Strava course with segment warnings?

CRAIGO5000

I'm sure given thw work the guys at Strava are doing with the constant updates that this feature should soon come but until then surely I'm not the only one out there who is trying to get a good way for this to work?

I want to upload a course to my Garmin 800 and everytime I pass the start and end of a segment, I want it to tell me. Currently I'm plotting courses using Bikeroutetoaster whilst running Strava in another window and then cross checking Strava to my course on BRT. When I cross a segment start point, I then add a course point and give it the name "St0.4mi 25mph" and then at the end of the segment I create another course point and call it "End" It works great so I get all the usual refinement of the 800 guiding me around a course with the added features of it also displaying a prompt that tells me that I've gone over a Strava segment start point and to come first I need to be doing 25mph for the 0.4miles.

It sounds like a right PITA, but it's not too bad apart from BRT being a little crap in terms of interface.

Garmin Connect and RidewithGPS don't work correctly with the Edge 800 as their TCX files don't give advance warnings for turning or auto display the units map.

Has anyone got a more streamlined solution at all? :?

ShutUpLegs

CRAIGO5000 wrote:

I've gone over a Strava segment start point and to come first I need to be doing 25mph for the 0.4miles.

It's not a race

snoopsmydogg

OP if it bothers you that much why not just remember where the start point is instead of relying on technology.

You must have ridden it before to know how fast you need to be so just ride over 25mph for 0.5 of a mile in that area and your sure to be top*



*failing that and if it means so much to you go in the car

Pross

Whilst I love Strava that seems to be taking it a bit far. The biggest enjoyment I get is the 'surprise' segments when my results come through and the satisfaction that I did them without any special effort.

ShutUpLegs

Pross wrote:

my results come through and the satisfaction that I did them without any special effort.

Yeah right

Or the realisation that you stopped pedalling too soon on a segment

springtide9

Pross wrote:

Whilst I love Strava that seems to be taking it a bit far. The biggest enjoyment I get is the 'surprise' segments when my results come through and the satisfaction that I did them without any special effort.

Do you think that cans of green and red spray paint to mark the segments on the road might be taking it a little too far?

Lightning

springtide9 wrote:

Do you think that cans of green and red spray paint to mark the segments on the road might be taking it a little too far?

I don't know if you're joking or not, but I'm KOM in a popular segment where someone actually marked a white line on the side of the road at the start and end of the segment. I definitely think that's taking it too far, but whatever.

As for the actual question, I've never actually done it for a segment since if I'm actually going for a segment I know where it starts and ends, but when I venture into a new mountain I've never been to or something, I like to know exactly when it starts and ends so I can pace myself and I do it just like you.

I mark a course point on the start of the climb on bikeroutetoaster and usually just memorize how long the climb is so if I'm climbing 10kms and by the time I got to the start I'm at 80kms, I should be at the top by 90kms (this might not work so well if you're one of those people who zig zag all the way up :P )

springtide9

I was actually joking - really surprised someone has done that :roll:
If I owned the segment, I'd edit it and move it back by 100m LOL

Pross

I never knew people took it so seriously! Maybe some real world races would help them

sancho1983

One of the segments near me ends at a crazy busy T Junction with pretty limited visibility - Perhaps this is why I am so slow...

cougie

One of the segments by me has a big roundabout slap in the middle of it.
It's only a bit of fun though - I never plan a ride around segments.

ShutUpLegs

cougie wrote:

One of the segments by me has a big roundabout slap in the middle of it.
It's only a bit of fun though - I never plan a ride around segments.

I find it better to create your own segments, where noone else rides.

knownothingbozo

Take your bike in your car to near the start of the segment, ride for a bit to get up to speed, blast it, turn round and spin back to the car. Job done, sure to be high on the leaderboard, bragging rights owned.

Seriously though, I like the suprise of finding myself somewhere on a segment after completing the ride. Or the crushing dissapointment of finding yourself at the bottom on a ride you've just worked your a$$ off to ride.

I like the idea of creating my own where no-one else rides, I'm pretty sure I'm the quickest person I know down my drive.

snoopsmydogg

ShutUpLegs wrote:

cougie wrote:

One of the segments by me has a big roundabout slap in the middle of it.
It's only a bit of fun though - I never plan a ride around segments.

I find it better to create your own segments, where noone else rides.

Thought I had done that the other day, created a segment to find I was KOM (1of1 in the standings)

Checked back the next day and I am now 9th of 14 :oops:

CRAIGO5000

Haha, nice replies guys.

I take my segments seriously enough - why not? It's a great motivator and adds a bit of fun when riding miles on end solo. As I ride a few usual loops, commute and plan extended routes then I like to know the start and end of each segment. I've got a Garmin 800 so why not know where they are?

I was gutted when I ploughed everything into a local 1.1 mile sprint and came out on top averaging just shy of 26mph. A few weeks later they held a Manchester ride down this segment and now I'm 8 seconds off the pace. I'm going to have to draft a bus down it now

Regarding racing, I want to start getting into Crits but its now going to have to be next season as I've not trained hard enough this year due to other commitments.

Cleat Eastwood

have you checked this site out - lets you see where your nearest rival is getting the edge

http://raceshape.com/

alex1rob

There will always be people who are faster than you.

Edit: and by that I mean if you specifically race a segment and gain the KOM, a few weeks down the line another person will do the same and beat you. So I try not to worry about segments and just enjoy receiving trophies on normal rides.

The people who impress me are the ones that do 40 mile rides at a ridiculous pace and gain KOM after KOM, there is no point me racing them as they will only beat me next time.

jgsi

alex1rob wrote:

There will always be people who are faster than you.

Edit: and by that I mean if you specifically race a segment and gain the KOM, a few weeks down the line another person will do the same and beat you. So I try not to worry about segments and just enjoy receiving trophies on normal rides.

The people who impress me are the ones that do 40 mile rides at a ridiculous pace and gain KOM after KOM, there is no point me racing them as they will only beat me next time.

So you don't use Strava then?
The whole point of it , is that it is a virtual training aide.. and you are in fact 'racing' or attempting to be... whether it be for a 4 or 40 mile ride
If you want normal gps and tracking/fitness data, then best use Endomondo where it merely records your activity and passes no 'judgement' upon you as regards your ability amongst your peers.

slowbike

All these "surprised by a segment" when I get back - is this because you're SLOW ?!

I like to know where the segments are on my commute - depending how I feel I will target some of them - eg Friday I was going to ride in easy (I say that every time!) but with a big tailwind and fresh legs I decided to hammer the first segment anyway - and got a PR .. (still with enough left to put a reasonable pace in to get to work!)

It's nice to discover segments - but it's reasonably pointless (for someone of my speed) to compare against others who may well have been targeting that segment where I would be pacing for the whole ride ...

It would be nice to get a warning of a segment start/finish on the gps - make it another training page - then you can turn it on/off depending on your activity ...

Mikey23

tee hee. perhaps markings on the road so that we can ride around them. i was checking out some french hills and blow me but the quick boys from my club have been there too and achieved KOMs. Not to be taken too seriously but quite a good training aid x

klep

springtide9 wrote:

I was actually joking - really surprised someone has done that :roll:
If I owned the segment, I'd edit it and move it back by 100m LOL

Still lol'ing irl a minute after reading this hahaha

alex1rob

JGSI wrote:

alex1rob wrote:

There will always be people who are faster than you.

Edit: and by that I mean if you specifically race a segment and gain the KOM, a few weeks down the line another person will do the same and beat you. So I try not to worry about segments and just enjoy receiving trophies on normal rides.

The people who impress me are the ones that do 40 mile rides at a ridiculous pace and gain KOM after KOM, there is no point me racing them as they will only beat me next time.

So you don't use Strava then?
The whole point of it , is that it is a virtual training aide.. and you are in fact 'racing' or attempting to be... whether it be for a 4 or 40 mile ride
If you want normal gps and tracking/fitness data, then best use Endomondo where it merely records your activity and passes no 'judgement' upon you as regards your ability amongst your peers.

I disagree that the whole point of strava is to race segments I find it pretty interesting comparing my previous segment times to see how I have progressed. Also, I'm more than happy to be compared to my peers. I find it quite interesting to see how I have performed. But going out to race segments just seems a bit odd to me, takes a fair bit of effort and is more like time trialling. Anyway, each to their own.

slowbike

alex1rob wrote:

I disagree that the whole point of strava is to race segments I find it pretty interesting comparing my previous segment times to see how I have progressed. Also, I'm more than happy to be compared to my peers. I find it quite interesting to see how I have performed. But going out to race segments just seems a bit odd to me, takes a fair bit of effort and is more like time trialling. Anyway, each to their own.

You can use it to race segments - or like you - you check how you're progressing on a segment - knowing where the segment is allows you to put that little bit extra effort in though - for some, this then leads to a big push through that segment - which is fine as you then learn how to push just a little bit more ...

It's certainly helped this year - I noticed this morning that I was going up a section 4-5mph faster than I would've been doing last year (so that'll be 6mph then! )

divingrob

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/f ... ath-34299/

Mikey23

interesting ... seems like a waste of money to me

slowbike

Mikey23 wrote:

interesting ... seems like a waste of money to me

? Go for the base account - it cost nothing ... so - yup agree - a waste of all that expense - ie wasted nothing