That's what I thought at first. But it's close enough to accurate with the right parameters. The problem is the bike types are too limited.

I've compared my road bike data with other cyclists on road bikes who do use power meters on group rides. Same routes, conditions, etc. Strava power estimates are very close, other than for downhill runs.

But it's not accurate for the nebulous "hybrid" genre. It's not one of the other three types -- CX, mountain, TT. And it's probably not accurate for heavier touring bikes with drop bars, especially for folks who mostly ride the tops rather than hoods or drops.

For years there have been free online calculators to help estimate power based on much of the same data Strava uses. Usually the power estimates match Strava. And those online calculators offer more flexible parameters for bike types, riding positions, etc.

There's only one valid reason why Strava can't incorporate the same flexibility for premium members -- if the entire platform wasn't scalable and extensible enough because they didn't anticipate their success. And that can be a problem with proprietary platforms, especially if there's a shakeup in personnel doing the programming.

Been there, seen that, on another site that was built on a proprietary platform. It was a huge kludge and resisted upgrading to meet demands. The owner and admin ignored user requests for feature upgrades, then out of frustration resorted to brushing off and even belittling users (so far Strava tech support haven't overtly belittled or criticized users, but do routinely brush them off). By the time the owners decided to overhaul the entire platform it was too little, too late -- subscribers had already bailed out by the thousands. They'd already lost legit advertisers and in desperation turned to sketchy advertising that forced users to block ads and scripts. Revenue dwindled and they couldn't afford more than one programmer working overtime on the reboot. Meanwhile the old platform was failing and there was nobody to maintain it. Social media was the final nail in the coffin.

Anyway, Strava is just an extension of Facebook for me to keep up with real life local cycling friends. I paid for Cyclemeter's premium version and it does most of what I want anyway for tracking my own progress. It just requires more user input, whereas Strava is a bit more intuitive in creating segments for public or private use (my segments are mostly private just for comparing my own progress against myself).

I'm 60, and never bother with the age group rankings. I have several KOMs and many top 10s ... and don't need the age comparison.

On the power meter question:
I've done a few rides that were recorded on both - my Garmin (which reads the power meter) and on my phone (which doesn't, and forces Strava to use the estimated power). that way I could compare the actual and the estimated power readings.

The details vary from moment to moment ... but the readings for the average power for the whole ride, and for longer, flatter segments, tended to be very close.

Slightly off topic but seeking info.
I do the free Strava, been thinking of the upgrade. I don't do power meter, cadence, HR... but I COULD see the usefulness of Beacon.. wife could see where I am...meh..
I know it will announce established segments,(Maybe it doesn't "announce" but rather just shows it?) and how I'm doing on that segment. Well, that could be sort of fun but not particularly useful enough to pay for.
How I rank in my age group. Again, fun perhaps but not worth paying for. (And the wide disparity in ages within a group is the OP's complaint if I'm not mistaken.)

But will it:
Announce my mileage? Currently, MapMyRide audibly announces each 5 miles. Can't find that on Strava, so does that come with premium service or is it even available?
Load a route? If I load a "My Routes", will it tell me, "turn right on blah, blah road" ? That would be great instead of a que sheet.

If it will do those two things I would perhaps get the premium service. But I cannot find where it says it WILL do that.

I'm 57 and use Strava premium daily .... I'm not too worried about the older guys in my age group.... I'm more interested in how I fare against the younger (I'm pretty fit and ride more than 400km per week) ... I have several age related KOM's and on many, I'm not too far off the overall leader

after every ride (not commuting), I compare my results with all the others on the same day and on the same segments ...

I'd happily pay 3 times what Strava charges .... a brilliant program

A first world problem if ever there was one.

Bear in mind, they contribute to your Social Security checks.

What??? Explain yourself, or am I missing the sarcasm font?

On a solo ride without wind, yes. But on a group ride or with a decent wind, it can be off significantly. I did an experiment earlier this year comparing PM readings to Strava estimates on a flat solo ride into a headwind. https://www.bikeforums.net/19545157-post30.html

Strava calcs for speed is pretty accurate and I also have a Garmin Speed sensor ....when it comes to power, I agree and so do Strava .... Wind and gradient play a huge part and unless you have a power meter, you (and Strava) are merely guessing

thats why I like to compare my rides with others on the same day (ave speed and time on the segments or route) .... this shows me how well I done compared to the others with the same wind conditions (but saying that, wind speed and wind direction changes constanly, but that is the most accurate info at present

and .... I very much doubt that anyone has a KOM ridden in strong headwind on a segment that many use frequently

I have a Microsoft database where all my rides are recorded (not the daily commute rides) .... I record distance, wind speed, heart rate, wind direction, ave speed, time, elevation, climbing speed (I use StravaStix) etc etc

If I want a fast ride for the day, I check the wind direction and speed, then filter my database to show all rides with the same wind direction then choose a route where I rode a fast time

I will be getting a Powermeter very soon, just not sure which one (I'd like one that records power on both cranks

I did my very first Strava thing last night. Honestly, there's too much stuff there for me. I'm mostly interested in time, distance, and elevation. I thought the route planner was pretty clunky, and even if I understood most of what it was tracking for me, I don't really have an interest in it. And I have absolutely 0 interest in comparing what I'm doing with anyone else.

I will say, though, that when (or if) I make it to 78 years old, I want to be like you guys!

And of course, if there were no Strava, there would be no Strava Art:

Strava Art - I Love Bicycling

Yes, there needs to be a beach cruiser option! The closest I can get is Cross bike our mountain bike.

I joined Strava after getting my GPS unit, other than the handful of "friends" and the social media part, I much prefer RWGPS. The layout is so much better.

Strava is really good at keeping data. That's one reason I thought they could limit how much they keep for free members to boost premium membership. Since I do pretty much the same few routes all the time, I used to write down my information from the bike computer/HRM and transfer it into a spreadsheet later. Strava does all that automatically and I can get it in whatever form I want. It would be another good premium feature to be able to download info in spreadsheet form so I can sort and make my own charts - Strava charts are not very useful - you can kind of copy and paste Strava data into Excel but it's real clunky.

And it's pretty easy to not use the features you don't want - I've never used the route planner, I only compare my times to people I'm following, etc.

Strava free lacks most useful audio announcements.

But Cyclemeter's paid Elite version ($10) offers all kinds of user configurable audio announcements, including the order in which the announcements occur. For example, at the moment I have it set up to tell me my average speed for the ride followed by my speed as of the most recently sampling (usually a few seconds lag time), grade estimate, distance ridden, total time ridden, etc. I can set it to announce every mile or at greater increments; every minute or more; or both.

But no turn by turn navigation. Since my old iPhone 4s doesn't even have a data plan I just use the GPS. When I need directions I stop and check the downloaded maps. Usually by then I need a rest anyway.

However, after riding with friends who do use turn by turn navigation I can see the advantage for commuting or overall efficiency. On Saturday's ride on a new rural route I got off track several times, missing my turns and having to backtrack anywhere from 100 yards to a mile. It was a little annoying because I was hoping to beat the rain home and didn't -- got caught in 20-30 mph headwinds and rain. So that's one occasion when turn by turn would have been nice.

I guess because I sit in a world of analytic data all day long (it's my jerb!) there are some things I look to as an escape from that. Bikes would be one of those things. I actually have a spreadsheet called "Stupid Stats for Fun" that I import all kinds of data sets into. Maybe one day if I record enough trips (I'm beginning my bike commute on Thursday. New bike arrives tomorrow) I'll load it up into that.

Good charts are easy to do and impossible to find. I've actually taken courses on visualizing quantitative data and the summary is "everything sucks." New Excel (2013+) has some better charting functions, but the defaults are still ugly as all get out.

Aside from my mileage and time, what I really like about these kinds of applications is maps. I dig maps so I guess my app selection will be based on that as a feature.

Discrimination or not, I'd go for a premium membership if they found a way to give me a "Smile Score" instead of a suffer score.


-Tim-

I thought age was just a number.

And, you're only as old as you feel.

Maybe both those ideas germinated in the minds of those just "old" enough to see the future and didn't like it. You know, like when you were about to turn 27 and realized you may as well as be 30 in the scheme of things.

How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was? -- Satchel Paige

Not very!

I use Strava Premium and really like it; esp. the Suffer Score. I don't always agree with it but I like having it.

My Strava Premium is "free" since my kids asked me (several years ago) what I'd like for Father's Day. I sure don't want any more "stuff" around the house so I told them just to sign me up for Strava Premium and renew it every year and your "What to get Dad for Father's Day" question is already answered.

Works for me! I'm 67 and very rarely look at the age comparison data but it's fun to have a look sometimes.

Rick / OCRR

With the premium service, is there an option to turn on audio notifications? Currently I only get "Starting Ride" and "Pausing Ride". Is there availability for audio cues as to mileage/average speed? Is there availability for audio ques for navigation?

So all I get with free service as far as audio ques is "starting ride" and "pausing ride". What additional audio is available with Strava? I can create a route I want to follow, and then use "Load a route" to put that created route on my phone, and I can follow that visually, but that requires watching the screen for turns. I can't see that Strava has an audio navigate function. I also can't see anywhere that says with premium service you can get audio mileage/speed updates.

For instance, MapMyRide will "announce" every 5 miles my mileage, speed, and split speed. I don't know if that is available with Strava premium. I'd like to drop MMR and just run one app on my phone.

Hi WNCGoater,


I've never had any audio notifications from any aspect of Strava but honestly I've never looked for them (or a tab for them or whatever it might take to turn them on), nor have I ever used my Garmin for navigation.


I don't even look at Strava until after my ride is finished and I'm not sure if I'd even want audio notifications during a ride (is that what you're asking?).


When I finish a ride I plug my Garmin 800 into my desk-top computer and click on "Garmin Connect." That (somehow) auto-magically connects to Strava and my ride gets downloaded to both places at once.


Rick / OCRR

Start/pause are the only voice announcements I've found with Strava free.

Strava Premium adds notifications of upcoming segments and times for that segment. Strava doesn't offer turn by turn navigation. It's one of the most requested features. No response.

Cyclemeter offers much more in voice announcements, but not turn by turn navigation.

I haven't found any free app that reliably does turn by turn navigation without a data plan. I don't have a data plan for my iPhone 4s and none of the free route planners or voice navigation guides works reliably for bicycling. The automated route planners choose ridiculous routes that are either circuitous or pick the most dangerous roads. The voice navigation apps I've tried stop working as soon as I'm out of wifi range.

I may try Freedom Pop for cheap data service. Some folks I know have tried it and say it works well if you don't use a lot of data per month.

Yes you've both answered my questions, thank you. As it is, I can map out a route and load it into my phone at the start of a ride and visually follow it. And the segments feature, meh, I can't see that would be too useful to me real-time. I can go try and break one of my personal "records" but I can see the results post ride at home. So without audio navigation or audio ques as to progress, I can't see spending for the premium version. I think that would be more useful for those who use exterior devices.

So perhaps I'll try some rides with pre-loaded 'My Routes", instead of que cards. Realistically, I only do that when riding in new (unknown) areas and/or shooting for a particular mileage and have a route mapped out.