Hey friends. How does everyone keep track of personal notes for each ride like perceived exertion, how you felt, how the ride went, etc. Strava is quite limiting in that aspect. Thanks!

Training Peaks has that type of information you can fill out.

I have mine linked to my Fitbit and bike computer so it uploads directly. I just have to fill in the RPE and notes later.

Strava has an RPE scale as well as a notes section. What more were you looking for?

Strava’s RPE scale is helpful but I’m currently using paper and pencil to note things like how my body felt, the weather, how well I thought I achieved the workout goals. Stuff like that.

I’m on the free Training Peaks - do you know if that’s available in the free version?

And there's a notes section for that, too, so I'm not understanding how Strava is limiting and what you're looking for additionally.

The weather is also logged, though I don't know if that's just a subscriber feature.

Yes it is. Just open up the activity and you can complete the RPE, notes, etc. There's still access to things like your training zones but peaks won't work as well as the Form, Fatigue and Fitness numbers.

You should really update to more current technology. Are you aware of fountain pens? ; )

A Garmin tracks the ride, it uploads to RideWithGPS, I edit and comment.

Why do you need personal notes? What's the purpose of such things? Does it aid in training in any way? Or just something to remember the day by?

Im curious why those extra details are necessary, cause for me, Strava is pretty sufficient. Adding in your exertion level at the end, and besides a large weather difference (which rarely occurs in SoCal) noted, theres not much else to track. At least tracking vitals that are relevant to the performance of the said ride. I guess if you want to note whether a car startled you, or a hot chick motivated you, then I would think the notes your taking would be your only route.

I can't answer the technical aspects of recording the data of which you speak. How is that information valuable to you?

I'm sorry, but I don't get it. Do you look back over your notes a month later? If you feel your performance was better on one day over the rest of the week or month, what benefit is that? Lots of stuff affects my ride, from headwinds (both strength and direction), to the humidity/temperature, how much wine I drank the night before, whether I slept well or not, and the other miles ridden in the previous three or four days.

I might have a passing interest in noting the trend of my average speed, month to month, but in general, I mostly just try to be close to exhausted at the end of every ride. Shorter rides tend to be a bit faster than longer rides, but the end of the ride is where I sprint: a half mile, a mile or two, or five miles. Whatever I calculate will deplete my strength. The ride is the challenge and the reward, be it a short 36 miles or a ~60+ mile endurance building ride to prepare for a destination tour, depending on the constraints of time available.

I don't mean to sound harsh or dismissive to your documentation. Maybe it's the difference in our ages, and I'm guessing you are young. I'm not. I've carried a pocket notepad with me on destination rides, and I never wrote down a single thing. My gf logs the miles and average speed on her calendar, but we never do anything with the information. Once, we totaled the miles ridden in a month, just to see. We felt good about the number, but we don't check it often, because we simply ride as much as possible, with as much effort as possible, which varies due to various factors. At the end of nearly every ride, we say to each other, "That was a great ride." It's not rocket surgery.

I take notes on the Elite HRV app, which has been pretty accurate for me. It sure seems to coincide with my good and bad training days. I've done blind tests when I'll do a morning reading but don't look at the results until after a ride or workout. Sure seems to accurately predict whether I'll have a good training day or should have taken a light day or rested.

Ditto the notes section on Strava, although often I'll set those logs to private if I'm dealing with physical issues I don't want to publicize. Due to a pesky auto immune disorder that led to thyroid cancer and screws up my entire endocrine system, I have some really bad days. And plenty of pretty good days. I may go ahead and take an easy ride or workout, but I'll set that log to private, along with notes about how I was feeling, my heart rate and BP, etc. My friends already know about my condition, I just don't want them to feel obligated to post "Aww, poor feller" comments on my logs for bad days. It's just for future reference so I can track whether my feels-like gauge consistently corresponds with good/bad rides and training days.

And Google calendar, for the same stuff. Mostly so I'll have more info to discuss with my doctors, endocrinologist, ortho docs, etc. Helps keep things in perspective over time.

It's just more info, along with wind conditions, weather, bike weight, tires, blah-blah-blah. Same as the Elevate browser extension, intervals.icu and other fitness tracking stuff.

That was a pretty good explanation of why the logged information can be valuable. Thanks, Mr canklecat, and I wish you success in your pursuit of better health. I guess I'm just not a good documentarian. I turned off my google calendar because it was annoying me.

How is Strava limiting?

It's got a thing you can set for perceived exertion and a great big Ride Description area where you can talk about the ride.

You can also add photos if you need a visual reminder of the ride.

Strava is inherently a social media platform for sharing fitness with one another. Though it’s got some functionality to make things private, it’s just not built for that purpose. Thats the main reason I wondered how other people kept logs. By the way, I’m 38. Not like that has anything to do with this.

This is super helpful and a way better explanation as to why someone might want to keep track of more than just numbers. I like your suggestion of using Google Calendar. Thanks!

I use Garmin Connect. My Edge 830 automatically uploads my rides to Garmin Connect and provides all the metrics I need. There is a note feature available for every ride and I also use it to track the mileage on a lot my components. I know a lot of people don't like it but it works well for my purposes.

If you have a Garmin computer you can use Garmin Connect and add the notes to each ride. This way everything is together, you don't have to use different pieces of software to look at your data. You can keep everything private or you can share, the choice is yours. I am assuming since you are using Strava you have some type of bike computer. If you don't have a Garmin then my advice is moot!

You want to keep the notes for yourself? Why not just use Word?

I've been putting my daily ride information into an Excel spreadsheet for 10 years. Distance, average speed, bike I rode and then notes, where I went, who I rode with, the weather, for cold weather rides, I might note what clothes I wore, Average HR, Maximum HR, how I felt, did I enjoy the ride, did I plan on 50 miles and cut it short to 30?, notes on my various orthopedic complaints, notes about bicycle maintenance (i.e., "new rear tire") and whatever else I care to jot down. I felt good because I climbed the hills better than the others today. Or not.

I look back at it all the time for everything from remembering how fast I did a particular route 3 years ago to when i started noting a new pain in my heel, when I was or wan't taking NSAIDs, to the name of that guy who came along on that ride, etc.

Lots of people keep diaries or journals about their lives. Mine just happens to be all about my cycling life.

I been a runner and cycling for 42 years. Started keep a running log daily in 1985. Wrote it on a little calendar. To this day I still have a written log I write in each day running and/or cycling. Sure I have Strava and Garmin and even Ride with the PGS but the real log that counts is the written one for stats and totals. It is just bit comforting to write it down but I don't why.