Strava question.

[esoxlucius]

Yeah - people stopping at cafe's for a mid ride bun and telling their wife they are sticking to a diet!!!!

Ahh, but surely that's allowed because said bun is burnt off on the way home, lol.

I have a terrible sweet tooth. The only way I can justify to my wife is pointing out, "but i'm a cyclist, it's allowed". She says I'm all skin and bone so it must work, lol.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Ahh, but surely that's allowed because said bun is burnt off on the way home, lol.

I have a terrible sweet tooth. The only way I can justify to my wife is pointing out, "but i'm a cyclist, it's allowed". She says I'm all skin and bone so it must work, lol.

Yeah - that's not me

although there is a new cafe boat on the local canal that has gluten free cake - which is actually medicine for me - so I am thinking my weight might not be reduced by cycling for me now!

 

[esoxlucius]

I've been on Strava for a few days now. Wow, I'm just glad I'm not the highly competitive type! Every route I go on the end map is awash with segments. There must be literally millions of these segments up and down the country on all types of roads, varying from just a couple of hundred metres to several kilometres.

At the minute because I'm new to it all my times are understandably coming up as PB's to me. I can also see what other cyclists times are on the same segments, which is a little worrying if I'm honest.

I eluded to the fact that Strava rides are open to unscrupulous efforts. But, as someone else pointed out there are some very fast amateur riders. There is no way I'm saying everyone is cheating because that wouldn't be true.

But some of the speeds that i'm seeing, 50-60kph, highly achievable on some of the flatter roads I go on, make me think that some of these riders, just to get a KOM time are putting themselves in unnecessary danger. Pro's travelling at breakneck speed is one thing because the roads are closed, but the roads aren't closed for a would be KOM Strava wannabe.

I suppose without seeing cycling related deaths figures on our roads, before and after Strava became a thing, it's difficult to quantify.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

suppose without seeing cycling related deaths figures on our roads, before and after Strava became a thing, it's difficult to quantify.

Look them up, they are available if that's your thing.

 

[figbat]

Strava has some rules about segments and will hide or remove the leaderboard for any that are identified as dangerous. Maybe flagged by a user or with certain characteristics.

 

[esoxlucius]

I started scratching the surface and there does seem to be a lot of info out there.

I think the general gist is that although many believe that Strava and similar platforms can encourage overly dangerous riding in an attempt to beat a PM or get a KOM, the evidence shows that deaths prior to Strava and the likes are still higher!

And, unsurprisingly really, it would seem that riding at speed in a built up area is still way safer than travelling at speed in a rural area, as this is where most cycling deaths occur.

As a bit of a humorous aside it would seem that Strava addicts have become "wind dopers", a term I wasn't familiar with. They check the weather religiously to see if they can hook up to a good tailwind during their efforts!

Better than doing their effort on a motorbike I suppose, lol.

 

[HLaB]

I've been on Strava for a few days now. Wow, I'm just glad I'm not the highly competitive type! Every route I go on the end map is awash with segments. There must be literally millions of these segments up and down the country on all types of roads, varying from just a couple of hundred metres to several kilometres.

At the minute because I'm new to it all my times are understandably coming up as PB's to me. I can also see what other cyclists times are on the same segments, which is a little worrying if I'm honest.

I eluded to the fact that Strava rides are open to unscrupulous efforts. But, as someone else pointed out there are some very fast amateur riders. There is no way I'm saying everyone is cheating because that wouldn't be true.

But some of the speeds that i'm seeing, 50-60kph, highly achievable on some of the flatter roads I go on, make me think that some of these riders, just to get a KOM time are putting themselves in unnecessary danger. Pro's travelling at breakneck speed is one thing because the roads are closed, but the roads aren't closed for a would be KOM Strava wannabe.

I suppose without seeing cycling related deaths figures on our roads, before and after Strava became a thing, it's difficult to quantify.

You choose to be on leader boards or not and a section of your start/end of your ride is randomly hidden. Also you can hide certain things like start time. If you don't want folk to see your regular patterns. So 🤞it pretty safe security wise. Despite its features though I don't start/finish my ride at my door. It'll be some bloke in the neighbourhood who has their bike nicked if the system is somehow cracked. I also don't participate in the 'Local Legend' (the person who rides the segment the most in 30days); to me it draws too much attention to my rides and I'd rather dissappear into the 1000s of folk who have ridden some segments.

Strava auto flags dangerous segments and you can also flag segments you think are dangerous. Although I think strava has auto flagged some safe segments as dangerous or maybe its locals who don't want cyclists in their street/village; as I saw some segments titled ........it's not dangerous.......

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Youc an also make your ride private
then yo are told about your times and position of the segment
butit doesn;t appear on the actual leaderboard

and no-one else - except you followers - can see what you do and where you ride

in theory and if I understand it right

The segments can encourage problems due to speed
round here I ride on some that are on canal banks and the leaderboard suggests that the fastest time is at a speed that only the like of Tom Pidcock could do safely and even then only if the track was known to be clear!!

I also find I often miss them as the actual route is, if you look at it, actually IN the canal so it is easy to go along it and it not register

 

[HLaB]

Youc an also make your ride private
then yo are told about your times and position of the segment
butit doesn;t appear on the actual leaderboard

and no-one else - except you followers - can see what you do and where you ride

in theory and if I understand it right

The segments can encourage problems due to speed
round here I ride on some that are on canal banks and the leaderboard suggests that the fastest time is at a speed that only the like of Tom Pidcock could do safely and even then only if the track was known to be clear!!

I also find I often miss them as the actual route is, if you look at it, actually IN the canal so it is easy to go along it and it not register

I use the 'friends only' setting for the majority of my rides, only choosing occasionally to make them public, and my default is completely private (no one other than me can see it).

 

[Alex321]

I started scratching the surface and there does seem to be a lot of info out there.

I think the general gist is that although many believe that Strava and similar platforms can encourage overly dangerous riding in an attempt to beat a PM or get a KOM, the evidence shows that deaths prior to Strava and the likes are still higher!

And, unsurprisingly really, it would seem that riding at speed in a built up area is still way safer than travelling at speed in a rural area, as this is where most cycling deaths occur.

As a bit of a humorous aside it would seem that Strava addicts have become "wind dopers", a term I wasn't familiar with. They check the weather religiously to see if they can hook up to a good tailwind during their efforts!

Better than doing their effort on a motorbike I suppose, lol.

If a pro race has run over any segment, the riders from that will usually have taken most of the top spots in the leaderboard. They ride a LOT faster than most of us.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

If a pro race has run over any segment, the riders from that will usually have taken most of the top spots in the leaderboard. They ride a LOT faster than most of us.

If there is one going towards the Golden Gates in Warrington then don't even bother
Cav was in the Tour of Britain when I went there to watch and when he passed me he was behind due to an incident and was yelling at his team to catch up - they were damn fast

 

[HLaB]

Lol, I know a bloke who set up a segment that finished inside his security gates at work, so only he and his colleagues could get the KOM. He worked funny shifts too and would collect a lot of KOMs through areas that would just be too busy during the day.

 

[esoxlucius]

If a pro race has run over any segment, the riders from that will usually have taken most of the top spots in the leaderboard. They ride a LOT faster than most of us.

One thing I did notice was that some of the faster riders who hold segment records did have "PRO" at the side of their name, not that I was familiar with their names, but then again not all pros are household names, even among us cycling guys.

 

[Alex321]

Look at The Tumble, for instance.

The top 12 were 9from today's Tour of Britain race. And the other 3 from a pro race in 2014. With a lot more from the top 20 being names I recognise from teh pro ranks.

 

[esoxlucius]

Lol, I know a bloke who set up a segment that finished inside his security gates at work, so only he and his colleagues could get the KOM. He worked funny shifts too and would collect a lot of KOMs through areas that would just be too busy during the day.

Nice trick, lol. We also have the "wind dopers" which I mentioned. I also wonder how many Strava nuts go out at the crack of dawn to avoid traffic. Maybe even go out at daft o'clock at night, though you'd have to be pretty ballsy to go full gas at night!