A few people sent me a link to Strava. It’s ridiculously simple and i can’t really believe it’s not been thought of before. Essentially it does what any other training centre thingy does (map my ride, garminTC, etc), you put your garmin/gps thing on when you go out for a ride, record your ride data then upload the ride data to strava.
However, the neat, or fiendish thing about this one is that it then takes segments of your ride, especially climbs and so on, and puts those into a ranking against anyone else ever who has ridden that same stretch of road. it’s really really clever. however, it has the potential to turn any light training spin into an opportunity to top the leaderboard for a specific climb (sorry kieran).
it’ll certainly make you ride harder on the hills, and certainly make you realise there’s always the proverbial larger silverback. it has the benefit of seeing how your times compare with similar riders, thus spurring you on to try and beat those times. today i thought i’d put it to the test and have a pop at burrington – the club run took in the climb this morning. there were a few people on my wheel at the bottom, but after the cattle grid i really went for it and dropped everyone. i was on my 68″ gear with full mudguards and all kinds of shit. it was all i could do get under 9 minutes – the time credited on the website was about 9.30. it made me realise how much harder it is climbing in the cold with lots of layers and carrying excess weight on the bike. i also realised the climb is longer, and i lost time slowing down at the end where i knew the finish to be. on strava it’s mapped slightly awry. anyway, i stuck a time i’d recorded back in may or something up there instead. i didn’t put the 7.33 i managed in october up because i did it without a HRM. it gives me something to aim for for this season…
I discovered the Strava leaderboard last week and have been telling everyone down here about it. It’s pretty cool but I agree that it’ll make you go hard on a climb that you would otherwise just amble up at your own pace. Could be devastating on longer rides, haha.
Ty
http://www.thefootdown.co.uk
today i thought i’d smash it. nowhere near. the remaining 25 miles of my ride were pretty grim as a result.
Not sure if this code still works, but discount code “vamoscycling2011” used to give three months free “Premium” membership (http://app.strava.com/premium). I don’t think it’s worth paying for but gives some extra features.
Funnily enough I rode up Burrington today, first time on my first ‘proper road bike’ at 47. grid to grid in 9mins, first turning left 10mins, very top/second turning left 13mins – ‘though these times are ‘roughly’ as I was going by my wrist watch… What are the start/finish lines for the club hill climb event? Perhaps I should get a garmin to see how deluded I am…
Good effort! Start: Immediately after first grid, where the parking area finishes and the verge begins, next to the sign. Finish: on the very crest opposite the house and tatty cars, before the left onto two-trees road. There’s a small paint line on the road. It’s two miles. My best is 7.33. Course record is 6.51.
Cheers I’ll use those to try and gauge a more accurate time. A look at the V5 times at the club event has put me in my place though. In my defense whilst I loitered at the entrance of the pain cave, with the rest of my ride in mind, I didn’t enter. What lies inside that place….
Ah, don’t be fooled by Neil blessitt, he’s national v5 hillclimb champion!
I like strava, but I live in such a rural area that there are few or no others that ride the same routes as I, nullifying the social features…
that’s a shame, but i suspect that in time it will catch on and people will put down some times. it’s insanely addictive around here, you get the city commuters as well as the hardcore roadies.