Strava

bvibert · Jun 4, 2012

Anyone else using Strava to track their rides? I just started using it today, it seems pretty cool. I'm sure there's other programs like it out there, but what I thought was really cool about this one is that you can mark segments of GPS tracks. Whenever you or someone else loads a GPS track that goes through that segment it automatically compares the time to everyone else who's ridden that segment. So, in my case I can see how much I suck on climbs compared to everyone else who rides where I ride. It's a pretty nifty feature though

zakyr · Jun 4, 2012

Guy at the LBS just told me about this and showed me it on his phone.

Got a iPhone mount case to take advantage of it. Trumps any bike computers I have looked at.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

riverc0il · Jun 4, 2012

I tried it and didn't care for it. Overall, the platform isn't as robust as some of the others and the segments thing has some features that bother me: 1) you have to go public to do segments which is kind of the point (social networking) but I'd like to compete against myself on segments rather than others which brings me to 2) only the best riders can compete for KOM and you need to pay extra to compare rank with weight and age group which still isn't 100% effective for categorizing riders by skill level which brings me to 3) you need to pay more for categorization that isn't very effective at showing you who you really are competing against. Finally, 4) there is a lot of Strava whoring out there with guys planning rides not because it is a good ride but because they peak for a certain climb and then maybe they limp home having given 120% up the climb just to place.

I loved the concept when I created an account. But in practice, I can't see it being valuable unless you play the game and have some top climbing skills. Personally, I don't want to see myself at the very bottom of a KOM ranking for a particular hill climb, I don't find that personally motivating. I'd love to see Strava done on an individual's personal segments without sharing.

Besides, ridewithgps.com is a superior platform and I enjoy that site more for tracking rides.

awf170 · Jun 4, 2012

Been using it for a couple months. Pretty fun to beat XC weight weenie dweebs on my heavy as hell hardtail with DH wheels/tires.

All depends on the place though. There are some XC places where I can kick ass, and others where I get destroyed.

Bought myself a $150 road bike today so I can go out and kick more weight weenie dweeb ass off the trail. :razz:

WoodCore · Jun 5, 2012

Been using it since last year when I won a years subscription to the premium side. Didn't really think much of it the first couple times I used it as it was just generating pretty much the same thing I was getting from Garmin Connect but it has definitely grown on me this year. I guess the biggest reason for this is that a bunch of the folks I ride with and who ride in the same areas have all uploaded it to their phones so the whole segment tracking thing has started to push me to ride faster and harder up some of the climbs. I'm still slow but the competition aspect helps me to improve.

bvibert · Jun 5, 2012

riverc0il said:
I tried it and didn't care for it. Overall, the platform isn't as robust as some of the others and the segments thing has some features that bother me: 1) you have to go public to do segments which is kind of the point (social networking) but I'd like to compete against myself on segments rather than others which brings me to 2) only the best riders can compete for KOM and you need to pay extra to compare rank with weight and age group which still isn't 100% effective for categorizing riders by skill level which brings me to 3) you need to pay more for categorization that isn't very effective at showing you who you really are competing against. Finally, 4) there is a lot of Strava whoring out there with guys planning rides not because it is a good ride but because they peak for a certain climb and then maybe they limp home having given 120% up the climb just to place.

I loved the concept when I created an account. But in practice, I can't see it being valuable unless you play the game and have some top climbing skills. Personally, I don't want to see myself at the very bottom of a KOM ranking for a particular hill climb, I don't find that personally motivating. I'd love to see Strava done on an individual's personal segments without sharing.

Besides, ridewithgps.com is a superior platform and I enjoy that site more for tracking rides.

I don't mind the social aspect of it, but I can see what you're saying. You can select to see only your results for a particular segment though, which accomplishes what you want.

(My best time is 19th of 22 in the overall leaderboard)

I don't have a problem sharing my poor performance with others, so whether it's public or not is inconsequential to me. Some of the additional filtering you can do with the paid version might be fun to play with, but I have no intention of paying for the premium version, so it doesn't really matter if it's effective or not. For me, the fun in the rankings is in seeing how I compare to people I actually know, and how they compare to each other. The other names don't really matter to me. I really don't think there's a lot of "Strava whoring" going on amongst my group of friends.

Before trying Strava I just tracked my rides using a smartphone app and saved the .gpx files for future reference. I also leave the rides on my phone so I can quickly check stats if I need to. Adding the tracks to Strava just makes things more interesting to me, and may even motivate me to push a little harder on that next climb.

bvibert · Jun 5, 2012

WoodCore said:
I guess the biggest reason for this is that a bunch of the folks I ride with and who ride in the same areas have all uploaded it to their phones so the whole segment tracking thing has started to push me to ride faster and harder up some of the climbs. I'm still slow but the competition aspect helps me to improve.

I think that's the biggest key for me, having people I know riding the same areas. If it was just a bunch of random people riding the same segments I wouldn't really care.

awf170 · Jun 5, 2012

bvibert said:
I think that's the biggest key for me, having people I know riding the same areas. If it was just a bunch of random people riding the same segments I wouldn't really care.

Exactly. Wicked fun to race each other on segments during a ride then get back to the parking lot and compare/ jokingly talk shit.

zakyr · Jun 6, 2012

Found a better cycling app.

Cyclemeter

More features and dashboard viewing options. All stats are available straight fromt he phone so no need to have to go on a computer to view data.

riverc0il · Jun 11, 2012

MapMyRide is stepping up with a new feature called Courses:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/mapmyride-aims-for-stravas-kom_223318

Looks like MapMyRide is onto some of the things I was bitching about regarding Strava. Courses is going to have alternative ways of assigning KOM rather than just strictly the guy with the best time. Thus, the best riders in any given area can't KOM every hill with no chance for other riders.

I dig the idea of doing it stage racing style... different categories and ways to measure top riding and assigning extra points for note worthy accomplishments. One of these sites is eventually going to figure out that having a category for most improved is going to really drive things as anyone can play once they get down to that level. Their current feature of having someone with the most times riding a given segment getting more points is kinda silly, IMO. Someone could just do a lot of hill intervals and add up points quickly.

Any ways, it is a moot point since MapMyRide sucks. Total dog of a site, bad lay out, etc. Worst of the mapping sites that I have tried by a long shot.

But it is good to see competition in this segment as more platforms will have to up their game accordingly and make this type of feature really meaningful to more riders and ideally keep enhancing a feature that might get folks riding harder and improving themselves.

bvibert · Jun 12, 2012

riverc0il said:
1) you have to go public to do segments which is kind of the point (social networking) but I'd like to compete against myself on segments rather than others

I created my first segment in Strava the other day and learned that you can mark them as private.

riverc0il · Jun 12, 2012

bvibert said:
I created my first segment in Strava the other day and learned that you can mark them as private.

And it keeps track of your attempts at that segment in private too? Either I didn't know what I was doing or that is a great new feature. It seemed like I had to have my data public to see my segments. Same is true right now for RWGPS.

bvibert · Jun 12, 2012

riverc0il said:
And it keeps track of your attempts at that segment in private too? Either I didn't know what I was doing or that is a great new feature. It seemed like I had to have my data public to see my segments. Same is true right now for RWGPS.

I'm not sure about that, I left mine public.

riverc0il · Jun 12, 2012

Ah. Unless they changed it, when you go private you no longer can see your segments.

bvibert · Jun 19, 2012

Looks like Strava is getting sued:

http://www.mobilesportsreport.com/2...ava-com-to-blame-for-cycling-accident-deaths/

Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. How could Strava possibly be responsible to ensure the safety of every route that users upload? The whole idea seems ludicrous to me.

riverc0il · Jun 19, 2012

bvibert said:
Looks like Strava is getting sued:

http://www.mobilesportsreport.com/2...ava-com-to-blame-for-cycling-accident-deaths/

Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. How could Strava possibly be responsible to ensure the safety of every route that users upload? The whole idea seems ludicrous to me.

It was only a matter of time before someone got killed trying to break a Strava record. But I didn't anticipate the associated law suit. This law suit is asinine on so many levels. Makes you wonder if the rider that got killed would approve. Apparently, 41 year old men need Strava to personally certify every segment and provide speed guidelines (what about weather effects?). So much for personal responsibility and the desire to pursue outdoor activities in which exceeding previously generally accepted limits is not only encouraged but part of the very fabric of sport.

riverc0il · Jun 19, 2012

More information:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/06/news/family-sues-strava-over-descending-death_224889

Including these two gems:

The rider was descending at over 40 MPH and the posted speed limit is 30 MPH. I'm not going to call foul on breaking the speed limit but I am going to call foul on blaming a third party that is basically a reporting site. You can't blame someone else when something bad happens when you are breaking the law intended to prevent the exact accident that happened.

The rider was killed when breaking trying to avoid a car. Basically, user error. The rider was going too fast and was not in control of his bike. We can speculate as to what happened but any one that is descended a hill well knows that thought process of when to break and when not to break depending on numerous factors including narrowness of road, curves in the road, traffic, ability to take the lane, knowledge or road, etc. Sucks he died trying to break a record but people die trying to break records all the time.

Finally, I will submit that Strava is a reporting web site... an aggregator of data. It doesn't in and of itself actively encourage its users to recklessly pursue speed records at any cost. It doesn't tell its users to break the speed limit. Obviously, such a site by its nature does these things passively. However, I would compare this to the Guinness Book of World Records which does pretty much the same thing. It tracks records and publishes them which by human nature encourages other people to break said records.

skidmarks · Jun 21, 2012

The 30%

bvibert said:
Looks like Strava is getting sued:

http://www.mobilesportsreport.com/2...ava-com-to-blame-for-cycling-accident-deaths/

Sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me. How could Strava possibly be responsible to ensure the safety of every route that users upload? The whole idea seems ludicrous to me.

I saw this for the first time today on Velonews and figured it would make a great AZ thread but you guys beat me to it!

“His family basically wants justice for him,” said Susan Kang, the Flint family’s attorney, to ABC
My bet is Susan Kang wants 30% + Expenses

I feel bad for the family and who knows what their financial situation is. I'm sure they blame Strava for the death of their loved one and it's got to be ultra hard to take a pass on the cash that a lawsuit would provide. I wonder what percentage of lawsuits are of this nature. Seems like we've developed a great American Industry and more jobs for the future.

Using Ski Tacks Apps this past winter did make me ski a little faster from time to time but that was the risk I took. Now let's say I hit a tree and got killed, would my family have the strength to not bring a lawsuit against Ski Tracks? That's what insurance is for, and I'm sure Ski Tracks has plenty.......

Signed up for Strava today and will check it out, will be careful!

o3jeff · Jun 21, 2012

skidmarks said:
“His family basically wants justice for him,” said Susan Kang, the Flint family’s attorney, to ABC

Maybe Strava should put him down as the fastest time on the part he did complete as justice for him.

Sad he got killed, but even sadder they filed a lawsuit.

MR. evil · Jul 1, 2012

Been using this on my road rides for about a week now. It's a much cleaner interface than MapMyRide and the way it tracks elevation gain actually makes sense.

As I expected I am at the bottom of the pack on all the climbing segments on my ussual rides. Not dead last but not far off.....man I'm slow!

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