I don’t know the app/site very well but even the free version allows you to download the GPX file for each of your rides individually and you can also download all your data as one GPX file. At the very least you can use it to track your practice time and location even if the distance turns out not to be very useful. In 2011 I started trying to track my time but got sidetracked and did it more successfully in 2012.
Has anyone following this thread done any analysis of their rides beyond what’s available on Strava? I’m thinking about trying to figure out a way to count dismounts and maybe smooth them out to get better information about average speeds.
Haven’t really looked into the topic but what i do remember is that my rides have a total time and a ride time, and that there’s always a number of “rides” or “runs”. So i guess that the number of runs is calculated from the numbers of “stops” (no movement).
You can edit .GPX files with an editor (there are several with graphic interface for free or just edit the plain text data :D) to fit your needs.
Did this editing to remove extra bits before or after the ride i wanted recorded and to even out errors (section where my cellphone kinda lost gps contact so the resulting .gpx file had me speeding across with 75 kmph etc.)
I’ve been using Strava while out “riding” my unicycle just to see how far I’m actually going without falling over. The graphic results are absolutely pathetic and hilarious! I traveled nearly 0.3 miles over 25 minutes last night!
Yeah, I’ve mapped the gpx data from low-speed unicycling and there wasn’t much there to use. There’s always some jitter in a gps track, but rocking around on one wheel with it in my pocket seems to confuse it more than normal. After filtering out the noise, it wouldn’t look like I had gone anywhere.
When I was starting out last summer, I just kept a text file with a line giving the date, roughly how long I practiced, and a little bit about what I worked on. Keeping up to date with that was easy enough, but I never figured out what I’d ever do with it and I let it drop after a few months.
I don’t know if you’re familiar with the brand Fuel Belt, but they make little waist pouches for runners to store an ID, food, and keys. I typically wear mine while running around my chest. I’m going to try putting the phone in there instead of in my pocket. Maybe that will decrease some of the GPS confusion. I can actually get up and ride for a decent way now so the results won’t be quite as silly looking as before(though the results will be far from impressive:D).
Hey, don’t worry about about how short your ride is. I’m using the Strava UniTE Club to encourage me to work on my distance/stamina just as much as my idling and hops. You’ll see me listed somewhere near last place every week but one day…
Distance isn’t everything. I had a super short ride Sunday, with a steep hike up and an awesome technical downhill. I was spent after that, it was a lot of work. But the total distance wasn’t very far.
I agree Dane… Strava tends to make us focus on distance and speed. If riding a bigger wheel uni that may be good metrics.
Strava does not do a good job of capturing the essence of off road riding and the technical challenges that go with it. That personal satisfaction has to come from within, where it matters most.
They do have a suffer score, if you’re premium and wearing a heart rate monitor. “suffer score” just does not sound very motivating.
Strava does mark segments with difficulty ratings (One segment I routinely ride, Strava refuses to have a leaderboard because it’s ‘too dangerous’ to have people racing…) But I suppose there’s only so much you can do with GPS tracking
Yeah, but I’m a total newb(kook, beginner, whatever), and if I make it 50 yards on totally flat ground, I’m so happy I can almost ignore the quads cramping!
I think it is only climb segments that are categorized according to road cycling categories. Other than that a segment may be flagged as dangerous by any user and then leaderboards are hidden not to provoke strava freaks. I don’t think strava marks any segment as dangerous based just on its stats.
Ahh, that makes sense then I never thought that ‘dangerous’ segment I ride down was particularly dangerous, unless you count the trees that hang lower than your face. Like I said, it’s sort of hard to rate places based on GPS stats I think
I never thought that ‘dangerous’ segment I ride down was particularly dangerous, unless you count the trees that hang lower than your face. Like I said, it’s sort of hard to rate places based on GPS stats I think