Why I'm Leaving Strava

I had an epiphany before the New Year and decided to go analog. Let me know if you find it hard to ride without tracking your progress with Strava or another service. Are you someone who doesn't ever keep track of your rides? Leave your comments below.

[michaelcafaro]

I stay away from it. It’s basically bringing social media into the forest and it doesn’t belong there. The only thing I have is the experience and some photos when something catches my eye.

[paulschulman]

I do and also on trainingpeaks. But then again I’m being coached and these are useful tools for me.

I’ve used ride with gps to find some cool routes to try. I enjoyed it

[snafujag]

Interesting. I have been thinking the same. Strava can easily become a “ keeping up with the Jones’s “ thing! Maybe pushing yourself when you should be resting, just to post that ride! Also the whole Kudos thing can be very consuming. Thanks for your thoughts. Spring is coming soon to us winter cycling Albertans✌️

[johnp]

I made a similar move when I got back into biking a few years ago. I cleaned up my bike and all my old gear . . . except my bike computer. That went straight into the trash. In my case, I have no desire to again become obsessed with maintaining or increasing my average speed, decreasing my time, etc. My solution is much the same as yours: I wear a watch. I have a general idea of the time it takes to do various rides, and that's enough. The only other measurement device I use is a scale to measure my weight. If I am enjoying riding and managing my weight, I couldn't possibly care less about the rest.

[marccale]

Yeah, understand the thinking. I do track my rides on my Wahoo but only for mild interest. It's easy to get sucked into recording everything when it's really not neccessary. The main reason I don't use Strava or an equivalent is that it would make me do idiotic things on the road...i.e. if I'm trying to post a good time for a segment, my competitive nature would make me start taking dumb risks on corners and in traffic. Having once had to retrieve my bike from under a bus full of people having taken a dumb-ass risk so I could beat my personal best, it's best I stay away from Stava! I save 100% commitment for racing and Zwift races.

[rogersimmons]

I've never been on strava.
I do track my rides though, using a garmin, and wear a HRM, mainly to track distance and my maximum heart rate, more out of curiosity than anything else.
I've no idea why I upload the rides to my garmin account as I never refer back to them.

[reginaldscot]

Hi Tinfoil hat conspiracy lover here! 😁

Yes I often think about why am I giving random people and the government a detailed data log on where I go and how fit I am? 🤔

As for SAD, (I think that’s called being human) I used to live in the UK and the weather sucked, I hated winter. I moved to Asia and now I live on a tropical island and the temperature never drops below 26C and it’s sunny most days. 😁

Have you considered moving?

[othmtb]

Strava messaged me and told me to get off, I go to slow 🥴

[StayInTheWord]

Santa brought me a Garmin 1030 + in December. Love it and yes I do look back at previous rides. I truly like looking at the progress I’ve made since beginning my cycling venture in 2020. Hope you get over your “SAD”ness soon.