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Strava routes?
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So I just joined Strava and the nudging of a friend, and I thought there would be a bunch of routes to download and ride. All I'm finding are these short little things called "segments" and there aren't many of them either. Is there another site (mapmyride?) which has more routes available?
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Re: Strava routes? [PeterP] [ In reply to ]
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yeah that feature was axed awhile back... is greatly missed .

as for segments... make some in your area.. My area has too many
Last edited by: spntrxi: Aug 20, 18 9:48
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Re: Strava routes? [PeterP] [ In reply to ]
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I find their heat map helpful for route planning: https://www.strava.com/heatmap

If you are searching in an area for which they have a 'Local Guide' there are some route options available: https://www.strava.com/local

For pre-generated courses, if you have a Garmin I have found the courses in Garmin Connect that have been created by users and shared publicly to be sufficient, or at least a good start: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/courses

Good luck!
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Re: Strava routes? [tlangland] [ In reply to ]
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After the brilliant folks in our intelligence community ruined it for us, this is how you can go about it in a similar way instead of the much missed "activity search".

Options:

1. Find a club local to you on Strava. Join. Go to the club's recent activity tab. See a group ride or route you like, go in and utilize it. You won't be able to edit it, but use it "as-is", but not too bad.

2. Click on a segment along an area you want to go, make sure it is a popular segment. Thumb through a few of the efforts and see what routes people are going on that utilize that segment.

3. Build your own and turn on "heatmaps" and "segments" in the route builder.

IMHO, you should still use a little Google street view if you've never done a route to determine if it is safe for you. Or if it has road closures or issues. Google usually pops up the little red closure sign on roads.
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Re: Strava routes? [PeterP] [ In reply to ]
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It is a little bit of a pain but you can find and create routes by finding a segment near where you want to ride then look at the individual rides that used that segment on the leader board. For example, go to the leader board and click on the KOM (i.e. the date of the ride in the leader board) and you can see the whole route the rider did that day. Do this a few times and you will see the typical local routes that include that segment. (e.g., you can go down the leader board and find someone who rode that segment who is about your ability for example).

Once you find a ride that looks appealing, you can create a route for download from any ride, even if it is not yours. Click on the wrench logo on the left and hit "create route" I've used this approach when traveling with great success.
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Re: Strava routes? [PeterP] [ In reply to ]
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Quote:
All I'm finding are these short little things called "segments" and there aren't many of them either

The number of segments depends on how popular cycling is around you. I ride in a big city and I can cross 30+ segments in a 20 mile ride on a popular route. But if there are not many cyclists around you, there won't be many segments. (But you can start making some which has the advantage of guaranteeing you some KOM's - at least for a while ;-)

On the other hand, if there a decent number of cyclist Strava users around but no segments near you on the specific roads you are wanting to ride on, there is the possibility the "wisdom of the crowd" has deemed those roads unsafe or otherwise not susceptible for training. Strava actually works pretty well for identifying the good, and bad, places to ride once it has a critical mass of users in a particular area. Beware of the "segment hole" in an otherwise well populated map ;-)

For sure set up a couple segments on your current routes and then look at the leader boards to see who is riding your segments. You may find some new routes that way and maybe even some local folks to ride with.
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Re: Strava routes? [tlangland] [ In reply to ]
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tlangland wrote:
I find their heat map helpful for route planning: https://www.strava.com/heatmap

If you are searching in an area for which they have a 'Local Guide' there are some route options available: https://www.strava.com/local

For pre-generated courses, if you have a Garmin I have found the courses in Garmin Connect that have been created by users and shared publicly to be sufficient, or at least a good start: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/courses

Good luck!

The BEST way to create new routes in new or even "local" areas is to use heatmaps. However use Route Builder/Creator to do this and then activate heatmaps on there. It seems very few people know of this feature, but as a frequent traveller to new areas, I think this is hands down one of the best features of Strava.

As for "activities" and the ability to search for those, I have found Google + the name of the ride/route (if known) to be the best way to find those. Best for finding race routes/courses, local group ride routes, etc.

-Brad Williams
Website | Twitter: @BW_Tri |Instagram: @BW_Tri | Strava | Co-Founder & Coach at: KIS Coaching
Partnered with: Zoot Sports | Precision Fuel &Hydration | ISM
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Re: Strava routes? [tlangland] [ In reply to ]
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tlangland wrote:
I find their heat map helpful for route planning: https://www.strava.com/heatmap

Good luck!

x2.
It can be a little hit-and-miss - my guess is, sometimes there will be a race that goes through an unusual spot, so it'll show up as a good place to run, even though it isn't when there's no race going on - but using the heatmap is a big plus when you're trying to figure out a new area.
you can build a route and put it on your phone to follow. with some watches (my fenix 3 being an example) you can also put it on your watch.
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