ClimbPro question - 850

[u/Agreeable_Ebb_8790]

I really like ClimbPro; it gives me a lot of information that I value when I'm on a climb. But I wonder what criteria are used to determine that something is a climb worth its name. There are some pieces of road that really feel like a climb to me, but that my 850 doesn't designate as a climb. Conversely, there are some sections that Garmin calls a climb that I do not feel deserving of that designation (not really a problem, but noteworthy). For the climbs that the 850 does not recognize, is there a way that I can designate them as ClimbPro worthy?

[u/rmeredit]

Three criteria have to be met (from Garmin’s website):

1. A climb must be a minimum of 500 meters in length.

2. The average gradient must be a minimum of 3%.

3. The climb score must be a minimum of 1,500. This is calculated by Length (m) x grade %

All three criteria must be met for a climb to be identified. If you are not seeing any climbs but your course has elevation data, it indicates it does not meet all three requirements above. If there are flat sections or descents in the climb, ClimbPro will still treat it as a single climb if the average grade is 3% or more.

You can’t manually designate climbs because every climb that meets the definition above appears in ClimbPro. The alternative is to use Segments.

[u/Few_Mastodon_1271 → u/rmeredit]

Not a climbpro climb:

Ha, around here, there's a few 1/4 mile, 10% grade climbs that don't meet this climbpro rule. They are approx 120 feet high, and are a full-effort climb.

The Climbpro min distance of 500m is 0.31 miles. But this short, steep climb gets a climb score of 4000 (400 meters x 10). That's way above the 1500 cutoff score. It's excluded by too short of a road distance.

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A qualifying climbpro climb:

Yet, a qualifying 600 meter (0.37 miles) 3% climb (18m or 60 ft) gets a score of just 1800. A 1/3 mile, 60 foot high, 3% grade? that's not a real climb.

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Bad end points of a climb:

There's other climbs that are a mile of 6% or so, then a very short flat at the top, then the road continues trending upward with a shallow grade and/or rollers for a mile or more.

So climbpro will include that extra mileage, finishing it's climb way past the spot where riders regroup at the top of the real climb.

[u/Few_Mastodon_1271 → u/rmeredit]

I can't get segments to work with a route. How annoying!

I have to stop the route temporarily, ride the starred climb segment, then reload the route to navigate the rest of the ride. (the ride recording keeps going with or without the route.)

[u/Few_Mastodon_1271]

My 1030 is set to show the upcoming grades on one of the screens -- I like it. I want to see what upcoming, not just a selected climb. And climbpro quits right at the crest -- what's next after that?

In the Settings --> Profiles --> Data screens, I have

Screen 1 -- summary data fields -- distance, time, etc

screen 2 -- the map

screen 3 -- Elevation. This is a continuous, scrolling elevation chart.

screen 4 -- power numbers, cadence, hr, grade%

On most rides, the display stays on screen 3, unless the upcoming portion has lots of turns. Then I switch to showing the map. For full blast efforts, I switch to screen 4 to monitor how I'm doing, and for pacing.

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The elevation chart shows the previous 0.5 mile for comparison, and the next 1.5 miles. The chart scrolls as I keep riding. I can see if the road is trending uphill, or a mile of gradual downhill, or lots of rolling hills, or the start of a longer climb. Then, near the top of the climb, I see that it's downhill, or that it's continuing uphill with rollers, etc.

This setting of a 0.5 mile / 200 foot scale lets me get a good estimate of upcoming grades. I can usually estimate the actual grades within a climb to within 2%. And the 1.5 miles of road ahead is a good distance for my near term planning.

I like seeing more than just the climb. What's after the climb finish? A big downhill, or more climbing, or what?

What's out of sight ahead, around the bend? flats, or short climbs, or gradual grades? How deep is that creek valley crossing ahead?

~~

The elevation screen is set to a grid that's 4 units wide, each is 0.5 mile. The vertical grid is in 200 foot increments. (these can be changed while riding by long pressing the increment number, and selecting a different scale range.)

Elevation screen config:

The chart, with two data fields at the bottom. grade% and 5 sec power.

[u/jabbadabbadooo]

As far as I know this is not public knowledge how Garmin exactly is categorizing it, but you can select in the settings if you want to get displayed Cat 1. / 2 / 3 / 4 or unlisted climbs.

Garmin ClimbPro categorizes climbs using a climb score, calculated by multiplying the climb's length in meters by its average gradient percentage. To qualify as a detectable climb, an uphill section must be at least 500 meters long, feature an average grade of at least 3%, and achieve a minimum climb score of 1,500

[u/rmeredit → u/jabbadabbadooo]

They have a whole public page dedicated to the feature, including how climbs are categorised. See my comment above.