All Things STRAVA (merged threads)

Just uploaded my first Strava trip riding Blackstar. What a fantastic site it is. Always wondered about my speed from gate to gate, but never bothered to time myself. Came in at 1:15:56 which puts me at 93rd/113. How humbling is that?

This definitely works as a motivational tool. I used to say I couldn't care less about speed, but not after that disastrous performance which is now out for the whole world to see. LOL

Those of you who have the premium account, how do you like it?

Feel free to follow me (link). Would love to interact with you on strava.

 

Welcome to the new addiction.

Good to see you made it to the STR group. We went over 5,000,000 ft of elevation in the KOM Challenge this month and are holding steady up in the Top-10.

The premium membership has more bells and whistles as far as analyzing your rides. Keep an eye out for some upcoming events here in SoCal. We've run three Stage Race Challenges so far and have a few more in the works.

 

Let me preface my comments by saying I'm a data geek, and although I barely ride enough to move me out of the weekend warrior category, I still like the additional features of the site. I have been using Garmin Connect for years and feel that they have taken a lot of features out that I originally enjoyed, so Strava satisfies that itch.

As far as your "humbling" results on your first climb, you can break down the results by weight class or age group and may give you a better perspective (since I'm in the 180+ and 45 - 55 groups it helps me feel better about my results). You can also compare yourself with other STR members too. I'm not sure if you can do this without the premium though.

I bought the annual @ $59, and although I thought it was too much money at the time, I think it's worth $5/month now. I do still use Garmin Connect as well, but more to maintain my 5+ years of data.

 

I have been using http://www.endomondo.com/. Is Strava similar?

 

Profnachos, considering you climbed it with your singlespeed (i'm assuming), that's pretty damn good. Also, keep in mind that most strava users give a crap about their time,and are therefore faster than your typical joe.

I rode my ass off a few weeks ago, and only did it in 1:11:30. That was non-stop with no breaks.

 

Yes, but Strava has much more ride info

 

This is embarassing, but what is KOM? I see it on strava, and even googled it. Cannot for the life of me figure that out. I wanna be a cool kid too, so give me a quick description.

 

King of the Mountain. I believe that's the fastest person for a given segment or ride.

 

I've been using Strava for about 2 months now and LOVE it. Very, very addicting, esp for the competitive types.
One thing you should definately do if you ride the SM Mtns is join the "TLC: Trail Labor Challenge" under the "Explore/Events" tab - its a six stage challenge in the SM Mountains that you have until Sept to complete. Very fun and very motivating...

 

Does Strava keep track of running and other activities, also? Or just biking?

 

Coming soon.

 

They've just added running support. I've been placing my Edge 500 into an arm-band holder for runs. It works like a charm. So far, the depth of user added segments isn't there (yet) like you see on rides, but that will come with time. Otherwise, it handles running very similar to riding.

 

Strava is like a sickness... Now that most of my riding partners are on Strava, the rides have changed... Everytime we hit a climb or other known segment, it's game-on! No longer are you only competing against your riding partners, you're competing against every other Strava user who rides or has ever ridden that trail segment.

 

Any suggestions for a mount of some sort for using Edge 500 for running? Something that lets you see the display clearly. It would also be nice to be able to push a button or 2 while running. I've been fiddling around with an old ipod case, but its not optimal...

 

I'm using an old Ipod Classic Arm-band case. It's pretty easy to push buttons, but not ideal for seeing the screen. It works for me because I don't care to see data while I'm running. Having said that, I just ordered a wrist strap for it which will make viewing easier. Basically, you want to order the Garmin "Quick Release Kit" for the 310xt. It includes a wrist strap that will work for the Edge 500. Here's the link to the kit, but the picture does not show the wrist strap very well:
https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=65811
Here's the article/review where I got the idea... there's a better picture of the wrist strap in this page:
http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2009/11/garmin-edge-500-in-depth-review.html

UPDATE: I just got the 310 quick release kit in the mail and it DOES NOT include a wrist strap. It has a wrist base plate that you can attach a generic watch strap to... but does not include a wrist strap. I'm going to attach an old velcro watch band to it and it should work great, but I did'nt want to mislead anyone.

 

Please be sure to read my last post for updated info.

 

I'm so bummed. Went gate to gate in 1:08, but i stopped my gps at the beginning of the short downhill about 2/3 to the top. I restarted it when i got to the bottom. However, strava thinks i did that segment in 1:16. I suppose I should be impressed that strava can interpolate a segment given incomplete data. I can't help being bummed that I just lost out on my new fastest time.

FYI, i know i did it in 1:08 because i was with another guy with a gps, and another guy with a bike computer.

 

Congrats. Next time you will do it under 1:05, so the GPS issue you had will be totally moot.

 

?? Stopping a GPS doesn't change the elapsed time. You don't get rest periods.

 

Hmm...that's it then. That's what I get for being neighborly and waiting for the slow guys! Next time, they're on their own!