Add distance from stationary bike

[geneld]

I'm riding a stationary bike using my Fenix HR to track time and HR, but I can't capture distance. The bike has a readout of distance which I can add to the data in Garmin Connect, but I can't find any way to have the distance show up in Strava when I send over using the tool.

Is there a way to do this?

[fulmar2]

Link to the tool to Add Distance from Stationary Bike.


This is a good question, and one I get a lot. If you export as a FIT or TCX from my tool, the distance from your original files will be embedded in the output file. To get the distance to embed, you will need to make sure you check the "Distance" box in the streams and then check the "Use Existing Embedded Distance" option. Both of those boxes are highlighted in the image below:

Embedding Distance from a GPS file.

[fulmar2]

I re-read your question, and now I see that your device cannot embed distance. This inspired me to write some additional code that manufacturers distance in a linear format. In other words, since you don't have the point-to-point information, you're just going to get one straight line for speed (it will match your average speed)... but the tool will fabricate your total distance based on what you enter in the "Override Total Distance" box. Here is how you need to set up the tool to achieve this:

How to Add Distance from a Stationary Bike to Strava.

Notice how you need to select "FIT" as your Output File Format. Also, you ought to select "Virtual Ride" to tell Strava that this was an indoor workout. Next, you need to select "Calculate Distance." This tells my tool to fabricate a point-by-point distance for your new file. To do this, the tool counts up the total number of points, and then takes the distance that you enter, and it divides the number of points by the distance. This will cause a flat line in your speed. Hope that helps!

[geneld]

Thanks for the updated feature. Works great.

[Wombatmania]

Hi @fulmar2

I have a stationary bike similar to the above user, and ChatGPT sent me here to correct the distance on my ride for Strava, but I wonder if I could suggest/ask for a possible new feature — unless there's already a way to do this, and I just don't understand how to do it yet.

When I'm riding my stationary bike, I have been lapping on my watch to count every km. For ChatGPT analysis, I download the splits from Garmin, amend the distance of each lap from 0 to 1 (km), and then calculate speed as a function of (3600/lap-time-in-seconds = speed in km/h).
So — unless I can do this another way, in which case I just need to be pointed in the right direction (perhaps I first need to add the total distance to the FIT file using this function, and then I need to go to a different part of the site to update every one of the lap times from the linear figures to the splits I have separately downloaded in the CSV) — I am wondering if you could add the option of "... or lap distance in miles or kilometres" to the bit where it says "add distance in miles or kilometres". If selecting this new option, it would also need to ask the user to enter their final lap's distance separately — as they might have ridden an extra 0.01km or ½km etc. These functions (add total distance or add lap distance) would be mutually exclusive, with both leading to a total distance figure.

In any case, thanks for your time, I appreciate your work.
Peter.

[fulmar2]

Hi Peter — what you’re asking for is already built in
When you process your file, just select “Calculate Distance and Speed” and do not check “Don’t Recalc Lap Distances.” That way, each lap gets its own distance and speed based on your lap times (including a partial last lap). If your file doesn’t already have laps, you can use the Autolap feature first.

Here is a screenshot where you can find the features you are requesting.

[Wombatmania]

Hi @fulmar2
The "Calculate Distance (and Speed)" option is greyed out. I figured that was because it "only works if you have Position Data (Lat/Lon)"
Even after I clicked the "Kilometers" here: "This Indoor Workout has no Distance or Position. Please click Miles or Kilometers to enter a Distance." ... and entered a value, the option is still greyed out.
Perhaps I am missing something else.
Thanks, Peter

[fulmar2]

Maybe you can use the contact form on gotoes and send me your file. You can also upload it here. It sounds like your source file is missing a lot of information if it does not have speed or position present. We need at least some real information to be able to do the math.

You could check that option to add the distance, export the resulting file and then reimport. Gotoes will fill in the blanks so that when you reimport, that option is not grayed out. But im not sure this is going to be very accurate since the values will be fabricated on the average speed (the distance you type in and the total time of the time stamps)

[Wombatmania]

My bike has the most basic features (see pic), it's a generic no frills $50 thing.
So what I've been doing is fixing the display on the "distance" metric, and pressing the lap button on my watch as I pass each km.
So then what I wanted is for the tool to assign the speed to each lap as 60/LapTime = Speed(km/h).

Perhaps the tool already accepts a .csv file that includes (using the figure on my display example pic): LapNumber,Distance,1,1000000,2,1000000,...,24,870000
...? I haven't tried uploading a second file, I was just thinking about how to use the "add distance" function against the original .FIT file.

Let me know if adding a .CSV file with these values in this way should work.

Thanks,

[fulmar2]

@wombatmania - I can help you best if you have a FIT file (or whatever you are getting from your device(s)) to play with. You can upload files to this forum if you want to use the forum instead of the contact form. Anyway, without seeing the original data, I'm still left guessing at the best solution for you. Meanwhile, to answer your question: Yes, you can upload a CSV file. GOTOES can even take your original data and spit it out as CSV:

IF you have a FIT File, just convert it to CSV here:
https://gotoes.org/gotoes/strava/conver ... to_csv.php

IF you have GPX or TCX, upload the file(s) to the merger ( https://gotoes.org/gotoes/strava/Combin ... _Files.php ) and then near the bottom of the page, look for the export as CSV option:

How to convert GPX/TCS to CSV file on GOTOES

GOTOES can ingest either of these files - with whatever modifications you decide to make. Please note that at this time, GOTOES reads up to and including column "K" (the lap column) but does not yet interpret the other more specialized data like "left_right_balance" and "vertical_oscillation"... But that shouldn't matter for your situation anyway.

Based on how I am reading what you wrote - perhaps I don't fully understand - it sounds like you want to fabricate laps manually in the CSV. This sounds like a lot of work, but if you have the patience, you would scroll to the time stamp, and make an entry that is formatted "TIME|DISTANCE" where TIME is in seconds, "|" is the separator, and Distance is in Kilometers.

If you want to skip the CSV intermediary, you could also just upload your file(s) to the merger and click on the big blue "Edit Points" button:

How to edit individual points so you can add lap(s) to your file - directly on GOTOES.

This is what an edited lap looks like. After you make an edit, the cell will turn green. In this case, the time and distance was auto-calculated. IF you do not have distance in your file, the time will be calculated, but you will need to type in the distance when editing.

Once you do that, you will be presented with an Excel-like table where you can manually add in laps... just scroll to the point where you want to add a lap, and enter the time/distance just like above. IF you have accumulated distance (this is what almost all "proper" FIT files should have)... then GOTOES will just automatically calculate the lap distance and time for you (and thus you will see your lap speed on Strava)... but if your source files are missing the distance, GOTOES will only calculate the time for you. Time is required to be present in order for you to even upload to GOTOES; your file will be rejected if it does not have timestamps, and you will be encouraged to add timestamps using this tool.