Are you a Stravasshole?

Submitted by Kris Thompson on

Stravasshole : an individual Strava-ing at the expense of common courtesy.

Strava is fun and I like to go "Strava-ing on the weekends". For those unfamilier with this term, Strava is a the ability to track your rides with GPS AND (most importantly) compete not in real-time with other riders of the road or trail for the fastest time. There are other products that provide rich GPS ride tracking like Ride with GPS and MapMyRide is getting into KOM's as well but Strava isn't about it's GPS technical excellence it's all about public display of winning. But like any disruptive technology that hits the market like Facebook, Twitter or camera phones, bad uses arise and with Strava these people are called Stravassholes.

Recently on MTBR Forums a Post about Stravassholes was made

So over the last year or so the rides tracked on Strava here in the FR have blown thru the roof, especially in the Golden area. the lookout road climb had always been a biggie but now there are tons of UH and DH segments on dirt all over Chimney, WR, NTM, STM, etc. Initially I was hooked, I was riding better when I knew I was on the clock. Since however, realized its clearly a double edge sword. Was ascending last week, some ***** comes whipping around, saw me and shouted "STRAVA! coming thru"...didn't bother to yield and blew by. not a huge deal, wide section of the trail, but got me wondering what the FR will be like when the entire FR is full of Stravons killling each other for the KOM. oh well.

Ways you are a Stravasshole
  • Choosing a Strava Segment due to favorable winds
  • Stravaing while in a pack, no, this is a solo thing
  • Descending in a bubble and yelling "Strava"
  • Posting your Strava account link on your resume
  • Add your ways in the comments below

Are we becoming Stravassholes with this new technology?

I posted this question to Facebook recently and got some interesting feedback, as one person said, Assholes are Assholes, Strava just gave them a platform to amplify it.

But I like Strava as it allows us to do something not so easily done before and to use it in innovative ways like create a race without ever having a race or easily see how my climbing or descending compares to my peers or just for myself and how I perform on my weekly personal hard ride day. With tools like Strava one could create a entire race series for a Summer and never have to get a permit, have insurance or get it sanctioned, how cool would that be?! It can also be very disheartening at times like when I blew a personal record on NCAR last week only to find out that put in me 39th place (I'm not even going to try to beat the downhill segment).

If you haven't tried Strava or any of the Strava like products (Ride with GPS, MapMyRide, or MyTracks (Google)) than be cautious, it can be addictive and if you have any bit of asshole in you then it will get amplified and your inner Stravasshole will come out.

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83 Comments

Simple

Submitted by Avid Racer AND ... (not verified) on

The answer is simple. The environmental conditions during "competitions" for KOMs on Strava or any other non-realtime activities can vary dramatically from one day (even hour) to the next. Really, it all boils down the effects of wind weather it's a tailwind or the lack of wind caused by motorpacing and pack riding. Also, there are way too few rules in order for any of this to be fair and the "competitors" can be completely anonymous. If getting a KOM (or even top 10) on Strava makes you happy, then that's GREAT. Mission accomplished. Now, go enter a mass start race and I can almost guarantee your definition of what constitutes "competition" will be altered.

Segment creators - are you stupid?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

Why do so many people create segments that span traffic lights. This is just a waste of time and clutters the data. I know you can hide segments but there are so many stupid ones now. I understand that longer segments may have no option. I have only created 1 segment and use this 65km obscure loop in the hills to track my own progress. Mark

You are correct, only moving

Submitted by Carlos Ferreira (not verified) on

You are correct, only moving time. But how about the "slowing" time because of the stop light? What about the slow re-start time because of the stop light. Smart people dont put segments in places with stop lights, it is dumb... it will push you to blow red lights, like a dumbass, it will be difficult to beat a record time cuz you will often slow down (if you are not so dumb in case thee light is red)... yep, that was dumb

stupid?

Submitted by Adam (not verified) on

Everyone should stop arguing and go for a ride, leave the gps off for a change and just enjoy the flow, the scenery,the freedom or whatever it is you first enjoyed about bicycles before there was Strava.

They do so to lessen the

Submitted by 2mc (not verified) on

They do so to lessen the percentages that their KOM will be taken away.
Think of it, while on your next ride if your bombing down a road and you happen to make it through a couple of green lights why not make that a segment? You'll be KOM for quite some time as anyone trying to beat will have to be as fortunate as you to beat the lights.

many are auto created

Submitted by Ben (not verified) on

many segments are auto created - when I first uploaded data to Strava, It created quite a few segments for me and it has continued to do so. They show up as created by me, but I didn't make an effort to do so.

Its a fun diversion, so I've never taken it seriously to go through and verify all of the segments it creates. If someone beats me; oh well. I use it as entertainment with some sections as a gauge of my fitness (which I do find quite useful). If you find a segment that spans traffic lights and really feel seriously about it - then mark it as unsafe.

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