[Closed] Strava (segments) have ruined riding for me?

MAny of us have been there yes, some more than once.

I can echo that stopping caring makes a massive difference to enjoyment.

db (46) - I tried Strava once many years ago. (I did not inhale it).

I could see the future, doing anything to get another hit. I knew it would ruin my health, relationships and suck any joy out of my life.

I uninstalled and just said no. It might be too late for you but please just try slowing down. Take a camera, stop, take a picture. Enjoy the simple pleasure of travelling on two wheels at a different pace to the so called 'modern' world.

Life is not a race to the finish!

Strava is brilliant, it's you that's the problem.

Segment times are utterly pointless, as there's ways to cheat them, and folks do.

Strava is brilliant, it’s you that’s the problem.

C'mon, don't sugar coat it - say what you really mean. 😆😂

Just remove live segments.

I too am interested in times across segments, but don’t try to target them and just try to take them as part of a ride. On a good day, when I’m feeling good, I may get a top ten (or at least top 10 in the year - routes change) but I’m not going to turn myself inside out to beat a time for an arbitrary segment at the expense of the whole ride.

You can see that many do. Average speed across the 60km ride = 26kph, average speed across a 0.76km segment = 45kph. They’ve framed their whole ride around a time on a segment. How sad is that?

Just remove live segments.

I've done this now.

Strava is brilliant, it’s you that’s the problem.

Well, your reaction to it.

I'm not that competitive - or fit - but occasionally I sneak into the top 10 on a segment on some of our local tracks. One in particular was a particularly convoluted segment on my commute I didn't know existed till it appeared on my achievements. I checked and saw that taking a minute off it would make me top 3, so bashed it out one day and got there. Would have needed another minute to get second place, really not worth the effort to me.

I use strava but only think about it after I've finished a ride. It's a useful way to keep track of how I'm doing but if I'm out I'll go faster if I'm feeling good and slower if I'm not.

Plus, segment/time chasing involves increased speed and risk, whether it's traffic on a road segment if you misjudge it, or other trail users on a bridleway. I'm not sure screaming "STRAVAAAA!" just before impact is a legal defence that will work.

I'd rather be a bit slower with good flow, smoothness and a bit of flair on a good day.

Pure speed is for Time Triallers and Triathletes and they use aero bars. You don't want to end up like them, do you?

Plus, segment/time chasing involves increased speed and risk, whether it’s traffic on a road segment if you misjudge it, or other trail users on a bridleway. I’m not sure screaming “STRAVAAAA!” just before impact is a legal defence that will work.

Fair point - but I am fairly risk averse in general. I do have a wife and kids who rely on me. I've absolutely missed good times on segments because there are people on the trail, and on the MTB I don't let rip if I can't see round corners, segment or no segment. I'll happily slow right down and miss out on a "trophy" and always will give as much space and time as possible. I'm pretty sure I could have got a PR on the closest segment to home yesterday but didn't because there were people so the second half I slowed right down. I don't think I'm inconsiderate (but it's not for me to decide), but if it's early and there's no-one on that (shared) path - I'd really struggle not to go all in on it.

In fact yesterday, when I slowed to pass someone, I realised the PR would be gone (because my PR was done when it was absolutely empty) was the start of a more relaxed rest of the ride. And that was part of the epiphany.. 🙂

I’d rather be a bit slower with good flow, smoothness and a bit of flair on a good day.

Absolutely get that vibe now. On Saturday I had a great ride and was really pleased with the way I rode, rather than being please because the app told me I was quick. I'm looking forward to more of those days.

Pure speed is for Time Triallers and Triathletes and they use aero bars. You don’t want to end up like them, do you?

Absolutely not. 🤣

Pre-kids when I was fitter/had more time to ride I'd bust a gut to get a PR/top ten, even push on for a KoM.
The rage I'd get from a stray GPS reading denying me a little virtual badge was embarrassing 😅.

Now I'm getting a bit meh, it's still good to see a little badge to show all is not lost fitness wise.

Who knows, one day I might just sack Strava off all together.

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/383703/

https://www.pinkbike.com/video/383703//blockquote >

If I could do it with anything like as much style I probably wouldn't mind as much 😆 Attaching the GPS to the dog might well help me. So that's it; I need a dog 😂

 

Just look at your results after the ride. You will soon stop getting faster, so dont waste time measuring your natural decline.

Any segment less than several minutes it b00locks given the variability of reception and device etc. You are on a hiding to nothing if you keep looking at segements. Just rememeber you are not Nino Shurter and some people cheat.

Use your rides to explore, improve your skills rather than speed, that can actually be more satisfying.

Ride somewhere where Strava really doesnt matter - like Woburn for example. Its so twisty and fun chasing your mates round there segment times are too short to be meaningfull.

You can see that many do. Average speed across the 60km ride = 26kph, average speed across a 0.76km segment = 45kph. They’ve framed their whole ride around a time on a segment. How sad is that?

You don't know what anyone's reasons are though, do you? I quite often go for a fartlek/interval type run in which I'll target 4 or 5 local strava segments, it's a great way of measuring how well I'm running, but to someone who doesn't know that, it looks like I'm strava hunting.

I know a couple of EWS riders, and they do lots of interval stuff, all that filters down to your average Joe via social media, mag articles etc, and strava segments are perfect for measurement against yourself.

OP - sorry, that sounded a tad harsh, I meant that it's your competitiveness that is the issue, strava is merely a vehicle for it. 🙂

I might get a t-shirt with this

dont waste time measuring your natural decline

and this

Life is not a race to the finish!

on it to remind me 🙂

Ride somewhere where Strava really doesnt matter – like Woburn for example. Its so twisty and fun chasing your mates round there segment times are too short to be meaningfull.

I'll let all the Stravaholics around Woburn know that this is the case.........;)

OP – sorry, that sounded a tad harsh, I meant that it’s your competitiveness that is the issue, strava is merely a vehicle for it. 🙂

Don't apologise - I know that already! The original post was a bit tongue in cheek - I like Strava for lots of things, and I absolutely know that it's about what goes on inside my head not the GPS or smartphone 😀

Make time for a ride once a week where all you're riding for is to develop new riding skills. Trackstand, manual, bunny hop, skinnies, getting up bigger obstacles, getting off bigger obstacles, etc. Just spend the whole ride not riding from a to b or a loop. Spend it in handful of spots where you practice a skill. You might even have to spend time resting and not riding at all!

On the positive side, Strava only Live Segments anything that doesn't go downhill, so you'll be doing the harder fitness segments and busting a gut...rather than harder skills segments (as Strava doesn't allow them to be flagged as Live Segments).

Strava segments can be great as a motivational tool to try and improve, whether that's simply chasing your PBs, beating your mates' times or trying to get a top 10 overall.

You simply need to plan your efforts realistically and be aware of your current accumulated fatigue levels.

Not every ride has to involve pushing yourself to anything close to your limits.

I pushed myself to my current limits up the Draycott climb on Saturday, given my lack of training due to my lanced abscess healing besides overdoing things in the last ~1.5 weeks, I can't grumble... Not to mention I couldn't have taken it easier, I was in my easiest gear for most of the climb due to the ~20% gradient.

Yesterday I went up Ebbor Gorge, but there were plenty of sections I would have tried bigger gears if I was going all out, but I was knackered after Draycott the day before on top of the fatigue I inflicted on myself since the start of September.

Today I might not get any bike time at all and if I do, it will almost certainly be a short pootle on the flats.

Tomorrow, I'll see how I feel about giving Cheddar Gorge a lung busting effort, if I don't feel so good I'll just take it easy after the ramps after the base.

I use Strava in a comparing myself to me kinda way, it's also a nice way to compare notes with mates after a ride as we're not all on one GPS brand.

I don't bother chasing segments and I hate 'strava lines' on the local trails although I've definitely had chilled out rides and others where I push myself, but that's more the situation and what I want to get out of it rather than Strava causing it.

That said, I've a mate that seems to plan rides around getting a segment and uses them like interval training.

It is what you make it, I think turning off live segments will have made a big difference for you.

Strava took away all my enjoyment from cycling around 2015. I was always aiming for PBs, and never doing any exploring or sight seeing. It took me a year (maybe 2?) to get the love back, stopped using Strava, and restarted carrying snacks, going with company, or taking pictures along the way.
I'm fully back to enjoying biking, and using strava again, but making a conscious effort to NOT examine the ride efforts after getting home.

For me strava is just another social media tool. I tell myself I use it to track calories and all that shit, but frankly and honestly I use it so my other Strava mates can see where I've been.

The day they put segments, KOMs and all that nonsense behind the paywall was a good day. I got right into it, especially on a few sections a few years ago, ffs I'm a tubby 40+ year old with an injury list as long as my ruined arm, but I've taking huge risks trying to slice a couple of seconds off a section for what? It's woefully inaccurate anyway.

Like Facebook who make billions by spreading misinformation and selling your data, Twitter where you can get into an argument with an Egg for 'fun' and Instagram where you can feel inadequate by comparing your life with a staged, filtered, edited version of someone elses, I don't seem to be able to leave it alone. The sheer horror of realising mid-ride, or worse post-ride you forgot to set it, is real, verging on OCD, this terrible dark feeling that something terrible will happen if your friends and a few strangers don't give you a half-second of interest as they scroll thought and see you've ridden Afan tuesday for the 100th time and give you Kudos. It's even not because they actually read your times, or even really gave 2 shits where you rode, but just because they're your mates and (hopefully) they like you. They click, you click and all that shit.

Just remove live segments.

I too am interested in times across segments, but don’t try to target them and just try to take them as part of a ride

Sums it up for me. My phone stays in my jersey picket and I only look at the ride when I get home and have uploaded it. Good to see if I am slowing down much over the years as now 52 so never going to get any KOMs that I didn't get 5+ years ago.

Am in a happy place with Strava right now, if and when I actually 'try' for a segment it's usually in the middle of an otherwise easy ride as that's just how I'm training right now (e.g. no value in just smashing myself everywhere). It's just a little bit of extra fun and intrigue on top of mindlessly smashing yourself along a certain section of track/road.

I also ignore the short pointless segments as I'm telling myself I'm training for long gradual Alpine climbs so am not focusing on the short stuff anyway 🙂

Also, I *always* have a handy bag of excuses so I can just laugh it off if I get nowhere near the top ten after completely emptying myself. My ego is surprisingly robust these days! 😀

Also, as a complete aside, I seem to have a very generous group of followers/followees, I've twice recently uploaded (just because it uploads to public as a default) some utterly meaningless roller sessions, not even structured in an special way, just trying out new saddles or something.

Both have attracted a health crop of 'Kudos' to which my reaction is "Why"? I might start setting those rides to private... 😀

I ditched Strava for many of the reasons OP is talking about. It was sucking the joy of my riding, I knew pretty much most of the segments near me, and while it was raising my levels of anxiety or anything like that, I was acutely aware of how I was riding them. Plus I live in a Honey Spot riding location, some of the locals are really really good, and mere mortals like myself are waaay down the league table, so the chances of KOM-ing a section are remote anyway.

So I gave up, haven't used it in months, and my membership expired yesterday. I still record my rides, but I do it for myself and don't share with anyone.

I also ignore the short pointless segments

Those are the ones where the GPS error KOM potential is the highest! Got one on a 10 second segment with 6500 fellow athletes last week, into a headwind. Never lose hope!

The day they put segments, KOMs and all that nonsense behind the paywall was a good day.

That's not what happened. Without paying you can still see and create segments, you can still see and get a KOM and/or on the top 10, and you can still compare your effort with the KOM holder.

In the absence of any other competitive outlets in lockdown (I'm not a Zwifter) I've been in full Strava ****er mode. My list of KOMs extends onto a third page at the moment (95% road though) 😀 .

Have you tried racing OP? Could be a natural next step in getting faster for you - I guarantee it will re-calibrate your use of Strava back to something more normal.

Not the best time to try a MTB race, obv, and it can also be a bit patchy depending on where you live in the UK. But there's usually something to go at within an hour - XC, enduro, cyclocross etc.

There's also challenge events which are sort of like a MTB sportive I guess - nice way to ride somewhere new whilst going hard. Some racers will be at the front but main group are just regular fitness, so you'll get a rough picture of where you stand.

Have you tried racing OP? Could be a natural next step in getting faster for you – I guarantee it will re-calibrate your use of Strava back to something more normal.

An interesting thought. I have a done a couple of races BITD, and more recently but I was still a fat knacker.

Not the best time to try a MTB race, obv, and it can also be a bit patchy depending on where you live in the UK. But there’s usually something to go at within an hour – XC, enduro, cyclocross etc.

I'm in France, but the same is true.

There’s also challenge events which are sort of like a MTB sportive I guess – nice way to ride somewhere new whilst going hard. Some racers will be at the front but main group are just regular fitness, so you’ll get a rough picture of where you stand.

I'm pretty sure I don't want to know that 😆 That's one of the compelling things about Strava segments for this - you can kid yourself much more easily. Clearly some of the segments, for example, are drier now than I've ever seen them and consequently ridiculously fast rolling. Sucks to be one of the really fast guys that rode them last January 😁🤣