Read your tracks, properly.
Make sense of the measures inside a GPX file — elevation gain, pace, gradient, VAM — and why the numbers diverge from one tool to the next. Not a dated blog: references you re-read.
Export your track
Garmin, Strava, Komoot, Wahoo, Polar — the step-by-step procedure for each platform.
GPX elevation gain
GPX elevation gain is never written into the file: it is computed. And depending on the chosen noise threshold, elevation source and smoothing, two tools give two figures. Here's why.
§ II · GPX GuideThe 12 measures of a GPX track
Distance, time, D+, D−, speed, pace, elevations, net gradient, VAM, HR: twelve measures grouped into five families, and the conversation they hold when you read them together.
§ III · GPX GuideAnalyze a segment without Strava
Strava is for comparing yourself; isolating a segment privately is for understanding yourself. How to read a precise piece of track without drawing it for anyone else, without account, without leaderboard.
§ IV · GPX GuideAnalyze a GPX without uploading
Why a GPX tool that never touches your file is an architectural guarantee rather than a promise — and what that changes in practice compared to the « upload, account, leaderboard » model.
§ V · GPX GuideThe hardest climb of a trail run
Three definitions of « the hardest », four numbers to decide (VAM, net gradient, average HR, duration), and a concrete case with four cols on a 30-km outing.
§ VI · GPX GuideGPXchunk vs Strava vs Garmin
Strava, Garmin Connect, GPXchunk: not a competition, three roles. Strava for community and leaderboards, Garmin for long-term physiological tracking, GPXchunk for fine analysis of a precise segment. Decision matrix and concrete cases.
More guides coming — net gradient, VAM, heart rate, pace.