You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I do find all these Strava addicts moaning about it quite funny.
I'm mostly laughing at the haters this morning. Bunch of luddite saddos. Race for real it's quite like strava nice gap and ride like hell so hard to do when your mate is blocking the trail.
And as before corner cutting has been going on as long as mountain biking. If you don't believe it then you havnt been looking
Im targetting a whole set of KOMs round where I live. There is one big loop segment, then lots of smaller segment along the loop.
The pace of the leader is easily met on the short segments, so I'm going after those 1 by 1, and building the speed endurance backup to go after the full segment KOM.
Obsessive? Possibly, but as I'm building up to a race where I need to run at that pace for 14miles, then its all part of the motivation.
Strava is a means to end for me, not that bothered about the KOMs, but am aiming to get quicker for racing
Strava is great.
It makes you think about how you are riding a lot more. Instead of just coasting through sections I'm now looking for places to pedal. As a result I have to deal with corners and jumps and drops in a different way.
Its good it gives you an incentive to try harder and you learn more about riding as you are having to deal with obstacles at speed.
You get fitter too.
richmtb, I ride just like that without Strava, all my riding mates are faster so Ive no choice.
richmtb, I ride just like that without Strava, all my riding mates are faster so Ive no choice.
So why haven't you caught up with them yet?
😉
I don't really get Strava as a training tool or the idea of posting your rides/training online for all and sundry to view. I get that if you want to have a competition with your mates it can be a great tool but I'd rather no one knew what I'd been doing before turning up to actual races. Along with that I'm the kind of person that would get far to involved with trying to beat other people’s times that I would no doubt interrupt my proper training to do so and slow down my own progress as a result.
Iain
One of my hills has been done 304 times, 41 of them are mine. I'm going for 50% of the total - there must be some sort of perseverence award, I'm miles off the KOM time 🙂
Iain Gillam - Member
I don't really get Strava as a training tool or the idea of posting your rides/training online for all and sundry to view. I get that if you want to have a competition with your mates it can be a great tool but I'd rather no one knew what I'd been doing before turning up to actual races. Along with that I'm the kind of person that would get far to involved with trying to beat other people’s times that I would no doubt interrupt my proper training to do so and slow down my own progress as a result.Iain
I don't have a training plan I just ride and get fit as a consequence. On a normal ride I can never push as hard as I can in a race. The incentive to get a KOM makes it a bit easier to push yourself like you would in a race.
On my road club fast rides we'll often race to the top of the hill or sprint to the cafe for a bit of a laugh (and then regroup) although not for strava KOMs. There has been plenty of banter in the mtb club about "doing a strava" whenever we come to a well known segment. A chance for a it of a free for all and then a regroup once those not playing catch up.
Strava is just a bit of fun and as I understand it completely optional. It is a lot more casual than racing.
Klunk - MemberStrava is Xbox Live (or whatever it's called) for fit people.
much much more easy to cheat on strava than xbox live.
And will be completely useless once more people realise you can very easily edit the text files 🙄 Sure there must already be programs out there to do it. I've edited my own for Garmin Connect before to join what it decided to track as 2 separate rides into one. Wont be long before people start tweaking the timestamps in them slightly to give them KoM.
I can see how it can make rides more fun and add an extra element to them, especially group rides or solo mtb rides on routes your mates also do (in fact to me it seems it should be much more an mtb thing than a roady thing with the whole racing your mates/pub banter aspect and I'd imagine it could be very useful for DH racers.)
What I'm failing to grasp is the people who chase KOM's and head out to re-take them shortly after they have lost them. Reason being is that that’s what I'd end up doing if I used it and I think that would be counter productive to getting quicker vs structured training. Using it hyper competitively would be like cutting your nose off to spite your face sort of a thing IMO; you get small doses of satisfaction by getting a KOM or such but perform under par at actual races.
Iain
And will be completely useless once more people realise you can very easily edit the text files Sure there must already be programs out there to do it. I've edited my own for Garmin Connect before to join what it decided to track as 2 separate rides into one. Wont be long before people start tweaking the timestamps in them slightly to give them KoM.
done that, not easy though to amend the timestamps to give a realistic ride. I only did it to correct a missing section of ride, so i knew the start time and end time and just averaged the bit in the middle. The other issue woud be making sure the number of timestamps and the positions are corrected for the new time.
+ the crushing spot of an email in your in box entitled..
'Uh oh....someone has.."
For all my Strava bashing I don't mind it. I'd never bother with it myself that's all.
All I ever say is that you don't need it. 'It' gives you nothing you can't do without it. If you can push yourself with it, you can push youself without it. I still think a proper training plan is the way forward. That or nutting it out with a riding partner, and measure it by the amount of dribble hanging from your chin or the sick you're having to swallow.
I was also unwittingly caught up in a bit of Strava'ing, I took a new club mate back early, we did a bit of a 2 up TT for fun and apparently took a segment win or whatever?
I'd think little TTs might go down well with the Strava lot. Road racing isn't always fast, sometimes it's silly slow
From my blog.
The last race to date was the final vets race at the Bowl. Again the weather held and we had a race on our hands. It was a different story this week though. A five man break had got away from the start and was keeping ahead thanks to the younger race that night blocking us. Five of us got a chain going, but no one else would help, so when we tired it all slowed down. Fed up with this I told a fellow worker that I was going to overtake the younger race and to hold my wheel. We got past and I'd towed the whole race past. The gap started to close, but no one else but us five would do any work. So I found myself lapping the younger race again. The effort to pass was far harder this time and I had to swallow my own sick, I was cooked and struggled on the back. That left just the other four doing the work, so the gap once again opened!
Why people enter a race and don't race I don't know. Perhaps they just like to say they race and wear all the kit?
The bell lap was a repeat performance of the previous week with the shirkers moving up. One guy even had a pop, but went to early and had to sit up. That's what happens if you don't work in a crit, you won't know what to expect when you get out in front. Then shirker number two went, again far too early, so I chased and got on their wheel...thanks mate. Then I just waited until I saw the line and passed. I got another 11th, though the leading five where 30 seconds ahead.
Strava is about going out and giving it all. Thats it. I like.
It a great training tool when you use the "My results" section.
Other than that it's just an excuse to have a laugh and take the pi$$ out of your competertive mates. If a pro racer ever found our segments we'd all be in trouble.
Even on this next one I'll never get higher than 4th place even with dry conditions and a tail wind.
http://app.strava.com/rides/20151858#362018913
Just don't take it too serious or you'll go mad
I just see it as a bit of fun. Makes me try a bit harder than I usually would occasionally too which can't be a bad thing 🙂
Where's your blog oldgit?
Why people enter a race and don't race I don't know. Perhaps they just like to say they race and wear all the kit?
this + 1
[quote=oldgit ]
Why people enter a race and don't race I don't know. Perhaps they just like to say they race and wear all the kit?
Or they're doing it to get a slot in a different Olympic cycling event.
Mind you - how many of the participants of the TdF are actually racing? To win?
If a pro racer ever found our segments we'd all be in trouble.
Happened here, Basque & Spanish tours and the San Sebastian Classic have passed through this summer leaving a trail of destruction in the leaderboards 😆
Where's your blog oldgit?
Just this, nothing fancy. Just CSE English ramblings for my own use.
www.smilerbiker.blogspot.com
Yay! I got a KOM today, really sharp short climb that flattens off which I always struggle on the flat bit of. why is my breathing ok when hammering it on the steep bit but when it eases off my lungs just pack in?
FWIW a lot of us don't race XC but like to ride bikes on longer routes. Not everyone is Training for something, sometimes we are training just to be a bit quicker or to banish the belly.
Sometimes of a trail is close the Uh Oh email is enough to kick me into action to go for a short ride rather than not do anything. I have 6-8 segments within 3km of the door.
done that, not easy though to amend the timestamps to give a realistic ride. I only did it to correct a missing section of ride, so i knew the start time and end time and just averaged the bit in the middle. The other issue woud be making sure the number of timestamps and the positions are corrected for the new time.
Maybe not that easy by hand, but far from difficult to write a program to do it. In fact I've already written a bit of code to add laps to a TCX file at custom times (so that I get a lap at each control for orienteering type events), which calculates distance and speed for each lap from the data available. It really wouldn't be all that difficult even to generate new positions by interpolating.
So who'd be interested in buying a KOM app? 😈
'It' gives you nothing you can't do without it. If you can push yourself with it, you can push youself without it.
Maybe, but a big part of a good training plan is motivation - I should know as it's something I've struggled a lot with recently. Of course there are plenty of other ways to motivate yourself, but don't dismiss this as being useful for nerds who are into logging everything they do (and don't necessarily have lots of mates to ride with - or have family commitments which get in the way of most group stuff).
Maybe so.
Does Strava record the whole ride or just the segments of a particular ride?
The awful image I have is of people not cycling, but Strava'ing i.e slowly riding up to a segment and giving it their all before spending ten minutes bent double recovering. Then bimbling to the next segment and so on.
Just seems like added faff to me. You know how they say that golf ruins a good walk.
Motivation to ride? That's the strangest thing I ever hear on this forum. Motivation to get up at the crack of dawn every day to go swimming, or go to the gym each lunchtime yes, but to ride?
Does Strava record the whole ride or just the segments of a particular ride?
Whole ride is recorded - segments are done in processing
The awful image I have is of people not cycling, but Strava'ing i.e slowly riding up to a segment and giving it their all before spending ten minutes bent double recovering. Then bimbling to the next segment and so on.
Not much different to how I see some people riding trail centres.
Just seems like added faff to me. You know how they say that golf ruins a good walk.
Only if you let it, I stop and drop my seat or have a bite to eat at some points in a ride, some coincide with segments.
Off road they generally split up very naturally ie fire road crossings etc. On road there may be several short segments in 1 longer one like 3 hills in a linger climb so no point stopping after 1.
Motivation to ride? That's the strangest thing I ever hear on this forum. Motivation to get up at the crack of dawn every day to go swimming, or go to the gym each lunchtime yes, but to ride?
It's been wet and sh*te here for the last couple of months. Sometimes need a good kick up the arse to get out. Also the challenges - last one was climb 6881m in a week are a good way to push further and harder. Add the extra loop or one more lap etc. these are what interest me most. Also since I moved to Oz and started working for myself it's hard to find people with the same free time. I can use Strava KOM's or Segments as an excuse/motivation to get out when no one is around.
As you havn't tried it I wouldn't expect you to understand 😉
You're right I won't so I wouldn't. Old dog etc.
I have to accept my ways are a bit old fashioned. Like I'm the only rider that goes training with the club on a training bike or old bike and old kit and basic shoes. Whilst the others turn out in their very best kit all the time.
I'm not so bothered about segments any more, they were more like a passing fad...
I much prefer to use Strava to try and track my own general riding/fitness progress, I tend to look at my average speeds on regular loops/commutes or for certain types/lengths of ride over time, I pretty much ignore the segments now, its just a snap shot of a bit of a ride and doesn't reall tell you that much of any use.
Have a look every once in a while perhaps to see where you might stand against your mates perhaps, but its not actually that interesting or useful. Is having a KOM to your name really a goal in and of itself?
If you are trying to improve your own riding/fitness Strava is better used as a personal benchmark and tracker type tool IMO...
I think the whole KOM glory chasing "Every Ride is a Race" mentality only really serves to work against any sort of group/community of riders, instead you wind up with a collection of individuals out to beat people they will never meet for minor interwebz based glory... that's bordering on tragic.
A real life race where you meet your competition is a "better" higher stress/pressure test of a racer surely?
I don't see Strava getting involved in real racing much though (perhaps I'm wrong) but it seems likte they have a potentially great technology platform for timing real world events, for all the fuss made over KOMs I do think there is more scope for wider applications using Strava for proper competition, rather than just Stranger racing.
The awful image I have is of people not cycling, but Strava'ing i.e slowly riding up to a segment and giving it their all before spending ten minutes bent double recovering. Then bimbling to the next segment and so on.
Sounds like interval training to me. Now that's something I really struggle with motivation for.
Motivation to ride? That's the strangest thing I ever hear on this forum. Motivation to get up at the crack of dawn every day to go swimming, or go to the gym each lunchtime yes, but to ride?
Well clearly it's not a problem for you then 🙄