The Zeros Do Count

When calculating average watts you have to make a decision if you should count those harmless 0 watts when you are not pedaling. With the zeros you get a lower average and it can feel like you are being robbed of a higher average watts number. You might have noticed that Strava’s average watts are consistently lower than the average watts reported by your Garmin unit getting data from a power meter. This is due to the fact that we count the zeros when calculating average watts.

We are considering making a preference setting for whether to include zeros or not in average watts, but in the meantime we count the zeros and here’s why:

One of the reasons we include zeros is to get a better gauge of energy put into a ride. Say you were riding up a mountain with an average watts of 100 watts for one hour, then you roll down the mountain for 1 hour with an average watts of 0 watts (remember this is hypothetical). If you don’t count the zeros you get a ride with an average watts of 100 watts and with a duration of 2 h, giving an energy of 0.2 kWh. If you count the zeros you get an average watts of 50 watts and a duration of 2 h, resulting in an energy of 0.1 kWh (which is the actual energy put into the ride). Again, this subjective and we understand that some want to see the higher “non-zeros” number as this gives an idea of the average output when they are actually working out.

We would love to surface this topic and hear what you have to say. To zero or not to zero? That is the question.