The CCE strava group is still the largest local "club" just keeping its nose in front of ERC. Still not sure ho many are forumites.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Computers, GPS, 'Smart' 'Phones
Strava
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Posted 11 years ago #
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ok I have a gpx file of todays ride, and I have created a strava account, is there a way to upload the file directly without borrowing a compatible Garmin device? :-s
(apologies if it's a dumb q, just humour the old guy ok ;-))
Posted 11 years ago # -
You need to use this link:
Posted 11 years ago # -
:-(
"error processing activity"
ooooh hang on, wrong gpx type :-o will try again thanks...Posted 11 years ago # -
Finally! Now to work out this segment business :-)
Posted 11 years ago # -
So Strava encourages unlicenced and uninsured racing, on inappropriate routes, such as "Telford/Roseburn Sprint" (http://www.strava.com/segments/telford-roseburn-sprint-929101) fastest time of 4.34mins @ 22mph where there can be dogs, children, wide variety of cyclist speeds, pedestrians.
May explain why a number of cyclists on that route appear to be allergic to their brakes.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@559 that sounds bad. Even rising at dawn to get a clear route might still be hampered by early dog walkers. I had daftly imagined strava was just for streets.
There was a chap on the WoL path the other day without a bell, I doubt he was stravaign but my informal marshalling of thing 2 and thing 3 plus the senior citizen and her dog led to a tale of mild peril from the dog walker about her feeling terrorised by a cyclist. I have quoted R. Burns before on this
o wad some power the giftie gie us
Tae see ourselves as others see usPosted 11 years ago # -
Markt he route as unsafe - Strava will remove it. It's kind of a self-policing thing, but it needs people to mark them up appropriately if they believe it unsafe for the system to work.
On the flipside I was running early for work this morning so turned round to attack the Johnston Terrace climb for the first time in ages. Can't remember what my old time was, but bettered it to 1m06s - 4th overall, and annoyingly, perilously close to the 1 minute mark.
Posted 11 years ago # -
As mentioned before, it is possible to have segments that might be considered dangerous taken off.
"So Strava encourages unlicenced and uninsured racing, on inappropriate routes"
To me this sounds a rather extreme way of putting it. Certainly "unlicenced and uninsured" is irrelevant, and I suspect that the vast majority of culprits have never even heard of Strava. Anyway a proper Strava challenge would be up a steep hill over a reasonable distance where the majority would struggle to manage say 10 mph.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Gembo, re your Burns quote totally apt
@WC, agree its a self policing thing, why am I stating the obvious, when I don't even use Strava !
@amir, used to be the case that to race on British roads you had to have a BCU or SCU licence, hence the comment, insured is totally relevant if whilst "stravaing" you wipe a pedestrian.
From what I can discern about Strava, proper challenges should be on steep hills over a reasonable distance
Posted 11 years ago # -
You definitely do need a licence for a proper organised road race. I don't think you do for time trials. Licences are not required for sportives and audaxes - both are usually timed but the former tends to be more competitive.
Generally I expect most organised events have some kind of insurance.
For unorganised events, such as riding alone or with your friends, insurance certainly isn't required. 3rd party insurance might be a good idea but it's a matter of individual choice.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Context is everything and unlike cars v bikes, it's not so clear, to me at least, that the only or even the most vulnerable person is the dog walker. Sure, they would not have invited a collision but if there's anyone on a bike unaware that it's going to hurt like hell if they come off (even if they have a helmet) then I hope experience soon disabuses them of that.
Strava is self-policing in two respects: in the way WC describes of being able to remove segments that are dangerous and in the more immediate way of it being in your best interests to slow down in case that dog decides there's something more interesting on the other side of the path.
Anyway, inconsiderate cycling predates the creation of the smartphone. I'm not sure Strava has created anything that wasn't there already. I can remember taking a close interest in my journey time to work when all I had was a clock in the kitchen and a time clock at work.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Anyway, inconsiderate cycling predates the creation of the smartphone..."
There were certainly plenty of threads on here about inconsiderate cycling (too fast and not paying attention) on shared use paths before the invention of Strava. I guess it's actually hard to know if they are going fast because of Strava without asking them. Yes, there are times for a segment there, but did people ride it that quickly before that segment existed? Has it actually changed any cycling habits?
(personally I'd never be bothered about a time on a shared use path and they are segments I think should be removed - unlike the wide straight road segment on part of my commute home which still baffles me as having been marked as dangerous).
Oh, and as amir says, I reckon Strava is much more interesting as a hillclimb type thang.
Posted 11 years ago # -
@Inst,@WC, agree with both that inconsiderate cycling certainly predates the smartphone as does timed runs.
What effect Strava has, obviously no one knows for certain. However IMO timed runs should not be on busy multi-use paths.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yeah, hill climbing's good but there's something of a moral panic or Daily Mail scare story about all the dangers posed by louts imagining they're Bradley Wiggins in the Olympics, causing panic among dog walkers as they hurtle along on their carbon racing bikes, their middle age paunch barely contained by their lycra shorts, trying to emulate their Tour de France heroes.
You can see from the leaderboards on most of the segments you look at that there aren't that many people using Strava at all. The Telford / Roseburn "sprint" has been ridden by 132 people and 50 of those people have fastest times that are under 15mph and only 8 are over 20mph. So, about 70 people have ridden that section at between 15 and 19.9mph at some time over the past two years. Does that qualify as too fast? I can't tell. I don't really feel like I'm working hard to get over 15mph. But it's not much of a sprint if most can't get over 20mph. Overall, I'd guess that almost none of the people battering down the NEPN of a morning are running Strava.
I imagine how people use Strava is as varied as people themselves. Does it 'make' or encourage people ride faster? You certainly see some evidence of people going out to make good times on it and to take a load of KOMs. If the conditions are right: if I feel like I have the legs for it and it's clear and I don't have a gale in my face I'll ride to make a good time on a hill like Arthur's Seat or a flat section like the Cramond foreshore. Personally, if there's any chance of having to slow down it's not worth the effort trying so I'm a bit skeptical that Strava makes these things more dangerous than they'd otherwise be.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"So, about 70 people have ridden that section at between 15 and 19.9mph "
70 rides or people?
If people, that seems a lot.
Posted 11 years ago # -
Ha! You have to have ridden the segment to Flag is as hazardous....
Posted 11 years ago # -
If 70 poeple ride it then you can guess they have ridden it more then once. Perhaps there might be one or two people who have ridden it as part of a single bike ride but I'd guess that the majority commute.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"You have to have ridden the segment to Flag is as hazardous...."
Seems reasonable.
Though of course that could mean people calling some segments 'dangerous' because they cannot beat the leader!
Posted 11 years ago # -
Yes, it's been ridden 533 times by 132 people so an average of about 4 times each but as DaveC says, many will have ridden it every day as part of their commute so many people only once.
@chdot 70 people.
If I remember correctly, the segments on the path come and go. They seem to be flagged regularly and reinstated or recreated. Each time it's created it builds the leaderboard from all the people who've ridden over that segment so in once sense, it's a waste of time flagging them. If anyone's really interested, they can ride it, create the segment and see how they did.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I've flagged segments on the north Edinburgh paths as dangerous in the past: http://app.strava.com/rides/19493730#351490364
Strava seems to be saying I averaged 23km/h (14 - 15mph?) for that section - and I promise I'm very aware and respectful of other path users!Posted 11 years ago # -
"I've flagged segments on the north Edinburgh paths as dangerous in the past"
Does that mean Strava didn't remove them or they have been reinstated?
Posted 11 years ago # -
From what I've seen, having a segment flagged just means it only shows the times, changing the vertical movement to zero and not showing the mean speed. What would be better is if you could define points (such as pedestrian crossings or junctions) (or entire stretches (under-bridge bits on canal, or the entire canal)) as dangerous in a way which would then prevent new segments being defined which included the danger points.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"Does that mean Strava didn't remove them or they have been reinstated? "
I think it probably means that someone has just created a new segment in the same location. Whenever a new segment is created it creates a leaderboard based on all the historic data for that stretch.
As others have said, Strava doesn't cause dangerous riding any more than, say, the A9 causes dangerous driving. Thoughtless cyclists cause dangerous riding. If you're on a potential PR/KOM, or just in a hurry to get home, there's no excuse for not riding to the conditions and taking other road/path users into account. Come back another day if you really must beat that time.
"So Strava encourages unlicenced and uninsured racing, on inappropriate routes"
In as much as it's a race at all, it's a time trial, for which you don't need a racing license.
Posted 11 years ago # -
wingpig: "...prevent new segments being defined which included the danger points"
That would be good. There do seem to be a lot of segments which start in odd places - just before a junction, in the middle of a village or on the approach to traffic lights.
Posted 11 years ago # -
And these danger points and dangerous segments will be defined by whom? Whose assessment of danger and risk will over-ride everyone else's?
I'm genuinely surprised (and a little disturbed) at the willingness to police other cyclists even when it's based on knowing almost nothing about when or how they ride.
Posted 11 years ago # -
"And these danger points and dangerous segments will be defined by whom?"
People who have ridden the segment and uploaded the track to Strava - only they can create segments or flag existing things as dangerous at present. I'm not eligible to create or flag anything.
I'd mind Strava less if it awarded users titles like "holder of the current fastest recorded time amongst participating users along a short downhill stretch of shared-use path" rather than "KOM".
Posted 11 years ago # -
I know I could create my own segments to replace the ones already created where I ride. I would rather go with what's already there. But they often seem to have been badly thought out. Why take a six minute uphill segment through a village before ending it? Why not stop at the start of the village? Why start on the approach to a junction instead of just after it? Why start before traffic lights? I don't want to police cyclists, I want to police badly thought out segments.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I have rewritten some segments when they include TLs or even downhills. I haven't generally flagged the old one as dangerous (or irrelevant) - I know which is which.
Posted 11 years ago # -
I might create a new Cousland climb from the West. I assume you're meant to wait for the TL to change but going through on red would provide a flying start and a big advantage*. Starting it after the lights would make for a better segment.
*and no cyclist has ever done something illegal to gain a competitive advantage
Posted 11 years ago #
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