Strava thread (for users of)

[T & P]

Until I saw it mentioned here in the last few days I wasn't even aware this existed. Have downloaded the app and look forward to my first go at it.

Out of curiosity, if an overtly competitive guy wants to be the king of a particular sector and one day decides to do do it in a car instead of a bike, I guess nobody would ever be the wiser (so long as he doesnt't drive too fast)?

 

[DownwardDog]

Until I saw it mentioned here in the last few days I wasn't even aware this existed. Have downloaded the app and look forward to my first go at it.

Out of curiosity, if an overtly competitive guy wants to be the king of a particular sector and one day decides to do do it in a car instead of a bike, I guess nobody would ever be the wiser (so long as he doesnt't drive too fast)?

Most of the serious contenders for KoM/CR on segments (around here anyway) tend to be more serious cyclists who have their heart rate on the segment times anyway which would be hard(er) to fake.

 

[DownwardDog]

I reckon I'll end up with a Garmin.

The Garmin Edge 510 is on sale on amazon.co.uk at the moment.

 

[Dogsauce]

Had a bit of a slow commute this morning (I've been a bit poorly this week and resorted to using the train to help me out on three occasions) but still found that little bit of strength to have a crack at an upward sprint on the way in - picked up a 9th (out of 209). It's on the main road where a lot of the fast guys go, so feels pretty good, especially as the old Sturmey-Archer was a bit grindey today. Nice to get a little trophy to end the week.

It's one of the nice things with Strava, because when I used to just time my whole journey you'd only get a buzz if you beat the overall time, but somedays you're never going to manage it (wind, traffic lights). Having a few other mini-goals on the way is good motivation to push yourself a bit.

 

[plurker]

I've set my whole journey as one segment (private) so I can see if I'm quicker on the overall commute as well as the segments within.
Riding home y'day was surprised to get a PR on a little section I thought I was slow on, checking it and I see I'm 15/509 - jolly good I wish there was (there might be but I've not found it!) a way of seeing, at a glance, what my position was on each of the segments - rather than having to click into each one individually though so I know which ones I've got a chance of top-tennning in. I must be the fastest hybrid-rider tho, anyone overtaking me seems to be a be-cleated, be-lycraed roadie...

Yesterday was also the first time I used strava to measure my run (straight after the ride home!) - some runners are mentally quick - 5 minute miles! No chance I'll get to challenge them

 

[Dogsauce]

Took that 9/209 up to 4/209 this morning, mainly due to being back on my regular commute bike (an old Falcon tourer) again. In the month since I last rode it I changed my commuting route, so I'm starting to mop up all these personal bests that were previously set on the slow and heavy Pashley, though haven't picked up all of them yet - feeling a bit rough in the morning and dying on the hills a bit.

I'm hoping for an easterly wind at some point as there's several segments that aren't really worth trying without this.

 

[Pgd]

Oof. Definitely September.

I re-discovered Strava earlier in the year (at my old place it always took ages to get a GPS fix and I got fed up; new place works much better) and had been steadily improving my commute times over the summer. This week, though, with the added traffic: back to square one, or even zero. Streatham St Leonard's Church in the evening is particularly bad... gonna have a play around planning a new route I think.

In other Strava news -- I took a slightly different route the other day and was amazed to find I was third fastest OVERALL on some obscure segment in Thornton Heath. I might have to have a crack at the KOM. It makes me chuckle just thinking about it

 

[Dogsauce]

The east wind is blowing strongly up here for the first time in months, I'm going to be chasing for places all the way home again! I picked up a fifth last night without really thinking about it, stuck behind a bus for half the segment. 8mph wind yesterday, forecast says 14mph today so ought to be quicker (though I feel a bit crappy this afternoon).

I did the first five miles home yesterday in under 15 mins, 20.2mph average, then got bollocked by the traffic lights through the city centre (about quarter of a mile on my average speed had dropped to 17.8mph).

 

[King Biscuit Time]

I've marked out the middle portion of a hill I often factor into longer runs. Really nice to see a league table of every time I've run up it and at what pace.

 

[plurker]

I just got a new KOM over Blackfriars Bridge - that's not exactly a lesser-ridden route. (#1/3769 ) I knew I was going faster than normal but can I get a 'fuckyeah!)

 

[Dogsauce]

I just got a new KOM over Blackfriars Bridge - that's not exactly a lesser-ridden route. (#1/3769 ) I knew I was going faster than normal but can I get a 'fuckyeah!)

Fuckyeah! Wind assist? I think I've done that segment on a visit to London - though probably way down the list. Aren't a lot of the bridge sections in London flagged up as dangerous by twats, so you don't get a leaderboard? One of them had multiple segments where people kept recreating the segment after the previous one got banned.

I was within a second of a KOM this morning on one segment, but that's only out of 52 riders (on a fairly bumpy bike track). The KOM holder has been way out in front, but I've reduced the lead from eight seconds to one, without a tail wind, so I will get it with the right wind.

There's twelve segments on my 9-mile inbound commute, I've had KOM on eight of them (still hold four), this is one I'm still chasing although I've not often had a serious go at it as there was another segment just before that I was working on for ages (finally cracked it about a month ago - short little uphill stretch, my bike isn't light so hard to get!).

I'm annoyed at one of the KOMs I lost as they've since changed the traffic light sequence so I'm never getting it back

 

[Crispy]

http://www.bicycling.com/print/99136

 

[Dogsauce]

Harnessed some of the 25mph wind to claim the one segment on my commute that I thought I'd never manage (an uphill one that I was a good 25 seconds behind on), plus reclaimed another. Nine down, three to go. It feels like I've slayed the end-of-level baddie.

Two of the remaining three should be easy (one second off on one today, matching my previous best which was achieved without wind assistance, the other I'd have had other than for a turning car), however the mile and a half downhill with lots of joining roads and pedestrian crossings that someone's run through at 34.6mph might still elude me. That one's been created since I started doing the ride so I could pretend it doesn't exist. It's not helped that a bike shop has opened at the top of the hill which attracts a better calibre of rider to my backwater commute route! (though great that I have a bike shop within half a mile of my house).

 

[Dogsauce]

Another commute KOM in the bag this morning (a short uphill 0.2 mile one), ten down, two to go. It's easy when you target them, I had a pause at the bottom, stripped off a couple of layers and waited for a suitable gap in the traffic before putting my foot down. Not much of a wind behind me and carrying quite a heavy rucksack today too.

I might try and complete this challenge of taking the crown on all twelve commute segments before the end of the year now, depending on getting a favourable wind for the fast downhill one. It's weird for me feeling competitive about stuff, I've never been a sporty person.

 

[King Biscuit Time]

I'm annoyed at one of the KOMs I lost as they've since changed the traffic light sequence so I'm never getting it back

Get down there at about 4am.

 

[Dogsauce]

Get down there at about 4am.

It'll be a rat-run for taxis then!

My original aim was to KOM all of them, but not to necessarily hang on to the crown, so I'm not bothered about that one at the moment as I had it for a long time. Maybe next year I can set the target of reclaiming those I've lost.

I'd also quite like to try and take the one that I'm tied on (which is still technically a KOM) but it took so much effort to get there that I'm not making it a priority. Since I've achieved the same time twice then morally it's mine

 

[Dogsauce]

Got my first London KOM on Saturday night, a cat 4 climb up Central Street from -297ft below sea level.



http://www.strava.com/segments/5198652

I don't appear on the overall table though.

No, I don't know either. I suspect gremlins, unless I really was momentarily cycling along the Thames Tideway tunnel / Post Office railway.

 

[DownwardDog]

Aren't a lot of the bridge sections in London flagged up as dangerous by twats, so you don't get a leaderboard? One of them had multiple segments where people kept recreating the segment after the previous one got banned.

Self appointed Strava cops are freedom hating turds. I can see some bloke is whittling away at one of my most prized Over 40 KoMs and he'll probably take it out in about a month. I think I'd have to go down to 65kg to get it back once he does which I could do but do I really want to...

 

[Dogsauce]

So who else finds having ratings for segments for 'best time in 2015' annoying? It just means that even the slowest ride at the moment comes up with dozens of trophies, making it hard to pick out the genuine achievements. I suppose it'll calm down in a few weeks.

I didn't find many segments when I was riding around Rotterdam in the new year, the Dutch have the wrong attitude to cycling

 

[plurker]

So who else finds having ratings for segments for 'best time in 2015' annoying? It just means that even the slowest ride at the moment comes up with dozens of trophies, making it hard to pick out the genuine achievements.

I just don't really understand it. All my rides have trophies, none of which mean anything at all. There may, or may not, be an achievement there. Stupid idea imho, but can see where they're coming from in trying to keep older users happy; but I'd rather have achieved one trophy a month that means something , than 5 or 6 on each ride!

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Being at the behest of my smartphone while cycling and measuring my performance against a bunch of other twats is my idea of hell. Don't get me wrong, the mist frequently descends and I want to beat that cunt but crucially I want to beat him mano a mano so he to know he is beaten...not to beat him in some dubious segment.

This will in itself is pathetic and a psychological flaw in me. Do I want to celebrate this in an app? Fuck no. Do I want to worry about segments when riding? Fuck no. Is Strava false consciousness? Fuck yes.

Cycling is happening away from the stem.

 

[Dogsauce]

First proper KOM of the year this afternoon, riding bow-legged in baggy decorating trousers up a hill with six 2.4m lengths of treated timber gaffa taped to the top tube.

(OK, I'm only the fastest of eight people, and previously held a shared KOM for the segment which I'd done on the Pashley).

 

[T & P]

When I went home over Xmas, I naughtily turned Strava on as my plane started to accelerate on Gatwick's runway. I am the proud KOM of the segment with a speed of well over 100 mph. Beat that you twats

 

[Pgd]

I'm probably well behind the curve here, but the "fly-by" feature is pretty cool. It shows you other riders whose journeys correlate with yours in terms of total route and/or any part of the route at the same time. Two or three riders look like they do fairly similar commutes from the same part of London -- almost tempted to say hi. Adds a bit of humanity to the "must beat the other twats" thing that SF alludes to a few posts back. (personally, I don't bother measuring myself against others, and don't particularly bother trying for particular segments -- I just ride as best I can and see if I've got any trophies when I get there)

(the "fly-by" link is just below the ride title/description on the page for a particular ride, if that makes sense)

 

[Dogsauce]

That's fun, and a bit stalky too. Up here not many people commute by bike, and fewer use Strava, so I don't get many matches, but the bloke I passed climbing up the A64 yesterday is on there.

It wouldn't work for my trip out to watch the TDY a couple of weeks ago, which is a shame as hundreds of people rode to the spot where I watched it (and filled the roads heading out after the race had gone by) and it would have looked cool to see them all fanning out in different directions from a single point at the same time.

 

[Dogsauce]

Now I have myself a modern road bike I've decided I'm going to try and get a top ten position for all of the segments on my commute (there are 30 in total at the moment). It's easier than it sounds because I'm in Leeds and there aren't anywhere near as many Strava riders as down in London, only five of those segments have total riders in the thousands, most are just a few hundred. I picked up a 5th and 6th this morning (pretty much duplicates of each other) which puts me up to 16/30 completed. Those I still need are a mixed bag, if I was ever able to thrash it up the biggest hill about two-thirds of the way in with a decent tailwind I'd pick up four or five of the ones I need in one go. It's good to have a bit of a challenge to keep me motivated, though I know if a decent club run went along my route I'd be fucked. Fortunately the clubs usually ride north to where the countryside and big hills are.

 

[braindancer]

Lots of people flew by me on my little jaunt into Essex yesterday - there was a lot of lycra out as ever. The only person I flew by was puffing away on a mountain bike with a bent back wheel and a seriously under inflated tyre. Oh - there was one bloke who caned it past me on a downhill but then I overtook him on the next uphill section - so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself until he absolutely beasted me on the next hill.... I think he must have been chilling when I had him. I like to use Strava to log my miles as I've set myself a challenge for this year (6000 miles) but I've given up on trying to beat segment records and all that stuff - I think it better to accept that I'm pretty slow and always will be!

 

[Dogsauce]

I'm aiming for 4000 this year, which seemed reasonable until I got knocked off in Feb and was off the bike for about three months. I'm currently at around 1,300 I think, so I need to start trying to get some big miles in at weekends. Commuting gives me 85 miles a week, but some days I have to use a van/hire car if I'm on site which can make a dent in that total. I'm resolutely doing 100 per week as a minimum, if I keep that up I'll hit the target.

 

[braindancer]

I'm on 2,800 so far so pretty much on track to hit 6000 by the end of the year.... got a few longish rides coming up which will help. But the tricky bit will be to keep it going through the autumn and into winter....

 

[Dogsauce]

I usually do a summer tour of around 700 miles, but went to Australia & NZ for six weeks earlier in the year and have no holiday left, I'd have originally aimed for 5000. I have to keep commuting in Autumn and Winter (no car/crap buses) but it slows you down a lot, a mix of weather and knowing that you're less likely to be seen and need to adjust the risks you take accordingly.