Strava Attack
Nothing can motivate a cyclist like a little friendly competition, and Strava definitely provides the framework to create challenges. Although I’ve had a Strava account since they first started up, I wouldn’t consider myself a Stravaholic like several cyclists around the world. But the other night I fell asleep thinking about a few of the segments around here, so you know exactly what was on my mind when I took off for my morning ride the next day.
I think Strava is super cool, but I honestly only upload my activity about every month, or whenever I remember. I’m lucky enough to own KOM status on several segments here in Grenada, and still hold “King” status on a few in Austin. My Strava Attack started when I was auto e-mailed twice last week from Strava. Once to say I lost my KOM on a segment in Austin, and the other saying I had lost one here in Grenada. Well I can’t do much about the Austin segment at the moment, but I was motivated to reclaim the other one.
On my daily rides, I don’t pay attention to where the segments start and end…..so any of the KOM’s I’ve claimed have been part of a regular ride. But, this time I was set on altering my ride so that I could do a couple segments that I don’t generally make part of my route. The Strave Attack was on, and I was sure I could take back my lost KOM along the way.
The overall ride was totally one of my fastest here in Grenada, but after getting home and uploading the ride….the best I had done was slightly improve one of my other standings. No new KOM’s. Not even a PB.
You won this time, Strava. But I’ll be back. Yeah, you could say that I’m slowly becoming a Stravaholic…..how about you?
If you’re on Strava and want to friend me up, here’s a link to my Strava Page.
Get Motivated. Strava-Attack. #MakeitHappen
Scott, you can just can and flag a ride which has bogus data like that and then it takes them of any leaderboards etc. I am a total stravaholic and I even check it a few times a day to see what others I follow have been up too – I love it, such a motivator for me.
Last summer, at the point when I was riding well (for me) I actually gained a KOM on a local segment…which lasted all of an hour. Within the hour, it was gained by a rider who apparently managed to ride at 53mph uphill, and he was surpassed the same day by a QOM who rode an average of 56mph. When I checked out their profiles, they each owned numerous K/Q titles, and their overall average speeds were north of 50mph. At that point, I gave up on Strava – surely there is a way for them to build in an algorithm to look for unrealistic speeds and poachers who take their GPSs in their cars to post high speeds. Maybe there is now – I don’t know…but it was pretty discouraging.