Word?
Dear readers, let us take a break from the almighty Tour for a few minutes. I am the least qualified Velominatus to introduce an open letter concerning Strava as I’m too shame-based to post my rides to Strava. I have a Garmin on the bike for no particular reason, ok, maybe to occasionally see how fast I’m descending or to know the grade of the climb I’m presently suffering on. At some point it will ask me what should it do with all these weak-ass rides taking up Garmin memory. Oye.
@Artie has authored this open letter (our first?) and like the Rules themselves, @Artie is just trying to improve our cycling experience in this digital world. Thanks @Artie
VLVV, Gianni
Dear Keepers of the Cog and Curators of the Rules,
The Tour de France this year has had a few memorable moments. Cavendish moving behind only Merkx in Stage victories, Froome’s new descending style, and of course the bike-less sprint up Ventoux come to mind. But there has also been a subtler addition to my viewing this year. More and more cyclists in the peloton have been sharing their ride data on Strava. For example, scrolling down my Strava feed after a late afternoon ride, I now notice Greg Henderson’s data, and see that yesterday he was in fact descending like a madman, just as Rule #85 and Rule #93 implore him to do. This supplement to my Tour Digest bridges to a theme my friends and I have often discussed and I thought it time to share our thoughts.
Our over-connected world has reached a point, where the dubitability of any cycling accomplishment has become (almost) strictly correlated with that said accomplishment appearing on Strava. Did you climb Sa Calobra during an early spring training camp? Did you reach the summit of Galibier before your best friend? Did your race up Alpe d’Huez with such a murderous intent that locals began to talk about the ghost of Pantani that appeared one late August afternoon? Perhaps… but without a Strava log to prove it, who knows! But, it is not the virtues or vices of using Strava that I wish to comment on; many people use it and some don’t. Instead it is a much more mundane aspect of the app that has been the subject to our diliberations, i.e. the naming of our tours.
The default name Strava gives each activity are more than boring; “Morning Ride,” “Afternoon Ride,” or “Evening Ride.” “Morning Ride” sounds like a Monday morning commute to work. “Afternoon ride” is what I do with my girlfriend, when she wants to go on a picnic in the park across town. “Evening ride” is an excursion with my Holland Bike to the bar down the street and to the left. The blandness of these names do absolutely no justice to a properly ridden tour. If you keep your bike perfectly matched, kit in shape, and tan lines razor sharp, is putting at least a little creativity into your digital cycling life too much to ask?
I say that a proper tour deserves a proper name, and a proper name should – like all things – be casually deliberate. A quick comment about the ride would be a basic but satisfactory name, e.g. “Hard push up to Chamonix”. If you are racing, the name of the event would be fine; “Paris-Roubaix” is far superior to the default. A more sophisticated name would be that of the song you started to whistle while pushing through the most difficult bits of a climb. Such a title has a lasting effect. Each time those you rode with heard the song, they would be reminded of the pressure their legs felt as you climbed, and doubt would be further seeded into the moral.
I wish to avoid a long digression into the art of naming, although the horizon is large and well worth exploring. But, I do wish to assert that a cyclist who has gone digital should maintain his digital cycling life as he does his real life. Calling an afternoon conquering cobbles on your way back to Liege “Afternoon Ride” is a digital dirty chain; it is unacceptable, but luckily easy to fix.
Yours Kindly,
Arturo
Hamburg, Germany
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View Comments
@RobSandy: True, i exaggerated the issue, but in my reckoning not by much. But i would say that people who use the headset cap pictured above are abusers. After hitting the deck ans being injuried because of a segment chaser three weeks ago, i am not in the most benevolent mood toward them...
@ChrisO: Hahahahah. Hit a nerve, didn't i? Recognized yourself? But yeah, you would drop me, since my already bum leg got injured by another cyclist not stopping at the stop sign because, by his own admission, he was trying to beat his best time...
@geoffrey
So if JAFO = Just Another F*ing Observer, JAFR = ???
I can say that STRAVA® definitely has a good { simple } logotype going for itself { custom modified Gotham Ultra }
@LeBelge
No, but when someone says they won't ride with another person because of what they do or what they like I recognize a twat.
You could have all the good legs you want. I'm 50 with a busted hip and I'd still tear them off you.
Post some Strava segments so we can compare...
@ChrisO
If i refuse to ride with someone who break the law, i am a twat? No, because this is refusing to "ride with another person because of what they do"
In fact, refusing to associate with people because of their actions is one of the most sensible things you can do. I see people using Strava commit law breaking all the time, sadly my street is part of a well disputed segment, and refuse to associate with that type of rider.
THAT type of rider :http://road.cc/content/news/89218-us-cyclist-who-killed-pedestrian-guilty-vehicular-manslaughter-escapes-jail
As for the rest...i am not interested in comparing penis length...let say you won!
@universo
will work on most Android 4.0 with a couple of exceptions
https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/articles/216919047-Does-Strava-4-x-run-on-my-Android-device-
I prefer to run Strava on phone, throw it in jersey pocket and forget. No Garmin or similar to distract makes for a nice 1/2 way house between recording the ride and being Rule #74 compliant.
@universo
Garmin connect would provide the missus an emailed link that'll show your real time location and progress. You need to carry both a bluetooth enabled Garmin device (not the 500) and your phone. Some people like that, some don't. I've not used this function for my rides but did receive links from a buddy when he took off. Was helpful to find him if wanted to meet up out on the ride somewhere.
The missus can always use the find my iPhone app to see where I am on a ride.
I can only imagine if I had the Garmin data and associated pic's from the rides I did so many moons ago. Take off with no map, no GPS enabled phone, just a rough idea of where wanted to go and pretty sure there were some hills in some general direction. And be gone for half the day. Get home and not even be sure where I had been ?! To be able to look back at those today ?
My kiddos will download some of their rides to Strava and can we even begin to guess what tech and platform they'll be posting to in thirty or whatev years ?!? So very cool.
I started with Strava on the phone too. Battery life is issue. May be better w/ latest phones today but not long ago you didn't have battery life to record 60+ miles.
Strava only encourages narcissistic newbies, the same guys who dope just to get ahead of the other guys in their 40-49 age bracket.
http://www.bicycling.com/culture/advocacy/strava-files
As a non-Strava-ite I would say it's totally fine in the right hands and open to abuse by others, and being pro or anti it is pointless except in context. The last thing we need is yet another nothing issue dividing us.
@Oli
Bingo.
For my part, I use Strava and love it. Track my progress and fitness across all of the racing I do.
Making useless characterisations (and Rules for that matter) against others because of their preferences is classic in group / out group behaviour. Exactly pointless.