BlazingPedals

Don't forget to buy stock in Golf equipment first.

shrtdstncrdr

Strava. Facebook for bicyclists.

Harv

Spoonrobot 

I like strava. I was standing around after a group ride and some guy came up to me and was like "hey I'm John, you took my KOM up in Talking Rock so I started following you on strava - you post some really great pictures"

We got to talking and he does a lot of gravel so I see him at every race I've done for the past two years - we talk turkey and compare times and routes and stuff. It's pretty cool.

I've also met a few other people by posting comments on their rides looking for advice on routes/water stops and so forth. I like being able to share my rides, sometimes my girlfriend looks at where I went and asks about something really specific about my ride. It's also nice to be able to easily track mileage and component wear for 6-7 different bikes.

I used to outline every road I've ridden on a giant state map, now I can just pull up my heat map and look at all my rides. There's tons of other things I like but I don't want to derail this thread.

Boydsta

I use strava but really it doesnt do anything that I cant get for free on my Garmin app. Its more about the number of people using it and social aspect

joejack951

Hardly.

Facebook - typically useless chatter about people's lives that I don't care to read or look at (and don't).

Strava - a simple means of recording my rides/runs, tracking my fitness, and sometimes seeing what some of my friends are up to (usually as inspiration to get out there and try harder).

If you think it's Facebook for cyclists, you probably haven't used it. Perhaps some people use it more like Facebook but I don't and the few I follow don't seem to either. It's easy enough to be non-social on Strava if you want as well. Just make all your rides private.

indyfabz

Heh. "Eating turkey. Yum!"

prj71

^^^This

caloso

Strava is free.

bbbean 

Aren't you a little ray of sunshine!

shrtdstncrdr

JoeJack is right. I was on facebook for about four months many years ago. Sounds like Strava is better than what I was reading into it. My fault.

Harv

Dreww10

Former Strava user myself (well, I still use it to log my rides for my own record-keeping, but all data is private). I can't say it ever had any major effect on the social aspect of the local group rides, but one can very easily get wrapped up in riding the way you want others to see versus how you want to train/should train ... focusing too much on your distance, elevation, and mileage so others will give you digital high-fives. Cycling is far more enjoyable without it.

My favorites are the 177 bpm average, 19.9 mph "chill afternoon recovery ride" everyone posts on Strava. Gimme a break!

Spoonrobot 

"Recovery Mode" and then 3 KOMs on segements with dozens of riders on the leader boards.

I mean how are those type of people not embarrassed to do that?

ExPatTyke

I use Strava for two reasons.

Firstly keeping a check on miles covered and starred segments gives me an incentive to keep going and a bit of a push to keep improving.

Secondly I pay for Strava premium to get Beacon so my wife can track me on the ride home from work. Two advantages with this - being able to see me moving and my location gives her a little peace of mind following an accident earlier in the year PLUS (and this is the big plus) as she can see when I'm nearly home I get either a cold G&T or a hot tea, depending on the weather, placed in my hand as soon as I get in the door.

I-Like-To-Bike

Such tracking can also be useful for an at home spouse to make sure that he/she is never awkwardly surprised while entertaining by the unexpected unannounced early return of the bicycling spouse; good for keeping peace at home.

ExPatTyke

I'm sure she doesn't do that.....whose aftershave can I smell?

caloso

Road ID has a similar tracking app. Also free.

I-Like-To-Bike

At least you will never hear the unpleasant sound of the back door slamming when you walk in the front door!

memebag

All my rides are public. I don't care what anyone thinks about them. The people I follow mostly just give out "kudos" to everyone riding, all the time. I do the same. I'm thinking about writing an app to do it for me.

I rarely look at the details of other people's rides. I don't care how fast they are.

My only complaint is that I wish Strava gave me a real Kudo every time someone gave me "kudos".

redlude97

it would be interesting to match up people's responses here with the type of riding they do and the groups(if any) they do them with.

Camilo

Oh, people use Facebook to keep up with their friends and try to out do them all the time. Material things, vacations... it's more than just idle chatter.

ExPatTyke

I'm a social / commuting cyclist - ride to work 3 or 4 days a week, Sunday ride is either a sportive or a ride out with friends.

coominya

+1

prj71

"I just don't really like riding bikes. You sit on an uncomfortable chair, spin your legs for a few hours, and just go back to where you started. Who needs that?"

https://www.lavelocita.cc/opinion-pa...-disconnection

corrado33

In a similar vein....

"Why do you have to make everything a competition? Can't you just enjoy it for what it is?"

Sounds to me like a bunch of old geezers yelling at a bunch of young kids for riding too fast.

The simple fact is, exercise is boring. Cycling is exercise for most of us. Trying to cycle as fast as you can and constantly improve makes it fun...ish.

Most of us don't cycle as a joyride. And when we do (say at the beach on the boardwalk) we're not trying to set KOMs.

memebag

We don't?