Strava is an excellent, free program that is used by millions of cyclists worldwide to track their bike rides, plan routes, and compete digitally against themselves and other riders. Additionally, it is an incredible software in terms of the data it collects about your rides. Apart from being a goldmine of information for you, there is another incentive to use Strava: you contribute to real-world data collecting on cyclists’ riding locations, so contributing to the creation of a massive database that will ultimately make cycling safer for everyone. Thus, here is a guide on using Strava for riding.
Why Use Strava?
Strava, for many individuals, is NOT primarily about competition. It’s primarily about amassing massive amounts of data that you can study easily on your computer screen. This video demonstrates the incredible variety of data that you may review:
There is a compelling incentive for ALL cyclists to use Strava on every ride – even the shortest ones. The reason for this is to collect data.
Strava users monitor around half of their daily journeys. And between 50% and 70% of Strava rides are commutes. We should all utilize Strava, though, due of Strava’s worldwide Metro program. Each time you upload a Strava ride, you contribute to the Strava Metro dataset. As Strava notes:
“It’s a chance for you to express your support for improved cycling and pedestrian infrastructure in your neighborhood through your ride or run.”
Strava’s Metro program has created worldwide heat maps of where real people cycle based on data from recorded rides. Strava has made this data publicly available, and it may be utilized by transit planners and cycling advocates to acquire a better understanding of cyclists’ actual requirements.
Strava is a community of cyclists of all abilities. While some view Strava as a tool for professional cyclists, research have revealed that the majority of Strava users do not consider themselves competitive. Indeed, Strava Metro data provides valuable insight into the mobility demands of folks who ride just for transportation.
Every bike trip is significant enough to post on Strava, as it all contributes to the growth of a massive collection of heat maps of actual cycling routes.
Strava Labs offers a high-resolution display of Strava activity data for free to bicycle advocacy groups and the general public.
Plan your Routes Using Strava
You may design your route using Strava’s route planner at here. This is an excellent approach to discover routes that are often used by bicycles.
For instance, after relocating to a new city, it took weeks of trial and error and hours reading over maps to determine the optimal route to work. I was on the verge of abandoning bike commuting before I discovered it, since the BC Parkway route I was using was so stressful and unsafe that I began to hate it. The alternate route, the Central Valley Greenway, was far better for the most of the way, but included some sections that I just cannot face on a daily basis — such as Winston Road and Columbia Street. I have a feeling that if I cycled those every day, my luck would eventually run out and I would be run down by a speeding vehicle.
I feel that if I had been aware of Strava heat maps, I would have discovered my present path much sooner. Naturally, assuming that someone who uses it has been using Strava to track their workouts. Now that I’m recording it, I’m hoping that it may assist other area users in locating this safer way.
Of course, there is Google Bike Maps, but I frequently find that Google provides totally absurd choices — routes that are almost deadly. By comparison, routes taken by actual people are considerably more likely to be logical and safe.
If you’d like to construct your own unique routes, check out my guide on how to do so using Strava and then follow them using your smartphone or Garmin Edge cycle computer.
Strava’s Metro Project Detractors have noted that Strava data is not exhaustive. Low-income individuals, for example, are less likely to bike with smart phones and Strava. However, no body of knowledge can ever be full Because information is accumulating at an unsustainable rate. At the very least, Strava has a wealth of data on genuine riders, and I wholeheartedly support their efforts. Since learning about Strava’s Metro initiative, I’ve made a point of recording every bike ride, even the shortest ones. They are all significant. They can all contribute to a future in which everyone may ride a bike safely wherever. Heaven is how I envision it.
How to Use Strava to Keep Track of Your Bicycle Rides
It’s quite straightforward. On your phone, download the app from the App Store. Create a Strava account online (where you can review your data). To begin recording your bike journey, click the Record button. Ascertain that it has begun calculating time. There is a massive timer, which makes it quite evident when Strava began recording. Complete your journey. Once Strava is operating, a green strip will appear at the top of your phone’s screen. At any moment, you may touch that green strip to immediately access the Strava app.
You may review information for completed rides using the Strava app on your phone.
Once your ride is complete, open the Strava app on your phone. Press the stop recording button, followed by the button that resembles a racing finish flag. You will notice that the app is reserving the ride. You may now name it, or it will default to something like “Morning Ride.” Following that, you can rename it if you choose. Following that, you may evaluate your ride on your phone and on the Strava website. You may see an overview of all your activities by visiting the Strava website (or of the activities of anyone you choose to follow).
You may see an overview of all your activities by visiting the Strava website (or of the activities of anyone you choose to follow). Strava for Cycling: How to Use It
You may see an overview of all your activities by visiting the Strava website (or of the activities of anyone you choose to follow).
From there, you may click on any activity to learn more about it in greater detail. For instance, you may obtain a basic summary that includes route specifics and a comparison of your time to others for certain stages.
How to use Strava for Cycling?
On the Strava dashboard, you may click on any activity to learn more about it in greater detail. For instance, you may obtain a basic summary that includes route specifics and a comparison of your time to others for certain stages.
Strava’s most recent enhancements allow you to delve down into an examination of your speed and predicted power production (without using a power meter).
Strava’s most recent enhancements allow you to delve down into an examination of your speed and predicted power production (without using a power meter).
How to Connect Strava to an Apple Watch
Strava is really easy to operate from your Apple Watch. Simply add it as an app in your iPhone’s Apple Watch settings. It will thereafter be available as one of the Apple Watch’s applications. This may be really useful for bikers, since it allows you to start and stop Strava on your watch, while keeping your phone safely inside your pannier. And this method of utilizing Strava has one significant advantage: it means Strava will also incorporate your heart rate data, as collected by the optical heart rate monitor included into your Apple watch. If you have Strava premium, you may then use Strava.com to evaluate your heart rate records and Stress Score. The watch-screenshots below demonstrate some of the information your Apple watch receives from Strava. For instance, on the left is the quick summary that appears on your Apple Watch when you complete a ride using the Strava app. On the right, you can see the immediate reading you received throughout the ride using your Apple watch’s Strava app (I actually took this while walking, hence the slow average time).
Strava on an Apple Watch: on the left is the quick summary that appears on your Apple Watch when you complete a ride in the Strava app. On the right, you can see the immediate reading you received throughout the ride using your Apple watch’s Strava app.
How to Use Strava with an Activity Tracker
Strava can be accessed directly from your new Fitbit Blaze activity tracker (if you have one). This is an article showing how effortlessly and efficiently the Fitbit Blaze measures and uploads your bike rides to your Strava account. Thus, without even understanding how to use Strava, anyone may participate to the mapping process!
Strava is an excellent tool to use because it is free and allows you to contribute to a massive worldwide database of bike routes. What is there not to like?