Strava Anyone?

[deckertim]

Are any CCers using Strava yet. Blo**dy nightmare. Every ride, every hill, every fast bit, has now turned into a race! I was introduced by my son and now find that so many of the people I know are also using it.

This was my ride on Sunday. Quite pleased with my efforts getting up Vigo Hill, only to discover how low down the leader board I am. Dead chuffed that I am Second on the leader board for Batts Hill. Unfortunately out of only 4 people!

http://app.strava.com/rides/5386350

Check it out. Very cool app for Smart phone users, but also works really well for Garmin users.

 

[Nearly there]

I tried it but didnt realise it updated your ride to the site automatically good app otherwise

 

[HLaB]

Are any CCers using Strava yet.

There's a few of us.

 

[deckertim]

There's a few of us.

doh. I did a search and didn't find that thread. Thanks

 

[jdtate101]

Yep regular Strava user, both for cycling and running. Another nice feature about the segments is the ability to historically see all your past attempts, so you can track your progress. I "own" a few KOM's in my local area, but there are some young striplings out there who are just much better. I still think strava's power calculation is wrong, as I did a ride with another guy, same course same time (we rode together up the climb). He was using the iphone app, I was using my Garmin + HR strap + GSC-10. His avg power for the climb was 315w mine was 265w. We are both the same weight, height and age, yet I rated a lower wattage? Either his was over egged or mine under, not sure which. the only way to really tell would be with a proper powermeter.

Generally I think Strava is one of the best tracking websites, and I've tried a few (endomondo, MapMyRide, RideWithGPS).

 

[mattobrien]

Thanks for the heads up. I did my first ride with Strava on yesterday. I was surprised how accurate it was with GPS from my iPhone. All in it was only 0.1 mph different to my bike computer and I probably put that down to having to stop at a level crossing.

It also really hit home that there are no hills in Suffolk, only 167m ascent on the 21.5 mile route. I surely am going to struggle if I ever cycle in some more challenging terrain.

I have now created some of my own segents and am looking forward to see how I get on at trying to beat my times.

 

[HLaB]

I was surprised how accurate it was

Its pretty inaccurate, well it must be it consistently makes me slower
For the same run today Garmin Connect had me at 17.1mph, whereas Strava had me at 16.9mph and RWGPS had me at 17.2mph

 

[lulubel]

Its pretty inaccurate, well it must be it consistently makes me slower
For the same run today Garmin Connect had me at 17.1mph, whereas Strava had me at 16.9mph and RWGPS had me at 17.2mph

I've been noticing the differences between Garmin Connect and Strava, and I'm a bit puzzled by it. How much information does it actually take from your Garmin, then? Not a lot, from what I can see, since a lot of the data that varies from one site to the next is also available on the device itself.

 

[jdtate101]

Apparently they take the base data, but do their own power and calories calculations. The Avg speed they display is "avg moving speed", not the avg speed "including stops" which Garmin use.

I think their calorie calculation is more accurate as the Garmin one is based upon speed/distance and I think Strava uses HR and gradient too.

You can compare my last ride (Dragon Ride 2012 Medio Fondo Course) with the Garmin and Strava Stats:

http://app.strava.com/rides/5705992

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/161443376

 

[Crackle]

I think it's the way it calculates pauses. I mainly use Sportracks and you can set that to ignore anything below a certain speed. So I don't ever bother pausing my Garmin if I'm stopped as I know it won't be included, same if I'm not quite stopped but Strava doesn't calculate pauses, stops and slow speeds the same way and I dare say other software will have similar discrepancies. Result is some minor differences in speed calcs.

Calorie calcs are also different, Strava assigns a higher number burnt. All in all though it's not bad.

If you ever pause your device but keep moving and then un-pause it, that'll play merry hell with any speed calcs.

 

[lulubel]

I think their calorie calculation is more accurate as the Garmin one is based upon speed/distance and I think Strava uses HR and gradient too.

As far as I know, calorie calculations depend on the Garmin device you're using. Some use distance and speed, others use heart rate. Presumably, it's the data from the device itself that's uploaded to Garmin Connect, which would explain why some people see a huge calorie variation between GC and other sites and others don't. My Garmin is one that uses heart rate, and for me the calorie figures are pretty similar. It's just other things that are surprisingly different - like distance, speed and time!