Was reading DC Rainmaker's article on Garmin Connect's Elevation Correction for non-barometer watches (thank you Mr. Rainmaker) and trying to apply it to my recent training for Swissman. Over the past several months, I've spent my long rides almost exclusively climbing. The only time I'm not going uphill is to descend or move from one canyon along PCH to the next one. Anyway, I know the watch elevation is sketchy, so I've been planning out and relying on MapMyRide for accurate elevation. But then I remembered Garmin Connect and decided to upload my data. THEN I discovered the elevation correction option (and found DC's article and...yadda, yadda, yadda). Anyway, I was cool with two data sources being different. But now I have 3 and the one that supposedly corrects with fancy schmancy data seems WAY off. For example, this past weekend:

310xt is showing roughly 8,800 feet in climbing for the day.
MapMyRide shows the route as roughly 10,000 feet of climbing.
Garmin Connect with elevation correction is showing 19,033 feet.

The week before:
310xt is showing 7,800 feet
MapMyRide is showing 9,128
Garmin connect w/ elevation correction is showing 19,404

No joke.

While my ego and paranoia over the Swissman bike course have me wanting to believe Garmin Connect, I'm not sure I can buy 19,000 feet. Not unless Garmin Connect really is able to add up all those minor pitches and it's GPS coordinate tracking is really that much more superior to MapMyRide.

Race day is just over a month away, so I guess it really doesn't matter all that much at this point. The hay is largely in the barn. Then again, if reality is closer to Garmin Connect than the other two, I may want to consider ratcheting down the elevation in the coming weeks as I've been significantly over-training on the elevation front.

Thoughts, experiences, observations?