Post by JonnoMarshall on Aug 19, 2014 17:46:08 GMT
Let me start by saying that (cough) this is all my own typing – no copy and paste here!
I think it might be fair to say that Strava has a bad reputation for being all about segments and who is The King or Queen of every stretch of road you cycle on. This is, of course, true to a certain extent and I think that puts a lot of people off using the site. However Strava can be used in many more ways than you might think and as such is a very useful training, motivation and exploration tool.
I realise it is not for everyone, but here are a few ideas and suggestions which hopefully might help take some of the stigma off Strava and encourage you to use it.
-Segments:
Segments are the obvious place to start I suppose….
As you probably know, segments are primarily aimed at comparing your times with everyone else who has ridden a given piece of road. Obviously this isn’t going to be too flattering if you are in your 40s and 6ft 5 tall (and therefore not exactly a jockey), so looking at the overall leader boards is a bit pointless.
Instead segments can be used to compare your own times. I tend to look at the “leaderboard” of my own times which helps me see my improvements. Obviously I also look at how Anthony O’Sullivan,I mean certain people I know are doing on certain segments and feel the need to beat their times too, but that is of secondary importance (mostly!). Segments can become a type of interval training for me.
A great example of a segment we all know is Ballyfeard climb. This is a section of road we have all done a million times, so if you are on Strava you will have a long history of attempts, which will show you how much you have gained in performance over time. A new personal best up there is a sure sign you are getting fitter and faster. When you track your times for your own benefit it starts to motivate you. If you don’t track it, you can’t see your improvements. This also allows you to really push yourself on occasion and go for your own record, something which can be very satisfying and beneficial. It is also something you can’t achieve if you don’t track your rides on something like Strava.
Basically when you start to monitor your times on sections of road that you cycle a lot, you start to see the improvements, and this provides its own encouragement to keep training and improving. If you don’t keep a track of your times, then you really have no idea of how much stronger you are getting and you don’t get the motivation benefits of your hard earned improvements. The same goes for looking back at the end of the year and seeing just how much distance you have covered in the previous 12 months. It can be quite surprisingly large. If it isn’t then you use the shame that you rightly feel to motivate you the following year!
It is surprising how many miles you can rack up and how little benefit you might get out of it if you don’t have some way of pushing yourself.
-Strava For Motivation:
Using Strava to record all your activities is a great way to motivate yourself to go out more. Trust me after a while your stats will matter – for example seeing that your total mileage for last month was 700k, whereas this month you have only done 300k makes you want to go out. Also following people you know the club/area can often shame you into getting the bike out. This is a good thing! Strava is full of monthly challenges with exactly this in mind.
-Strava For Exploring:
(This is currently my favourite use for Strava)
Every club spin these days seems to have a suggested route, posted on the forum as a list of place names and a guess as to how far the route might be. It should also be said that these routes are nearly always the same, and getting fairly repetitive.
Guess what can cure this ailment?
Instead of just posting a list of places to visit after heading off down Inevitable Boulevard (or Ballyhea Road as it is also known), create the route in Strava and post it to the forum so everyone can see on a map where the route is going. It will also contain all the climbs and descents information. Just doing this alone will make you think of new places to go, or at least different ways of getting to the same places!
No doubt you have seen these routes posted by several members on the forum already?
Routes can be created in minutes from scratch, or you can create them from a ride you have recorded. They can be exported to smartphones and Garmins (nearly everyone has one or other of these at this stage), so you can program the route in and off you go. You don’t need to even know where it goes, just follow the screen. The obvious advantage of this is that everybody would know where they are going, so no more getting lost if you get dropped for any reason.
I use routes a lot because we are completely spoilt with amazing roads and scenery round this part of the country, and I slowly realised I was only seeing a very small part of it, whch got me thinking of a new challenge – the heatmap.
For those who don’t know a heatmap is all your recorded rides laid out over each other on a single map. Most visited tends to be red, down to blue for infrequent visits. It’s interesting to see your spins like this. What this also shows you is the places you have never been on your bike. To me the obvious thing is to go to those places, so I started trying to completely cover all the roads from Crosshaven to Kinsale. I still have a few gaps, and this has also taken me on some goat paths by mistake, but that’s part of the fun. It has also let me discover some fantastic new roads.
And yes, these new spins can easily be posted as routes for everyone to try.
-Strava Clubs:
There is already a CCC club on Strava, but only about 19 members! Club member’s activities are ranked weekly for distance, average speed, metres climbed on a leaderboard, so you can see how you are doing compared to John Grace (for distance) and Darragh McCarthy (for speed). Don’t ever expect to beat these guys, just enjoy trying.
Clubs can also be used to plan spins – post the route and invite the members. Everybody then has the route and knows when are when etc.
-Strava Security:
Some people may have concerns about security on Strava. Don’t! All you need to do is make your account private, meaning you have to approve anyone who decides they want to follow you. You don’t know them? Don’t let them see your account then. Also don’t necessarily start your activity at your front door if you still have concerns. Wait until you are a few hundred yards down the road before kicking off the timer.
The really good news is that all of the above is completely free!
That’s all, my fingers are now as tired as your eyes.
See you on Strava….
I think it might be fair to say that Strava has a bad reputation for being all about segments and who is The King or Queen of every stretch of road you cycle on. This is, of course, true to a certain extent and I think that puts a lot of people off using the site. However Strava can be used in many more ways than you might think and as such is a very useful training, motivation and exploration tool.
I realise it is not for everyone, but here are a few ideas and suggestions which hopefully might help take some of the stigma off Strava and encourage you to use it.
-Segments:
Segments are the obvious place to start I suppose….
As you probably know, segments are primarily aimed at comparing your times with everyone else who has ridden a given piece of road. Obviously this isn’t going to be too flattering if you are in your 40s and 6ft 5 tall (and therefore not exactly a jockey), so looking at the overall leader boards is a bit pointless.
Instead segments can be used to compare your own times. I tend to look at the “leaderboard” of my own times which helps me see my improvements. Obviously I also look at how Anthony O’Sullivan,I mean certain people I know are doing on certain segments and feel the need to beat their times too, but that is of secondary importance (mostly!). Segments can become a type of interval training for me.
A great example of a segment we all know is Ballyfeard climb. This is a section of road we have all done a million times, so if you are on Strava you will have a long history of attempts, which will show you how much you have gained in performance over time. A new personal best up there is a sure sign you are getting fitter and faster. When you track your times for your own benefit it starts to motivate you. If you don’t track it, you can’t see your improvements. This also allows you to really push yourself on occasion and go for your own record, something which can be very satisfying and beneficial. It is also something you can’t achieve if you don’t track your rides on something like Strava.
Basically when you start to monitor your times on sections of road that you cycle a lot, you start to see the improvements, and this provides its own encouragement to keep training and improving. If you don’t keep a track of your times, then you really have no idea of how much stronger you are getting and you don’t get the motivation benefits of your hard earned improvements. The same goes for looking back at the end of the year and seeing just how much distance you have covered in the previous 12 months. It can be quite surprisingly large. If it isn’t then you use the shame that you rightly feel to motivate you the following year!
It is surprising how many miles you can rack up and how little benefit you might get out of it if you don’t have some way of pushing yourself.
-Strava For Motivation:
Using Strava to record all your activities is a great way to motivate yourself to go out more. Trust me after a while your stats will matter – for example seeing that your total mileage for last month was 700k, whereas this month you have only done 300k makes you want to go out. Also following people you know the club/area can often shame you into getting the bike out. This is a good thing! Strava is full of monthly challenges with exactly this in mind.
-Strava For Exploring:
(This is currently my favourite use for Strava)
Every club spin these days seems to have a suggested route, posted on the forum as a list of place names and a guess as to how far the route might be. It should also be said that these routes are nearly always the same, and getting fairly repetitive.
Guess what can cure this ailment?
Instead of just posting a list of places to visit after heading off down Inevitable Boulevard (or Ballyhea Road as it is also known), create the route in Strava and post it to the forum so everyone can see on a map where the route is going. It will also contain all the climbs and descents information. Just doing this alone will make you think of new places to go, or at least different ways of getting to the same places!
No doubt you have seen these routes posted by several members on the forum already?
Routes can be created in minutes from scratch, or you can create them from a ride you have recorded. They can be exported to smartphones and Garmins (nearly everyone has one or other of these at this stage), so you can program the route in and off you go. You don’t need to even know where it goes, just follow the screen. The obvious advantage of this is that everybody would know where they are going, so no more getting lost if you get dropped for any reason.
I use routes a lot because we are completely spoilt with amazing roads and scenery round this part of the country, and I slowly realised I was only seeing a very small part of it, whch got me thinking of a new challenge – the heatmap.
For those who don’t know a heatmap is all your recorded rides laid out over each other on a single map. Most visited tends to be red, down to blue for infrequent visits. It’s interesting to see your spins like this. What this also shows you is the places you have never been on your bike. To me the obvious thing is to go to those places, so I started trying to completely cover all the roads from Crosshaven to Kinsale. I still have a few gaps, and this has also taken me on some goat paths by mistake, but that’s part of the fun. It has also let me discover some fantastic new roads.
And yes, these new spins can easily be posted as routes for everyone to try.
-Strava Clubs:
There is already a CCC club on Strava, but only about 19 members! Club member’s activities are ranked weekly for distance, average speed, metres climbed on a leaderboard, so you can see how you are doing compared to John Grace (for distance) and Darragh McCarthy (for speed). Don’t ever expect to beat these guys, just enjoy trying.
Clubs can also be used to plan spins – post the route and invite the members. Everybody then has the route and knows when are when etc.
-Strava Security:
Some people may have concerns about security on Strava. Don’t! All you need to do is make your account private, meaning you have to approve anyone who decides they want to follow you. You don’t know them? Don’t let them see your account then. Also don’t necessarily start your activity at your front door if you still have concerns. Wait until you are a few hundred yards down the road before kicking off the timer.
The really good news is that all of the above is completely free!
That’s all, my fingers are now as tired as your eyes.
See you on Strava….
