Uncomfortable truths

[Webbo2]

My boss follows me on Strava... - Finance Director ! At least we have something to talk about and I did the Tour De Manc with him a couple of years ago.

He’s checking your not out riding when off sick.😏

 

[fossyant]

He’s checking your not out riding when off sick.😏

I wasn't even off sick with a broken pelvis and hip socket ! I may have been had I actually known it was badly broken !

 

[EltonFrog]

Here’ an uncomfortable truth.

Strava has an uncanny knack for turning a perfectly ordinary ride into a minor theatrical production. Instead of enjoying the fresh air and the satisfying hum of tyres on tarmac you find yourself thinking about titles, photos, segments, and who might be judging your average speed. What should be a quiet, personal pleasure becomes content creation complete with an invisible audience who wouldn’t give you the time of day in real life, waiting to award (or withhold) their precious kudos.

It’s exercise, but it’s also a performance. When was the audition? 17 years ago it didn’t exist, I expect you managed without it then if you were riding a bike.

Delete your accounts everyone and stick it to the man.

 

[fossyant]

Here’ an uncomfortable truth.

Strava has an uncanny knack for turning a perfectly ordinary ride into a minor theatrical production. Instead of enjoying the fresh air and the satisfying hum of tyres on tarmac you find yourself thinking about titles, photos, segments, and who might be judging your average speed. What should be a quiet, personal pleasure becomes content creation complete with an invisible audience who wouldn’t give you the time of day in real life, waiting to award (or withhold) their precious kudos.

It’s exercise, but it’s also a performance. When was the audition? 17 years ago it didn’t exist, I expect you managed without it then if you were riding a bike.

Delete your accounts everyone and stick it to the man.

I actually find it useful for just monitoring my fitness. I even have my Garmin go into power save on rides, so it just records the ride - I don't have anything to look how fast (slow) I'm going !

 

[winjim]

Stopped using Strava when Tour de France and Tour of Britain both covered my regular cycling routes so there was no chance of getting a KOM any more...

 

[Sharky]

I used my phone with Strava, just to keep a record of my own performance and fitness as I progress through the season.

No interest in KOM's

 

[Rusty Nails]

I get the safe guarding thing so you’re a full deck. If you’ve been on it for 10 years or more then suddenly go underground because your partner split up with you or whatever then you’ve got problems & hiding your Strava won’t get you back together again. It’s just showing your mental anguish in other ways.
A club mate had his first child & wasn’t allowed out anymore. He is still training hard on a smart trainer & riding to work. He didn’t like seeing our club rides so went off Strava.

You've clearly got too much time on your hands if you can spend it thinking about something as innocuous as this.

 

[Dogtrousers]

I've been in a couple of challenges that require public rides on Strava - Rapha 500, and an imperial centuries challenge (way back when I had legs capable of such things) I've also put rides on Strava that are of interest to friends (my semi-Lejog, rides up French cols, my "Godwin" ride). What I've done with those is leave them public for as long as they need to be there for the challenge, or as long as my friends' interest lasts, and then make them private.

My main store of all my rides is RideWithGPS. That's all private.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

E-bike has its own category so get back on and try it. I’m sure nobody will visit your house because they’ve seen you riding around.

I have always used the ebike category

but I still seem to get lumped in with people on "normal bikes" on at least some segments

as I have never set up a segment - or been interested in doing so - I do not know if this is something that can be changed
but it seemed unfair to me

on the other hand - the segments seem pointless to me anyway
for example - I got 3rd on one segment across the Runcorn-Widnes bridge at one point
(private so only I could see it)
but it was unfair - not because I was on an ebike as I was doing well over the motor cutoff the whole way
but because there was an amazing tail wind the whole way through it

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Here’ an uncomfortable truth.

Strava has an uncanny knack for turning a perfectly ordinary ride into a minor theatrical production. Instead of enjoying the fresh air and the satisfying hum of tyres on tarmac you find yourself thinking about titles, photos, segments, and who might be judging your average speed. What should be a quiet, personal pleasure becomes content creation complete with an invisible audience who wouldn’t give you the time of day in real life, waiting to award (or withhold) their precious kudos.

It’s exercise, but it’s also a performance. When was the audition? 17 years ago it didn’t exist, I expect you managed without it then if you were riding a bike.

Delete your accounts everyone and stick it to the man.

That was another reason I made mine private - so I didn;t start spending the ride wondering about the next segment

 

[HLaB]

Well, the only down side is the WFH when I'll occasionally go for a ride at lunch if the weather is nice, so I limit to an hour !

My old line manager retired and befriended me on strava about 6 months later he's come back to work part time, although he's no longer my group manager. I have a few other colleagues who follow me on strava too. So I similarly keep it to an hour on WFH days but tbh probably I'm the only one who cares.

 

[HLaB]

If you’ve been on Strava for many years then decide to go into private mode the reason is because you have problems inside your head. Otherwise there is no reason not to stay visible to your friendly Strava athletes.
If you never started Strava to begin with then you’re discounted, and fair play to you.

99% of my commutes and walks are follower only. I have made one or two public when I've set a pb but the all have start and end randomly hidden and privacy zones. More of my group rides/ TT's are made public as more of them have pb's but my default is private and if they don't have pbs I make them follower only. I've also don't participate in the 'local legend' thing to avoid drawing attention to me.