[Closed] Anyone else never used or not interested in.... Strava ?

I've not used it and I'm not interested in it. It's like a disease around here. Trails I've been involved in creating and riding for 15 years now suddenly have shortcuts created or trail obstacles removed because a few think that makes them faster. They are of course kidding themselves, but in the meantime have ****ed up some great sections of trail. Wish they'd **** off back to the road to be honest.

Swayndo, Strava isn't the problem, a few riders are. And for all you know they may not even be using Strava. It's just typical observer bias as always seen with anecdotal evidence. You could just as easily blame slacker longer bikes for being more prone to straightlining turns and wider bars for the removal of trees - in fact that's much more likely to be the cause!

I've not used it and I'm not interested in it. It's like a disease around here. Trails I've been involved in creating and riding for 15 years now suddenly have shortcuts created or trail obstacles removed because a few think that makes them faster. They are of course kidding themselves, but in the meantime have ****ed up some great sections of trail. Wish they'd **** off back to the road to be honest.

Disease, evil Strava, trails ruined, roadies should stick to the road and stay off our trails.

You missed out the migrants, surely they must be to blame somewhere....

Have never owned a speedo and don't really care how far or how slow I ride

I've used Strava since 2012.. Saturday I decided to deactivate my account thus gifting quite a few KOMs etc.

Am I bothered? nah.. I started using it to follow some mates, quite a few have since stopped using it, a few people from work have started following me (I want to keep work and personal life separate, I'm not 'friends' with anyone on Facebook from work).

I've jointly ran Endomondo and Strava for a while so will now use Endomondo for seeing what my mates are riding.

I don't see the point in giving someone kudos for riding 5 miles

Saturday I decided to deactivate my account thus gifting quite a few KOMs etc.

you need one of these..

[img] [/img]

[quote=Bedds ]I don't see the point in giving someone kudos for riding 5 miles

I have done for doing 10 miles quite fast on an ordinary (which is what somebody I follow mostly rides).

I give Kudos to folk that are clearly pushing themselves, I've a lot of friends that are runners on it, and coming back from injury, a 5 mile run is something to be celebrated TBH.

Everyone likes getting a "nice one" don't they?

Okay I was maybe ranting a wee bit, but there is something in what i say. I know or know of the people involved so it's a bit more than anecdote. Some of them have had public arguments on social media about the validity of each others times etc.

My roadie comment was maybe a bit cheap, but came from my belief that Strava suits road riding better than mountain biking. You won't get any benefit from carrying your road bike through a field instead of riding around it on the road. The distance and terrain between 2 points is fixed for everyone.

That doesn't translate to narrow ribbon singletrack crafted out of deer tracks. If someone misses out that beautiful switchback to record their record time who are they kidding? Without Strava it was only themself.

Only my opinion and I know opinions are like arseh0les. If that makes me a Nazi sobeit.

Until very recently I've had no interest in it whatsoever, but now I think it's great. I only use it (or am interested in using it) on my road bike. For anything other than that, I just care about where I've been, how long it took me and how many cakes I can eat.

But for road riding, where I repeat the same route, the segments bit is awesome for telling me if I'm getting fitter/faster. I don't care how fast I've gone compared to other riders... at least not enough to want to get any KOMs... but if I can see an improvement over last time... then I'm happy 🙂

I use it for every proper ride simply because I like keeping track of my riding. Though I'm not chasing any mileage targets so never use it for my commute.

I am a competitive person so I often push harder if I know I'm in a segment, I don't see any issues with this. It doesn't dictate my riding like some people I know who would plan a ride around a particular segment they have targeted.

I do think KOM hunters are to blame for the massive increase in short-cuts and straight lines appearing.

[i]but came from my belief that Strava suits road riding better than mountain biking.[/i]

It doesn't really, it just records where you've been, whether that's off or on, it still just measures speed, distance and location. I think despite what some non users think, most people aren't "competing" on strava, most people are just using it to record their riding/running.

Never used and not interested. If it rings your bell though ding dong to you.

I do think KOM hunters are to blame for the massive increase in short-cuts and straight lines appearing.

the rise of nnnnnduro is a more likely candidate.

I give Kudos to folk that are clearly pushing themselves, I've a lot of friends that are runners on it, and coming back from injury, a 5 mile run is something to be celebrated TBH.

Everyone likes getting a "nice one" don't they?

Yes they do, and I agree, a five mile run probably does deserve it, the last time I ran that far I couldn't move for three afterwards.. I used kudos to give someone a 'nice one' for something other than a simple ride they do every day.

I stopped using it because I realised I was starting to care just a little too much about the stuff I was KOM on!

Lines been cut on trails ever since I've been riding, I don't think strava makes it worse.

I think I've had to fix more cuts since Strava came into use, when he blocked one off a friend got admonished for blocking the cheat lines by a Strava user as it would 'be slower'. I've had an argument with someone blasting inappropriately down a fireroad who then claimed to have KOM on that fireroad so he knew he fast he was going FFS. I've seen ****ts blast past horses like idiots, I blame Strava for that aswell.

Really cant be bothered with it, I guess it can be useful for routes, but other than that it bores me, and unless you are racing then I dont see the point, especially when used with a power meter, and people seeing how they have improved then good luck to you, why are you trying to measure your improvement against yourself, so you beat yourself? well what do you win?

soooo boring and the people going on about it are bores.

Maybe if these people had more interest in how their friends are getting on and focus on helping others to enjoy their riding, its just an awful state of mind to be so obsessed with yourself unless you are a pro and its your job to be measured.

[quote=Sancho ]soooo boring and the people going on about it are bores.

Does that include the people going on about how boring it is?

[quote=Swayndo ]You won't get any benefit from carrying your road bike through a field instead of riding around it on the road.

Tell that to this bloke:

[img] [/img]

I don't use it whilst riding, I prefer to be untethered. I do use the route planning bit of the website though, that's a good tool. I occasionally wonder how far I have ridden in a month/year/lifetime or how fast I am compared to other people but generally if I know them we'll just ride up the hills together and if I don't know them then it's irrelevant to me. I have friends who get a kick out of the statistics, and if that keeps them motivated then that's great.

so you beat yourself? well what do you win?

Satisfaction, sense of achievement, and consequently pleasure.

its just an awful state of mind to be so obsessed with yourself

Says who? The thought police? I'm not obsessed with it, I just like a challenge and a bit of competition. You honestly think we're genuinely suffering because of Strava?

You may not understand the competitive person, because you may not be one - that's absolutely fine. Just don't think we're all miserable, or somehow going about life the wrong way.

isn't it about time we had a front page poll to see how much people care about strava? There do seem to be an awful lot of people here who REALLY don't care about strava AT ALL, not ONE little BIT, oh no sir-eee.

I started using it just to track my miles then kind of got hooked on trying some segments etc. It was free vs getting a Garmin for money.

It's the messages you get when you lose a KOM you didn't even know you had, and my childish competitive nature. That said I can totally understand why people don't like it, especially for MTBing when ride stats tell even less of the story than on road.

And I don't mind ignoring segments even when I have the Strava on. Honest.

Used it for a while, deleted the account this weekend. Use a Garmin Edge so was uploading from that to Strava via Garmin Connect. Just realised that Connect had been updated since I last looked and now did what I wanted.

I found it very useful for my own reference, wasn't bothered about the social bits, it was useful to see trends and performance over a period of time on regular routes. I'd track a handful of segments across my regular routes. Connect didn't have a decent segment option at the time but it seems to have improved. The privacy options are more suited to what I need as well.

Privacy always annoyed me with Strava, it's designed to be a social app and it's assumed you will want to share. Security is in there but it felt like an afterthought.

I would use it if I was able to get the GPX of other people's routes so I could try them myself.

But I believe you have to pay a fortune for that feature. So I don't find it very useful other than tracking distance and ascent.

http://strava-tools.raceshape.com/vpu/

For a long time I never used and was never interested in it, until I used it. Now I love it. To be honest I've not got into handing out Kudos left, right and centre, but I do love seeing how I'm riding on familiar segments. I've carried my phone on most rides for years as well as recorded the ride using GPS trackers, so I ran out of excuses not to at least try Strava,

I like it - it's great for checking progress, seeing how you compare to others, and of course just keeping track of how many miles you've done. If you're happy bimbling round a route and stopping when you feel like it to take a photo or have a bit of food it's probably not for you, but personally I'm not usually like that, I enjoy the exercise and the effort part of it.

I've been using it for 3 years after "not seeing the point", there's plenty of different uses for it. If someone doesn't like it after giving it a try that's fair enough.

I log my rides, see what my riding mates have been up to, remind myself to get out more and sometimes try to beat mates times (mostly on climbs). My mileage and fitness has gone up and I'm doing much longer rides than I used to before Strava, and the people I ride with most I met via Strava. The Strava route planner works well for road rides, I've let it plot some longer routes just giving point A and B and it's taken me on some great routes.

Anything that makes me ride more and have fun is good in my books.

Never saw the point.
Though i am looking at something gps capable (not my phone as i might actually need the battery to make a call) to track me on the more "i wonder where this goes" type rides.

I've never used it. I don't need the internet to tell me how slow I am. My riding mates do that well enough.

Strava took the fun out of riding for me.. I'm shit going DH, but alright uphill, so used to go for a few KOMs.. a few rides later I realised that Strava had turned riding into racing, and was not much fun so I stopped using it..

Incidentally , does anyone else think the KOMs on downhill road sections should be reconsidered? Not cos I'm shit at them, just as it's a matter of time before someone dies/injures bystanders trying to race that little bit faster on an open road..

Incidentally , does anyone else think the KOMs on downhill road sections should be reconsidered?

no, its my only hope of getting near the top of a leaderboard.

just as it's a matter of time before someone dies/injures bystanders trying to race that little bit faster on an open road..

Happened years ago in the US and his family sued Strava. Courts ruled he was to blame.

Never saw the point.

Best thing for me is the graph of your segment times over time - so you can see if you've improved or not, and if your training is effective.

Wahoooooo!! Live segments on the 810 are go!

Hopefully this should make up for the fact you can no longer use Google street view to scope out the start/end of a segment.

(I think Strava is well good...)

joeydeacon

Strava took the fun out of riding for me.. I'm shit going DH, but alright uphill, so used to go for a few KOMs.. a few rides later I realised that Strava had turned riding into racing, and was not much fun so I stopped using it..

Then just don't take it so seriously. I like it because it keeps me honest when I'm riding solo, otherwise I'd just potter about and get bored.

I like that it adds a little incentive to go faster, not the same pressure as a race situation but just a little something to encourage a bit more effort.

Wahoooooo!! Live segments on the 810 are go!

I updated this morning before riding to work, do I need to activate it in the settings I can't see any reference to it.

Strava took the fun out of riding for me.. I'm shit going DH, but alright uphill, so used to go for a few KOMs.. a few rides later I realised that Strava had turned riding into racing, and was not much fun so I stopped using it..

Or was it because you weren't as quick as you thought you were? 😉

Never used it.

Not interested in it.

I seem to have hit the criteria from the OP.

Not fast enough or out often enough to make it worthwhile on the mountainbike, but for road riding and even more so running I find it useful and to be honest pretty addictive. Probably pushes me more than I have in the past and I'd say a year of Strava convinced me to get back into a road club (which has pushed me even more)

I updated this morning before riding to work, do I need to activate it in the settings I can't see any reference to it.

Don't use Strava anymore, just the Garmin Segments in Connect. I had to Send the segment to my 510 for it to track. When you approach it starts a countdown and then raced me against my best time for the segment. Headwind last night so it was an ever increasing red box 🙁

More useful than I thought it would be.

Or was it because you weren't as quick as you thought you were?

Nah I've still got all of the KOMs 2 years later.. I just realised I was too old to be shaking and tasting blood at the top of climbs!

Were these segments that you set and then covered with fallen branches so that nobidy else could find them? 😉

Never used Strava, but do use a GPS to log my rides and upload to MapMyRide. It has a 'segments kind of thing that I use to watch my own times on certain sections, but not as heavy on the 'KOM' thing as Strava - ie, you don't get an email if someone beats your time.

I can see how Strava can be useful as a training thing, but I think it's got a reputation (rightly or wrongly) as being full of over-competitive knobbers, and on the basis of that, it's not for me. I'm also put off by the idea of being followed and praised by random people. That's just odd...

I started using it when it was linked to Garmin Connect. I log rides on Training Peaks but as Garmin could be set up to send files to both without me having to do anything I thought I'd give it a go.

I look at how I compare with the really fast people round here, mainly interested in road climbs. It gives me some targets to aim for and so makes me put in more specific efforts than I did before. I've a few top 10s and got my first KOM last week (56 min road loop done by a whole 22 people!) but most KOMs round here are held by either a local semi-pro or the new National MTB Elite Series champion.

beej

I look at how I compare with the really fast people round here, mainly interested in road climbs. It gives me some targets to aim for and so makes me put in more specific efforts than I did before. I've a few top 10s and got my first KOM last week (56 min road loop done by a whole 22 people!) but most KOMs round here are held by either a local semi-pro or the new National MTB Elite Series champion.

I'm assuming most places are going to be like this, if you've got a half decent route on the road, or good trails you can be pretty sure it'll attract good riders.

I'm also put off by the idea of being followed and praised by random people.

You don't need to be at all. Set your profile as requiring your approval for followers and never approve anyone.

Never used Strava, but do use a GPS to log my rides and upload to MapMyRide

So you don't use Strava but something very like Strava without as much of the community element.

Don't need an app to tell me I'm slow and off pace.

Were these segments that you set and then covered with fallen branches so that nobidy else could find them?

Nah, one is a lap of my living room, another is a hallway sprint, and the rest are through the front door and down the driveway!

aphex_2k - Member
Don't need an app to tell me I'm slow and off pace.

Never used Strava, but do use a GPS to log my rides and upload to MapMyRide

So you don't use Strava but something very like Strava without as much of the community element.

Yep. The 'community' element is the bit I don't feel I need - hence my comments about being followed by random strangers. I realise you can amend privacy settings and such, but I'd rather use something where those things are opt-in rather than opt-out.

I'm not completely anti-Strava, just feel it's not for me.

I used it twice but BR off of here stalked my Kom's when I didn't know I was meant to be racing!;-)
He then had the cheek to move to Scotland!!
I stopped using it as I can't cope with the pressure cooker environment of strava.
I'm now a cycling hermit with no friends and use viewrAnger to log distances. 🙂

I've tried it a few times

I prefer Endomondo

I'm not into making my rides competitive, although I do realise it's not all about that

I started using Endomondo to log how much exercise I was getting