Do Strava support team reads customer emails?

naavt
naavt Posts: 226
edited February 2019 in Road general
As title suggests: Do Strava support team even reads customer tickets?

I say this since I've emailed Strava twice about my Power analyses package and both answers were simply stupid!

In a few words, I've asked Strava why my power figures are being sampled by their algorithm when I have a power meter from where they could extract the real power data.

Answer? Well, it was so ridiculous that I'm going to transcript it here: "I apologise for the issue, and sorry to hear that you would like to downgrade from Summit (...) Click here to be re.directed to your subscription management page in iTunes."

What???

So I've replied to that fantastic email asking: "What you're telling me is that it's no way for Strava to import my power meter data. Is that it?"

Answer: "Here is an article about how to get activities onto Strava."

I ask. What the hell is this customer support? Is this for real or it just happened to me?
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Comments

  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Do you want help getting your power meter to send data to strava?
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Do you want help getting your power meter to send data to strava?

    Yes. I've bought the Summit analysis but it's no use if it only gathers information from Strava. Is it possible for Strava to upload my power meter data onto my rides?
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    cougie wrote:
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?

    Yes, everything paired successfully, but my Companion App and Strava shows VERY different power analysis data. In a 2 hour ride, Normalized and Average power can be 30 or 40 watts apart!
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Do you want help getting your power meter to send data to strava?

    Yes. I've bought the Summit analysis but it's no use if it only gathers information from Strava. Is it possible for Strava to upload my power meter data onto my rides?

    How is Strava getting the data that it is recording? Direct from a recording on your phone in the Strava app, or via a Garmin/equivalent?
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Have you paired the sensor in the strava app, or just with the phone?
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Have you paired the sensor in the strava app, or just with the phone?

    Just the phone. Do I have to pair it under Strava? I have it paired in BT to my phone and I don't know if my Power meter is BT multipoint.

    I'm thinking that it hasn't to be since Strava is on my phone already. So I'm going to try and pair my PM with Strava today.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Have you paired the sensor in the strava app, or just with the phone?

    Just the phone. Do I have to pair it under Strava? I have it paired in BT to my phone and I don't know if my Power meter is BT multipoint.

    I'm thinking that it hasn't to be since Strava is on my phone already. So I'm going to try and pair my PM with Strava today.

    You need to go into the app and when in the recording page, click the "sensors" icon (a square with little circles attached to it). Then select your power meter in the available sensors.

    You only need to do that once, once it has been paired with Strava, it will look for it automatically next time.
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Have you paired the sensor in the strava app, or just with the phone?

    Just the phone. Do I have to pair it under Strava? I have it paired in BT to my phone and I don't know if my Power meter is BT multipoint.

    I'm thinking that it hasn't to be since Strava is on my phone already. So I'm going to try and pair my PM with Strava today.

    You need to go into the app and when in the recording page, click the "sensors" icon (a square with little circles attached to it). Then select your power meter in the available sensors.

    You only need to do that once, once it has been paired with Strava, it will look for it automatically next time.

    Thanks! If this works, that's amazing how a community can be much more helpful than the guys who are receiving the actual money!!!
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Have you paired the sensor in the strava app, or just with the phone?

    Just the phone. Do I have to pair it under Strava? I have it paired in BT to my phone and I don't know if my Power meter is BT multipoint.

    I'm thinking that it hasn't to be since Strava is on my phone already. So I'm going to try and pair my PM with Strava today.

    You need to go into the app and when in the recording page, click the "sensors" icon (a square with little circles attached to it). Then select your power meter in the available sensors.

    You only need to do that once, once it has been paired with Strava, it will look for it automatically next time.

    Thanks! If this works, that's amazing how a community can be much more helpful than the guys who are receiving the actual money!!!

    https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/art ... ndroid-app
  • photonic69
    photonic69 Posts: 2,824
    Your emails to Strava are probably replied to by a "chat-bot". You'd be surprised at how many companies use them now to field email inquiries. If you can imagine that Strava has a worldwide community of users all living in different time zones. It's not economic for companies to employ people 24/7 to answer emails. Most can adequately be answered by a machine but as you have experienced a lot can't.

    Glad you are able to find answers here more easily :-)


    Sometimes. Maybe. Possibly.

  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    Sorry, just seen you mention iTunes, so https://support.strava.com/hc/en-us/art ... iPhone-app
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    Have you paired the sensor in the strava app, or just with the phone?

    Just the phone. Do I have to pair it under Strava? I have it paired in BT to my phone and I don't know if my Power meter is BT multipoint.

    I'm thinking that it hasn't to be since Strava is on my phone already. So I'm going to try and pair my PM with Strava today.

    You need to go into the app and when in the recording page, click the "sensors" icon (a square with little circles attached to it). Then select your power meter in the available sensors.

    You only need to do that once, once it has been paired with Strava, it will look for it automatically next time.

    Thanks! If this works, that's amazing how a community can be much more helpful than the guys who are receiving the actual money!!!

    Well - it helps if you ask the right question to start with.
    It does look like the question was answered by an automated service - which is not surprising - considering the majority of questions they receive will be pretty standard - unfortunately that does mean that not everyone gets the answer they need. Perhaps it would be sensible for chatbot admins to openly identify the responses as chatbot automation rather than trying to hide behind a persona - at least that way we can understand that it's misunderstood the question.
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    Slowbike wrote:
    Well - it helps if you ask the right question to start with.
    It does look like the question was answered by an automated service - which is not surprising.

    Not quite. It was indeed a follow up from a staff member who’s name I prefer to keep annonimous for privacy reasons!
  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,715
    naavt wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?

    Yes, everything paired successfully, but my Companion App and Strava shows VERY different power analysis data. In a 2 hour ride, Normalized and Average power can be 30 or 40 watts apart!
    Not intending to cause insult here, but do you know what normalised power and average power are? It's normal for them to be different unless the effort is very constant (such as a hill climb or a very flat TT). Look here: https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us ... ized-Power

    If the only check you're doing is that normalised power and average power are the same, you may be barking up the wrong tree...
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    whyamihere wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?

    Yes, everything paired successfully, but my Companion App and Strava shows VERY different power analysis data. In a 2 hour ride, Normalized and Average power can be 30 or 40 watts apart!
    Not intending to cause insult here, but do you know what normalised power and average power are? It's normal for them to be different unless the effort is very constant (such as a hill climb or a very flat TT). Look here: https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us ... ized-Power

    If the only check you're doing is that normalised power and average power are the same, you may be barking up the wrong tree...

    I assumed that meant normalised power on Strava and normalised power on the companion app were 30-40W apart.
  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,715
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    whyamihere wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?

    Yes, everything paired successfully, but my Companion App and Strava shows VERY different power analysis data. In a 2 hour ride, Normalized and Average power can be 30 or 40 watts apart!
    Not intending to cause insult here, but do you know what normalised power and average power are? It's normal for them to be different unless the effort is very constant (such as a hill climb or a very flat TT). Look here: https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us ... ized-Power

    If the only check you're doing is that normalised power and average power are the same, you may be barking up the wrong tree...

    I assumed that meant normalised power on Strava and normalised power on the companion app were 30-40W apart.
    If that's the case then I apologise for the misreading. :)
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    Easy one to answer - when you look at your activity on Strava website (not the app) - in the segment section it will show a power symbol next to the power number - if that's been gathered from a power meter - if not, it's just blank - indicating it's Strava's guestimate.
    If the former - then the PM is indeed paired correctly
    If the latter then the PM needs to be paired with the device used to record the activity - which in this case looks like it's a smart phone - whether that's possible or not depends on the devices.

    Personally, I use a Garmin and Power meter - or Smart Turbo with PM - both of which record power in the fit files that are synced to Strava ...
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    whyamihere wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?

    Yes, everything paired successfully, but my Companion App and Strava shows VERY different power analysis data. In a 2 hour ride, Normalized and Average power can be 30 or 40 watts apart!
    Not intending to cause insult here, but do you know what normalised power and average power are? It's normal for them to be different unless the effort is very constant (such as a hill climb or a very flat TT). Look here: https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us ... ized-Power

    If the only check you're doing is that normalised power and average power are the same, you may be barking up the wrong tree...

    I assumed that meant normalised power on Strava and normalised power on the companion app were 30-40W apart.

    And you’re right. Sorry if I wasn’t too clear but English is not my main language.

    As an example, if my NP on companion is 250, on Strava it can show about 200 or 210w. The same occurs in the average power as well.
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    Slowbike wrote:
    Easy one to answer - when you look at your activity on Strava website (not the app) - in the segment section it will show a power symbol next to the power number - if that's been gathered from a power meter - if not, it's just blank - indicating it's Strava's guestimate.
    If the former - then the PM is indeed paired correctly
    If the latter then the PM needs to be paired with the device used to record the activity - which in this case looks like it's a smart phone - whether that's possible or not depends on the devices.

    Personally, I use a Garmin and Power meter - or Smart Turbo with PM - both of which record power in the fit files that are synced to Strava ...

    So what you’re telling is that my setup is correct. Since I’m running a Wahoo Bolt with my PM synced to it.

    Nonetheless, watt figures are way apart from each other. I’m writing from my phone but I’ll look at Strava website once I get home, just to make sure about the symbol you are referring to.

    I’m not riding recording to Strava directly. I just finish riding and my Bolt syncs my activity automatically, but I’ll try to sync my power meter to Strava as other member suggested, just to see if it works that way.
  • bristolpete
    bristolpete Posts: 2,255
    naavt wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Easy one to answer - when you look at your activity on Strava website (not the app) - in the segment section it will show a power symbol next to the power number - if that's been gathered from a power meter - if not, it's just blank - indicating it's Strava's guestimate.
    If the former - then the PM is indeed paired correctly
    If the latter then the PM needs to be paired with the device used to record the activity - which in this case looks like it's a smart phone - whether that's possible or not depends on the devices.

    Personally, I use a Garmin and Power meter - or Smart Turbo with PM - both of which record power in the fit files that are synced to Strava ...

    So what you’re telling is that my setup is correct. Since I’m running a Wahoo Bolt with my PM synced to it.

    Nonetheless, watt figures are way apart from each other. I’m writing from my phone but I’ll look at Strava website once I get home, just to make sure about the symbol you are referring to.

    I’m not riding recording to Strava directly. I just finish riding and my Bolt syncs my activity automatically, but I’ll try to sync my power meter to Strava as other member suggested, just to see if it works that way.


    There are several ways of collecing PM data 5/6/7 zones etc. However, I think I know what you are saying. I used 6 zones as per the Coggan book / empirical advice. When I save my ride, Wahoo sends it to Strava, Strava convert it to their power meter zones which I think is 7 thus rendering it inaccurate. It also sends it to my training peaks account which I will come back to.

    Basically, from what I have learnt is to train 'seriously' with power, use Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah or something else. A lot of people consider Strava to be social media for cycling, not a decent training tool akin to Training Peaks et al. Strava simply move the numbers away from what they should be.

    If you do use Training Peaks make sure you align all of your data including power, HR and so on. Takes a while, but hey ho, accurate power incuding average, normalized and so on. Hard to fathom why Strava will not let you override or input your correct data in zone set up over assume data. I would bin 7th and run 6 on it, but you can't !

    Finally, the StravistiX app for Chrome on a lap top / PC very good and makes Strava better to a point.

    Hope that helps !
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    bristolpete wrote:
    There are several ways of collecing PM data 5/6/7 zones etc. However, I think I know what you are saying. I used 6 zones as per the Coggan book / empirical advice. When I save my ride, Wahoo sends it to Strava, Strava convert it to their power meter zones which I think is 7 thus rendering it inaccurate. It also sends it to my training peaks account which I will come back to.

    Basically, from what I have learnt is to train 'seriously' with power, use Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah or something else. A lot of people consider Strava to be social media for cycling, not a decent training tool akin to Training Peaks et al. Strava simply move the numbers away from what they should be.

    If you do use Training Peaks make sure you align all of your data including power, HR and so on. Takes a while, but hey ho, accurate power incuding average, normalized and so on. Hard to fathom why Strava will not let you override or input your correct data in zone set up over assume data. I would bin 7th and run 6 on it, but you can't !

    Finally, the StravistiX app for Chrome on a lap top / PC very good and makes Strava better to a point.

    Hope that helps !

    You can edit zones in the Bolt companion App. I’m using 6 since I usually guide my training taking into account Carmichael’s CTS system, and all zones were set manually by me so all is good on that end.
  • bristolpete
    bristolpete Posts: 2,255
    naavt wrote:
    bristolpete wrote:
    There are several ways of collecing PM data 5/6/7 zones etc. However, I think I know what you are saying. I used 6 zones as per the Coggan book / empirical advice. When I save my ride, Wahoo sends it to Strava, Strava convert it to their power meter zones which I think is 7 thus rendering it inaccurate. It also sends it to my training peaks account which I will come back to.

    Basically, from what I have learnt is to train 'seriously' with power, use Training Peaks, Golden Cheetah or something else. A lot of people consider Strava to be social media for cycling, not a decent training tool akin to Training Peaks et al. Strava simply move the numbers away from what they should be.

    If you do use Training Peaks make sure you align all of your data including power, HR and so on. Takes a while, but hey ho, accurate power incuding average, normalized and so on. Hard to fathom why Strava will not let you override or input your correct data in zone set up over assume data. I would bin 7th and run 6 on it, but you can't !

    Finally, the StravistiX app for Chrome on a lap top / PC very good and makes Strava better to a point.

    Hope that helps !

    You can edit zones in the Bolt companion App. I’m using 6 since I usually guide my training taking into account Carmichael’s CTS system, and all zones were set manually by me so all is good on that end.

    Yes, but analyse your power data on strava on the left tab and note that it shifts to seven zones ?
  • wongataa
    wongataa Posts: 1,001
    naavt wrote:
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    whyamihere wrote:
    naavt wrote:
    cougie wrote:
    Isn't this user error ? I get power data from my powermeter when I ride with it. Have you paired the sensor ?

    Yes, everything paired successfully, but my Companion App and Strava shows VERY different power analysis data. In a 2 hour ride, Normalized and Average power can be 30 or 40 watts apart!
    Not intending to cause insult here, but do you know what normalised power and average power are? It's normal for them to be different unless the effort is very constant (such as a hill climb or a very flat TT). Look here: https://help.trainingpeaks.com/hc/en-us ... ized-Power

    If the only check you're doing is that normalised power and average power are the same, you may be barking up the wrong tree...

    I assumed that meant normalised power on Strava and normalised power on the companion app were 30-40W apart.

    And you’re right. Sorry if I wasn’t too clear but English is not my main language.

    As an example, if my NP on companion is 250, on Strava it can show about 200 or 210w. The same occurs in the average power as well.
    Strava uses its own normalised power calculation, not the Coggin one that other companies use as it doesn't pay for the licence to use it. This is why the number is different. Note that they call it a different name.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    naavt wrote:
    Slowbike wrote:
    Easy one to answer - when you look at your activity on Strava website (not the app) - in the segment section it will show a power symbol next to the power number - if that's been gathered from a power meter - if not, it's just blank - indicating it's Strava's guestimate.
    If the former - then the PM is indeed paired correctly
    If the latter then the PM needs to be paired with the device used to record the activity - which in this case looks like it's a smart phone - whether that's possible or not depends on the devices.

    Personally, I use a Garmin and Power meter - or Smart Turbo with PM - both of which record power in the fit files that are synced to Strava ...

    So what you’re telling is that my setup is correct. Since I’m running a Wahoo Bolt with my PM synced to it.

    Nonetheless, watt figures are way apart from each other. I’m writing from my phone but I’ll look at Strava website once I get home, just to make sure about the symbol you are referring to.

    I’m not riding recording to Strava directly. I just finish riding and my Bolt syncs my activity automatically, but I’ll try to sync my power meter to Strava as other member suggested, just to see if it works that way.

    If you are using your Bolt to record, then the power numbers are in that file that is synced with Strava. You don't need to set up the PM with the strava app unless you are recording with the strava app.

    Post one of your activities, and we can see whether it has power data.
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    If you are using your Bolt to record, then the power numbers are in that file that is synced with Strava. You don't need to set up the PM with the strava app unless you are recording with the strava app.

    Post one of your activities, and we can see whether it has power data.

    Here they are:

    Same activity. 1 hour ride. Longer rides can show bigger discrepancies!

    Strava%20Map%20Stats.jpg?dl=1

    TP%20Map.jpg?dl=1

    Average Power on Strava: 157 | Average power on TP: 166

    Normalized Power on Strava: 217 | Normalized power on TP: 257

    Strava%20Stats.jpg?dl=1

    TP%20Map%20Graph.jpg?dl=1
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    naavt wrote:
    So what you’re telling is that my setup is correct. Since I’m running a Wahoo Bolt with my PM synced to it.
    Excellent - I seen you're now onto discussions on how Strava use your power numbers - beyond my knowledge/interest tbh - all I will say is - compare eggs with eggs - use the same methods of recording & reporting - don't look at absolute power numbers - look at the progression (or regression!)..

    What's your average power? is about as meaningful as What's your average speed? - unless you're just comparing against yourself.
  • wavefront
    wavefront Posts: 397
    Out on the road, Strava regularly reports my av & np about 5% lower than my Garmin shows at the end of a ride. GC lists powers within a watt or two of what I expect. I think it's to do with time strava sees you've spent riding. The time riding (auto pause or not) has always been different on Strava to my Garmin, often up to few minutes, so even though Strava uses your power data exactly when it calculates the av & np it will be different.

    When I am on the turbo, all my figures align pretty accurately across multi platforms so I think it's all down to how Strava interprets your movements / timing through gps data.
  • kingstongraham
    kingstongraham Posts: 28,166
    I meant a link to the strava activity
  • naavt
    naavt Posts: 226
    wavefront wrote:
    Out on the road, Strava regularly reports my av & np about 5% lower than my Garmin shows at the end of a ride. GC lists powers within a watt or two of what I expect. I think it's to do with time strava sees you've spent riding. The time riding (auto pause or not) has always been different on Strava to my Garmin, often up to few minutes, so even though Strava uses your power data exactly when it calculates the av & np it will be different.

    When I am on the turbo, all my figures align pretty accurately across multi platforms so I think it's all down to how Strava interprets your movements / timing through gps data.

    Curiously never gave much importance to discrepancies on turbo activities. Will look at it at home tonight.
    KingstonGraham wrote:
    I meant a link to the strava activity

    Here it is: https://www.strava.com/activities/2102620054

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