I run with friends who don't have to brag or come up short

It's all a bit too showy offy for me. "Ooo look at me and what I did".

It's like the training equivalent of posting photos of your meals.

I like to stay under the radar, besides there are other more
important aspects in life to be a douche canoe at.

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Find out what it is in life that you don't do well, then don't
do that thing.

1. I'm way too cool.
2. I love to say "like, I don't even have a Strava account"
3. No one sees my power data but me. I don't want the other pros to know my secrets.
4. Criticizing shit I've never tried is fun!!!

they don't put enough cones out on the course ?

Just.Not.Necessary. For me.

That was easy. It's possible to enjoy the sport without kudos from others, ranking, or making data / power analysis your 2nd job.

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- I do all my own stunts

No GPS unit on the bike. Actually, no computer of any kind on the bike.

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Advanced Aero TopTube Storage for Road, Gravel, & Tri...ZeroSlip & Direct-mount, made in the USA.
DarkSpeedWorks.com.....Reviews.....Insta.....Facebook
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because in just a few short months Zwift has already surpassed Strava in stupid-silly. why bother with lesser?

1. I already knew I was MOP without seeing myself MOP on every segment I stumble across
2. One less username/password to remember/write down on my secret piece of paper
3. I can spend the time I would have spent pouring over my rides and runs on Strava reading the ST forums instead

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Blasphemers all of you. May you burn at the stake!

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http://dontletitdefeatyou.blogspot.com

No shame here, I love it! Hammering a segment once in a while is good for your spirit. Haters gonna hate

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"Base training is bull shit" - desertdude

If you're not mature enough to go easy on your easy days, Strava isn't your biggest problem.

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What I do: http://app.strava.com/athletes/345699

Love Strava......
1. Logs all my workouts
2. I can see what my friends are doing without having to sit around talking about nothing but training.
3. Don't have too big an ego that I care all that much about KOMs

Pretty sure Strava cured my cancer.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

When I cut the course to win my next marathon I don't want documentary evidence that I'm not really that fast.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

That's four.

It kills my battery.
Don't have time to analyze another data site.
People who steal KOMs in their car.

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_____________________________________________________
Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

Fair enough. I do both.

I only race with a number on me.

- its different conditions, sometimes draft, and who cares how hard you can ride or run a small portion of someone else's long ride or run.

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Technique will always last longer then energy production. Improve biomechanics, improve performance.
http://Www.anthonytoth.ca, triathletetoth@twitter

How 'bout:
I just don't care about what other riders are doing on the roads compared to me.
(repeat 2 more times to get to your '3 reasons' requirement)

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

With no real climbs in Ann Arbor the KOM is usually he who found the biggest tailwind.


That being said, dick measuring can be fun sometimes so I do use it on occasion :)

1. I don't need external validation
2. It gives athletes a false sense accomplishment and often wrecks workouts
3. It's just one more ME ME ME platform. No thanks

Anything is a ME ME ME platform if a person is an asshole. If a person is cool, all of these social media sites can be US US US platforms. And that community is so powerful in adding meaning/purpose to the otherwise mundane passage of time.

Through Strava/Facebook, I have met so many wonderful people and friends. THAT is what it's about. Well, that plus seeing the offset between friends' moving/elapsed time and calculating how long it takes them to poop in the bushes.

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David Roche
Some Work, All Play podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/...ll-play/id1521532868
Coaching: https://swaprunning.com/

1) Doing all my riding on the trainer for 10ish hours/week provides for a really boring account
2) *see above*

I used it for about 2 weeks, and it was fun to follow pros and see their training. But, my account was too boring to maintain. "90min trainer ride with 2x20" or "3hrs trainer ride with last hour hard" just wasn't interesting.

I do use the ST log, but that's not as much of a social thing. Also, I like its user interface better. With Strava I found it tedious to edit an incorrect entry without deleting (ie if I logged the date wrong or the activity choice wrong).

Also, the ST log is tied into a website I regularly use, which makes it easier to log on and put in my workouts.

I think Strava is awesome. Just not for my training method. All trainer rides, ride by feel on hard intervals. I have a HR monitor but it doesn't rule me, since there's so much change in day to day based on sleep, etc. Run pretty much the same loops. Swim a fair bit (99.9% pool). I don't live in an area that's conducive to almost any riding outside, at least, definitely not alone.

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"Don't you have to go be stupid somewhere else?"..."Not until 4!"

1. I'm already bad enough/fed up with managing my training data.
2. I do 90%+ of my riding indoors
3. If anything I need to do more long slow distance if I want to race faster. I'm a sled-dog. I don't need much of an excuse to run my body into the ground. Seeing other people's times would be like catnip to me and would result in every damn workout being a tempo workout.... even if I'm not nearly fast enough to challenge some of those times, lol.

90% of riding indoor? That sounds awful. I'm sorry.

I like Strave, the way it displays workouts, laps etc. is great. I download data to garmin connect but I use Strava for all keeping my data.

No GPS unit on the bike. Actually, no computer of any kind on the bike.

Me neither, I stick it in my pocket.

I think Strava is great. Super easy to keep track of what I've done, and some extra motivation if I want to go hard. I recently used it on a trip to find good routes. And it's great for looking at races to see how they went. I don't understand why people think it's only social media, I don't use it for that.

Some people seem to have mental issues about it though, thinking they always have to go for a PR or something.

I'm actually quite happy with it. It's time efficient, I have full control over power while doing intervals (Computrainer erg + TR), and for long rides I watch movies or television shows :)

This time of year is super windy where I live. Yesterday for example the 1/2 hour warm up at avg 190 watts was good for 22kmh.

This used to be so demoralizing with a computer showing me speed. Now I see nothing other than lap time, and power. I find riding into the wind, with the wind, cross wind etc. no longer bothers me as power is power.

Keeps me far more disciplined as well as I would always try to drive my avg speed up at the expense of pushing to hard and getting tired before the workout proceding, or wear myself out for the next day etc. . When training speed and strava segments mean nothing. It is a freedom I wish I had always had.

Obviously you're not using it properly. I did a sky marathon last week and Strava gave me 4km for free and over an hour off my time.

Amateur..:-)

+1.

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Proud Representative of Slowtwitch Anti-Atheists Society.

It's telling to me that so many non-strava users think strava is only about KOM's and data analysis. It may be for some people but it's definitely not for me. Strava for me is about motivation. KOM's mean nothing to me. Getting updates on all the badass workouts people are doing is where it is at. Following people like Chris Borden (strava legend and ironman super amateur), training partners, and area endurance athletes continues to drive me and be proud of the amazing athletes that walk among us. It's a support group and a place to share triumphs and failures.

As another poster noted...if you can't do an easy workout because you're worried about strava KOMs you've got more issues than strava in your life.

You've never tested yourself on a particular hill, loop or segment? Long before Strava I had a number of hills of varying lengths I would use to gauge form. Strava makes it so much easier to look at all your past results.

Maybe true, but the point of riding inside is to ride better outside, and if only 1/10 of your rides are outside, or <1 time per week if you ride once per day, I feel bad for you. It means that your life is too busy and you're missing the point of riding a bicycle, which is riding outside, not watching movies on a Computrainer.

I used to vehemently against the idea of Strava particularly for the KOM stuff. I'm very much of the mindset that training is training and racing should only be reserved for when you pin on a number.

However, it is a really convenient tool for sharing your training data with others. Its a nice go to answer for when friends ask "what would you recommend for an XXXX session?" As I write the session in the title I can just point them to Strava.


I put all my training data on Strava and I think it's quite humbling to have everything easily accessible to all. You're not going to be bragging about your FTP if everyone can see all of your tests, no tall story's about huge training weeks either when anyone can browse through and see exactly how much you have done. It's also a good motivator knowing that if you screw up your workout/ miss you power targets then anyone who looks will know.


I still don't get the KOM thing though, but as I barely have enough power to sprint out of a wet paper bag its not something that's on my radar.


Iain

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Training Full Time in 2015: http://www.triopensource.com
http://www.facebook.com/iaingillamracing http://www.twitter.com/iaingillam
https://www.youtube.com/...9JYCrOLP34Qtgp5w1WsA

Reminds me of a great scene in Caddyshack:

Judge Smails: Ty, what did you shoot today?
Ty Webb: Oh, Judge, I don't keep score.
Judge Smails: Then how do you measure yourself with other golfers?
Ty Webb: By height

This. I'm too boring for strava.

I'd rather ask my friends how their riding is going than talk to them about more interesting things.

I hate going to a new city and being able to scout popular cycle routes.

I hate going to a race knowing the elevation profile.

Someone who uses Strava made me mad so now I get butthurt about it every ride.

I have zero discipline so I'd ride too hard a lot.

I can't count.

Seems that everyone has ignored your post, so I'm putting it back here because it's spot on. I've met some really cool folks (as well as complete jerks) thanks to social media, and I have friends a bit everywhere so it's cool to see how their training is going and give encouragements etc. every so often.

1. not sure exactly what it is but i think it is bike related and since there is only 1 road here i dont see the use of it.
2. see 1
3. see 1

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

I don't care about what others are doing on Strava, I like it because it shows my mileage and pace plus it keeps track of my shoe mileage.

I don't use it on the bike

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

Saw someone's KOM on a mixed use trail where a runner/walker was struck and killed by a cyclist passing on the right a couple of months prior.

Agreed as well, Francois. It's been fun for me, especially as I've become more and more cycling-centric.

It *is* annoying when Dave has like 17 events in a single day from warmups, cool downs, cake, farts, hills and other humorous notes. (I'm kidding about the complaining... seriously)

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The question of who is right and who is wrong has seemed to me always too small to be worth a moment's thought, while the question of what is right and what is wrong has seemed all-important.

-Albert J. Nock

[http://www.forbes.com/...nts-track-its-users/]

I read last week in Forbes (article is from July 2014) that Strava is selling aggregated and anonymized ride data to cities and counties for 80 cents per rider per year.

The article said Strava is the largest single database of bicyclists (although I suspect they are getting only the Spandex strata -- I could be wrong) and governments that care about complete streets that include bikes on equal footing with cars could learn a lot from the data.

But I'm still a bit weirded out about it. I'm on Strava, but I don't upload rides anymore. Not for a privacy reason, I've just reached saturation on the websites I'm using.

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Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018

for someone who doesn't care about KOMs, or even improving their own performance, is there a better phone app out there for saving and sharing routes? we're thinknig of getting my mother in law to start using strava for her walks and hikes, and CRs are the last thing on her mind. I like strava more than Map My Ride/Run or any of the other apps i've tried.

Hydrosloth wrote:

Now you __________________

Negatives:

• Support for Garmin multisport devices is crap (see: pool workouts; ows; …)
• Support for non-GPS activities is crap (see: treadmill running; trainer workouts; …)
• "Premium" features lack real premium features (see: HRV/RR activities w/o Firstbeat or such analysis; training schedules; workout creation; private activity sharing with club/coach; …)
• Lack of advanced privacy modes (all activities either shared with the world or with your "connections"; no concept of "private clubs")
• "Running Races" is a joke. Even when 500+ athletes log the same swim/bike/run on the same day and against the same route, Strava cannot figure out post-fact that "Hey, maybe there was a race going on; let's find out what that was and group all these activities together." Why can't I still find my AG's swim/bike/run splits (with elevation/pace/power) all in one spot for any given race that I'm interested in. Ditto for any club rides / runs / etc.

Positives

• Web UI more refined and more functional than Garmin's
• Mobile app better than Garmin's
• Friends get friends to use Strava by word of mouth, and usually those friends stick with Strava

One would hope that one day there will be a Great On-Line Training/Logging Consolidation event, where TrainingPeaks/Strava/Garmin/MapMyFitness/… coalesce and we're left with just two or three really great logging/training platforms. Right now none of the platforms offers a comprehensive one-stop solution to cover the whole gamut from casual exercisers to professional athletes. Maybe there's no need for (or money in) such a diverse, tiered solution.


(Edit: s/Starve/Strava/g)

SharonMcN wrote:

The article said Strava is the largest single database of bicyclists (although I suspect they are getting only the Spandex strata -- I could be wrong) and governments that care about complete streets that include bikes on equal footing with cars could learn a lot from the data.

Wired: Strava’s Cycling App Is Helping Cities Build Better Bike Lanes

The claim is that even though the sample skews to the spandex crowd, there are enough recreational cyclists on commute routes (on and off commute hours) to yield meaningful data for planning.
Maybe the Android Wear / Apple Watch / Microsoft Band users' data will be similarly aggregated down the road.

There's only one thing I hate about strava, and that's MBTers who occupy the top tens on sections. BECAUSE THEY DIDNT TURN THEIR GARMINS OFF WHEN THEY DROVE HOME. Gits.

Apart from that, it's all good fun to go out and rip up a segment to measure fitness. And yes, if you can't ride easy when you're supposed to ride easy, you need to have a word with yourself.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

When I have used Garmin in the car Strava sends me a note to invalidate thr ride.

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Sharon McN
@IronCharo
#TeamZoot
Clif Bar Pace Team 2003-2018

Surely people are aware you can mark your workouts private if you don't like the 'KOM' and social aspect of Strava.

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_______________________________________________

With genetics as crappy as mine for endurance sport it is rare for me to get into a Strava boast, but there was one time I felt good. When I got a note of my placing on a well-used loop I noticed I finished a couple minutes faster than my former boss, who seemed a bit smug at times since he used to race for Clemson University and thought I was nothing more than a fat slob roadie. Like someone else said I am generally humbled by my rides. At other times I am humored by a segment called out as a Cat "x" climb by someone and by the application and I think, "There was a hill there? I don't remember going up a hill."

However, just like the unknowns of Strava it could have been that I had a really good tailwind that day so in truth I guess I still can't boast much. Strava is interesting because you can't always tell if the person that got a good finishing time was sucking someone's wheel the whole ride, had a good tailwind or other things. Most in my group (when I ride with them) are not Strava members so it would appear that I did the ride solo unless I state that in the ride title.

I used Garmin Connect since about the time it started on the web, but the last couple years it has dropped from my favorite so now Strava is my social avenue. WKO and Golden Cheetah are what I use for training.

You don't HAVE to share your rides, runs, swims or have friends on Strava. It can be your own private little world if you like.

I like Strava and I find segments to be a little bit of fun motivation here are there in addition to it logging my workouts with some interesting data.

That's a fair point.

My understanding of the OP's post was that they were discussing the public/social aspect of Strava (otherwise we may as well discuss Training Peaks etc in the same way), and so I kept my response to just this aspect.

Then, what would be the advantage of Strava versus any other data analysis tool (Garmin, Golden Cheetah, Training Peaks, etc)?

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

The route builder has been useful to me...if I'm in an unfamiliar area I can quickly set up a loop on the most popular riding roads in the area.

I use my iPhone and the app is free. :)

Another useful feature that they charge for is the live tracking... currently I used the Road ID app for that.

I just use it to log workouts. Period.

I have never once paid any attention to the KOM stuff or the social media aspects.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I think Strava can be fun, but has it's place. If I ride/run with a group I'll upload my file but if I'm solo I skip it. Unless I drew a cool picture with my route, of course.

For reasons that have been discussed here already, though, I keep the security pretty locked down.

1. I don't want to many people finding the trails I ride on! This always seems to lead to trail closures because of the increased impact.

2. My bragging is at a much higher level than what my GPS stats show!

3. My wife will find out I play way to much, when I say I am working!

No, I get it. I really enjoy riding outside but it's just not practical/safe where I live. The drivers around here are bad enough when they're not distracted but I see WAY too many people texting or something while they drive. It's a miracle that there aren't more accidents. Plus there's a lot of old people who probably shouldn't be driving and a lot of tourists who have no idea where they're going.

There's a really nice trail about a 20 minute drive from me but it's just not practical for me to drive there, ride, and drive back the five days a week I train on my bike.

I do not want to give my personal info and e-mail address to yet another web service, and create and account that will get hacked no matter how much effort they put into protecting it. I don't put anything of mine on the Internet. Plus I don't want to have to remember another user name and password. I don't do that unless I have no choice. Strava is clearly just a neat thing to have, not a necessity. So, no.

I find Strava to be an easy way to log my rides. I also follow a smallish number of friends who I ride with and I think we all find it a great way to keep up with what we all are doing on days we do not ride together. Inevitably, we only ride together about 10% of the time so Strava is just a nice way to touch base. IMHO, Strava doesn't really "work" unless you have a close enough group of folks in your circle and you are all comfortable giving each other shit in the comments from time to time, and you actually are interested (even if just slightly . . .) in what so and so did today. If you are just looking to see which random unknown guy with a nick name is the fastest on a particular segment, or how you stack up against unknown people, Strava is admittedly kind of stupid.

You can't really get Strava until someone on your group does a penis ride and gives it a clever name.

1. I'm too fat
2. I'm too slow
3. You don't want to know me, I sweat / stink pretty bad when I ride

-- Challenges are cool but some are a serious time suck. Take the Rapha Festive 500 for example. 500 clicks between Christmas and New years... that works to about 70 km's a day... thats big time commitment between the holidays! I got Sh_t to do like insulate the attic & paint the bathroom!! What about visiting friends & family...How the heck am I going to explain / defend riding my bike (...on the trainer, in the basement -- I live in Toronto...) for 3 hours a day???

They should have the Rafa Festive 100...one 100KM ride between Christmas and New years waring a big bulky christmassy sweater and then with 2 pictures of you 1) guzzling a big rum & eggnog right after the ride and 2) about 40 seconds afterwards...

1. What's Strava?

I like it.

You don't have to brag or feel shame.

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My Blog

1. It has created a culture of "look at me!" even worse than we've already had, and it was already pretty bad.
2. It's dangerous. People do stupid shit to get to the top of a leader board on a segment.
3. I really don't want people to know how much I suck. If they want to know that, they can ride with me in the real world.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

^^^ This. Strava actually has the reverse effect on me, it keeps my ego in check. When I think I had a fast run, I go look and see a friend who just ran twice as far and 1min/mi faster. I follow Dave Roche because the dude does sick workouts and it's impressive and inspiring...plus sometimes he posts pictures of his dog!

Really though, what I like most about Strava is that it makes it easier to find the best/hardest/steepest/fastest roads in the area and then some friends and I go out and hammer these segments because it's fun to go fast. Sometimes I'm first, sometimes I'm last...doesn't matter because we'll try again next month.

Like someone else said, if you can't abstain from the gong show of Strava when you're training easy, then you have bigger problems.

I find that it is useful for a reason that no one has mentioned. I have been riding with a few people for years, and have become good friends with a couple of them. Since any outdoor workout I do ends of up Strava, they can see them, and they will comment about them. As much as I like to pretend that I don't care about what people think, it makes me feel good when they compliment a run or OWS. It also keeps me honest. I know that if I round up my 22 mile week of running to 30 (which is sometimes tempting to do in my head when I don't feel like running), the guys will call me on it.

I find it also keeps me honest during my hard interval days.
My best 5 minute power of the year was not at a race, it was during a strava section that I decided I wanted to attack.

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My Blog

I'm a fan. The interface is much better than Garmin Connect, and I haven't used Trainingpeaks for years.

For me there's quite a motivational aspect to seeing the diverse and interesting rides, runs, etc... that my friends are doing across the country/globe every day. Also, the simplicity of seeing all of my workouts, volume, and improvement (granted, via data ported over from G.C) is very nice.

I used to care about segments 18 months ago, like it was fun competition. However, after flagging hundreds of rides marked as runs, I got fed up (I'm also wondering why there isn't a built-in bike/run check in Strava... I mean, a 21.1km run at a 2:00min/km average should not even be permitted to be submitted as a run...).

I still use it, for the same reason I still use Facebook... to stay in contact, because everyone else is using it.

I created an account intending to try it and couldnt get past the Strava system blatant ego pandering auto-generated reply of "hey, you're kind of a big deal..so and so is following you"
i really didn't care in the first place, but that was pretty much it for me.

maybe im being shortsighted, but it all just seemed so 'weeee, look at meee'

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http://www.PatGriskusTri.com USAT Certified Race Director
2024 Races: USAT State of CT Age Group Championship/State of CT HS Champs/ CT Club Championship - Sat June 15th (Oly/Du/Sprint) Hopkins Vineyard Tri at Lake Waramaug Saturday July 13th http://www.HopkinsVineyardTri.com

x2. Strava is awesome. I love it. Helps me keep track of all my teammates. It's definitely motivating. And I have met some cool people via Strava.

Started using Strava this year to manage club activities. Helps to have a centralized place to post ride information, track member rsvps, etc.

Actually, this comment right there IS one of the best arguments against using it.

Hey I'm in a2 too !!!

I only add after the workout is done I don't use gps I just add like my distance/pace then my title is my avg watts/hr it's a good training log

I've used Strava since I first started cycling a few years ago, before I had a Garmin or anything and just recorded with my phone. At first no one else was on it, and I used it mostly so when I went to a group ride or something I knew where I went so I could learn some good routes. Now there are a lot more people on it and I have a number of friends that use it regularly. I feel it's less of the "Hey look at me" deal since it's only viewed by my friends with similar interests. It's not like I'm going on Facebook and posting every workout. I leave Facebook for daily pictures of my recovery meals - protein bars and smoothies only of course!

Protein bars and smoothies - the only thing you should be eating good work. I'd like to see some of those pics, compare smoothies. ;)

1) It is only an athletic achievement if you pay $750 for it.
2) It is only an athletic achievement if there are crowds cheering "you can do it" for the slowest athletes.
3) Only self-absorbed and insecure people need to compete with themselves and each other. I am way awesomer than all of them- just the way I am.
Everyone knows it.
4) Why invent new courses? It is more fun to train on the treadmill and complain about existing races.
5) I don't train this hard (5 hr/wk)- so I can challenge myself on strange courses. I am an Ironman. I don't need to brag. Everyone knows how awesome I am. Who cares how fast a couple of trail runners and cyclists might be.
6) Who needs to add new challenges to training and "spice stuff" up. That's what HBO is for.

That's not Strava, that's another user who took the time to flag it. There are way too many driving in the car activities (especially when Strava provides a "crop" tool) and "runs" that are really rides, especially mountain bikers. It can be hard to tell looking at uphill/rolling segment splits, but the sustained 2:00 min/mi downhill paces generally give them away...

Strava really needs an automatic flag for these kinds of things, especially for runs. Basically any run quicker than whatever the current world record for that distance is. They could even go farther and come up with reasonable limits for what Amateurs can do. No going faster than 3:00/km (or whatever) for >1km unless you have a pro account.

You've been stalking me ~ I knew it! Now i know who the dude was behind the hedges while i looked out from my treadmill on Tuesday.

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

I bet I've created over 50 segments in my Strava lifetime. Heck, I will segment loops at local races. Out and back on longer races. Etc. I think it's a fun exchange with other riders. As someone that hammers his TT bike all over the place I'm guilty of some whore-like moments. However, I'd argue no more than the fastest groups we have locally that spam the boards too. To each their own.

What I actually enjoy the most about Strava is how it logs your routes and you can go back and look at how you've done on those segments since you joined. As a HR/Power rider, it's good data to measure progress.

If it died tomorrow and was never to be seen again I would be fine. I spend way more time on TP.