Do you strava?

[faustus]

Been using it since about 2013 I guess so have been through it's various pitfalls, now just used to log rides and see what other people are up to in purely a supportive way rather than feeling like I need to out do them at some point. I like to see friends/relatives out enjoying themselves on the bike.

I only have it running on my phone which is in my pocket, and I stopped using the garmin too as I found myself looking at distance and average speed too much, and I enjoy riding by feel much more now. For me, GPS/garmin device + Strava is not healthy for cycling enjoyment. Again, more than happy to end a ride on whatever mileage, partly because it's in my pocket and I only know the total when I pull up to my side gate and end the ride!

[RIP]

that all present uses it as a tool and not as a vehicle to try and increase the size of their penis.

Maybe that's where everyone's (*) going wrong?

Or indeed increase the size of their tool, and use their penis as a way of measuring their rides? . "How many K's did you do today?" ("K" - standard unit on the Knob Scale).


(*) male denizens of This Place of course. Steps away to avoid deep water.

[Lazarus]

if i ride with other people i use it solo I almost never bother

this sums up Strava for me

Locally doing a hill - think its 200m height in three sections - gate breaks mainly
in one of the sections some man goes flying past me uphill about 2 mins later he is at the side puking. i stop to see if he is ok - apparently he was getting the KOM for a partial segment on a partial climb of the entire thing.- what a waste of a ride.
Its not even the last part of the climb its just in the middle

I have no opinion on others doing it but I dont really do social media so no FB Instagram twitter etc I ride and bivvy with someone who posts this and then tells me who many people liked her picture. i pretend this is great news and impressive!

So me stu and John are all going for a ride to moan - dont worry you will never know about it

[redefined_cycles]

Record and share. But generally not with everyone unless there's a reason. Currently that reason being transcribing and sharing the Quran verses which I love so much.

Started using the Quran verses to liberate my mind from thinking mid-ride about what the title would be post-ride. Currently on the chapter of Yusuf/Joseph (peace be upon him/Alayhissalaam) and when that ends in a few more rides I'll continue making up interesting names and it'll go private/followers only again.

Before Strava I was a numbers and time person (albeit, very slow) but with Strava I don't need to worry for spoke magnets and the that sort of inconvenience. Originally when I started using it, is when I realised there were more asians/muslims that were also out there riding. Not many though and I've used as a tool to try and encourage others (and them as well as the BBers to encourage me) on their bikes.

Initially my titles were stuff like 'world: oyster' etc. So my mates could see that you don't need to just get out there for a training ride but the bike is a liberating tool. Reckon I had a hand in getting a few lads past the 50 miler mark or 'fair-weather' cycling and a few have gone on to long distancing with the audax network (but not touring/BPing as such... still working on that).

What Stu said about 'waving' is also true and I constantly have to remind myself or work on not becoming arrogant or proud. Not too hard to do when you're this (me) slow but I find it super important all the same cos arrogance/look-me is a major sin in Islam. Interesting what JC said about deleting it all. I've often wondered but also like to keep a log somewhere of where I've been. Brings a smile and something to encourage the kids 'to get out there'.

One of the major accomplishments for me has been my 14 year old this month has started commuting to high-school. Pretty sure that's my effect (been commuting sknce about 2000 when I bought my first bike) on him. One of the most liberating experiences was after having done 'devils staircase' in Wales on the Elan Velo. Would've been logged in my (personal) app of the 100 climbs/another100Climbs by Warren. Post ride I accidentally deleted it. Gelt good

[RIP]

All the folk who say they don't know what they do mileage wise I think are fibbin

Nah, not me guv.

38 years ago I bought one of those milometer gizmos for my bike. It was a big hunk of metal with a cog wheel attached to the end which engaged with a sticky-out pointer thing fixed to one spoke. The lump itself attached to the fork, and had five little slot-machine/gas-meter wheels with digits on. These rotated with each pass of the spoke pointer jobby.

I realise that to You Youngsters the device sounds totally far-fetched, implausible and infeasible.

As recommended/instructed/enforced, I assiduously watched these little numbers rotating - it was never fully explained in the instructions quite why I had to do that - not without some risk and danger to my person since it demanded that I looked down at the fork continuously.

I vaguely remember topping 1,000 miles, but shortly afterwards I was tooling along when suddenly there was a loud twang and a red-hot chunk of metal clipped my ear and disappeared into someone's garden. Looking down, I saw that the sad remains of my revered aide was now just a bent bracket and a sticky out thing.

Never known my mileage, speeds, heights, heart-rate, direction, calories, arse-sores-count ever since, but bizarrely and inexplicably have had the most amazing times on my bike than I could ever have imagined or dreamed of and that's good enough for me.

[psling]

No. Never have.

I used to have that little mileage recorder thing too, a peg on the wheel driving a cog on a small read-out unit on the forks and I have cupboards full of maps with pencil, pen and highlighter all over them recording my rides so I'm not averse to keeping a record. In fact, I still keep a hand-written log of my rides (bike, when, where, distance, who with) and tot up my annual mileage. My usual gps is studying the map before the ride and my usual milometer is measuring from the map after the ride. I'm just a bit of a luddite and (like others here) I love poring over maps

[gairym]

I record my rides but only so that a) I can see how much riding I've done this year compared to last etc... and b) so that I can find any ride route that I've ridden in the last ten years or so when we decide to do something again.

I don't pay any attention to kom's, segments or how I compare to anyone else as I don't give a crap.

I suppose my rides are shared but only in that I've not actively not shared them.

It's just a tool to log stuff for me, not bothered about roadie bollocks...

[Bearbonesnorm]

so that I can find any ride route that I've ridden in the last ten years or so when we decide to do something again.

Perhaps weirdly, I take great delight in going out (usually with Mike) and finding ourselves somewhere quite random and realising that we've been there before ... or arriving somewhere, believing we've been there previously only to discover we never have ... small things, etc.

[ton]

i use it to record my distances. like to know how far i ride yearly.

and i ride very slowly so obviously i dont use it to see how fast i am..................

[Lazarus]

I remember those speedos - about 40 years in my case and i remember the joy of finding the nearest steep hill and pelting it down it and discovring the benefits of an aero tuck - and not just because you could see the speedo

There may be a generational differnce of position on this technology
I do use a wee GPS cycle computer so I do actually know how far i have ridden

[RIP]

Oh, and while we're here, Grumpy Old Man Alert: the use of 'K' [not the Knob unit as mentioned earlier] to mean 'thousand metres' really gets on my wick.

For a start it's a unit of temperature not distance - Kelvin. If you said you'd done a 5K ride I'd imagine you had been riding on the surface of Uranus or some other far-flung chilly planet.

If you've ridden five kilometres, that's '5km' ok?

Likewise if you've gone half a kilometre that's '500m'.

It's all bollocks anyway because of course you have actually ridden 3.106 and 0.310 miles respectively.

Reg 'Official President Of The Campaign For Real Minutes' (*) Perrin

(*) no, don't start me on that one (again) .

[mikehowarth]

I mainly use it for ride logging and cribbing local knowledge from other riders thats about as far as I go with it now.

I used to be super in to the numbers, but I'm doing less and less 'proper' riding each year.

With various house projects, I've rarely ridden my bike for pleasure in the last 18 months, most of my miles have been commuting miles or quick local jaunts with the missus.

My running is still ticking over, so I use it more for run analysis than anything.

Oh and socially to keep up with mates in various parts of the country.

[sean_iow]

For a start it's a unit of temperature not distance - Kelvin. If you said you'd done a 5K ride I'd imagine you had been riding on the surface of Uranus or some other far-flung chilly planet.

Aren't they using the K to mean 1000? So a 5K ride is 5000m? Like a new Salsa will cost £6K and that's not Six pounds Kelvin

Unfortunately there are more units and constants than there are letters in our alphabet so some will have more than one use In Civil engineering we have to use all sorts of Greek characters which is a nightmare if you're typing it

[psling]

Of those that use it, it's interesting to see how different people use the same tool for different reasons whether as a recording tool, a training aid, a public statement of achievement or willy-waving (reading earlier comments referencing "us" (bearboners) and penis size puts weird images into my mind of Trep, Verena, Bridget, et al who might also be part of the inclusive "us" ) And indeed, isn't strava just a bit sexist with its KOMs and QOMs etc.?!?

[psling]

Reg 'Official President Of The Campaign For Real Minutes' (*) Perrin

(*) no, don't start me on that one .

You'll be just a few degrees from going round in circles next...

[RIP]

It's all bollocks anyway because of course you have actually ridden 3.106 and 0.310 miles respectively

And before Stu can nobble me, they're wrong too - obviously it's 3 and one tenth miles and three tenths of a mile respectively.

[FLV]

Very interesting set of opinions.

I do use Strava to look back at my rides, and to scope out routes for other rides in areas I haven't been too. Though my favourite way to do this is obviously with a map.

I tried just not sharing, I looked at the numbers just as much in isolation so that part of it is certainly me. Maybe I will leave it for a while, maybe I will try something that isnt strava. Not sure yet.

[Escape Goat]

I record. Sometimes I share. Sometimes I don't.

I may not bother at all soon, but I like to keep an eye on mileage of my bikes but that's about it.

[RIP]

Aren't they using the K to mean 1000?

Yah sorry Sean that's what I meant (edited).

I think I'm going to wander off in search of a nice cup of tea and a sit down.

[Cheeky Monkey]

I voted no but then realised I do sometimes click a button and check my activity (though through Garmin Connect). I've never used Strava itself

It's more about activity though, to know I've been doing things (ride, paddle, run, row, walk etc) that help keep me a bit healthier.

My youngest also likes knowing some of the stats on hill walks and exercise sessions which distracts and/or motivates.

Slavishly following or solely being motivated by something like Strava I don't really get or maybe just don't see it as something for me.

I'd love to know how Stu feels about folks taking pictures of their food and sharing that on Insta. I suspect:



But without the suit and tie, natch

[Richpips]

I'll own up and say in the early days I used to chase KOM's. I've still got some obscure ones I think.

Then in 2013 I used it to make sure I rode over 5000 miles (for the first time). Some of those miles were ones that I felt I had to do to make the total rather than I particularly wanted to.

In the intervening years, it's been good to record where we've been so I've kept on using it.

This year though unless we have gone somewhere different I've used it less and less.

[sean_iow]

I think I'm going to wander off in search of a nice cup of tea and a sit down.

Good idea, I'm just having a coffee and a croissant myself, my third breakfast this morning, I've had porridge and cereal already. I wouldn't normally indulge in such excesses but Strava says I burnt 889kcal* on my run to work so I think I can get away with it

Back to the OPs question, I record all my rides and runs on Strava, I like to know how far I've been, how much climbing etc. Don't listen to those who say it's willy waving**... they only say that as they are slow

* Note the correct unit and also that the k is for 1000 as 1 kcal is 1000 calories

** Subsequently posting the Strava activity on FB or Insta... that's willy waving

[AndreR]

Of those that use it, it's interesting to see how different people use the same tool for different reasons whether as a recording tool, a training aid, a public statement of achievement or willy-waving (reading earlier comments referencing "us" (bearboners) and penis size puts weird images into my mind of Trep, Verena, Bridget, et al who might also be part of the inclusive "us" ) And indeed, isn't strava just a bit sexist with its KOMs and QOMs etc.?!?

So "POM" in this politically correct world then or is that racist?

I record rides on a Garmin so I can try and link the good bits into better rides and avoid the sub standard bits in the future. From a fitness metric point of view as long as I'm not in the last quarter of a group ride everyone is waiting for at the top of every second hill great! Middle for Diddle, I'm out riding and having fun without rushing and without holding anyone up.

[Bearlegged]

And indeed, isn't strava just a bit monarchist with its KOMs and QOMs etc.?!?

(Grabs flaming torch and pitchfork)

[In Reverse]

I like Strava a lot.

Primary uses:

• Route plotting - the amount of data it has means its heatmap is second to none. I've found loads of trails that I'd have had zero chance of finding otherwise.
• Recording rides - I like being able to check back on old rides when looking at bits of trail. Can be a motivational factor knowing your stats too, eg I'm currently aiming to beat my annual climing total which means doing 3000m of climbing per week - that's gettimng me out on the bike in the cold and wet when I'd otherwise be doing some crap like boarding out the loft
• Taking the p!ss out of mates and having them do the same back - not really interested in KOMs, but comparison of times on segments is a frequent source of banter
• I like looking at where other people are riding. I get an illicit thrill from spying on the lives of people like FLV