vinuneuro

No reason to get butt hurt. No one is holding a gun to your head and not allowing you to use your Strava account. It's a discussion forum, by design everyone expresses their opinions, ones that match yours and other ones too. Take your own advice and 'track your rides or don't, it's your pergorgative.' Same goes for meat which apparently you also have a fixation on.

KantoBoy

I signed up for Strava months after they launched. Those good ol' days when you can comment on a segment. Lots of keyboard warriors in there.

Corbin

I love Strava and just recently added Stravistix: It is awesome!
Most people that talk bad about Strava seem to get caught up in the KOM's. Personally I don't care about them but I do focus on some segments which pushes me harder.
I also like to do the distance challenges from time to time which is 1250 k (777 miles). This month I did the climbing as well which was 9000m (29000'). I'm going to hit this month 1000 miles for the first time and just barely make the climbing.

•I ride more because of Strava.
•It keeps me accountable.
•Segments push me: I'm not fast so I'm just competing against my self for Personal Records.
•Building routes while using the heatmap gives me new roads that I otherwise wouldn't use.
•The flybys are cool. I'd guess about 25% of my actual flybys are on Strava.

If you are a Strava user download an browser extension for Chrome or Opera called StravaistiX. He gives out more stats and more analytics than you could probably want.

Once you install it, it runs in the background and is only active on Strava.com overlaying stats on multiple pages. It basically acts as if its naturally apart of Strava.

If you run Firefox download Chrome just for Stava it's worth it.

Doge

I like it because my kid can take most (solo) KOM he wants so I get him a premium. But for me, I just enjoy the ride and am so far down any list it is not that much more useful that just using GarminConnect - for free - guess Strava is free too, just I don't want to analyse my segments. So as I have the premium account for him, I just poke around on his account. I do look at competitors and great riders and use it to scout race venues and set expectations. It is a great tool. Just not for me as a middle-aged dad-bod guy.

smarkinson

You know what UCI rankings are for pro cyclists?

Strava is the same for Fred's.

P.S. Got a KOM today.

Ilbiker

^^This. I've seen the same thing on running forums about using GPS watches. Can I run and ride without the tech stuff? Sure can. Didn't have any of this stuff 40 yrs ago and somehow survived . However, I do train and compete in both 5K and 10K races and it has been helpful to track some of the info my FR620 gives me. Plus, I'm able to run/ride wherever I choose and still be able to log how far and where I went. I'm not a slave to the data, but my watch has been a useful tool that has made be a better runner.

I like taking advantage of the technology and having it all recorded for looking over whenever I want. I have my Garmin Connect account sync'd to my Strava account. I don't really use it for social stuff, I only follow one other fellow runner/rider. I do find the Relive feature pretty neat.

mrodgers

I don't use GPS to record speed or distance or other metrics but I do like having elevation data. I'm a hybrid rider so I'm not comparing my speed or other metrics to others. We're slow, not racing anyone, socializing, and do it for the scenery and companionship.

I record GPS because I have a Google Earth map of everywhere I ride. I only use the free stuff, so I wouldn't have the heat map for Strava. I don't use Strava for this, I use RidewithGPS.

I previously tried a handful of GPS apps on the phone and like RWGPS best. I ride with a group of friends from work and a few from meetup.com and we post on Facebook and on the meetup site. Recently someone posted here on BF a neat little video though which I thought was cool which was a birdseye view of their route tracing. I liked that and thought it would be neat to use to post to our group on FB and meetup. It uses your Strava file so I downloaded and reconnected to Strava for this. Here's an example of it. There's suppose to be pictures popping up at the locations in it but they're not showing up for some reason even though I added them to the Strava file.

https://www.relive.cc/view/722568569

shafter

Hey, that's pretty neat!

I never bought strava either, I'm too cheap

up on two

I love Strava but only use it to track my rides and performance for myself. I follow very few people even though many follow me.
I like that it tracks my rides and the details of them but I am not racing against the world, just myself and use that to improve my conditioning and motivation.

bruce19

Clearly you are a fraud. No one from GA says "you all."

Farby

I just started using it. I dont' have any connections. I like seeing how fast other people do the same segments I ride. It's motivation to be faster and become stronger. So i can defeat the world.

saint mucus

I grew up in Louisiana and have been to GA, I can confirm this

RJM

Riding the road less traveled and adding to their database is actually really helpful for people, like me, who use strava to find new routes. Now that I have a gravel bike I am searching for activities or segments with "gravel" as a search parameter and have found several nice routes.


BTW, there is also a website called gravelmap.com where you can add gravel roads to and it will highlight it for other users. I've been trying to do that when I come across a nice gravel road locally, and it seems I'm the only one doing it so far around here. Hopefully that map gets filled in more. You should add to it if you are interested.


I'm going to let my premium membership expire on strava as I find Trainingpeaks to be a better platform for keeping up with training metrics and analyzing ride data. Getting Strava PRs used to push me, but now I find that just going out for a ride with some training in mind and using the power meter is all the motivation I need. I don't think I've looked at a leaderboard all year and am just not into segment hunting. Plus, I find getting a PR (or KOM) on a group ride isn't really personally earned anyway and that seems to be how most of the roadies are doing it now.

silversx80

When I was getting back in to training on a serious end I signed up for Strava Premium because it was half the cost of TrainingPeaks, and I knew several people who used it too. A year after and I let that subscription lapse and am back on TrainingPeaks for a much more comprehensive analysis of my training. I still use Strava to follow local riders, local rides, and the local segments for some friendly competition.

RoderWrench

I set a goal for my ride in my head before I begin to ride.

Sometimes it's to hold a 20 mph average speed, sometimes it's to not break a sweat because I'm on flat pedals wearing jeans.

Every ride gets tracked on Strava but it has no effect on how I ride, unless the goal I set is a KOM!

TimothyH

I never said I was from Georgia. I am a Georgian by choice, not by birth.

Real southerners don't even say "Y'all" anyway. Real southerners go straight to "yaw" as in "All yaw going muddin' in the cuts?"


-Tim-

Doge

Sure it is personally earned - just like winning a mass start race vs TT. Some ride segments are more important than race wins and there is a trick to winning them. Many racers don't post solo as they believe competitors can learn their power and weakness - but will post group rides.
As Strava has no solo filter, naturally group ride will be at the top. Strava has gender, age, year KOMs, I would like solo vs group and a bunch of other filters. But with work, these can be found with work. Unfortunately there is nothing on Strava (crown) to tell anyone how good the ride was. That's why there are forums.


Some of my kid's:
Rank 2 solo - found with work, from last Sat: https://www.strava.com/segments/618470 overall rank 48


Group KOM (likely the top 40K/70K attempts are group attempts):https://www.strava.com/segments/764232
Solo KOM parallel road: https://www.strava.com/segments/3635577

Munk69

I like strava for most of the reasons above but the biggest one is to check out others rides. I just moved so I like looking at the rides with buddies I can no longer ride with everyday.


I also like to know how I do against certain segments on a given day. If I actively "go for it" on a segment, I am excited to see how I did when I upload the ride to strava.


I will say where I live now (Grand Rapids moved from Kalamazoo area).. Lots of fast dudes around here. I am pack fodder in most segments.. But I also use that as motivation to get better. I might never get a KOM on some of these routes, but I would like to see how close I can come to them.

RJM

I disagree and see it differently. A PR is a measure of your own personal accomplishment and not that of a few strong people setting the pace and allowing you to draft off them and the same goes for KOM's.


Not that everybody has to believe as I do about it, that is just the way I see it. I've personally have received PR's and KOM's on group rides where I sat in the draft and they just don't mean much to me compared to setting them on a solo ride or even if I pulled the line through the segment.

memebag

I don't care about KOMs. That's convenient, since I'm no where near getting any.

I dig Strava because it shows my history. I could lose the social aspects and dig it just as much. I can see how I've changed over the years and how many miles I've put on each bike.

So far I've gotten faster. As I age I expect to get slower. I may drop Strava once it starts confirming my decrepitude.

Seattle Forrest

Yeah but to be fair, none of us needs to ride a bike, either. We do it for pleasure, we do it for fitness, but we could live out our lives if bikes had never been invented. We just like riding them. And some people like the data they get from a GPS and sensors and software. That's the long and short of it.

TMonk

I like to track my personal training with a PM and WKO+. However, I may switch over to Cycling Analytics fairly soon as the graphics and interface seem much superior to WKO.

I don't strava because I'm just not interested. Nothing against it. I'm a competitive road and track cyclist and can enter a race if I want to compare how I size up to other riders. The great thing about bike racing is that it's about so much more than who is the fastest - outside of TTs of course.

Honestly I probably wouldn't even have GPS on my computer if all of the non GPS options weren't so crappy. All I need is ANT+.

Seattle Forrest

How do you build your map in Google Earth? I know you can export a GPX from a ride and display it in G Earth, but I don't know how to display all the rides.

I've been using MapWindow GIS, open source freeware. I downloaded a geocoded MODIS image, then load rides into it, individually, and hikes and paddles and ski tours too. Filling this in motivates the hell out of me.

99Klein 

I would also add to this list;
For keeping track of weekly/monthly/yearly millage
For keeping track of millage on tires/chains/wheels...

Doge

A group KOM where you just draft and others are unaware there is any competition may be just as you say. While it is fine to disagree, it is the thing that is closest to a real road race that you are discounting.

It is the job of the winner - race or KOM to figure out how to win. Many segments have 20%-30% of the riders going for being the first (on that KOM I posted 10-30 Pro 1/2 on any Sunday). This is not a sneaky "I'm going to steal a KOM when nobody is watching" thing. A rider needs to be at least 6W/kg to be there and above 15W/kg kick to get near the KOM - drafting when they can.
Seeing Kyle @ the top of https://www.strava.com/segments/620210?filter=overall is a BIG deal. This is a 12,000' peak. Sure - it was a group ride - of pros racing Tour of Colorado. I expect he drafted and sat in as much he could. On actual analysis (without looking up the record) looks like a solo break near the end that slowed down near top.