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STRAVA - - - - DELETED -- BYE BYE!
Last week I got that bloody awful crown logo on my phone from Strava! you know exactly the one that goes ‘Uh OH! You have lost your KOM’ ahh not yet another - oh f@@k off!
About 2/3 hours later after much deliberating I deleted my account & then just to be sure logged into my old (pre-Strava) mapmyride account & wiped it too – all trace of active bike history gone! El Teide rides, east coast Tenerife gone, Scottish trip gone, sportives & a reasonable handful of (remaining) KOM’s gone & most importantly to me a simple record of the number of miles several years cycling gone… why?
Ok so I’ve not been having a great year fitness wise, not been ill or injured enough to be off the bike but since the turn of the year I just am not as fit as I was last year & can’t seem to find the reason.
Losing the jewel in my crown of ‘KOM’s an 16:08 min tricky uphill with the next best placed time being 17:22 & having a good number of people tried it was too much for me to bear – I’m been on super form the day I got it, it had stood since July last year but this on the back of losing several in the last two months odd was too much for me to take, I probably acted irrationally, in fact I’m pretty sure I did but I considered my pending action for a few hours before I struck – I wanted to be sure & tbh do I miss little snippets of information like actually knowing how far I’ve gone, yes, what my average was or elevation, yes, am I really that bothered… NO I’m glad I have done it, ok I don’t regularly cycle with a good few of the people I followed & who followed me so I’ll not be able to ‘Kudos’ them on their antics but the whole thing was just getting to me.
I miss watching my ever increasing overall mileage, that in itself gave me a little sense of pride in myself but I don’t plan to go back, I intend to ride my bike, before I had any tracking my body knew when I was going fast or hard or far for long periods because err I couldn’t breathe, my legs hurt A LOT the bloody great big hill in front was well yeh..in front of me! I didn’t need anything to tell me these details my inbuilt monitor told me these things & that’s where I’m going back too, old school you may call it, out of touch others may call it, I don’t race so I don’t necessarily need to be aware of finite information but that’s where I am now, it’s taking a bit of getting used too again but so far I’m liking the effect, I just I can hold out when I see Mont Ventoux in front of me later this summer..
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67 comments
It is interesting to me that so many people like the KOM aspect of Strava, and yet they do not seem to enter time trials, where for a couple of quid you can rock up and compare yourself to real people on the same night and get an accurate time.
To me a KOM is a bit silly. I have faster times on loads of sections than people who regularly beat me in races, they simply do not represent a persons ability compared to your peers. Look what happens to a the KOMs if you get a hill climb on a segment. A mega hilly race in our area certainly did interesting things to the leaderboard on a few hills.
Of course you can't take KOM too seriously doesn't mean you can have banter with mates over it. Anyone who thinks it's really competitive is deluding themselves BUT if it drives a person on to push themselves a little harder, then it is adding a level of personal competition that isn't entirely a bad thing if that's what drives you on!
I just use it to track my miles and see what my mates are doing. I stopped caring about KOMs when people kept flagging my rides for beating them. It seems there are a lot of sore losers that take the thing way too seriously out there.
There is a guy who I ride with who is a very good Cat 2 rider who would probably bebetter if he bothered his arse to race more. he regularly sits down in 10-20th place on all the major segments around my way yet tears people apart in TTs and races. I sit a few places above him but he's waaaaaay better than me. Your Strava KOM means nothing.
That's quite a flounce, deleting your entire ride history just cos someone took a KOM!
I don't Strava every ride by any means but my ride history on there includes LEJOG, various once-in-a-lifetime rides, a couple of foreign holidays, several Strava Challenges... In amongst it all are about 40-50 KOMs so I fairly regularly get the "uh-oh..." emails. There's always someone better than you out there and surely that's an incentive to try harder, ride further or faster?
A month or so ago, a local rider took a KOM off me. 2 weeks later, while out on an evening ride I thought I'd give it a crack and I got it back. He commented on the ride file to say well done which was nice. Both of us pushing each other to be better. No malice or jealousy, just encouraging comments.
Neither if us take it particularly seriously but it's a bit of fun finding new routes, new riders, using it to get better and to track your own progress. What a waste to go and delete everything just cos someone else went a bit quicker! KOMs aren't the be-all-and-end-all of Strava!
And to all those saying "go and do a race". I still race occasionally and I imagine there are a fair few regular racers on here. And just as on Strava, there's always someone better to inspire me to try harder. Different tools to get the same outcome.
Strava has its uses, I find that mentioning to other cyclists that I'm on a Strava run gets me instant respect and people who get in my way frequently apologise for upsetting my rhythm.
Now turn it round. Are they just plain scared of you because your one of those screaming, red-clawed, psychotic Strava nutters and they want to get as far from you as possible before you beat them to death for wrecking your time.
I know I'm being tongue-in-cheek with you Simon (just as I suspect you are being) but here is what happened earlier this year.
One frosty, clear and windless morning a friend rang and asked me if I was going out for a ride. I told him I was and we decided to meet up and bash some hills in Kent for the sheer hell of it. Near Westerham whilst going up a hill that was both steep enough and long enough to stop conversation and cause a nice burn in the legs we heard the dreaded bellow of "STRAVA!" behind us and as the group passed us we got an additional "GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY! WE'RE ON A SEGMENT!"
Our enjoyment of a perfect cycling day was wrecked. I accept that all Strava users are not the same but you will forgive me if I allow experience to colour my judgement.
"we heard the dreaded bellow of "STRAVA!" behind us and as the group passed us we got an additional "GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY! WE'RE ON A SEGMENT!" "
That's simply appalling and an embarrassment to all cyclists.
It's precisely this attitude that means that I won't use Strava (user of Endomondo for several years). They're almost as bad as the guys who insist on passing you seconds after they have been passed or they guys who look at your kit before looking at the person.
Funny old world this cycling world is...
Just another excuse for selfishness. You have no way of knowing how important the other cyclists rhythm and goal are... I can imagine many situations when an internet badge should fall far second. Not that there's anything wrong with actually trying to get the badge per-se.
Interesting concept that Strava Membership should generate respect. I'm on Strava too so when we meet who is more important? To break the tiebreak I'm also registered here and on facebook and on twittet and presumably those internet memberships will work in my favour. It there's still a tiebreak I suggest we count back aggregated years of membership on social sites to see who has right of way. If that's inconclusive then I suspect we'll have to go on differing values of bike. Anything is better than some tact and manners, a respect hierarchy is where it's at.
As for expecting slower cyclists to pull over for you, how many battles do we fight with motorists to dissuade them from expecting slower cyclists to pull over to suit them? You're putting yourself in some shabby company there. Wait and overtake if it's safe. If you need to shout to get right of way it usually isn't safe... (I know, I know, getting a bunch to let you through might take a call or two, but "Can I come through please?" is as effective as "I'm on Strava!" and better mannered).
Sorry should have made this more clear. At the time of the bellow of Strava! we were line astern and riding in the normal i.e. secondary position. Where they expected us to go I'm not sure unless they expected us to stop by the side of the road until they had passed.
Ooops. I think someone's Irony Alert App has been de-installed.
Oh come on. I enjoyed that. Can't a guy have some fun?
When any group starts arguing amongst themselves is always think of this!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE
If the link has not worked I apolgise as I am currently in Turkey.
When any group starts arguing amongst themselves is always think of this!!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb_qHP7VaZE
If the link has not worked I apolgise as I am currently in Turkey.
A couple of years ago I was doing the Three Peaks CX race and, descending Pen-y-Ghent, I was catching a rider in front. PyG is a bit of a nightmare because, as well as trying to overtake (or be overtaken), you've got the added challenge of coping with riders still coming up the hill on the same bit of trail. However, I spotted an overtaking opportunity and shouted "ON YOUR RIGHT!". Instantly, from the side of the trail, some random spectator responded with a shout of "STRAVA!!"
I nearly missed the overtake I was laughing so much.
Woh lots of comments thank u, as divided as they are, I sense some perhaps don't understand my reasoning for wiping everything, I think strava as a tool is a excellent thing, I like others here now cycle with 4 new people purely due to strava one of them now my good friend & best cycling partner & in fact the person who took that very KOM this time last year he could not have done that, the person my issue is with is myself my fitness & my incapacity to comprehend the reasons for my fitness issues. I don't need strava to tell me this I am fully aware of this every time I go out on my bike but one thing strava was doing was making me feel worse about that & spoiling the pleasure of simply riding my bicycle & there is the crux of the matter, how many people posting here have ridden a bike for more than 2 or 3years, u did not use strava prior to this, u did not need strava to tell you whether you felt good about your ride or not & there is the key to my actions going back to basics if you like & just getting out, riding my bike listening to my body, my own internal critic tells me whether I have succeeded today or not & it is with that I go forward on my cycling journey.
You did the right thing for you! I dont need it and understand that but it's nice to understand where i've improved and also got worse so to work on. I admit, i'd consider doing the same too.
Strava is, of course, utter bolloxs but it's great fun when treated as an irrelevant toy to play with alongside your mates.
All, of course, IMHO.
who cares ? lol
just go out ride your bike. This forum has seriously gone downhill these days.......
You have taken the words out of my mouth here. One of my CR's is a minute faster than one of the best local athletes, he knows it is a bit suspect and so do I
I should really delete it 
But if I do delete it I am still the CR holder 
......by 3 seconds
The accuracy is highly suspect even when you do not (intentionally) cheat, so treating it as anything other than a bit of fun is asking for trouble.
I am sure it helps to get me out there when the weather is a bit dodgy and/or the wind is blowing in the right direction
My only gripe is downhill competitions and shared use path segments (for cyclists) which I think are asking for trouble.
I was out today and I got the, ))))) Strava get out the way ((((( so I did the right thing and slammed my fooking brakes on made the dick heads stop and told them that if they ever shout at me again if they see me, I will shove their fooking bikes up their arses. I then continued with my very relaxing summers day ride.
I love Strava, not because I take myself seriously (far from it), but because I find it keeps up my interest levels/curiosity and motivation as I continue the early stages of losing weight and getting fit on the bike.
Each to their own, but I agree having some idiot shout at me to get of the way would wind me up so much I'd probably forget to unclip while trying to stop them
on the exmouth exodus we ran into exmouth in the midst of the arse end of hurricane bertha. true to form, at 7am on a sunday there was a bloke in full TT getup trying to bag the segments across Woodbury common
IMHO deleting your entire ride history (including non-Strava sites) over a lost KoM sounds rather like one massive tantrum to me. I guess if it made you feel better for a bit...
I can understand not wanting to be ranked in rider boards, but I'd miss my riding history stats.
About the idiots shouting at other riders... with character like that, perhaps if it weren't for Strava they'd be racing around in their Audis instead and trying to push us off the road? It must be tempting to wobble into the way of such cyclists a little
Thankfully I have never come across such rudeness from other cyclists.
I enjoy Strava and it's great fun for friendly banter, but you really have to remember not to take it too seriously. After all, unless you are seriously fit, if you have a KoM it's because you happened to try harder on a random hill than anyone else using Strava happens to have and/or you had a nice tailwind and/or you got lucky with the GPS errors. I include all my few KoMs in this category. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy getting them though. But I know it's just a bit of fun.
As for why not go enter a race or a TT? Maybe many of us just don't take being competative all that seriously?
I need a GPS?
Every Strava account should have a sign up term you have to agree to:
"Sic transit gloria mundi"
For me half the fun of Strava is the pointlessness of it all.
There is one segment that I keep trying to get, but because its on a shared use cycle path its realistically never going to happen... I will always slow down if there are other users on the path.
That to me makes it all the more fun... getting the KOM is not a physical challenge, its a environmental one... will I ever get presented with a clear run and ideally tailwind on the same day as good legs and a competitive mind?
Taking it seriously is always going to ruin the fun for everyone.
I have a mate who is genuinely one of the best climbers out there... he refuses to put his best rides on Strava as he doesn't want to ruin it for everyone else... the point being, its all a bit of fun and completely pointless... enjoy it for that.
For me half the fun of Strava is the pointlessness of it all.
There is one segment that I keep trying to get, but because its on a shared use cycle path its realistically never going to happen... I will always slow down if there are other users on the path.
That to me makes it all the more fun... getting the KOM is not a physical challenge, its a environmental one... will I ever get presented with a clear run and ideally tailwind on the same day as good legs and a competitive mind?
Taking it seriously is always going to ruin the fun for everyone.
I have a mate who is genuinely one of the best climbers out there... he refuses to put his best rides on Strava as he doesn't want to ruin it for everyone else... the point being, its all a bit of fun and completely pointless... enjoy it for that.
He should just post them, from what I've seen the best climbs have already been bagged by Pros. Simon Yates has the best time on my local Brickworks climb (he's only about 2 1/2 to 3 times quicker than me.) Tell him not to be so coy about his achievements unless he is scarred of making himself a target. [Leaves that one there and backs away slowly.]
what is strava
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