Strava may be the worst thing

[Bruce K]

A new guy joins our group today for the first time. He's new to cycling, new to group rides, but a friend of one of the nice guys in the group.

Every 10 - 15 minutes he keeps pulling out his cell phone.

I finally ask him what is so important that his cell is more important than paying attention to the group?

He said, "I'm using Strava to try and track my rides."

I tell him to put the damn phone away and just ride.

Moron!

Suffice it to say I kept FAR away from him for the rest of the ride

BK

[Wilkinson4]

I was riding by myself today and I just started yelling Strava! It was awesome:no: I ditched a computer about 15 yrs and have never looked back. Just ride is right.

mIKE

[beeatnik]

strava is cool. strava smart phone apps, not so much. the thought of interfacing with a bar mounted phone while on a ride sketches me the eff out.

[ofcounsel]

I ride with several guys that use the Strava phone app. All of them start the app, then throw the phone in their pocket and they don't touch it till the end of the ride.

Not all users are douches.

[AngryScientist]

strava is cool in my book. i've found a lot of new roads and rides in my neck of the woods and places i've visited because of strava.

it's just a tool. IMO a good tool. if the same guy put a hole in his wall because he doesnt know how to use a hammer, do you blame the hammer too:banana:??

[illuminaught]

sounds like that guy is an extra special nimby.

Strava is a tool... and just like all tools it has a function... many people don't know how to use their tools.

[CNY rider]

A new guy joins our group today for the first time. He's new to cycling, new to group rides, but a friend of one of the nice guys in the group.

Every 10 - 15 minutes he keeps pulling out his cell phone.

I finally ask him what is so important that his cell is more important than paying attention to the group?

He said, "I'm using Strava to try and track my rides."

I tell him to put the damn phone away and just ride.

Moron!

Suffice it to say I kept FAR away from him for the rest of the ride

BK

Bruce between the crasher in your previous post and this guy I think you may need a new group of riding buddies.:eek:

[Bruce K]

Oh, I know it's not really Strava's "fault"

It was more a vent/rant because guys like this are sure to proliferate as cycling grows

Kind of like texting (or whatever) and driving .... Texting is useful, so is fast food, etc. - the combo/multi tasking is the issue.

BK

[mike p]

+ 1....I love Strava but never touch it on a group ride.

Mike

I ride with several guys that use the Strava phone app. All of them start the app, then throw the phone in their pocket and they don't touch it till the end of the ride.

Not all users are douches.

[martinrjensen]

+1 That's what I do. On long rides I check battery life half way through and plug on an external battery when needed, but it just stays in my jersey pocket, never check it riding.I ride with several guys that use the Strava phone app. All of them start the app, then throw the phone in their pocket and they don't touch it till the end of the ride.

Not all users are douches.

[holliscx]

A Dutch guy I ride with recently started using Strava and whereas we used to push each other and ride together now he blasts off at the start of climbs hoping to improve his segment times. Not saying it's necessarily bad but his riding pre- and post-Strava could not be more night and day.

[monkeybanana86]

I ride with several guys that use the Strava phone app. All of them start the app, then throw the phone in their pocket and they don't touch it till the end of the ride.

Not all users are douches.

he must be stopping and restarting the app which I would be too lazy to do mid ride plus what a ride spoiler! I could understand glancing down like looking at a computer but pulling out the phone over and over well I'm just lazy I guess

[martinrjensen]

I will be impressed when I see someone bike riding AND texting at the same time. You know it's happened....Oh, I know it's not really Strava's "fault"

It was more a vent/rant because guys like this are sure to proliferate as cycling grows

Kind of like texting (or whatever) and driving .... Texting is useful, so is fast food, etc. - the combo/multi tasking is the issue.

BK

[n_maher]

I would think that behavior like this in a group setting would be grounds for being punted from the group. What an asshat.

[wasfast]

The Strava obsession is well out of control in my neck of the woods. I do 2 different lunch rides (aggressive pace) and some of these folks are literally obsessed with their segments, KOM (up and down) etc. Guys, there's always somebody faster. If you want competition, race instead.

[akelman]

I will be impressed when I see someone bike riding AND texting at the same time. You know it's happened....

I see this happen on campus all the time. For my part, I'll be impressed when I see a texting cyclist ride into a tree.

[Bob Loblaw]

Strava is a training tool. It doesn't make your johnson any bigger.

BL

[boxerboxer]

I ride with several guys that use the Strava phone app. All of them start the app, then throw the phone in their pocket and they don't touch it till the end of the ride.

Not all users are douches.

This...

...buuuuuuut the guy the op described does need a good talking to.

[martinrjensen]

I'd love to see that.I see this happen on campus all the time. For my part, I'll be impressed when I see a texting cyclist ride into a tree.

[pmac]

I will be impressed when I see someone bike riding AND texting at the same time. You know it's happened....

Funny you should mention this. I saw exactly that last week, someone coasting downhill on the college campus where I work, riding no hands (and no eyes, apparently) and texting. However, my favorite here is still the guy riding, smoking (and wearing the yellow bracelet), and talking on his phone.

[Fixed]

Keep him away from the lady crasher :)
Cheers

[charliedid]

sounds like that guy is an extra special nimby.

Strava is a tool... and just like all tools it has a function... many people don't know how to use their tools.

tools

[cnighbor1]

At start of a group ride put Strava riders in one group and the rest of riders in another group Have strava start 1st.
and rest of group 2nd in ten minutes Make sure you never catch up to 1st group

But a great tool to find new rides

[GuyGadois]

Agreed, guy in OP post shouldn't be checking cell on the ride but I disagree with OP generalization that Strava may be the worst thing because someone misuses it. These types of generalizations aren't real helpful. There are plenty of us who use Strava as a training tool and aren't reckless.

GG

[brando]

:rolleyes: riders who strava a bunch of garbage miles.

Also the iPhone app is :banana: has my fastest speed at like 68 mph. Um, no that didn't happen but thanks strava for making me look pro!

[Germany_chris]

More reasons to ride alone...

[Ti Designs]

More reasons to ride alone...

Wait a second, I would think that tracking GPS data would clearly show that groups are much faster. The end conclusion should be to put the stupid device away and ride with a group. I guess people overlook that bit...

[Germany_chris]

Wait a second, I would think that tracking GPS data would clearly show that groups are much faster. The end conclusion should be to put the stupid device away and ride with a group. I guess people overlook that bit...

Or maybe not worry about me and my Strava.

If you feel strongly about the Strava issue at the end of the ride let me know that I won't be "invited" back. Instead the incident made the ride unpleasant for all. Which is why I don't like to ride in groups, people tend to think it's their group ride the groups ride. The ubermensch takes control and we must emulate.

[oldpotatoe]

+1 That's what I do. On long rides I check battery life half way through and plug on an external battery when needed, but it just stays in my jersey pocket, never check it riding.

How big is that battery?

[ljklassen]

Agreed, guy in OP post shouldn't be checking cell on the ride but I disagree with OP generalization that Strava may be the worst thing because someone misuses it. These types of generalizations aren't real helpful. There are plenty of us who use Strava as a training tool and aren't reckless.

GG

I'd agree, and I'm from the other side for perspective. I have never used strava (I might in the future, but have gps and use it on my own to monitor my own riding/training, haven't needed to use strava for anything yet), but have ridden with friends that do. I didn't even know about it until I asked them specifically, long after the bikes were put away and i just heard them talking about it. So, it was completely a non-issue for me when riding with them - wouldn't have even known it existed, and didn't notice anything during the ride at all.

[Rueda Tropical]

The Strava obsession is well out of control in my neck of the woods. I do 2 different lunch rides (aggressive pace) and some of these folks are literally obsessed with their segments, KOM (up and down) etc. Guys, there's always somebody faster. If you want competition, race instead.

But with Strava you don't have to piss in a cup or hide your battery-motor in the seat tube:banana:

[FlashUNC]

I've found several new routes locally just from poking around on Strava. I do what most folks seem to with it: Turn it on, throw it in the jersey pocket and forget about it till the ride's over.

There's always going to be a few bad apples in the bunch.

[Bruce K]

For me it was this need to check every 15-20 minutes

After the ride it's all good

BK

[merlinmurph]

Did he stop checking his phone?

[azrider]

hilarious

[MattTuck]

You know, it's funny. I did some fast group rides the past few weeks. Mostly ride alone. The group rides totally blew away my PR times for the segments we went over. I'm not sure what that means for strava, but I really don't know how an individual riding for time can compare themselves to a group of riders pace lining for time... Seems apples to oranges to me.

[mmuurr]

for tracking your rides, it's fine.
though ridewithgps offers essentially the same feature, now, with fewer "segments".
it always amuses me when i get an email telling me my "KOM has been stolen!", since i never knew i had these KOMs to begin with.
i also routinely see KOMs that are completely mis-labeled or categorized (e.g. http://app.strava.com/segments/2005329 -- i can guarantee this isn't a 130m climb... probably more like 20m); guessing they grab altitude info from whoever made the segment in the first place, even if that person's device was completely mis-calibrated.

[1centaur]

You know, it's funny. I did some fast group rides the past few weeks. Mostly ride alone. The group rides totally blew away my PR times for the segments we went over. I'm not sure what that means for strava, but I really don't know how an individual riding for time can compare themselves to a group of riders pace lining for time... Seems apples to oranges to me.

One lack on Strava is not automatically segregating group times from individual times. You can see that Joe Blow "and 5 others" rode a given segment at a given time so you can mentally adjust a KOM for that, but really there ought to be a flag for same segment/multi riders within a few seconds and then a filter to screen out those rides to get individual KOMs, just as one can filter by age or weight.