“don’t use Strava when mountain biking.”

Surely it should read

“don’t use Strava when mountain biking on cheeky trails.”

“Always such well considered arguments, thanks again Hannah.” +1

I don’t use Strava (or any other GPS logging systems) for the reasons outlined above. My rides are often 80% or more cheeky and I don’t want others to be able to follow my online tracks.

(I do realise that I probably shouldn’t be riding these trails at all…)

If Strava shows you riding on private land, frankly so what? it’s a civil offense, most of the private land in this country is owed by a tiny minority – why worry what they think?

The notion of Private land is the issue, not people accessing it – I guarantee you, you/we are subsidising that land one way or another.

“Look at the leaderboard for a segment or two, you’ll probably find someone who has a public profile and you can download their entire ride as a .gpx file.”

This is exactly what I do.

Where’s the evidence that this is actually a problem vs what seems to me in this article to be speculation?

As per comments above, I think you need to be pretty committed to go trail hunting in such a way, and therefore are likely to be conscious of the ethics of cheeky trails http://www.cheekytrails.co.uk/ethics.htm

Really this is nothing to do with Strava or biking specifically.
It’s about knowing what information you are giving away, who to and what they can potentially do with it.

If you’re happy to lead large groups down “illegal trails” you’re on thin ice complaining about other social media sites.

As you say “Asking riders ‘to know and obey all laws and rules related to their activities’ and absolving yourselves of responsibility doesn’t cut it.”

don’t use Strava when mountain biking

Or don’t ride where you shouldn’t. I take the seemingly unpopular view these days that you should be responsible for your own actions – if you ride a cheeky trail, then record it frankly you’re asking for trouble. If you’re riding in a designated SSI and there are clear requests not to ride, then have a think about why maybe.
Even magazine ride guides often include a nudge & a wink about off piste trails that perhaps are better left for the locals to ‘enjoy responsibly’.

Conversely Strava data could prove continuous use in cases where footpaths need to be transitioned to bridleways. To be honest I think this is more likely than a digital red sock revolution against cyclists – it could equally prove that current legislation is effectively pointless and lead to a scottish access agreement country wide.

Do agree that segments should be removable, but in practice not sure how that’d work – you kill it off for whatever reason, I reinstate it or something very close to it shortly after… unless whole chunks of countrside are blacklisted which would knock on to other valid data.

A bit like Kinder trespass, but trying to keep it a secret, eh?

lol at epicyclo.

This piece makes a lot of sound arguments. Problem is, the cat’s out of the bag, and has been for several years now. There are examples of Strava being used to ban cyclists from parks, and some non-cycling user groups are telling their members to sign up to it so they can keep tabs on us.

On the brighter side, there are some interesting examples of Strava showing gaps in the network – places where using footpaths is the only realistic option to join up a couple of bridleways, for example. Or all those bridleways that turn into footpaths half way down.

Maybe in 20 year’s time we’ll be using it to apply for rights of way upgrades, although I’d hope some sort of access reform happens sooner than that.

“Suddenly a quiet hillside known only to a handful of local riders (and maybe only ridden in the right conditions) is covered in outsiders, subjecting the trails to more use than is sustainable and leading to conflict (which of course the local riders are left to deal with, while the outsiders move on to their next ride location).”

Priceless coming from someone who writes for a magazine that has published god knows how many rides guides over 116 issues.

On Strava’s privacy settings page there is a checkbox that allows you to remove your data from Heatmaps….

About four years ago I was working in a busy bicycle maintenance business in an upmarket London suburb.

We had a new customer come in one day with a fancy racing bike that had a fancy crank, and he asked us to change the spider out for another one which he provided. He was a surly fella, but one of our customers recognised him from a race and engaged him in conversation so that gave him some authentication in our eyes.

When it came to doing the work we found that he had provided the wrong spider for the crank he had so we couldn’t fit it because it didn’t fit. There was something else wrong with the crank set up which we sorted free of charge and then I phoned him to apologise that we couldn’t do the work because the part he’d provided was the wrong part. He came in with a face like thunder, grabbed his bike and the part and left without saying one single word.

Two days later he’s on the phone saying we’d broken his power meter and I was to pay him £600 now for a new one. I explained that I was only an employee so I wouldn’t personally be paying him anything, and that I’d get my boss to call him.

We got on to our customer who knew this guy who then looked the guy up for us on Strava.

And Strava told us this guy’s power meter had not been working for six months.

Strava can be useful.

I’m torn on this.

Although a local I learned my way around what I consider my local (The Quantocks) from guidebooks, online magazine maps and posts on the STW forum. I only found Strava later (I had been using mapmyride). It did prove invaluable for finding trails and I did get far more enjoyment and riding from hunting places out. Part of riding for me is exploring, and doing it the digital way still requires some intelligence on the ground. You can still get a bit lost (just not completely for too long!).

If it weren’t for Strava I wouldn’t have the depth of knowledge of my local area. I knew which areas weren’t being ridden and explored those too. This gave me a reason to get out, time and time again, and build more interesting rides.

It’s not just about riding fast and screaming down trails, but a balance of all things.

Conversely, the other smaller riding area round there, The Mendips is a much denser place, and doesn’t have the same information online about where the trails are etc. I’ve ridden with a local group, and on my own. Its very different to learn your way around that way. I didn’t learn a huge amount from being lead by people. Same again for another local area, I’ve explored it myself from some Strava stalking, but time on the ground is what helps you put together a good ride.

btw as an aside

1) the awesome ‘trailforks’ app does have exciusion zone, the mendips has one set up.
2) there was a ‘local only’ strava free areas in one part of the quantocks.even with facebook and local networking people can’t stop talking about em. let alone spotting laybys in an unexpected place full of people unloading bikes.. loose lips sink ships n all that…

Nasty Strava allowing outsiders to ride on my special local trails for local people. I hates it, I does. I hates it…

Strava? Touched it once. Never again.

A lot of these concerns are easily managed already:

Go to Strava settings on PC/MAC:
Go to Privacy Settings:

Consider using these:

Privacy Mode: Enhanced
Create Privacy Zones (a no brainer for security)
Flyby – Nobody
Group Activity Enhanced Privacy: Check
Strava Metro & Heatmap: Uncheck, so data not included

Other Options:
Hide from Public Leaderboards (can also do on ride by ride basis)
All Private (can also do on ride by ride basis)

Illegal is probably too strong a word as it normally implies a criminal act.

Cycling on footpaths and on private/access land may be trespass, which is generally a civil law matter solely between the trespasser and the landowner (unless bylaws in place). It is not generally a criminal law matter.

We should respect other users of the countryside. I ride a lot of cheeky trails at night, but wouldn’t in daylight as they are frequented by walkers etc. In daylight I stick to bridleways and don’t expect to do fast times unless I’m lucky enough to find no one else using them.

This reads as, lets keep the cheeky trails secret. Which is nonsense.

The only sensible solution, campaign for open access for all. Youse are mental down there.

Does this mean new Strava segments need to be created for “mountain bike” (and “gravel bike”) activities?

Doesnt look like it. Same segments are still showing.