Originally Posted by
FBinNY
+1 I'm surprised about the effort people put into recording their rides. Like Bob, I never recorded anything except what sticks in my memory. I know my best time for an hour, because it was exceptional and memorable at the time, I know (roughly) how long it took for some of my ultra long 24hour rides, ie. NYC to DC, NYC to Montreal, and likewise other details of memorable rides.
But other that what sticks, I never felt the need to record data that I knew I'd never look at again.
It was similar when I took up scuba diving. Divers are encouraged to keep logs, and early on each dive was recorded with plenty of detail, then after 50 or so, progressively less detail, and after 200 or so, only the dayt and location, and now not at all.
So, for me, before and after Strava is all the same
Was that 55 minutes for an hour?
Recording the data for me has to do with building endurance and strength, and while Strava's algorithms aren't accurate as a PM, they are consistent enough for my current purposes, and will provide me with a baseline assessment and then an indication of improvement in areas such as HR, power estimate, and average speed (which although discounted for the average cyclist, counts for a lot when doing long-distance events such as randonnees and 24H time trials). Plus, my phone does double duty as a communications and entertainment device, so it works out a damned sight cheaper than a power meter.