Strava love/hate discussion

Instead of talking about it in another thread, let's make a new one to bash (or praise) Strava.

I was a devout strava user last year and into this spring when things turned sour for me. Well, for what I was seeing. What turned me off was the trail destruction. Not just any trail wreckage, but purposely built lines that were made only to save time. It used to be that riders who braided mostly did so to bypass difficult sections they couldn't ride. But, what's happening now is many strava users are straight lining turns, even when the original part of the trail is far more interesting. In the past year, the amount of weird braids, mostly on dh trails, have grown by quite a bit.

On one of my first strava rides last year, I unintentionally took a shorter inside line, thinking the right hand fork was leading off into another trail. I got called on it, accepted it, and went back and bettered my time taking the slower line. Done.

I also don't enjoy the unsocial tendencies that are created when that clock is running. How many times have I encountered someone (stranger or not) on the trail and they just give a nod and keep soldiering on. I always make an effort to stop and chat to my fellow trails user, if not, just slow and say hi. No KOM or PR is worth not being friendly to other people you encounter. Since I am not really using strava anymore, the rides have gotten way more fun because I'm not chasing PR's. I do have an account that I will turn on if I am looking for trails in an area I am not familiar with.

Strava has a lot going for it, but it is killing trails. I know it can't be 100% blamed on an app or the people who use it, but people do mellow out when they aren't always looking for a result. I know of a bunch of fast people who have deleted their accounts in the past year, for the same reasons I have… and its great. I hope more people do too.

Discuss.

yawn :deadhorse::deadhorse::deadhorse:

As has been stated many times on the board and in articles it is the user more than the app.
The real test of speed is in actual races. Thats great someone thinks they are fast and have a KOM on some trail but then if they do an xc race and get crushed by someone like Quinn then it really puts that person in their place (same goes for dh, enduro…). You're not fast if you can't compete in races.

I am surprised that you could see a cut corner on your gps trace (unless it was an obvious diversion) The accuracy of the app or garmins are not that great in the forest. At best +-10m.

One can easily go for rides with strava and stop. How vain does one need to be to always try to show a fast time on trails, especially as stated above that they probably aren't even that fast. everyone should take a page from Team Robot and realize we all suck.

What if you have a grudge match between friends and there's a 6 pack of IPA on the line? Does strava still suck?

It's usually just slow dudes or bitter trailbuilders hating on it. I agree though, it's a bit of a dead horse.

Morgan had a really good article up a while back that pretty much sums the whole discussion up… you should just post that and end the thread.

Strava isn't rewarding for everyone, so it's always going to be divisive. If it doesn't own you and you can be responsible, go for it. It's not the scapegoat it's being made out to be. Pre Strava there was always people who couldn't keep their mouth shut about secret trails, people who braided tough lines or to snake their buddies and yeah, people who might not want to stop and chit chat with you…

I've been looking for all these "Strava Lines" on my local trails for a while and I don't really see more than the usual cut corners or ride arounds. If anything Id' say the resurgent popularity of racing and cutty porn in edits would be just as much to blame. KOMS/PRS aren't even possible on every ride accounting for traffic, GPS drift, fitness and trail conditions, so there's no point to it owning you on every ride you're on.

As for the Anti-Social point, the expectation to chat with everyone kind of bugs me. I could easily spend half an hour per ride if I talked with every mountain biker I passed on the shore. A nod/smile, or clean pass is all I expect. As long as someone is respectful and has trial etiquette what's wrong with them "soldiering on", and a nod/hello as they pass by? I could see being weirded out if you were both in an intersection and they outright ignored you… With hikers, dog walkers, etc I have zero expectations but of course will always reciprocate and give directions, help, etc… even if Strava is running.

It comes down to respect and if you had it in the first place, Strava isn't going to change that, vice versa.

Strava on the road is acceptable, on the mountain bike it isn't.

For a trillion obvious reasons.

I hear the next update has a feature that tracks boredom.

Instead of talking about it in another thread, let's make a new one to bash (or praise) Strava.

I was a devout strava user last year and into this spring when things turned sour for me. Well, for what I was seeing. What turned me off was the trail destruction. Not just any trail wreckage, but purposely built lines that were made only to save time. It used to be that riders who braided mostly did so to bypass difficult sections they couldn't ride. But, what's happening now is many strava users are straight lining turns, even when the original part of the trail is far more interesting. In the past year, the amount of weird braids, mostly on dh trails, have grown by quite a bit.

On one of my first strava rides last year, I unintentionally took a shorter inside line, thinking the right hand fork was leading off into another trail. I got called on it, accepted it, and went back and bettered my time taking the slower line. Done.

I also don't enjoy the unsocial tendencies that are created when that clock is running. How many times have I encountered someone (stranger or not) on the trail and they just give a nod and keep soldiering on. I always make an effort to stop and chat to my fellow trails user, if not, just slow and say hi. No KOM or PR is worth not being friendly to other people you encounter. Since I am not really using strava anymore, the rides have gotten way more fun because I'm not chasing PR's. I do have an account that I will turn on if I am looking for trails in an area I am not familiar with.

Strava has a lot going for it, but it is killing trails. I know it can't be 100% blamed on an app or the people who use it, but people do mellow out when they aren't always looking for a result. I know of a bunch of fast people who have deleted their accounts in the past year, for the same reasons I have… and its great. I hope more people do too.

Discuss.

Anti Strava timing system. :D

This. It kind of defeats the legitimacy of Strava.

http://www.digitalepo.com/

LOL at anyone who takes the strava times seriously. Real racing is the best measuring stick

Sorry if this has been beaten to death, but I only discovered strava two years ago and had yet to go through the downsides until this past spring/summer. So its still kinda new to me.

Some trails you can clearly see someone cutting a corner on the gps track, yet other trails the track is way off. It depends where you are and how big the cheat line is.

The trail destruction is real though, and it bugs me. There are obviously cheat lines that are being opened up on a regular basis. I'll go in and block them and then they are cleared again a few days later.

Most people are honest and just use it for tracking their rides, its the few who want to digitally dope to get a good time are the culprits. Those dudes take strava very seriously… and they are the ones who usually can't put in a decent race result hahaha

in my experience braids are mostly just from shitty/lazy riders who think they're being 'clever' on the trail, before strava it was racer heads who liked to pretend they were on the race course that was taped wide, or something, now we just skip straight to blaming strava. It's still just shitty people being shitty to trails.

in my experience braids are mostly just from shitty/lazy riders who think they're being 'clever' on the trail, before strava it was racer heads who liked to pretend they were on the race course that was taped wide, or something, now we just skip straight to blaming strava. It's still just shitty people being shitty to trails.

i think there is some legitimacy on the braids based on strava. i noticed a few odd braids on an xc trail that has been there for years. the braids connected a few wide loops of the trail into a straight shot. it didn't bypass any tech challenge, just a slower ride around that the straight line can shave a few sections off of. it's a pretty flat trail, and it's been there for about 20 years or so. the braid is also through some clearcut regrowth, so it's not just a quick hop through the side of the trail .. someone worked to go through that area.

not beating a dead horse, i use strava, i like challenging my cycling peer group on it and i like tracking HR and kms on it as it's a simple ap. i don't cut lines to better my time and i doubt i will ever use that braid and will most likely stop next time and block it off. this thread just made me figure out a rationalization to the strange braid.

I don't hate strava but I see very little reason to use it. I have zero interest in letting other people know how fast (or slow) I ride a trail. I ride to enjoy the outdoors and for my own personal reasons. Strava does nothing to enhance my riding experience. Like someone posted above, strava is not a problem, people who take it too seriously are. Don't expect me to get out of your way if you are blasting down a trail trying for a kom.