Lengthy gone are the times of motorbike computer systems exhibiting you only a single elevation profile on your total route, and even simply the near-term elevation profile. Nowadays, the bike computer systems will mechanically break down and even categorize the climbs in your deliberate route, together with rea-time standing, till the struggling is full. And on this case, I’ve accomplished lots of struggling for this one.
This can be a submit and video I’ve been engaged on since final summer time, and every time I went out to shoot this video, a sure firm (cough…Hammerhead) would actually launch a considerable replace to their climbing app characteristic the next day or week. With out fail, each…single…time. Be it final August or final December, it stored taking place.
So clearly, the one resolution to that was to re-test and re-shoot it once more with the brand new options, which after all require going out and driving one other epic climb. Thus, the video above. Protecting 5 epic climbs from the Dolomites to Switzerland, and each off-road and on-road climbs in Tenerife and the Canary Islands. Plus quite a few different climbs alongside the way in which. In some instances, these have been gigantic single climbs up a volcano, and in others it was a collection of climbs, each of which take a look at the options in several methods.
You’ll discover I didn’t listing a particular model/mannequin for the three primary firms. That’s as a result of from a technical standpoint, the options are equal amongst their newest items for climbing functions. Thus, particularly, these items:
Garmin: Edge 530, Edge 830, Edge 1030, Edge 1030 Plus
Hammerhead: Karoo 1, Karoo 2
Wahoo: ELEMNT, ELEMNT BOLT V1/V2, ELEMNT ROAM
For instance, there’s no variations between an Edge 530 and Edge 1030 Plus on the subject of climbing options (except for simply display measurement). Similar goes for Wahoo ELEMNT ROAM vs BOLT. Be aware that the Edge 130 Plus does have ClimbPro, however simply not the coloring because it’s a black and white display.
Pre-Experience:
The primary element to know is that every one of those require some quantity of pre-ride planning to allow. That means, that all of them require you will have a course loaded with a purpose to operate. In contrast to one thing like Strava Stay Segments, which largely mechanically set off, the climb features on Garmin & Hammerhead want a route loaded. As for Wahoo? Nicely, there’s really virtually no climb features there, however as an alternative, you should use Strava Stay Segments in a pinch, however you’ll need to do some planning there to make sure these particular segments match your climbs.
So, let’s begin with a route I’ve created with Strava, after which synced to the gadgets. At this level, there’s no variations by way of the supply (e.g. Strava vs Komoot vs others, and in reality, I exploit routes from totally different platforms on this piece). That’s all a wash. With that synced over to the gadgets, the items give me an summary of what’s the day’s route entails.
Within the case of Garmin, pre-ride, they’ll present your deliberate map route, some common stats round distance and elevation, in addition to every particular person climb element. So I can have a look at all of the auto-categorized climbs, and even faucet right into a single given climb to see the ache there.
Subsequent, on the Hammerhead unit, they don’t present any climb information pre-ride within the course choice display. You’re going to get to see the climbs when you load the street (similar to on Garmin), however they don’t seem on the pre-ride screens. Nor does Hammerhead present any course profile data, although, they do present the estimated complete ascent, which I’ve discovered is nearly all the time vastly incorrect and overestimated (an accuracy thread we’ll see extra of on this submit).
Equally, Wahoo doesn’t present something pre-ride when selecting a route, aside from the course size remaining (on this case, I didn’t have a helpful photograph of this subsequent to the course, so it contains the space from me to the beginning of the course).
By way of altering climb-related settings, Wahoo has none. Nonetheless, Hammerhead does will let you tweak the climb categorization within the menus. I left it for defaults.
And the identical goes for Garmin, which additionally lets you tweak which measurement of climbs to point out, whether or not or not a climb notification seems, and which information fields are proven on the backside.
With that, I’ll choose the climbs and get rolling.
Upcoming Climbs:
Okay, with our journey underway, let’s now have a look at what it reveals on the gadgets as you begin your journey by way of upcoming climb information. All of those are configurable on every system – so you’ll be able to disable this if you happen to don’t need it after all. On this case, we is likely to be far-off from a climb on flat floor, such because the above photograph, which locations us 11KM from the primary climb (although, discover how Hammerhead and Garmin differ within the begin of that climb).
First up, on the Garmin, you will have the ClimbPro web page. This web page will by default present the upcoming climb listing, until you’re in a climb, wherein case it’ll present the present climb particulars (extra on that within the subsequent part).
![clip_image001[8]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image0018.jpg "clip_image001[8]")
On a Hammerhead system, you’ll get the same web page (this was launched final December). This web page will present you the space till the beginning of every climb, the common gradient, after which the size of the climb. In the event you faucet a climb, it’ll increase out to point out you that particular climb.
Within the case of Wahoo, they don’t present any upcoming climb categorized. As a substitute, they do present the upcoming elevation profile (as does Garmin/Hammerhead on different pages). You may alter the dimensions of this, but it surely’s simply exhibiting you the general profile, not any information metrics in regards to the climb or climbs arising.
![clip_image001[6]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image0016.jpg "clip_image001[6]")
Once I evaluate Garmin & Hammerhead by way of this upcoming climbs web page, each of them are fairly comparable. As with most issues on the Karoo, the Hammerhead web page is UI-wise prettier, each within the listing perspective in addition to the person climb perspective. However functionally talking, it’s mainly a wash between the 2.
The primary factor you’d discover facet by facet is that Garmin and Hammerhead categorize climbs barely in another way, by way of begin/finish factors in addition to double-climb eventualities. For instance, whereas main climbs are sometimes tremendous clear in the place they begin/cease, it’s the smaller climbs with extra shallow begins that differ. If we have a look at climbs which have a number of items to them (e.g. you go up a very long time, then possibly flatten out or descend for 30-60 seconds earlier than going up a very long time once more), Garmin tends to group that as a single climb. Whereas Hammerhead will typically break up that out.
The exact break up varies, however I’d say usually Garmin aligns higher with the way you’d describe a climb to your buddies at a café, “Man, that climb lasted 15KM with 8% gradient”, whereas Hammerhead tends to be the always-right school-teacher about it, “Nicely really, that climb was 8KM, then a 200m break, then 6.8KM extra”. Thus why on some routes Garmin would say I had 4-5 main climbs, and Hammerhead could be like “Yo, you’ve bought 18 climbs!”. Like ice cream preferences, to every their very own.
Each firms publish how they categorize climbs, right here for Garmin, and right here for Hammerhead. The important thing distinction is Garmin requires 500m in size minimal, whereas Hammerhead is 400m in size. Each require a minimal grade of three%.
Throughout Every Climb:
![clip_image001[26]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00126-1.jpg "clip_image001[26]")
Now comes the great half, what you see throughout every climb. Within the case of each Hammerhead and Garmin, it would first notify you as you method the climb, then the person climb pages will mechanically get enabled once you cross the edge of the beginning of the climb. In fact, that threshold would possibly differ between the businesses, as famous earlier.
Within the case of Garmin’s ClimbPro, you’ll see a web page for that particular climb. On the prime it’ll say which climb # it’s (e.g. Climb 1 of 4), in addition to the space till the subsequent climb. Beneath that, you’ve bought the space remaining on this climb, in addition to the ascent remaining on this climb. These fields replace as you journey, ultimately whittling your means right down to zero.
![clip_image001[12]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00112.jpg "clip_image001[12]")
You’ll additionally see the climb profile, with color-coded chunks, and your place on the climb, in addition to the common gradient remaining for the climb. Nonetheless, take into account that it’ll really zoom in on a piece of the climb, slightly than present all the factor. I really don’t like this specific facet of it, and wished it simply stayed placed on all the climb. On the very backside of the web page are two customizable information fields. In my case, they’re present grade and elevation.
![clip_image001[32]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00132.jpg "clip_image001[32]")
Garmin’s color-coding is predicated on official UCI categorization of climbs, which in flip is predicated how a lot elevation you achieve in a given time interval. The darker the colour, the extra painful it’s.
- Cat 4 > 8000
– Inexperienced - Cat 3 > 16000
– Yellow/Gold - Cat 2 > 32000
– Orange - Cat 1 > 48000
– Crimson - HC (Hors Class) > 64000 – Darkish Crimson
Subsequent, we’ve bought Hammerhead and their particular person climb web page. This web page simply takes the cake on the prettiest climb web page, with theoretically probably the most element. It’s provided in each a half display peak and full-height possibility:
![clip_image001[30]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00130.jpg "clip_image001[30]")
Their color-coding is as follows:
- 0-4.4%: Darkish inexperienced
- 4.6-7.5%: Gentle inexperienced
- 7.6-12.5%: Yellow
- 12.6-15.5%: Pink/peach
- 15.6%-19.5%: Orange
- 19.6%-23.5%: Crimson
- 23.5%+: Purple
For the higher portion you’ve bought all the climb displayed in 500m lengthy coloured increments, alongside along with your place on it (and your accomplished portion shaded). I instantly like this higher than the Garmin method which zooms in. It’s additionally bought color-coding on the pain-factor all through the primary climb particulars. Beneath that could be a listing of numbers that scroll by. These are 100m lengthy chunks with the anticipated gradient in every of these chunks. So mainly, you’ll be able to see the subsequent 500m with of gradient throughout the scrolling ticker.
![clip_image001[28]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00128.jpg "clip_image001[28]")
The issue although? This information isn’t correct. Particularly on the extremes (e.g. increased grades), hairpin turns, or in mountainous terrain. It is because no matter information supply they’re utilizing merely isn’t granular sufficient for this. So numerous occasions it’ll say I’ve bought a 14% chunk arising, and it’ll simply be extra of the identical 4-6% I’ve been driving (just like the above photograph). Once I requested Hammerhead about this beforehand, they acknowledged the difficulty, saying:
“We’ve been wrestling a few of these elevation information errors and taking a look at methods to higher deal with unrealistic spikes or swings within the information. Your instinct is appropriate in that it’s typically based mostly on the underlying dataset that we’re utilizing for a specific area. We’ve bought our arms on many of the available ones and are working some experimentation on the right way to deal with unhealthy information. We match offline elevation information for a whole downloaded nation onto Karoo 2 in order that even re-routes can have Climber performance. This offline performance additionally signifies that we will’t depend on any backup or massaging of the information from totally different sources on an internet server. We’ve just a few strategies we’re taking a look at to enhance this.”
Finally, this turns into a case of kind over operate. Sure, it visually appears tremendous cool. However virtually talking, it’s typically inaccurate (in truth, virtually all the time inaccurate). And it’s finally why Garmin most likely isn’t exhibiting such granular element. In Garmin’s case, they’re slicing it up into far bigger chunks for color-coding, which suggests they’ll clean out among the underlying information inconsistencies. Beneath is an efficient instance of unhealthy information – this street by no means had wherever even remotely near a 25% grade part (nor one then adopted apparently by –9.3% downhill part). Nonetheless, if you happen to look intently on the yellow Garmin part beneath, you’ll be able to see what seems as a spike within the climb, however in Garmin’s case they aren’t granular sufficient displaying information associated to that, to attract your consideration to it.
![clip_image001[24]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00124.jpg "clip_image001[24]")
In any case, beneath that streaming gradient ticker part, is the space to the highest, and the elevation to the highest (plus climb # and present grade). One fascinating word although, is that Hammerhead doesn’t correctly rely mid-climb descents right here. So for instance you see that little bump the place I’m going down for just a few hundred meters on the above? In that case, Hammerhead doesn’t precisely present my complete ascent as having to ‘reclimb’ that portion twice. As a substitute, their math is just your purpose elevation (prime), minus the present elevation. So any temporary downs inside it aren’t calculated appropriately, and can undercount how a lot climbing you really need to do nonetheless. In case your climb has no temporary descents, then it’s a non-issue.
Nonetheless, if we step again and have a look at the general gist of what the ticker and climb charts are exhibiting you, I feel Hammerhead is essentially on the suitable path right here. I believe in the event that they shifted away from 100m sections, and as an alternative went extra in the direction of 200m or bigger sections, it’d be sufficient to get round among the short-distance accuracy points they’ve. And equally, fixing the ascent to prime needs to be straightforward since they know the descents simply as a lot as they know the ascents.
As for Wahoo, once more, they don’t have any direct climbing characteristic. However they do even have one workaround: Strava Stay Segments. In the event you star/favourite a Strava Stay Phase for that climb (which is often straightforward sufficient to seek out/tag), it’ll set off as you method the climb after which present your precise distance until the tip of the climb. Plus the upcoming elevation profile. It received’t present ascent or different climbing-related metrics, but it surely not less than reveals how a lot struggling you will have left, together with how poorly you’re doing relative to all your pals.
Although, on one specific lengthy climb final 12 months, I simply adopted Wahoo’s BOLT for my very own Haribo-Professional. One gummy per 1KM remaining. Albeit, this does influence show visibility, however, once you’re climbing for hours on finish with out climbing metrics, you largely get into the groove in any case.
![clip_image001[16]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00116.jpg "clip_image001[16]")
Lastly, some will ask about precise gradient responsiveness. That means, how briskly does every bike laptop reply to gradient shifts and show that on the unit itself. And the reply is “it relies upon”. Basically, it appeared just like the Hammerhead and Wahoo items reported shifts in gradient extra shortly because the street modified pitch. However not on a regular basis. Within the video I present a bit virtually again to again the place on one street chunk the Garmin lagged, however then moments later it was the Wahoo lagging. Take into accout, after I say ‘lagging’, we’re speaking a few seconds. You may see examples of the variations.
![clip_image001[18]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00118.jpg "clip_image001[18]")
![clip_image001[22]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00122.jpg "clip_image001[22]")
The rationale for that’s that these firms are largely taking a look at ahead motion to find out grade, not the present angle of your bike. In order that they have a look at how a lot elevation you’ve gained within the final X seconds, after which determine the gradient based mostly on the space you travelled. It’s a high quality line between being too fast to answer shifts in stress (which might result in inaccurate information), and being too gradual (which ends up in frustration). For nearly each state of affairs I encountered, there have been no significant real-world variations between them on this matter.
Within the sense that, sure, typically one unit was behind one other just a few seconds, however until this was crossing a shallow 100m lengthy bridge, it simply didn’t make a giant distinction to me that it was 2-3 seconds behind exhibiting 6% vs 8%. For any significant climbs, it evened out inside just a few seconds and confirmed me seemingly appropriate values throughout all gadgets.
Going Ahead:
![clip_image001[10]](https://media.dcrainmaker.com/images/2022/03/clip_image00110.jpg "clip_image001[10]")
In fact, as we method the springtime, we traditionally see features on biking head items. It’ll be fascinating to see if there are shifts right here, from all of the gamers. I feel it’s clearly important that Wahoo in some way get on this realm, particularly as Hammerhead continues to enhance theirs with every iteration each few months. In the meantime, Garmin might look so as to add a bit extra element like Hammerhead, whereas Hammerhead inversely might intention to try to get their underlying gradient information both extra correct or maybe much less granular to, in flip, improve upcoming gradient accuracy.
After which past that, all the businesses might introduce added climbing options that haven’t been considered but. There’s numerous methods this could possibly be expanded, and we solely want to have a look at different characteristic areas to see that. For instance, Garmin lately launched enhanced waypoints help (known as ‘Up Forward’) on their Fenix 7/Epix collection, or, no one has made a means for this to be sans pre-loaded route – a long-requested characteristic by many.
Or, the businesses might do a greater job of surfacing these climbs of their post-ride analytics apps, exhibiting the occasions and efforts after the very fact, much like Strava Segments, however with out all of the jumble of quite a few segments. Only a clear listing of the climbs and one’s performances on these climbs.
Nonetheless, each the Hammerhead and Garmin climbing options stay my favourite options on every unit. Maybe much less for technical causes, and extra for nostalgia causes. In my case, after I’m utilizing these options to their fullest extent, it’s as a result of I’m off on some bike journey someplace – typically on an epic climb with wonderful surroundings. And because the snow melts, it’s virtually time for that to start once more. So if and when these firms make modifications, I’ll be able to put them to the take a look at once more.
With that – thanks for studying!
