The part that pisses me off the most is taking away "training log" and "my results" as it relates to a segment. That is MY data. MINE. I don't see how they can hide your own uploaded ride data in the training log from you. I do want to wait and see how this plays out, because, as is typical with Strava, it's very confusing about "Training log". On the app, if you go to your profile and tap on the "training" button at the bottom, it is, and has been a paid feature. I don't have any clue what is contained in that, but if you go down to "Training log" you can see all of your past rides. It makes zero sense to keep your own previous ride data from you, there would be no reason to ever upload ride data, or even use the free version at all. Because once it's uploaded, you can't ever see it again in your training log? That makes zero sense, so I have to see how that works in reality. The other thing that annoys me is not being able to see "my results". Again, all that is is a sorted rank of your OWN rides! It has nothing to do with "playing Strava" trying to capture some pointless KOM. The only thing I use Strava for is these two specific features. To log my rides, see the cumulative miles and elevation gain over a week, the month, year, and so on. And then being able to compare a segment effort to my own previous efforts. This all seems to fall under the realm of looking at my own data, and if you can't even do that, it's utterly pointless to continue using. I don't see how anyone would want to use the free version, if your rides disappear once you upload them, never to be seen again. I must be missing something.

BTW, if anyone cares, there's a way to download all of your own data from Strava, including routes, photos, rides, etc. It's tucked away under the profile settings, you have to go into "download and delete" account area, and then select "request data". They will send you a link to download all of your ride data.

In case these idiots actually prevent free users from accessing their ride logs...

Oh, and to the predictable "stop being a freeloader/it's only $60 year/stop whining" crowd, for me at least, this has nothing to do with $5 a month. You don't think most users couldn't pay $5 a month? LOL. The thing that is a non-starter for me is that for YEARS their platform is so full of bugs and glitches, and service/functionality requests that go unfulfilled. Simple crap like being able to sort saved segments, or making minor corrections to GPS location data (which a 3rd party site did quite easily), and a whole host of other problems you can find all over the internet. Just go look at their own message boards! They focus so much on the social media nonsense, and rarely improve the user experience. So, I'm not paying a dime for a feature that THEY had previously given away for free, while at the same time not caring at all about the thousands of users' functionality requests.

I had been happy to pay for Strava Premium for several years. Strava actually advertised the Wahoo TICKR BT HRM in their app feed and I bought it so I could also record my HR. HR and Beacon (to let others you authorize see where you are real time) justified the monthly fee. Then sometime last year Strava removed the BT HRM functionality from the app. This meant if I wanted Beacon I could not longer record HR. So dropped Premium and started using Wahoo app to record rides and upload them to Strava.

If Strava wanted me back as a paid user I would also want to be able to record HR thru BT devices on iPhone. It pissed me off they took that away after advertising the Wahoo HRM in their feed.
I may end up being OK with free, but it will be in the details.

For example can I analyze someone else ride so I can confirm it is legit? I think I spend almost as much time chasing the top 10 as I do flagging fakes.

You already agreed with Strava that they can do what they want with your data without your input: “Strava may, in its sole discretion, screen, monitor, refuse or remove any (of your data)”. Your recourse is to request that your account be deleted.

I don't pay for Strava and I don't use it for much. My Garmin Connect (GC) activities sync automatically and that's that. I put a lot of information in to GC though. I can't be bothered doing two write-ups of rides/workouts and I could care less about KOM, leader boards, etc. So GC for me it is.

I doubt this change will make much of an impact to Strava though. People who use Strava love it and will stick with it. Those who don't, will continue with their current logging software.

I am new into the rode bike sector. I love those stats and segments. I bought a Garmin Edge 530 and signed up for strava summit. These live segments on the Garmin are awesome.
Some of my friends are into it too... it so much fun and motivation.
If you provide a good service, I am willing to pay for it.
So far I am not disappointed... but again... I am pretty new to the sector.

I can't speak for wipekitty, but I've removed myself from a few leader boards because I don't want my name attached to dangerous or silly segments, like sprint zones on the crowded MUP. If I unintentionally crack the top ten on the MUP I set that ride to private or friends only, or remove my name from that segment.

Which one? I downloaded Golden Cheetah and it seems to have a ton of metrics, but I am yet to figure out an easy way to compare efforts, particularly efforts along the same route. This is so simple in Strava and so clear. You have segments, and you have your laps.

As of May 19, Strava appears the same to me via the app and browser. I'm not seeing any differences. Maybe they haven't rolled out all the changes everywhere.

But if they do make those changes, yeah, I'll probably subscribe for a year and see if it's worthwhile. I've used Strava free for a few years, no complaints. I've gotten more than my no-money's worth.

At first I used Strava only for the social media aspect -- keeping track of friends, mutual encouragement, checking out routes other folks ride. I'm a sociable hermit and don't go out to socialize much -- maybe once or twice a month. I feel more connected to my friends if I acknowledge them via Strava and Facebook. It helps, especially with the current pandemic -- that's been hard on friends who thought they were introverts but were actually socially awkward extroverts. I'm a socially confident introvert. I love my friends. I just don't need to see them every day.

But over time as my fitness improved and I got faster, yeah, the Strava MAMIL bug bit me too. I got a lot more competitive. A couple of cycling friends are close to my age, also very fit and faster than I am. So it's a friendly rivalry and we enjoy the encouragement. It gets me out of bed and on the bike on days when I'm tempted to nap all day. If I check the weather and see a tailwind on a segment where my top ten has been whittled away, sure, I'm gonna get up and take another shot at the top ten again. And if I don't get it, the penalty is a pleasant bike ride. Darn.

Ideally I'd like to see Strava buy out the Elevate browser extension and incorporate that extra data into the Strava feed. Heck, I wish Strava would also incorporate wind effects and develop a handicapping system for ranking riders according to wind conditions. Most regional top tens here were either heavily wind assisted or set by cyclists in pace lines. Folks who prefer to chase KOMs unassisted by wind or friends should have an alternate leader board that accounts for such factors.

That's the kind of stuff that would really make Strava useful. And, considering how quickly and enthusiastically Strava responds to user input, we'll see those features in, oh, maybe... never.

But, yeah, I'll probably ante up for the year if that's what it takes to retain at least the features I had for free for the past few years.

Regarding alienating Strava users... yeah, that'll happen the same way hordes of people failed to abandon Facebook along with (X celebrity name here), despite the abuses of user data and Suckerborg's apparent reptilian agenda to conquer the Earth through cat photos, arguments and unfunny memes.

Let's face it, Strava fills a need. Most of us aren't leaving.

Proof? Look at the angst and ire every time Strava changes anything, or fails to incorporate features we want. People don't complain about something they don't care about. They just shrug it off and move on.

Regarding your data... don't record your rides directly to Strava. It's a lousy app for realtime logging anyway. And useless now that they've dumped support for sensors. Friends and I have experienced far more glitches with Strava than any other app or device. GPS sync errors, partial or entire logs lost. PITA. I get the impression Strava has little or no interest in improving the app. They probably figure serious users are using bike computers, and most others who use phones and want sensor data were already using another app.

I've always used other apps to log activities, then upload to Strava. Mostly I use Wahoo Fitness with my Android and iPhone, and my bike computer (XOSS G+, a pretty ok cheap GPS computer). So as long as Wahoo is still around I can access my data. If I was really concerned I'd archive the files separately.


(Digression alert:
Also, if you've enabled Google Timeline tracking via your smartphone, it's already recording your rides... walks... bus rides... Uber trips... everything. You can download those files and convert them to whatever other format you like.

I enabled Google Timeline tracking for legal purposes, in case I was hit by a car (which happened six months after I enabled Google Timeline tracking), or needed independent verification of my many medical appointments. Interesting thing about Google Timeline data: You can "delete" it -- although I suspect Google never actually totally deletes a single shred of data, they just squirrel it away. You can download it and edit a copy. But you can't edit, modify, alter, spindle, fold or mutilate the original Google log. So in a pinch it might be acceptable as evidence in court.)

This is literally the flawed argument you tried two posts ago, before the blatant points-scoring attempt.

The cell phone is a basic utility that is fundamental to how we work, communicate with loved ones, and function in society. Strava is an electronic whiteboard of lap times. Do you see the difference? Strava is not entitled to a chunk of my cell plan and internet costs because I use it, any more than any other random website is. Without the cell phone and internet, my life would crumble (go ahead and try to make points off of that). Without Strava… not much. Pointedly, I deleted my Strava account last night and will not be asking AT&T or Google for a discount on internet because it's a little less useful to me.

Do you want a more explicit example? If AT&T or Google Fiber goes down, I can let them know and they'll have a crew of people trying to restore access, as a basic utility I pay for. If Strava breaks something, they'll say "yeah we did that on purpose, because being reliable is hard and we don't like anyone else showing us up". If I pay for Strava because of wanting it to interact with Relive, or BTLE HR straps, or whatever, I literally can't expect them to continue that service. Their habit of changing things with zero notice, as yesterday, is exactly the problem. AT&T does not say "we stopped allowing you to call Webex bridgelines because it's hard, but you can pay extra for it". If they did, you'd have a semi-valid point, though they'd also have a lot fewer subscribers.

The fact that Strava has been unprofitable for their entire decade of existence and the VC is getting impatient means one of two things:

1. they're terribly managed
2. it's an unprofitable concept

My bet is on the former, based on all of their terrible decisions.

Strava is not a utility. It does not behave like a utility. It is capricious and unreliable and entitled.

So for those that just care about the data and analytics, and not so much the social, what other options are recommended?

I use Strava and like it, so I pay for it. I like live segments and Beacon tracking so my wife can tell I’m still moving. I also use and pay for VeloViewer which interfaces with Strava. While it’s importing rides it reports Strava’s API usage percentage. Over the past couple of months I’ve notice a significant extra load on their servers. If people who are not paying stop using Strava, that’s probably a win for them, and for paid users if it keeps things working.

VeloViewer looks pretty neat. Too bad you need Strava to get the data into their systems though.

It's your data, but its their display of it. They're not preventing you from looking at your data - you can go into each activity. What they're charging you for is their organization and presentation of it to you in a useful way.

I'm not pleased to now be asked to pay $60/year for something that was free, but that annoyance isn't because they're claiming "my data" - I have it all on Strava and, now, downloaded to archive, as well as a lot of it on either Garmin or Wahoo where it was recorded.

Though Elevate is looking to become an app instead . . . guy was prescient in doing this - he was worried about reliance on Strava and their at best sketchy treatment of third party apps - https://blog.usejournal.com/elevate-...p-1f644c2af824

Unfortunately it looks like he hasn't developed the desktop app quickly enough! Maybe this will be a spur.

I just started my two month free trial, because I want to try out live segments. I'll decide after if it's worth keeping. Might check out some of the training, since I don't do any structured training, I just ride.

Not sure yet. RWGPS might be a good start; I have yet to test it using data from my cycling computer, but it at least it will track mileage for free. I already use it as my primary route planner. RWGPS has segment capacities, but I'm not sure if one can create them from a free account.

A few of my anti-Strava pals just use whatever comes with the Garmin and seem to like it; I don't have a Garmin computer, so that's not an option.

I'll have to check out some other options - since joining Strava four years ago, I haven't looked around too much. I used to use Dailymile (now dead) and MapMyRide (which got sketchy, IMO, when they joined with Under Armour.) I'm sure somebody out there has found a way to fill the void...

Programmers have to eat, servers cost money, graphic design, tech support, legal, etc all cost money. If you don't like the product, don't use it. That's fine. But I'm not sure why you think the notion of freeloading is odd for social media.

FWIW, I'd pay for a great many social media services, and do. If I'm taking advantage of the service they offer, it's worth something. If it was worth nothing, I wouldn't use it.

EXACTLY. How much do people pay for cable? For Netflix? To join clubs or subscribe to magazines?

If Strava was such a crappy product why were so many people using it, and why are people upset that they want to charge for certain features?

There's a restaurant in my town that serves crappy food. I don't go there. It's no skin off my back if they raise their prices.

They've got 180 employees working not only to develop new features, fix bugs, develop both their iPhone and Android versions of their app plus their web-based version of the app, maintain server storage and processing capabilities able to handle probably many gigabytes/day of training data that gets uploaded, store all the segment definitions, process activity data and match to all applicable segments, etc. plus support a userbase that's got to be at least in the tens of millions worldwide.

And for all this you've paid nothing, and then you whine like a biatch that they haven't pulled off perfection. Maybe they could improve things a little if they could afford to hire more than 180 people to do it all. Maybe they could afford to hire more than 180 people to do it all if folks like you would actually pay them a little something for all that they've given you for free.

My spellchecker must be acting up. How does one spell "entitlement" again?

It comes down to value.

I get value from BF so I pay the annual fee, it's like $1 per month so that's a reasonable value. That said, plenty here are not paying members and that's ok.

For the VALUE I get from Strava, I would certainly be willing to pay a similar amount or even $25 yearly. But its NOT worth $5 per month for me.

19 years ago in the aftermath of 9/11 all the landlines into New York were dead, cell phones were the only way to get a call through. I was living in California and my uncle was NYPD. Email wasn't ubiquitous back then. Cell phones were literally the only way to find out which relatives had perished and who was still part of the present tense.

But I think his point was more along the lines of how much value he derives from Strava vs from having a device that allows communications with the outside world. I can't speak for [MENTION=160999]Bah Humbug[/MENTION] but for me, I haven't used Strava this year, I mostly use my phone to talk to all my friends at Bike Forums, plus my family, and I use the mobile hotspot feature to work from home and sometimes from a park.

Strava is a really unique thing. I can't think of a lot of for profit companies that people give their money to and describe it as a donation. That's incredible good will. I don't understand how they haven't been able to leverage that to make a profit after ~15 years.

I'm happy to continue paying nothing for Strava to track my routes/time/average speed, woeful as they may be.

Average speed is a fool's metric.

What if walks counted towards the club leader board? That's gotta be worth five bucks a month.

I have Summit and don't even use Strava for tracking live journeys, I use the Wahoo fitness app on my phone (the interface is really, really good and directly after you see great key metrics), and once I buy a bike computer it will be just that. Why are you using Strava? Before I discovered Wahoo fitness app, I used Endomondo, because the Strava app for live tracking I found piss poor. There's gotta be a dozen better apps to use while cycling.

Don't care. I never even read what were the benefits of paying for Strava. I use it (in order of priority) to track 1) My mileage 2) My basic stats 3) See if I improve and 4) See my friend's rides & stats.

With all its users, I'm sure Strava makes money. They might not make profit, but they must earn money somewhere.

What about average velocity?
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bc80c04306.jpg


Game changer.
Because I started using it a few years ago and does as much as I really care about?