Strava pulls my ride data from Garmin connect and massively reduces ride duration.

Strava uses GPS data to determine if you were moving or made pauses. Gaps in the recorded location can make Strava think you didn’t move at that moment. In case you have battery saving GPS setting enabled you could try to change the Satellite Settings to “All + Multi-Band” to get the best reception possible.

Are you comparing elapsed and moving time? Strava calculates average speed based on your moving time, so any rests or pauses don’t count. Garmin will show you an average speed depending on whether you had auto-pause set when recording the activity (so it will either use elapsed time if auto-pause is off, or moving time if auto-pause is on).

If you want Strava to use elapsed time for the calculation, you can mark the activity as a race and it will show the average speed including pauses. Other than that, I don’t think there’s a way to not mark it as a race and have it use elapsed time.

​@Jan_Mantau thank you for your reply.
If you take the following ride as an example:
13/8/25: Garmin bike ride duration: 1 Hr 14 Mins 30 Secs. The same ride on Strava shows as 46 Mins 30 Secs.
I do have auto pause selected while in bike mode.
On this ride I only stopped at 1 traffic light for a short period (less than 2 mins), yet the difference between ride time on my Garmin device (1 Hr 14 Mins) and Strava (46 Mins) is 28 Mins.
This difference is huge and does not in any way reflect stoppage time.

Whilst trying to resolve this issue I did change the GPS settings to  “All + Multi-Band”  and have done several rides since. That has not resolved it.

I have also changed from Smart Recording to Every Second Recording, that has also not resolved it.

Do you have any other ideas?

PS: I used to use Garmin for about 10 years (2012-2022), then last 2-3 years I was using a COROS device, which now has some issues and out of warrenty, so I have gone back to Garmin and since getting my Garmin Enduro 3 a few weeks ago, I am having this issue with incorrect ride time and therefore incorrect average speed on Strava.
 

​@ActivityFix thank you for your reply.

If you take the following ride as an example:
13/8/25: Garmin bike ride duration: 1 Hr 14 Mins 30 Secs. The same ride on Strava shows as 46 Mins 30 Secs.
I do have auto pause selected while in bike mode.
On this ride I only stopped at 1 traffic light for a short period (less than 2 mins), yet the difference between ride time on my Garmin device (1 Hr 14 Mins) and Strava (46 Mins) is 28 Mins.
This difference is huge and does not in any way reflect stoppage time.

I like to record moving time for my rides and get an average speed for actual cycling excluding stops, so not wish to mark every ride as a race.

Do you have any other ideas or things I could check.

If your GPS settings are the best possible this really shouldn’t happen. Do you have an URL for such a Strava activity that is visible to everyone? We could check the analysis graph if there are anomalies.

​@Jan_Mantau here is a link to the ride I mentioned on the 13/8/2025

https://www.strava.com/activities/15441112026

My Strava profile is open so all recent outdoor bike rides have the same issue.
On each ride I have included a screenshot of the core ride data from Garmin which shows the actual ride duration and therefore the correct average speed.

If you are able to look that would be extremly helpful and much appreciated.

I am not sure what else I can check or change on my Garmin to fix this data error on Strava.

Your speed goes down to 0 every few seconds, there is no wonder that Strava thinks you make pauses: 

Do yo use a faulty speed sensor maybe?

You could try the “Correct Distance” feature in the Strava web browser to recalculate everything based on the GPS data:

Hi ​@Jan_Mantau 
Many thanks for taking a look. Much appreciated :-)

I think you may have found the issue, while cycling the current speed keeps jumping from my actual speed to zero…...sticks on zero for a while, then goes back to current speed and does this the entire ride.

To begin with I just had the Garmin Enduro 3, just a few days ago got the Garmin speed and cadence sensor and added that to my road bike. Yet still the speed keeps going from actual speed to zero whilst riding!
So I need to get that issue resolved with Garmin.

Regarding your advice:

You could try the “Correct Distance” feature in the Strava web browser to recalculate everything based on the GPS data:

I can not find this setting, not sure if that is only visible for Strava users with a paid subscription or also available for users of the free version of Strava??

I will keep digging to see if I can find that setting.

 

​@jdiggity1978 you have to open the activity on the Strava website (not in the mobile app), then tap the three dots in the menu on the left, and then you should see the option: