Why You Should Go Premium With Strava

Photo by Dillon Clapp, Road Magazine

Last week, I was invited to come ride with the fine folks of Strava over some stunning terrain in the Malibu area. I happily accepted to enjoy exploring (read: climbing) somewhere new, hear from Strava, and meet some other writers and editors in the cycling industry.

Strava is a much bigger part of my enjoyment of cycling here in Southern California than it was in Southern Ontario. If you ask on any group ride, "Is this a segment?" you'll probably get an eye roll. Everything here is a segment.

But I've noticed a few things -- and heard a few thing from friends -- that had me wondering. I took my curiosity to the Strava meeting and they helped clear things up.

1.) I've been a Strava freeloader for years. Why haven't I been pressured to upgrade? 

Strava has worked from the beginning to be a tool of the cycling community, not the cycling industry. There are some powerful features you can get with an upgrade, but you can still enjoy Strava's basic functions to the fullest without paying. It's a no-strings-attached app for cyclists and runners, by cyclists and runners. End of story.

2.) So why should I upgrade? 

Strava is not yet a profitable company, though they expect that will change in the next 18 months. Its primary revenue stream is its premium membership option. You may have noticed Strava does not host advertising, and that's how they intend to keep it.

For me, the number one reason to upgrade is to support a company/tool that supports cycling. Strava, as you can imagine, has a lot of data. Over 50,000 new users join every week and 65% of Strava users are outside the U.S. The best part? They want to use that massive amount of data to advocate for cycling. IMBA and Strava are already partnered on some projects and Strava is also interested in working with city planners to make cycling in urban centers better. For example, using its heat maps, Strava could share the most popular routes taken by its users to show where best to build a bike lane. Conversely, if a route has a bike lane, but riders aren't using it, planners could use that info to figure out why, and how to improve it.

Upgrade to support Strava's effots to support you. Added bonus? You get some pretty amazing analysis of your scores, power data, heart rate data, your own personal heat maps (so you can see what ground you've covered) and more. And it's only $59 for the year.

3.) What about brand-sponsored challenges or rewards? 

Strava is proud of its relationships with brands in the cycling industry. That said, it remains committed to keeping advertising out of its revenue stream, so it's conscious to work with brands in a way that does not cross the line to look like an ad. Keep an eye out for those challenges and rack up those miles and badges.

4.) My Strava feed looks totally different -- what happened? 

The day we rode, Strava had just launched Strava Mobile 4.0. It combines the running and cycling app into one, included five more languages, a more social feed that includes instagram snaps, better functionality (just one click to kudos!).

On the app, you can now see which of your friends/followers are active in real time and as always, Strava is completely compatible with pretty much every third-party device/cyclo-computer you can think of. (We heard that there's a guy at Strava who's whole job is to learn about these "wearables" -- lately he's been trying out a t-shirt that stealthily monitors your heart rate and breathing rate. Wild.)

For Premium members, there are real-time notifications and audio updates delivered at the beginning, halfway point and end of segments so you know right away if you bagged that KOM/QOM (as long as you starred the segment beforehand). And you can compare your times by age group, weight class or a variety of other classifications.


Introducing The New Feed from Strava on Vimeo.

I also want to mention the Route Builder function on strava.com, free for all users. I hadn't realized it was there but it was an update to the site last year. Route Builder lets you input point A and B and using heat maps, Strava will give you the most popular route between them. It will also use your prior week's data to estimate how long it will take you to complete the ride (unlike Google Maps which uses your grandmother's personal best to estimate ...). You can also select the "minimum elevation" route to keep your climbing to a minimum if you want. (Sadly, there's no "maximum elevation" option yet).

5.) What about the rumors? Is Strava going to start removing "dangerous" downhill segments? 

No. Strava has never removed a downhill segment for fear of lawsuits and they say they won't either. Strava provides a tool, only. It is brought to life by its users. That means it's up to you not to be a jerk and mow down hikers and bird watchers because you're on track for a PR. If you hurl yourself down a technical descent that's over your head, that's on you, not Strava. There is no excuse for being a poor trail or road user.

All that said, there sure are a lot of segments out there! And a lot are duplicates. Since people are not likely to stop making duplicate segments, Strava is working on a strategy to consolidate. But with over two million activities uploaded per week, you can imagine that might take a bit of doing.

As for safety, Strava's number one message to its users is to be safe and have fun. If you feel a segment is unsafe, and you have ridden it before, you are qualified to "flag" it as hazardous and it will be removed. Strava is working on flags for those pesky redundant segments and also "temporary hazards" as well, such as construction.

Bottom line: Strava has no interest in being the segment police.

PS: New rumour for you! Strava is working on adding even more activities ... keep your eye out for those developments this year (XC skiing anyone?)

So on last Thursday's ultimate Strava ride, I learned a lot about this impressive company and super bonus, we were guided on a metric century over hill and dale in the backyards and driveways of some truly jaw-dropping estates. Thank you to Alex and Michael at Strava and Peter at True Communications for taking such excellent care of us. Here are a few photos from the day:

A gorgeous day for a ride - Santa Monica

One of many stunning properties we passed, with LA in the distance

Optum Pro Cycling's Jesse Anthony does a good deed in Malibu for this fellow with his first flat (!) since leaving San Francisco on a cyclo-tour

Cross-canyon capture of the Strava support van and riders in our group

Bike Mag's Nicole Formosa climbing out of Tuna Canyon

BRAIN's Megan Tompkin's descends from Saddle Peak

Carlsbad to San Clemente in Flirtees!

Just got back from another glorious vacation in California. My fiancé has the good sense to live there so I am down often, but this is the first time I've worked in a road ride.


Mainly this is due to my hatred of flying with bikes. So I was super glad to find Synaptic Cycle's Joe Bartoe who rented me a wonderful carbon steed for less than I would have paid to bring my bike on the plane one way.


The bike was a "Liscio" by American company Volagi, which is apparently the only one to include disc brakes as a standard feature on their road bikes. I was skeptical but won over in the end. I would almost say this bike was even better than having my own with me.


Here are the other big wins of my experience with Synaptic:

• The bike was fitted against measurements from my road bike emailed in advance so it arrived ready to ride
• It was delivered and picked up by the super affable Joe
• It came with full Ultegra, and the saddle and pedals of my choice. 

Top marks for Synaptic Cycles, and I am sure I will be in touch again soon. 


So with my borrowed bicycle, Gerhard and I set out for his first "real" bike ride (i.e. I made him stop to buy bottle cages and H2O receptacles at the local REI before we set off). We went from his place near La Costa Ave all the way to Pedro's in San Clemente where we gobbled down ten tacos and a lot of pop before turning back for a glorious tailwind push home.


All told, we conquered about 115km together, and it was wonderful!! Highlights of the ride included:

• Carlsbad Boulevard closed to cars for a triathalon course (which was nearly finished and didn't have any racers left on it) giving us a very large cycling lane for our personal use
• The old highway 101 now closed to cars through Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base, but is still open to bikes, making it the biggest rec path I have ever seen
• Unusual road signs like "Tank Xing" as we rode through range after range *yikes* 
• The sweet sweet taste of tacos to shut down a full-body bonk
• A very welcome tailwind all the way home
• The chance to show off my new Flirtees Kit (Thanks Casey!) [Find Flirtees on Twitter and Facebook]
• The part where we were finally finished. ;) 

Now that I'm back in Toronto where it's hotter than Cairo, riding bikes seems less fun. In fact, anything but sitting motionless in my air-conditioned office seems less fun. Til the heat wave breaks, guess I'll continue California dreamin'.

Photos by Gerhard Gross 

A Close Friend Turns Ten

It's 2012, and that means my old friend, Road Bike, is now a healthy ten years old. If I had my way, I'd never get a new one -- but that's not how aluminium works.

So I started mucking around on the Trek site and have now wasted a couple glorious hours in the Project One area specifically. I've been there before trying to see just how boss a price tag I could rack up on a bicycle (I think I broke $20,000 one day ... probably even easier to do now) but never with the intention of shopping.

Til now!

Here's what I came up with for a first draft -- Waaay more bike than I need for my purposes, but just enough to get me through another ten years. Suggestions welcome! Or if you'd like to customize one of these beauties for yourself, go to http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/collections/custom_project_one.

Drivetrain Gruppo: SRAM Force Compact PG-1070
Wheels: Race X Lite Clincher (tires: Bontrager R3, white)
Stem: Race X Lite
Headset: Cane Creek IS2 Carbon
Handlebar: Race X Lite Blade Isozone
... and most important: it's PURPLE (to match my mountainbike, of course).

May Long ... riding.

Awesome weekend. Would have been even awesomer at Mont Tremblant, but then again, all that driving on such beautiful days would have seemed a waste.

Saturday, I just enjoyed the fact that it was raining and crappy. I did all the laundry, cooked up some food, cleaned up around the house, read my book-club book and rested. Much needed day of recovery.

On Sunday, I got out with the Conquer Cancer team, "Happiest on my bike", for the first time and we had a great 100km+ ride starting at Kelso, and lapping Guelph before closing the loop. Felt great, and I'm happy to report I've got the road bike back in a condition that doesn't hurt my knees (what was up with that?!). I was nervous about the upcoming ride -- 160km two days in a row seems a little heavy -- but now my confidence has been restored and i'm looking forward to spending some long hours in the saddle with this crew. Good times in the 5-1-9.

Note to self though, cloud cover still means you need to wear sun screen. I have a ridiculous tan line where my arm band was, but at least i wasn't wearing gloves so my hands aren't mickey mouse-ed.

Monday, I knew I wanted to ride the mountain bike, but I'd flatted the week before and as anyone who rides Bontrager knows, getting those tires to seat is nearly impossible without an air compressor, so it was still up on the figurative blocks.

A couple notes were flying around about various trail rides that were either too far to drive to, or too early in the morning to start on a holiday. But I was willing to do what it took.

After about my third session wrestling with the tire, Jerome emailed to say he was headed up to Hardwood, and had room for me. I jumped at the opportunity to check out the Canada Cup Course, and Ben at Hardwood was kind enough to end the battle with my tire. Jerome and I had a very awesome ride and I'm loving the course up there. Thanks for the lines, J-rock. If it's that hot on race day I'll have to figure out some creative cooling for bottles and bodies. Scorcher!!

At the end, we pooled our resources and ended up with an awesome snack mix for the ride home of raspberries, blackberries, raw almonds (toasted from sitting in my bag!), dates and dried mango. The traffic wasn't too terrible, but more than we expected on such a killer afternoon at only 2:30! I was happy for a cold shower at the end of the drive.

Staying home this weekend was definitely the right move -- the next three weekends are all laps. Feeling a little more recharged -- although some rest days this week will be a nice treat. Tonight, Boot Camp!

Race Report: CHIN International

Yesterday, a teammate sent around an email reminding us that the CHIN road race in Toronto was set for today. I've never done the event, for a couple of reasons:

1) It's a road race. Enough said.
2) It's on Canada Day and usually Canada Day is a long weekend without a race, so I take full advantage on a dock somewhere

This year, lacking the long weekend and having nothing better to do (besides sleep in ... ohhh hindsight), I mentally bookmarked the race figuring if I remembered to go, I'd do it.

So this morning I woke up and still somewhat non-committal, had my breakfast telling myself I'd just go down and take a look at who's racing before dropping my 60 bucks on the entry fee (*gasp*).

The other thing about Canada Day 2009 is that it was supposed to piss rain all day. Another strike against doing this race since wet roads combined with tight packs, plentiful corners and skinny tires is a recipe for a broken collarbone and road rash. However, defying the odds, the sun shone all day long. So after riding all the way down to the CNE grounds, getting kitted up and everything, how could I not enter?

Feeling more than a little unprepared, I went through the ordeal of pinning on my numbers. For some reason roadies are freaks about this little ritual. It has to be done "just so" or else you'll be DQ'd. So numbers on the left, off I went to warm up. I certainly felt like the little fish when sharks like Merril Collins (National Criterium Champ) rolled by.

On the start line, the usual roadie conversations ensued. I felt even more out of place. At least I kind of looked like I belonged -- I mean, my shorts matched my jersey and I remembered to wear white socks and everything.

The whistle blew and we were off. Well, they were off. I on the other hand suffered a "wardrobe malfunction" right off the bat: my cleat would NOT clip into my pedal. It is really hard to start a race when only one shoe is fixed to the bike. I tried again, and the girls got farther away. I tried once more, and the girls got even farther ahead. And then -- as is the case in road races if you screw up as I did -- it was pretty much over. With the pace and the headwinds, it became quickly apparent that I was not going to be bridging the gap.

So ... you can guess how the rest of the race went. Not much more to say.

The bright side? I got a good workout, worked a bit on my cycling tan lines, and since I was all alone, I am sure I got some nice solo shots by the photographers lining the course. Hopefully they show up online somewhere.

Thanks CHIN for reminding me why I don't like criteriums.

Happy Canada Day!