Strava - is it naughty?
slowbike
Posts: 8,498
I blame you lot anyway - I didn't even know about Strava until I read on here ... then the other day I uploaded a commute to the site and found there were 3 existing segments in my ride - 2 reasonable ones and a strange little one that I hadn't even thought about ... I found I'm bottom quartile of the 2 reasonable ones and upper 1/2 of the strange one ...
Anyway - having decided to have an "easy ride" in today (it's hard to ease off on the pedals!) I realised I was going quite quick into this little strange segment - certainly above my recorded average - so I thought what the hell and went for it - stood up and sprinted up the little incline and out of the segment before settling back down to my "easy ride" ...
Is it naughty to attack a segment like that?
Anyway - having decided to have an "easy ride" in today (it's hard to ease off on the pedals!) I realised I was going quite quick into this little strange segment - certainly above my recorded average - so I thought what the hell and went for it - stood up and sprinted up the little incline and out of the segment before settling back down to my "easy ride" ...
Is it naughty to attack a segment like that?
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Still - if I can get "KOM" ... 8)
I have one like that... and have made it to KOM, although I don't think others are that bothered about the segment TBH. (Distance: 0.3mi, Avg Grade: 5.9% & Elev Difference: 84ft)
These short segments are actually not a bad way to find out what your rough 1 min power is. And for my segment at least, Strava does a pretty good at estimating the power (comparing to a few times I've ridden the segment with a "Powertap")
But yes, you do get some funny looks when you are sprinting up the hill (only to be half dead at the top)
As if flagged - no leader board is shown! [ It does show your previous times ]
I've done that a couple of times, got to the end of a segment and just crawled for 500 yards while my heart stops trying to escape my chest, only to be overtaken shortly after. As they say, slow and steady wins the race.
On my daily commute there are 3 segments, when I try to beat my best times on each one, my total ride time is usually longer than if I took each segment at normal pace. I slow down to recover from the effort and that takes time.
Band of Climbers
Wiliers: Cento Uno/Superleggera R and Zero 7. Bianchi Infinito CV and Oltre XR2
It's free for the standard account... so best advice is to try it for yourself.
You have the choice of an Android or iPhone app or you can use a GPS device (e.g. Garmin). And obviously if you have a GPS device, you can upload previous ride data into Strava.
On another point I am worried that I come in 2nd quarter on some local hill climbs and yet am top 10 on the descents. Is this a result of far too many pies and the effects of gravity ?
Does anyone else find Strava to be inaccurate at times?!
If you look at this segment here then you'll see that according to Strava I went off road, but I didn't. I've also been on identical road rides with a friend using Strava and his elevation is different. Which leads me on to question number 2...
What does "Average Grade" mean? As you can see on the above link this ride has an average grade of 6.1%. What am I comparing this to exactly? What does it even mean?![/noob]
I am a Mortgage Broker who specialises in Mortgages, Secured Loans and Life Insurance
Unfortunately if you give Strava poor GPS data it's not they can do about it. The newer Garmin's (or other newer dedicated GPS units) will give the best data.
Someone complained about Strava previously, so I put together a couple of images to show how the quality of GPS data varies between devices....
This is from the older Garmin Forerunner 301:
This is from a Garmin Forerunner 310XT
The path is a bit of singletrack no more than 1 metre across, and the multiple lines are showing loops of the track. Also note that the scale on the FR301 is actually zoomed out to half size.
Before I had the FR301 I used to use my mobile phone for GPS, and the FR301 was actually an improvement over the phone. As can be seen, generally the FR310XT is pretty good and generally within about 5 metres. The older FR301 is wildly different, showing it can be sometimes 20 metres or more out.
Also note that GPS height data as well as barometer sensors are not very accurate (barometer's are arguably more accurate, but are based on air pressure - and air pressure changes with the weather).
Site's like Strava also use "mapping data" for height, but these are generally very course and not highly reliable.
So basically you have to understand that the technology being used here is far from perfect for their intended use, and the quality of the data can very between devices, as well as other random occurrences that cause the devices to read odd GPS location and/or height data.
I went out at lunchtime today to have a go at improving one of my longer hill segments. I now have a couple of loops that take a rough amount of time such that I can get out and know when I'll be back to run to my next meeting!
So I did a loop that I have completed a few times before, but took it easy and didn't really push until I'd completed my target segment. So yes, as expected I knocked probably 25 secs of my previous best up the 2.5mile 728ft climb, with an average speed of +0.7 mph on my previous best.
Yes yes, good for me... but that's not what's that interesting. Even though I'd 'taken it easy' up until that point, my overall average speed was up by +0.5 mph. I guess why this is interesting is that without noticing I must be usually putting in more yo-yo efforts rather than constant efforts. Not that it's a bad thing, but something I wasn't really fully aware of (OK I know I push for the segments, but wasn't aware between segments I must be riding considerably slower)
Need to find me a couple of those
I will now have "segmentitus".
I uploaded my "easy ride" from yesterday morning and got a PR for the little segment that isn't really one ...
However, the surprise was the ride home - that I was going to take easy again (!!) - Met another cyclist (club rider) who happened to be going the same way - through a more significant climb ... At the bottom of the hill he dropped onto my back wheel and left me to lead all the way up .....
I nearly died!! With a club rider just behind I felt that I had to give it everything - My heart fell onto the tarmac (just as well I didn't have the heart rate monitor on - it would've blown up!) ...
Still - I got a PR on the segment - taking over 30 seconds off my previous best and adding 1.6mph to the best average ...
Don't think I'm gonna be repeating that for a bit!
+1
I hate it when you guys do this, so don't!
I do however pace myself behind a club rider if I ever do fall behind one. It is interesting to see their techniques. I learnt a lot from doing this.
Once I was going up a hill and a club rider sped past me saying "Good Morning". It was almost a fist shaking moment but I just laughed as I was in a good mood 8)
I am a Mortgage Broker who specialises in Mortgages, Secured Loans and Life Insurance
This is a segment on my commute to work, first time I was joint 4th now I'm a solid 3rd! I am going to try it on a weekend without my bag on my back and all the stuff I carry to work with me.
I'm a long way off KOM but I may get 2nd, here's the segment.
http://app.strava.com/segments/1432097
2015 Specialized Roubaix Sport sl4
2014 Specialized Allez Sport
I have also seen tracks after rides where there are a couple of interesting excursions from the normal road where I think the gps has picked up rogue locations briefly.
Check the wind and pick your segments. Alternatively put the GPS in the back of the car and drive up Winnat's at an average 15mph for a bit of KOM kudos
As soon as it's flagged Strava will remove it.
We'll have none of that sort of talk on here.
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