How does Strava work?

[d_douglas]

I am not a Stravist, but I rode last night with a buddy who is. We did 55km and then afterwards emailed some stats.

They included a climb at about half the speed of the fastest people, which is pretty horrible. And a stretch along the ocean where we averaged 43km/hr and were 180th out of 2100 attempts. Pretty decent.

My question is: how do Strava users who want to challenge these stretches know where the start and finish line is ? He told me in advance about this popular section, and so we ramped up the speed before approaching, and then tapered off when we passed 'the point' and this apparently registered our times.

I am embarrassed to admit that it was kinda fun ;) It make me want to go back to that climb and hit it hard!

[R3awak3n]

You know where a strava segment is the same way your friend knew it was there, he had done it before, went home and uploaded his route and then checked where that segment started (whatever street or intersection) and where it ended (street, intersection, etc...)

[ofcounsel]

As stated above, you generally have to have ridden it before to know. Or study a strava map for reconnaissance of the route before you ride.

The New Garmin 520 that just got announced as alerts to notify you of strava segments I believe.

[1centaur]

On Strava you can narrow down the map to where you are going to ride and it will show you the segments that are in that area. Each segment was created by a rider who thought it was worth creating, so it's a good way of finding hills or other interesting route features. You can plan your ride around trying to do well on some of those segments, or you can just ride how you want and check it out later and maybe plan for the next time. Areas crowded with cyclists will have lots of segments and lots of riders per segment. More rural areas less so.

I have found some hills on residential streets I would not have known about by looking for segments on Strava.

Most people will not be trying to be KOMs, they will be trying to be good for their age or just get personal bests.

[mtb_frk]

I think if you have a premium strava account you can get notifications on your mobile device if you are using that to log the ride. Or do as suggested, study the route before hand and plan ahead.

[OtayBW]

The new 'County Line'....

[mtb_frk]

The flyby feature is pretty cool also. It lets you see everyone else that came close to you during your ride that uses strava.

[kramnnim]

I think Premium users who are using the smartphone app get some kind of audio cue when the segments start and end...?

[pbarry]

Another lost to the dark side..

[kppolich]

Keep an eye out for my Etsy store soon. Where you can order your own Strava Segment START and FINISH signs to post along routes you care about. This will clear up stuff for everyone and will have a QR code so you can scan it and find out everything with your smartphone if you are passing by and pose the question-- What is this Strava thing, and what is a CR/KOM/QOM? This should help clear up the issues with where does that segment start again, and how much longer do i have to suffer!?!
https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/v/t1.0-9/10941858_718467598808_3640061633095002959_n.jpg?oh =fb93acf9506f5dd6673dff8b34d285bd&oe=5628AD8A
http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll208/kpozr2/Screen%20Shot%202015-05-11%20at%208.05.07%20PM_zps5ot4lvxc.png

[d_douglas]

Another lost to the dark side..

Nahhhh, I would say 'never' but it's pretty close. I will keep rIding with him cause he's fun to chase :)

[carpediemracing]

I was doing some sprints in Florida when visiting grandparents. I used a couple landmarks for my start and finish points. When I got back to home base I looked on Strava, satellite view, and made that bit a segment. This way I could easily see my various sprint times, i.e. how effective I was.

I just checked, it's here (https://app.strava.com/segments/6255739).

In the future I'd just look for those same landmarks. For that sprint it was the driveway for the little loop for the start and something (I think the road changed?) at the finish, just after the boat place.

I don't go segment hunting in my own area, just made one or two for my own references, easier to have Strava tell me I did a section pretty fast (or not).