trailbuilder to strava user

And you gotta bunnyhop over any hikers/dogs

Especially old crumbly's with hiking poles.

Those guys aren't braking much, that's my Achilles heel.

what i find dumbfounding is I was watching the Crankworks EWS race and knowing fully that i could not even come close to the speeds the ladies ride at and they looked deaddog slow thru sections that the guys looked twice as fast thru .

Those guys aren't braking much, that's my Achilles heel.

I just rechecked. My score from that day is in the top 10% of 1762 riders. The top rider Nick Geddes did 4:02 and I got 5:24. That's a pretty tight spread. I have no idea how I could hit it 1:22 faster. Strava knowledge. It's not all knowledge but it is an interesting perspective. How/where else to go faster? It's fun to consider.

I just rechecked. My score from that day is in the top 10% of 1762 riders. The top rider Nick Geddes did 4:02 and I got 5:24. That's a pretty tight spread. I have no idea how I could hit it 1:22 faster. Strava knowledge. It's not all knowledge but it is an interesting perspective. How/where else to go faster? It's fun to consider.

I'm at 5:16. Gah! You ever seen Nick ride? Those Geddes brothers are redic fast. They own a bunch of top times in whistler. They have the bike control and finesse to maneuver the bike through corner with little or no braking.

One part of the love/hate with strava is:

1) when you feel like you just destroyed everyone's time but you are off the back… And you have no explanations why.

2) when you are cruising and coasting and you find you are a second or two from a KOM. Then you go back and put in effort and your time doesn't really improve… Again, can't explain how or why.

So rewarding. So frustrating. :P

those times in the forest can be a bit off. Overall trends should be close but sometimes the time is fast only because the signal recorded you at the end when you really weren't. the north shore is particularly bad for this

That's why they invented actual racing

That's why they invented actual racing

Racing costs money:)

That's why they invented actual racing

But I actually race, not much, but I still do… And have been consistantly since I started riding back in '95. Racing is in my blood and is most of the reason I use Strava.

Strava is for roadies going uphill, using real, accurate garmins and not shitty phone GPS. I don't really see how a phone GPS in the middle of the forest is ever going to be accurate enough to be meaningful when it comes to KOM's and rankings.

Strava is great riding log and can be used as a training tool but in reality, the results don't mean a whole lot. You can get an idea of a general trend of your speed, which I feel is more helpful if you compare against your own results. Comparing against others may feed your ego but it's not an accurate comparison - you don't know whether the time was recorded accurately, whether the person was trying to go fast or whether they were only pumping the trail or stopped to chat; you also can't compare the trail conditions, wet, dry, in good shape, more worn and more technical, etc. Also, a QOM or KOM only means that you were recorded as going the fastest on that segment. There could be so many other people that don't even use strava that could crush your time (assuming your time was correct in the first place).

Even winning a race doesn't mean you're the fastest person out there, but at least it does let you know where you are compared to the other people that raced on that particular day. Strava results and racing results are not equivalent at all.

Strava is for roadies going uphill, using real, accurate garmins and not shitty phone GPS. I don't really see how a phone GPS in the middle of the forest is ever going to be accurate enough to be meaningful when it comes to KOM's and rankings.

Yeah you are right. The phone GPS isn't accurate enough. I was using strava for a while but who really cares? Knowing the distance you are riding per week is about all I'm interested in. What is fun is do a shuttle day and leave it on while driving up . The Roadies get all upset and its amazing how fast your time is challenged and deleted.

Actually, friends and I have compared tracks that were recorded using a Garmin cycling computer and an iphone and most often there isn't really a difference. I have seen major glitches on actual gps units while the iphone stays on track (and vica versa).

I think it mostly depends on external factors out of your control, plus the type of trail that is being recorded. Trails with lots of sharp turns that double back on themselves tend to give the most issues. When that happens, I try and keep practicing the trail.

Some trails seem dead accurate when compared to an actual hand held gps unit. Plus, those trails tend to have real close times between users. Those are the trails where you want the time recorded to the tenth or hundreth because of how close the times are. You know when you see a strangely fast time by someone who isn't all that fast that there was something wrong with how the track was recorded. Massive time gaps and breaks means that you shouldn't take that recorded time too seriously. ;)

One part of the love/hate with strava is:

1) when you feel like you just destroyed everyone's time but you are off the back… And you have no explanations why.

2) when you are cruising and coasting and you find you are a second or two from a KOM. Then you go back and put in effort and your time doesn't really improve… Again, can't explain how or why.

So rewarding. So frustrating. :P

Last year I had the bright idea that we should go measure certain sections of our club trails. I thought it would be a fun thing as most of the riders don't use a GPS. Keep in mind it's on private land. After we did it we have some of the kids seeing if they can go faster on sections timing themselves with their watches and stuff.