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switching off strava

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  • 14-08-2016 11:35pm
    #1
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,618 CMod ✭✭✭✭


    i went for a walk in howth today with my wife (if you don't know howth, it's the ice planet at the start of 'the empire strikes back') and an article i had read yesterday made its presence felt - we went walking along balscadden road, i.e. past the king sitric restaurant, along a narrow residential road which links up with the cliff walk; and at one point i realised that i would probably have avoided that road on my bike in favour of the usual 'up and over' from the village to the summit and back down past the graveyard - because if i'd made the trip out there on the bike, i'd not want to 'waste' it on a road i'd not cycled before, in favour of testing myself against a route i'd already done.

    is it just me? i'm not blaming strava - it's good at what it does - but am i too easily led into repeating what i've done before, in a macho attempt to beat my previous times? which are no great shakes by *any* stretch.

    this is the article i mentioned:
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2016/apr/12/no-more-hippies-and-explorers-lament-for-the-changed-world-of-cycling


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 14,317 ✭✭✭✭Raam


    Eh, there is a segment there... and I have it :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 24,995 ✭✭✭✭Wishbone Ash


    Raam wrote: »
    Eh, there is a segment there... and I have it :pac:
    You've dropped back to 6th on the shorter first segment - time to get out again and take it back off that 'occasional' Clontarf cyclist! (I did LBL with him a couple of years ago!)

    Kudos to you all the same for averaging 32km/h on the full segment! :eek:


  • Registered Users Posts: 4,338 ✭✭✭Lusk_Doyle


    You've dropped back to 6th on the shorter first segment - time to get out again and take it back off that 'occasional' Clontarf cyclist! (I did LBL with him a couple of years ago!)

    Kudos to you all the same for averaging 32km/h on the full segment! :eek:

    He's taking drugs.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,081 ✭✭✭buffalo


    i'd not want to 'waste' it on a road i'd not cycled before, in favour of testing myself against a route i'd already done.

    But that doesn't tally with the article:
    As cycling’s popularity has increased, there has been a cultural shift away from fun and experiences towards a macho world of speed and Strava

    What you've done is avoid trying to go faster, and instead given yourself a new experience. :)


    Now Raam, post that segment and let's all have a go! :D


  • Registered Users Posts: 3,477 ✭✭✭rollingscone


    My complex philosophical view of Strava is as follows:

    1. It works for me as motivation at the moment even though I won't be threatening anyone's KOMs

    2. If it stops working for me I'll stop using it.

    3. After a while I might start using it again for the entertainment it provides.

    Et, ce ça


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,618 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    buffalo wrote: »
    What you've done is avoid trying to go faster, and instead given yourself a new experience. :)
    nah, i was trying to say the opposite, that i'd probably stick to the main climb out of howth.
    usually when i head out these days, it's with a 'this is to put the head down and get fit' intent, and that's to blame far more than strava.

    maybe i need another bike. a more relaxed one with a more 'you're out for an easy amble' attitude.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,458 ✭✭✭lennymc


    What I'm hearing is that there should be another TT Hill climb in Howth.


  • Registered Users Posts: 262 ✭✭onmebike


    You could use Strava data differently. Rather than trying to beat a time on the same segment again and again, try to get a bigger/broader heatmap (provided by other software, I think). You'd be more of an explorer than a one-trick pony :pac:


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,195 ✭✭✭PaulieC


    i went for a walk in howth today with my wife (if you don't know howth, it's the ice planet at the start of 'the empire strikes back') and an article i had read yesterday made its presence felt - we went walking along balscadden road, i.e. past the king sitric restaurant, along a narrow residential road which links up with the cliff walk; and at one point i realised that i would probably have avoided that road on my bike in favour of the usual 'up and over' from the village to the summit and back down past the graveyard - because if i'd made the trip out there on the bike, i'd not want to 'waste' it on a road i'd not cycled before, in favour of testing myself against a route i'd already done.

    is it just me? i'm not blaming strava - it's good at what it does - but am i too easily led into repeating what i've done before, in a macho attempt to beat my previous times? which are no great shakes by *any* stretch.

    this is the article i mentioned:
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2016/apr/12/no-more-hippies-and-explorers-lament-for-the-changed-world-of-cycling

    It's the only way I've ever gone out of Howth. The other hill terrifies me :D


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,618 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    the main climb out of the village is the only way i've ever gone - i've never done it in the opposite direction, the descent into the village would be frustrating.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 4,338 ✭✭✭Lusk_Doyle


    the main climb out of the village is the only way i've ever gone - i've never done it in the opposite direction, the descent into the village would be frustrating.

    Frustrating? Why?


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,055 ✭✭✭✭neris


    some great back road routes up around howth and sutton and you will always end up back at the main road at some point. that climb up by balscadens a great little kick and not that tough. the descent into the village isnt frustrating it can be hairy though at times especially if theres a bus stopped at the church


  • Registered Users Posts: 10,260 ✭✭✭✭Borderfox


    Two laps of everything sorts it out, went down to Laragh to do the old Sorrento mountain classic route Glenmacnass - Sally Gap - Luggala - Roundwood and did two laps of that circuit and it's sorted out in Strava.

    Mind you it never bothered me going out on new roads and I don't change my route because of it.

    Strava is a training / social tool like any other


  • Registered Users Posts: 5,442 ✭✭✭LollipopJimmy


    Lusk_Doyle wrote: »
    Frustrating? Why?

    I met a car reversing up the hill Saturday afternoon. The lady had missed the entrance to a driveway.
    Other than that I've never had any issues descending into the village once you keep your eyes peeled


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 49,618 CMod ✭✭✭✭magicbastarder


    Lusk_Doyle wrote: »
    Frustrating? Why?
    i'd just be paranoid about the traffic and the speed, and having to bleed off so much as the hill ends relatively abruptly. i just guess i get better return for my effort if i've the nice, longer, more enjoyable downhill on the other side.


  • Registered Users Posts: 20,055 ✭✭✭✭neris


    i'd just be paranoid about the traffic and the speed, and having to bleed off so much as the hill ends relatively abruptly. i just guess i get better return for my effort if i've the nice, longer, more enjoyable downhill on the other side.

    the down hill to the village doesnt end till you hit the T junction at the harbour, its hardly an abrupt end to a descent


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