming air resistance. This is typically your sustainable cruising power.
Power (Descending)
Your average power output on descending segments, where the grade is steeper than -2%.
On descents, gravity assists you so less pedaling is needed. This value is typically low or near zero if you're coasting.
Steep Climbs Methodology
Max Grade is calculated using a 150m rolling average to filter GPS noise. This gives the maximum sustained grade over a meaningful distance.
Grade Histogram uses the same 150m rolling average, so grades shown will never exceed the max grade. This ensures consistency between the reported maximum and the histogram distribution.
Smoothing Elevation data is smoothed with a Gaussian filter before grade calculation to reduce GPS noise. Point-to-point GPS measurements can show unrealistic spikes (50%+ grades) due to elevation errors. Smoothing filters these artifacts while still capturing steep sections that riders actually experience.
Steep Grade Breakdown (>10%)
Elevation Noise Ratio
The noise ratio compares raw GPS elevation gain to the DEM (Digital Elevation Model) elevation gain from RideWithGPS.
What it means:
• 1.0x: GPS and DEM match perfectly (rare)
• 1.0-1.5x: Normal GPS noise
• 1.5-1.8x: Elevated noise (tree cover, canyons)
• >1.8x: High noise - smoothing auto-increased to 300m
Why this matters: Noisy GPS elevation creates artificial ups and downs that inflate grade calculations. Higher smoothing reduces this noise but may slightly soften real grade changes.
Auto-adjustment: When noise exceeds 1.8x, smoothing is automatically increased to 300m minimum. You can set a higher value in advanced options if needed.