Strava - Amazing!

wardieboy

Oh it just gets better! Now I've got into the deeper working of my shiny new Garmin 500, I can plot routes and mark the start and end of segments on my computer. Training doesn't get much better than this.

Evil Laugh

Looks great, but I've yet to finish a ride with any battery left on my Iphone 3gs.

What's a cheap, simple garmin gps type thing I can use for this?

Don't want it to do anything except record the ride from a saddle bag really as I don't ride with a computer or anything anymore, annoys/distracts me staring down at it all the time, looking at avg speed etc. I do like looking at the strava info when I get home though!

springtide9

Evil Laugh wrote:

Looks great, but I've yet to finish a ride with any battery left on my Iphone 3gs.

What's a cheap, simple garmin gps type thing I can use for this?

Don't want it to do anything except record the ride from a saddle bag really as I don't ride with a computer or anything anymore, annoys/distracts me staring down at it all the time, looking at avg speed etc. I do like looking at the strava info when I get home though!

Any GPS watch/computer will do - as long as it records .tcx, .gpx, or .fit files.

Probably the cheapest Garmin is the Edge 200. If you prefer a watch, maybe the Forerunner 110. Both are in the £100-£110 range, but the Edge has a 14 hr battery life vs 8 hrs on the FR 110.

Evil Laugh

Great, cheers.

pdsalmon

I just brought a Forerunner 50 from ebay, 18 quid delivered, second hand, looks bit bashed around, and has no watch straps on.....but I'll just drop it in my pocket and record from there.

Tried the Strava app for android and iphone and found both to be a bit hit and miss as regards gps signal for some reason. As somebody has already mentioned, you could use any mapping app on your phone and import the gpx or tcx file to Strava.

Must admit Strava is quite addictive!

gsvbagpuss

Must..get...home..to...check...this...mornings...hill...effort

Evil Laugh

charliew87 wrote:

PorlyWorly wrote:

I've been running endomondo on my iphone 4 and find it very good (although I'm not convinced by its accuracy), is strava better? Can you run both at the same time?!?

Yes. I run both Strava @ Bike Tracks on my phone. I have bike tracks open as it gives more detail about current speed, max speed, ave speed and then easy access to bike & road maps, and i like the export to google earth option that it gives after the ride. I then have strava minimised running in the background. With them both minimised I use about 5% iPhone 4 battery per hour, with one open and one minimised I use about 15% per hour.

I there any trick to running the app in the background or is this a case of just locking the phone?

On my iphone 3gs the phone would die from 100% in about 3 hrs running Strava with phone locked.

Just got a upgrade to a 4s so wondering if the battery is just loads better on these or if there are steps required to optimise for strava?

If I can get away without a GPS device too, that would be great.

ben16v

Just imported my bike data and a couple runs and got a couple of KOM`s even when other people had done the segment - its very addictive

NWLondoner

Just lock your phone and this does help with battery usage.

It does anyway i my iphone 4

Evil Laugh

Yeah I'm losing about 15% per hour on Iphone 4s with other location services, 3g data, wifi off and phone locked. Much better.

peejay78

just spent most of the afternoon exploring this website. pretty amazing fun. worried it might have a negative effect on my training though!

mrbrightside

It's all a bit barren in Cambridgeshire.

jibberjim

MrBrightside wrote:

It's all a bit barren in Cambridgeshire.

Isn't that 'cos you have no hills?

Just create some good "sprint" sections on flat roads that are safe to ride fast on.

mike101

Have been using Cyclemeter as well as my Garmin but this looks like much more fun!

jim453

Evil Laugh wrote:

Looks great, but I've yet to finish a ride with any battery left on my Iphone 3gs.

What's a cheap, simple garmin gps type thing I can use for this?

Don't want it to do anything except record the ride from a saddle bag really as I don't ride with a computer or anything anymore, annoys/distracts me staring down at it all the time, looking at avg speed etc. I do like looking at the strava info when I get home though!

I was also interested in getting involved with Strava. I did not have a clever enough phone and could not afford even the most basic Garmin.

After scouring the internet and doing my research I eventually purchased a Holux GPSport 260.

http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/products/products_content.jsp?pno=401

This thing is similar to the Garmin Edge 500 but costs £79 inc VAT. It doesn't have a heart rate monitor or cadence sensor and does not allow you to train against a 'ghost' in the memory as the Garmin does. The Garmin 500 is better but this costs £79 rather than the £140 the Garmin costs (without HRM strap and Cadence sensor, £230 with).

Or if you're on a tighter budget and just need to log your rides with GPS and see live stats as a cycle computer or upload rides for more detailed analysis afterwards (including to STRAVA) then there is the GPSport 245

http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/products/products_content.jsp?pno=349

This thing is similar to the Garmin edge 200 but with more features and comes in at a frankly unbelievable £54


I got the 260 after much deliberation as I really, really wanted a Garmin and was afraid the HOLUX would not be up to it. I was wrong. These things are brilliant. My worry about them being a hassle to manually upload GPX files to STRAVA rather than the very elegant and automatic interface the Garmin has was unfounded. It could hardly be easier or much less time consuming.

The cold hard economic facts speak for themselves. These things are way, way, cheaper than Garmins and do the same job.

Having said that, I'm sure if I was loaded I would have purchased the Garmin. But I'm not.


having re read the post I quoted I notice you're not interested in the cycle computer side of it.

Well HOLUX, believe it or not, do a separate GPS logger that you can stick in your pocket and upload data from at home.

http://www.holux.com/JCore/en/products/products_content.jsp?pno=353

No read out while riding but get involved with strava etc when you get home. I believe they're giving these things away for less than forty notes.


And no, I don't work for this company. In fact my research has led me to believe that all these company's are seriously ripping us off (like everyone else) for an item that is essentially less powerful than a scientific calculator. HOLUX simply appear to be taking a smaller slice than the others at the minute.

nhoj

Supply and demand, innit? Good post, Jim. I'm curious about Strava after reading this thread and might give one of your options a go.

ferdifatcat

Does anybody have a discount code ? My previous three month membership is about to expire.

jim453

nhoj wrote:

Supply and demand, innit? Good post, Jim. I'm curious about Strava after reading this thread and might give one of your options a go.

Thank you.

As regards Strava, I'd honestly say it was a total game changer in terms of training and enjoying rides (particularly on your own). We all know how difficult it is to give that extra few percent when there is no-one to push you. Well now there always is. Using Strava is not as good as riding with your local club but it is much,much,much more enjoyable and worthwhile in terms of training than pootling along on your own kidding yourself that you've got the hammer down.

Although, I've just looked up at the thread title. I'm obviously preaching to the converted.

wardieboy

Also it encourages you to go and seek out segments in the local area and vary your training loops. It's down to Strava that I did my first Cat 3 climb at the weekend and whilst I am nowhere near the top of the leaderboard it is good to see how you fare against other riders. My local training loops have been completely transformed as now I am targeting on average 3 segments per ride. I am glad to say that I am currently knocking lumps from my PB's, how long that will last time will tell.

wardieboy

Does anyone know if there is a way to request for segments to be edited? There are some local climbs which have been set up badly, if they were edited slightly they would capture more riders due to badly set start/end points. It's a minor niggle but worth addressing.

giarc

You can create your own over the top of anothers. If yours is better set up I would assume it would become the busier one and the one most people will then use?

pipipi

I think if you create your own segment, with a slightly different name, that should work. I think Strava will then 'import' everyone who has done your bit as well.

Near me is Hollingbourne Hill, Kent, which has a couple of segements that overlap. Some people do the whole hill, some join from a road slightly further up. The routes overlap entirely except for about 200yds. I think people who have done the whole hill get entered into both segements.

Hope that helps

wardieboy

pipipi wrote:

I think if you create your own segment, with a slightly different name, that should work. I think Strava will then 'import' everyone who has done your bit as well.

Near me is Hollingbourne Hill, Kent, which has a couple of segements that overlap. Some people do the whole hill, some join from a road slightly further up. The routes overlap entirely except for about 200yds. I think people who have done the whole hill get entered into both segements.

Hope that helps

Ah a fellow Kent rider, yes that does help. I highlighted the issue on Vigo hill where you only complete the full segment if you turn right at the crossroads at the top of the hill and then cycle for around 30 meters down the road. I'll go ahead and create my own version, I can't believe only 6 Strava users have gone up Vigo hell

jibberjim

If the hill is an automatched one - generally recognised by being called "Road Name Hill" then you can "flag" the segment and ask one of the strava ops to move it (after junctions or whatever) You can of course also do that with anyones segments but that's not so friendly as there may be a real reason for the odd start / end.

pipipi

wardieboy wrote:

Hope that helps

Ah a fellow Kent rider, yes that does help. I highlighted the issue on Vigo hill where you only complete the full segment if you turn right at the crossroads at the top of the hill and then cycle for around 30 meters down the road. I'll go ahead and create my own version, I can't believe only 6 Strava users have gone up Vigo hell [/quote]

Worth a try wardieboy. If my theory is correct it should enter everyone who has done your segment, however far in the past that was.

Will have to give Vigo hill a try soon, but I have unfinished business with Exedown first...

kettrinboy

Strava is not so accurate for very short segments as it measures in only whole seconds rather than fractions of a second, one segment near me is set halfway down a short steep hill as a speedtrap but my time along with several others is 7 secs and 38.8 mph and the fastest two times 6 secs at 44.3 mph , so it must round up to the nearest second which would make it a bit inaccurate with high speed and short distances.

doubleoseven

Any ideas why Strava data (elevation) is totally different to RideWithGPS?? This morning's ride differed by 500ft??

amaferanga

Doubleoseven wrote:

Any ideas why Strava data (elevation) is totally different to RideWithGPS?? This morning's ride differed by 500ft??

Don't worry, they're both wrong.

petemadoc

amaferanga wrote:

Doubleoseven wrote:

Any ideas why Strava data (elevation) is totally different to RideWithGPS?? This morning's ride differed by 500ft??

Don't worry, they're both wrong.

Anyone got any idea what device gives the most accurate readings for altitude?

springtide9

kettrinboy wrote:

Strava is not so accurate for very short segments as it measures in only whole seconds rather than fractions of a second, one segment near me is set halfway down a short steep hill as a speedtrap but my time along with several others is 7 secs and 38.8 mph and the fastest two times 6 secs at 44.3 mph , so it must round up to the nearest second which would make it a bit inaccurate with high speed and short distances.

I think Strava does a bit of averaging out on the speeds, as unlike other similar apps, I don't get very off maximum speeds (anything from 200-600mph, but I am a 'powerful rider' LOL)