[Closed] I Strava'ed for the first time this morning

Also, as a premium member you can now measure your fitness and freshness via an HR monitor now instead of just a power meter which I think is a really cool feature.

This may be controversial on here... but Strava isn't all about the KOMs (no really, it isn't.) Actually use the social side of it more and don't pay much attention to the scorers. Enjoy sharing rides and commenting on other people's rides. Got to know a few local riders through Strava. Also good for scoping out decent training routes.

+1

A mate (a very quick 1st Cat roadie mate with loads of KOMs) recently strava'd his ride home from work, all of about 1/3rd of a mile. He got more comments and kudos on that than most of his other rides put together but it was all really funny, some proper piss-taking going on. Use it as a social media tool and it's very good. Get obsessed with KOM-ing everything and it'll ruin every ride quite quickly.

i like to use it from time to time to map where ive been, how far and how long it took etc. but i dont record every ride so the stats are bollocks. i have zero interest in how quickly i ascended up anything, but i might compare descents against my followees if i was felt it was quite quick - which usually incurs disappointment.

I agree with njee - a lot of people are sceptical about the fast times because the quick guys really are unbelievably quick.

Oh and I'd agree with this too. Through club rides, racing, TTs and Strava I now know most of the chaps who are top 10 on most of the busy segments around here and I'd not question their times. I rarely see times that I'm sceptical about.

The best bit about Strava is when it's dismissed by the heathen on the basis of wind/type of bike/GPS drift/part of commute/phone OS/ground conditions/traffic lights......

I use Strava mostly to measure myself, I've a a few top 10 on the mountain bike, but even when I go all out of the roadie, some of the times make mine look like they were set by an old maid.

Doesn't help that the ToB came through where I live, a lot of the local segments got utterly pwned.. 😆

molgrips » [s]You'll find that some of the top times are people slipstreaming trucks, or where people've left their device running after getting in the car...[/s] I am a cynic

Of course, what you say is true, but in this particular case there was an improbable one that really looked like a truck assist. Although 2nd was pukka.

Problem is with roadies is that they tend to ride in bunches, which means most flat KOMs are unattainable. The climbs are also unattainable because I'm fat. It's just not a level playing field.

I use it just to log miles and rides. I can see how it may become addictive.

Me ( after a ride ) "Wow I got 6th fastest on a segment"

Wife " out of how many "

I look at the leaderboard

Me " Six " 🙁

Hah.. only KOM I ever had was me creating a segment (to be fair it was a climb I had been training on for years) and being the only one to have done that particular combination of trails. Most people seem to turn off at a different point. Turns out a few other people did it slower than me but I didn't get notified I had a KOM until I got the email saying I'd lost it.

over time you get to know the segments where you have at least a fighting chance of getting in the top ten, so take a moment about a qtr of a mile before it starts, get your breath back and relax, headphones on with your best aggressive cycling music...... start slowly then GO !!!! hammer hammer hammer like you're in a race, spanking your absolute fastest, GO Go GO bang bang bang on the pedals.... all the way past the end, collapse in a heap blowing out your a*** ... then ride home & check your times only to find you've only shaved 3 seconds off your best and not moved up the leaderboard at all ... harumph!

A mate (a very quick 1st Cat roadie mate with loads of KOMs) recently strava'd his ride home from work, all of about 1/3rd of a mile. He got more comments and kudos on that than most of his other rides put together but it was all really funny, some proper piss-taking going on.

I always give kudos to people who've clearly had some sort of GPS error, and a guy I work with gives me kudos for every commute I do with no achievements! With Garmins auto uploading it's actually harder to remove individual rides, even if they are 90 seconds long to check the battery in the PowerTap is ok!

The climbs are also unattainable because I'm fat. It's just not a level playing field.

That's right, it's a climb. 🙂

You'll just have to get some friends!

Obviously the roadie segments around here seem to be out of reach (there have been all these dodgy foreign names on them since July), but I have fun seeing how far up the list of thousands I can get on a MTB with knobblies. Anything near the top 50% is a major victory.

The climbs are also unattainable because I'm fat. It's just not a level playing field.

Molgrips, thanks for the lol 🙂

righog, not as soul destroying as the times set on my local hill climb... 😆

When Alex Dowsett is 14th!!! you know you're never going to get anywhere 😆

Re the post above where the ToB went through and smashed all the KOMs. There is a long drag around here which was one of the 'climbs' in the women's ToB. It is interesting to see how much quicker the women pros are than all the local hot shots. Sort of puts ones 'ability' into perspective.

Doesn't help that the ToB came through where I live, a lot of the local segments got utterly pwned

That's happened on our local hill climb course.

An average time is about 7-8 mins
Good time is about 6-7 mins
Fast time is about 5-6 mins
Very fast time is 4:30 - 5 mins (ie: pro and sponsored riders)

TOB best time? 3:58 😳

And that was after ~100miles of Devon hills, the quick guys really are very very quick.

I didn't get notified I had a KOM until I got the email saying I'd lost it.

haha, I've had that on segments that others have created after I rode them.

If you have a KOM and nobody sees it on your feed, is it really a KOM?

And that was after ~100miles of Devon hills, the quick guys really are very very quick.

And riding in a group of 100, which in that instance is the overriding factor!

righog, not as soul destroying as the times set on my local hill climb...

When Alex Dowsett is 14th!!! you know you're never going to get anywhere

Depends if they've done a 'proper' hill climb up it, that'll skew the results because there are suddenly a load of people riding for 5 minutes flat out!

However 90% of the local off road KOMs are held by one guy, I've taken a few and it probably seems like I have some kind of vendetta against him!

GPS drift

[quote=crazy-legs ]A mate (a very quick 1st Cat roadie mate with loads of KOMs) recently strava'd his ride home from work, all of about 1/3rd of a mile. He got more comments and kudos on that than most of his other rides put together but it was all really funny, some proper piss-taking going on. Use it as a social media tool and it's very good. Get obsessed with KOM-ing everything and it'll ruin every ride quite quickly.

I Stravaed the school run yesterday because I'd just come in from a ride so already had the GPS running, and thought it might be amusing. All 700m of it - sadly most of that is in my privacy zone.

Sadly Nairo Quintana doesn't seem to be on Strava, or at least he wasn't when he fought for the stage win on my local big climb.

This reminds me I've got some rides to upload.

[i]because there are suddenly a load of people riding for 5 minutes flat out![/i]

setting the sorts of times that mere mortals like myself tend to look at and say "what the actual fuccccccc......" 😆

And riding in a group of 100, which in that instance is the overriding factor!

true, I was still impressed though 🙂

setting the sorts of times that mere mortals like myself tend to look at and say "what the actual fuccccccc......

If it's any consolation I did my first hill climb a few weeks back - up Leith Hill, my meagre time of 4:29 is good enough for 97th out of 12513 riders on the segment and mid table on the day, but the KOM (set during the same hill climb) is 3:17 😯

The majority of the top 20 times are either from the hill climb, or the London Surrey Cycle Classic in 2013, which is arguably more impressive!

Yep, no one ever cut a corner before Strava.

haha, I've had that on segments that others have created after I rode them.

If you have a KOM and nobody sees it on your feed, is it really a KOM?

If it's any consolation I did my first hill climb a few weeks back - up Leith Hill, my meagre time of 4:29 is good enough for 97th out of 12513 riders

This smells a bit of a humblebrag 😉

I'm always delighted if I can make top 1% on any segment.

try Endomondo, same kind of thing but without all the willy waving 😉

Going back to viewing your all your own previous times on a segment, I can't find a way of doing it on the android app, but I know how to do it on the Web version. So is it only possible on the Web version?

This smells a bit of a humblebrag

I'm always delighted if I can make top 1% on any segment.

The segment is on the Ride 100, so lots of nodders to ride up it slowly and further inflate my ego! The point was more that what in the wider context is still a relatively quick time was still decimated by the KOM! If I was going for the humblebrag I'd have chosen one of my three pages of KOMs as the example 😉

Going back to viewing your all your own previous times on a segment, I can't find a way of doing it on the android app, but I know how to do it on the Web version. So is it only possible on the Web version?

Found the same on the iOS app, so seems that way.

Found the same on the iOS app, so seems that way.

thanks njee20, it's a shame as I find it most useful, nowhere near any KOMs for me.

try Endomondo, same kind of thing but without all the willy waving

Hardly anyone I know is on Endomondo though so you lose out on the social stuff in Strava.

I always give kudos to people who've clearly had some sort of GPS error, and a guy I work with gives me kudos for every commute I do with no achievements!

Gosh, that might explain how I managed to get a kudos on my run commute this morning. It wasn't my fastest or furthest, got no achievements (didn't even pass through any segments), but the GPS tracking did wander off to imply I ran through a hospital across the road. Don't know the guy who kudos'd me though.

Have not read all of the above..

For my 2pence the day before I learnt about strava I was over 15 stone, now 11 1/2 stone.

Strava gave me the final push I needed

I think its brill!

GW gave me kudos once. I'm just assuming it's psychological warfare

Don't know the guy who kudos'd me though.

Always a bit weird! I got kudos a few weeks ago from someone I don't know, somewhere in the middle east, who doesn't follow me. No idea how he found my ride!

Identified a couple of proper sprint segments to aim for next ride 🙂

Also discovered that 15 people use the same ridiculous housing estate loop for training that I found the other day. I'm 6th, but I was only on a threshold ride, could go faster... 😉

Identified a couple of proper sprint segments to aim for next ride

Now you just need an Edge 810/1000 to give you real time feedback on those segments, so you know whether to back off and save the legs, or whether to sprint for the line!

njee20 - Member
Always a bit weird! I got kudos a few weeks ago from someone I don't know, somewhere in the middle east, who doesn't follow me. No idea how he found my ride!

I get that too. Although as it's mainly my commutes (which are called Commute) that gets random Kudos people search for "Commute"

12,513 rides up Leith Hill? Apart from Box must be one of the most climbed hills then?

Now you just need an Edge 810/1000 to give you real time feedback on those segments

Ahhh... yes I do.. I also need it to put the segments on the map so I can see when they are coming up 🙂

12,513 rides up Leith Hill? Apart from Box must be one of the most climbed hills then?

I thought that - the Ride 100 has got to be a significant contributor to that. Weirdly Will I'm ahead of you on the segment, despite your utter annihilation of me at the HC!

It's up to 12,515 now! I imagine it would have gone significantly higher had the Ride 100 not skipped it this year!

Ahhh... yes I do.. I also need it to put the segments on the map so I can see when they are coming up

Aye, that's useful, have to say that a few segments I was targeting started and finished in totally different places to where I thought by squinting at a map! Quite relevant when you're giving it your all on a 2 minute segment!

njee20 - Member
I thought that - the Ride 100 has got to be a significant contributor to that. Weirdly Will I'm ahead of you on the segment, despite your utter annihilation of me at the HC!

It's up to 12,515 now! I imagine it would have gone significantly higher had the Ride 100 not skipped it this year!

You see that opens up another can of worms. I'm 10th on this segment and yet doesn't look like your time was registered?

http://www.strava.com/segments/768470

Accidental Kudos is a major problem! That's probably where your random kudos is coming from, I've given it before when stalking people I don't know....ahem...