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
@Ron
Yeah, Tony Schwartz. Fascinating article. Apparently the Donald has the attention span of a sea monkey. I loved the bit about how the "king of negotiations" readily gave up 50% of the advance and 50% of royalties to get Schwartz to write the book. I don't know what ghostwriters usually get, but apparently 50% is more than customary.
I still get shit for pronouncing the word "Herb" with the "h" enunciated. H-E-R-B. not "urb."
i almost always name my strava rides. mostly because its a quiet rebellion towards technology suggesting my ride titles for me.
I also use a garmin 520, and i have live segments enabled only for one or two segments where i really want to improve against myself. where i live, there are quite a few serious hitters: elite cyclists, semi pro, former pro, competitive white collar folks, so i don't worry about competing with them for the leader boards.
@Rusty Gramm
I don't follow too many pros who ride near to me Rusty, but judging by some of their times and speeds there are a few amateurs of most ages who should be. I'm convinced there's some sort of "sticky bottling" (or software manipulation) going on with some of the times, which is another reason I'm not so interested in KOMs and segments.
Anybody ever seen Strava doping?
@Steve Trice
i do follow a few pros on strava, because its amazing to see how their training and recovery rides compare to us mere mortals.
i also know of a few folks in my area who are pretty unscrupulous: holding onto cars or running stop signs just to improve their times, i've heard of some folks leaving strava on and driving the segments slowly in a car. i don't want to be a dick and flag those guys cause its usually pretty obvious whats going on, and the community generally ostracizes those folks pretty quickly.
there was also a case in california of an amateur who took to doping just to improve his strava times. turns out he was also supply PEDs to local masters racers (which is silly, cause if your a wealthy Dr., lawyer, or whatever, what does your racing results really matter anyhow).
again, its a useful tool for me to keep track of my rides and to measure my training. i'll compete with you when we're riding together or racing against each other. i don't need a digital score card for that.
wiscot - One of the better articles I've read in awhile. I'm only more baffled/amused by his supporters. Love that Schwartz said he fears for human civilization if Donnie Attentionspan is elected.
Steve - I'm completely dumbfounded by old amateur roadies doping. I was as competitive as heck when growing up and playing college sports. Now I only compete with myself. There is a local guy who was trying to sell some bike parts via our cycling listserv. Guy had to start out his email, "I know many of you think I'm a dick since I got caught doping last year..." Good fucking lord.
@Ron
Well, look on the bright side, your local guy flogging parts has much greater self-awareness and honesty than Donnie Attentionspan! Of course, any components Trump would sell would be spray painted gold and have his name on them. I've got some lovely Trump double-click shifters and a gently used Trump DuraAce chainset if you're interested . . .
@markpa
I ride without data and mostly without a phone { even though I qualified my phone as being small for the jersey pocket }. If Strava will map my usual route(s) one time, then that is all my wife will need to track me down in case of an emergency. We will see.
@Randy C
thnx for that Garmin insight { not the 500 }. It may be prove to be the best setup to pair a Garmin to the VIRB which I still intend to mount for recording insane, all-road sections.
Some goober's gonna combine Strava with Pokemon Go and the end days will come. (Stravamon Go?)
@RobSandy
Unlike actual pure unadulterated evil you can just not enable it. Or disable it if you have it enabled. Simples.