Strava for Cyclists
I grew up in Minnesota and loved all things electronic, even buying one of the first electronic odometers for my steel road bike in the 1970s. Fast forward to today, and I’m still riding a road bike, except this time its frame is carbon fiber instead of steel. Another substantial change is how I track my mileage. Back in 2013 I started using a free app on my Android phone called MapMyRide to track my mileage. It was simple, just open the app, press the Start button, then at the end of the ride push the Stop button. Free and easy, I was hooked.
By 2014 I discovered group rides, and one day another cyclist asked me, “So, are you on Strava?”
I replied, “Uh, what’s Strava?”
Basically, all the cool kids who I rode with in Tualatin used Strava, not MapMyRide, so I quickly set up a free account at Strava.com and used the app on my Android phone. I even copied all my old rides from MapMyRide into Strava, because I wanted to get full mileage credit on one platform, then stopped using MapMyRide for good. In the beginning years I used the Strava app on my phone, then eventually I upgraded my bike computer to one that automatically uploaded all my rides directly to Strava, so no more having to use an app on my smartphone. ✎
The genius of Strava is that it mixes cycling analytics like mileage along with social media, so that you can follow other cyclists and make comments about their rides or even load their routes onto your own bike computer to get turn-by-turn directions. Here’s what Strava looks like when I visit my account:
This screen tells me that I am following 868 other cyclists, and have 707 people following me, while I have done 2,732 activities. An activity can be cycling, walking, running, swimming or dozens of other physical activities. Mostly my friends on Strava are cyclists or triathletes. I set a weekly goal of 280 miles, and it shows me the progress towards achieving that goal. My annual mileage goal was 16,000 miles and I’ve reached that. On the far-right column you can see all the various Challenges I have joined. As you can tell, Strava is quite popular, with some 95 million registered users. I started out with a free account, but then upgraded to their premium account to get even more analytic features.
In the middle of the screen is my social feed, showing the most recent rides of my 868 Strava buddies. My rides also show up in the feed, so it’s similar to using social media like Facebook, Twitter or Threads. When I click on my most recent ride from Yesterday it shows me who rode with me, and the exact GPS route that we took, along with photos and commentary from each cyclist.
Strava has the idea of segments, which are sections of the road where someone on Strava has named that segment. When I ride that segment then Strava tells me if I set a Personal Record (PR) on that segment, or possibly if I have the fastest time of any cyclist, also called a King of Mountain (KOM) for men, or Queen of Mountain (QOM) for women. At age 66 I earned only one KOM for 2023, because the younger riders are always the fastest ones on segments. At least I know when I set my own PR on a segment, as it motivates me to keep fit when I have a challenge.
Analytics for each ride include: total distance traveled, moving time, elevation gain, relative effort, weighted average power (if you have a power meter), total work, training load, intensity, average speed, maximum speed, average heart rate, maximum heart rate, average cadence, maximum cadence, average power, maximum power, calories burned and elapsed time. For a premium account you unlock several features, like: Relative effort, heart rate, power curve, zone distribution, 25 W distribution.
In the rainy winter months, I continue to cycle, but on wet days I’m indoors using the Zwift app and a smart trainer, then my Zwift rides automatically show up in Strava results.
I have created a Strava club for the Portland Bicycling Club, and with no advertising, we already have 67 members.
- So, if you already have a Strava account, then please join the Strava club for PBC: CLICK HERE TO JOIN.
- If you don’t have a Strava account, first go to Strava.com, create an account, and then: CLICK HERE TO JOIN.
You can see other people who’ve joined the online club, then follow them and comment on their rides, and maybe go for a ride with them. You can post in a club and also make comments on a post, so the social aspect is contagious.
Whether you cycle a little or a lot, I think that Strava has something to offer every cyclist who likes to ride, find new routes, keep in contact with cycling buddies and make new friends.
Daniel Payne, Club Member