Insightful and funny
http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/biking/How-Strava-Is-Changing-the-Way-We-Ride.html
I'll be off to meet my first goal of 2013 on Friday: ride to ski. It won't be recorded anywhere.
GREAT article!
You're goddamn right it's changing the way we ride. We ride fast now. All the time. Everywhere.
Strava took the recovery out of a recovery ride.
Although I don't currently use Strava, the article points out why it is growing so fast. I could see getting involved if only for the motivation aspect, as I would never be up high on any leaderboard.
So for me it would be..."how Strava got me back to riding more of my favorite rides."
This will end badly... especially when it comes to mountain bike trail access.
People are making way too much of Strava and it's effects. As one of the early adopter areas SoCal has already reached a watershed point. All the KOMS are pretty much locked up with the first 20 spots on up and downhill KOMs taken by the same guys you see at the races on the podium in Pro/Expert. Everybody I've talked to that uses it regularly has forgone the KOM thing and mostly use it for tracking mileage/rides. The world is not ending, mountainbikes will not be outlawed.
just leave that thing in the car and put the hurt on everybody:)
one more piece of crap I dont need to bother with
Strava hasn't and won't change the way I ride. I ride for myself not for others' comparisons. If I wanted to race I would do that and I can record PRs without transmitting to the world. Cycling is my mental and physical respite and enjoying everything that goes with a ride - good, bad, fast, slow, etc. is part of that. If I want a challenging training ride, I ride with my cycling buddies on the weekends.
But for the fragile narcissists out there needing confirmation and kudos about their KOMing a local hill, go for it but don't expect me to get out of the way because you're yelling 'strava, strava, strava' down a mtb trail or road descent.
+100 iamus
zero interest in this now. However, back when I was a 21 year old Cat1 - I'd have been all over this = I understand the premise.
The only time I give a F about being fastest is in about the last few meters (or prime lap) of a criterium (or soon to be track race)
The low heart rate training crew [Mafatone] here could start an anti-streva movement with the slowest times (...then of course cheaters would outright stop or trackstand).
Strava is AWESOME on so many levels and for so many reasons.
Iamus seems to imply that folks only use Strava for the nefarious evil of self congratulation and self promotion. Gee I guess that's possible, but aren't there some other uses as well?
I'd say yes.
Finding new routes, TimeTrialing, benchmarking personal development, tracking miles, hours, climbing, by week, month, year, bike, etc.
It is a treasure trove of data for free. Since you can use Strava and keep all of your ride private - I'll call BS on your theory that it for "fragile narcissists" and somehow conflicts with the "Zen" of your riding experience. Most folks around here hit record on their smartphone and throw it into their jersey pocket or Camelback. Less obtrusive than a normal cycling computer.
Furthermore, it's likely that the folks kicking your ass on Strava would also kick your ass in person. So don't blame Strava.
Cool - a parallel universe smackdown on a virtual reality KOM.
My first encounter with strava segments was on way to my first group ride with new club two years ago. Was a bit early and going at ease not quite knowing where I was going. This guy rips by me. It takes me a little while to realize he's in club jersey. I give chase and after couple minutes ride up next to him and ask what hurry is. Strava segment. Did that count?
Yeah, it's like JS says - seems like the flame has faded here in SoCal.
In our area, we have an ex National RR podium finisher (3rd to LL and George I seem to recall) who climbs very well, so nobody is going to beat his climbing segments anyway.
j
pa biker is right. strava is awesome. sure, it has a social aspect but the ride tracking, metrics, and mapping functions keep rides interesting and motivation high.
We? Who's we? I can see the attraction for some people but personally I'll stick to chasing the rider in front of me. Always have to catch and pass the ding dong sitting bolt upright, cadence of 20 on a damn electric assist bike doing 40kph.
It certainly is neat technology though.
I don't own a smart phone... So I don't even know what Strava is. I ride all the same.
I find new routes by wondering around and getting lost.
I upload data from my rides about once a month. I can only think of one time that I went for ride to try and snag a KOM. Hardly an ego thing for me. Although, it did sting a little when I was notified that a couple KOM's that I had snagged in France were crushed earlier this week. :-)
"one more piece of crap I don't need to bother with"
Says the guy with the unsightly $10,000.00 bike.
What JS said about So Cal is pretty accurate. KOMs fall every now and then when a Cat1/Pro or ex-RAMM decides to do a serious training ride. Most of the women's KOMs and TT records are held by none other than Amber Neben. Those won't be challenged for a long time.
I use it for personal mileage, elevation, and some split timing.
Yes, you can do a pure recovery ride. No reason to change your training plan. I don't. But when your plan calls for intervals, a TT effort, climbing drills,etc - may as well see how you stack-up on a well known segment. Helps with comparisons.
JP
Honestly, I'm not sure that riding without using Strava is safe - you may want to invest in a smartphone. Actually, they're free these days.
Strava - The crown jewel of the narcissistic era of cycling??
I use garnin connect...no issue with strava although did see some silly behavior originally. Not so much anymore.
Got a headhunter call for the CEO gig at map my ride / fitness. Non starter due to location, but also thought that with strava, garnin connect, training peaks et all..you really have to focus on a very specific audience to be successful.
With all this performance data will be interesting how we can use this for insight for athletes. There will be few mysteries left....
To the comments saying they don't use it. I think services like strava are useful and it's not mutually exclusive. You can track some data to gain insight or see progress and also unplug when you don't want it.
J
Yeah I'm too old to care about strava, power meters, or HR monitors. Geez, I love to ride and year after year I train my ass off just to kick some local club ass and I like feeling very fit. Breaking it down into plots, logs, and virtual races would just KILL it. But that's just me. Hell, I've never even been on Facebook and am steering clear of that time-suck. I gave up TV many years ago, but I'll tell you what - after work, school, the gym, riding, keeping my gf happy, and visiting a few websites like this one daily... I don't have time for more.
I think I'm going back to just uploading to Garminconnect. Getting high fives (kudos) for riding to work just seems kind of weird. So is people I've never met or have any connection with following me. I used to like the Strava HR zones for base miles, but I found my PE was pretty accurate, so the only thing Strava offers that Garmin doesn't is the social aspect.
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