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Random things about Strava

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Tricia

Tricia

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But honestly, I didn't feel bad at all when I flagged those rides.
To be clear, even if I'm on an E-bike I'm not faster than anyone.

When I was flagged I had no idea that there was an e-bike category to use.
The second time I was flagged, I saved my ride activity but didn't have my reading glasses so I waited until I got home to do the edits, like title, description, add photos, and change the ride type, but by the time I got home I had already been flagged. That's just ridiculous.
 

Rudi Riet

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The second time I was flagged, I saved my ride activity but didn't have my reading glasses so I waited until I got home to do the edits, like title, description, add photos, and change the ride type, but by the time I got home I had already been flagged. That's just ridiculous.

If you can (and I'm not certain it's possible) set the default visibility for your Strava rides to "Only Me." That way you can wait until you're home (or until you've caught your breath) to properly categorize your ride.

Of course, I'm guessing that your most recent activities recorded by the app are pre-classified as e-bike, so this may be worth nada, but hey: it's a forum of friendly folk so why not... umm... yeah.

Barkeep: another round!
 
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Tricia

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If you can (and I'm not certain it's possible) set the default visibility for your Strava rides to "Only Me." That way you can wait until you're home (or until you've caught your breath) to properly categorize your ride.

Of course, I'm guessing that your most recent activities recorded by the app are pre-classified as e-bike, so this may be worth nada, but hey: it's a forum of friendly folk so why not... umm... yeah.

Barkeep: another round!
It kinda sucks that I have to do that. I mean, wouldn't it be nice if people weren't petty about this stuff?

I'll check on how much I can make my default, but to be honest I don't find those kind of things to be intuitive on Strava.
I'll let you know.
 
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cantunamunch

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I'll check on how much I can make my default, but to be honest I don't find those kind of things to be intuitive on Strava.
I'll let you know.

Nothing to it - pop over to the Settings pulldown menu, and look for Privacy Controls. It's as easy as updating your gear:

1624335466515.png
 

Primoz

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Nah, mopeds are noisy black bikes with a motor mounted over the front wheel that various nuns, students and old ladies got around on in Europe in the 60's and 70's. You pedal to start it or get up a hill the motor can't handle.
Over here, mopeds back in the days were something like this:
UwrzIU


Like it or not, that's prety much exactly what e-bikes are today. Sure there are differences in wheel size, geometry (but so are in 40 years bike and today's mtb) and type of engine, but mainly in this, that 40 years ago noone was saying they are cycling with these things ;)
 

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Over here, mopeds back in the days were something like this:
UwrzIU


Like it or not, that's prety much exactly what e-bikes are today. Sure there are differences in wheel size, geometry (but so are in 40 years bike and today's mtb) and type of engine, but mainly in this, that 40 years ago noone was saying they are cycling with these things ;)
You didn't *have* to pedal those though, correct? Maybe to get moving but then the engine took over if I remember correctly. If I don't pedal, I don't move. Well, unless I'm at the top of a hill.
 

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To be clear, even if I'm on an E-bike I'm not faster than anyone.

When I was flagged I had no idea that there was an e-bike category to use.
The second time I was flagged, I saved my ride activity but didn't have my reading glasses so I waited until I got home to do the edits, like title, description, add photos, and change the ride type, but by the time I got home I had already been flagged. That's just ridiculous.
Damn that needing reading glasses sucks! We have about 20 pair scattered around the house, and I carry a pair in my "purse" so I always have some.

You can't set your default activity to e-bike? Of course, they don't offer MTB as an option which is stupid IMO, so I can't imagine they offer e-bike. But there are e road bikes, so why not? Good question for Strava, I suppose.

ETA E-bike is an option to set as your most recent activity, therefore, it will be what populates automatically when you press the record button. If you are recording on a wrist device, you won't need to change it each time. Or you shouldn't need to.
 

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To be clear, even if I'm on an E-bike I'm not faster than anyone.

When I was flagged I had no idea that there was an e-bike category to use.
The second time I was flagged, I saved my ride activity but didn't have my reading glasses so I waited until I got home to do the edits, like title, description, add photos, and change the ride type, but by the time I got home I had already been flagged. That's just ridiculous.

It has never occurred to me to flag someone on Strava. Maybe because I'm more competitive with myself (and the ladies I ride with haha), and don't feel the need to be too competitive with strangers. Maybe it's where I ride (northeast) that the GPS isn't always accurate in the trees and there's so many glitches that people don't always have the times that are recorded.

For example, last week I rode with two friends, we all rode together yet I recorded 12 segments, one of them recorded 14, and the other 11. One of the segments that we all recorded was timed at 5:02, 5:12, and 5:29. I was the 5:29, but I was ahead of the person at 5:12 by probably 5-10 seconds.
 
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cantunamunch

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It has never occurred to me to flag someone on Strava. Maybe because I'm more competitive with myself (and the ladies I ride with haha), and don't feel too competitive with strangers.

:thumb:

The only things I've ever flagged were segments where it was obvious they got in a car and drove without ending the ride.

Maybe it's where I ride (northeast) that the GPS isn't always accurate in the trees and there's so many glitches that people don't always have the times that are recorded.

We get those too. Trees with canopy almost year-round. Deep creek beds. Urban canyons without satellite visibility or even proper phone signal. Back in April I did a 8.5 mile creekbed-to-urban connection as part of a ride and GPS only recorded slightly over 2 miles of it.

People are still highly protective of their leaderboards.

For example, last week I rode with two friends, we all rode together yet I recorded 12 segments, one of them recorded 14, and the other 11. One of the segments that we all recorded was timed at 5:02, 5:12, and 5:29. I was the 5:29, but I was ahead of the person at 5:12 by probably 5-10 seconds.

It's about time we had a "Do you use Strava's distance or altitude correction algorithms?" subthread in here.
 

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People are still highly protective of their leaderboards.

Some people definitely are...I'd be lying if I said it doesn't feel good to show up on a leaderboard. Especially when you've been working hard on personal improvement on certain features or endurance. Protective of it, me...nah.

It's about time we had a "Do you use Strava's distance or altitude correction algorithms?" subthread in here.
I have no idea...
All I know is Strava always tacks on a little extra to my rides compared to Garmin. I've looked it up, and it's something to do with how it calculates distance. I don't remember exactly though.
 
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cantunamunch

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All I know is Strava always tacks on a little extra to my rides compared to Garmin. I've looked it up, and it's something to do with how it calculates distance. I don't remember exactly though.

Next time you're missing a segment, click on the Distance or Elevation correction links and see what happens. These:


1624376864980.png

1624376901461.png
 

Rudi Riet

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Next time you're missing a segment, click on the Distance or Elevation correction links and see what happens.

The elevation numbers typically do OK on non-barometric recordings - e.g. using the smartphone app or one of the lower end GPS computers. When it comes to barometric recordings they can be all over the place. If the weather is fairly constant - i.e. with no storm fronts moving in, without a huge temperature differential, and giving the GPS unit time to acclimate from indoor to outdoor settings - the barometric altimeter works really well. But there are times when it can be way off.

On my two Garmin units (Edge 520 and fēnix 5) I've set a known elevation point for my house, as well as other places I frequent (e.g. Mitchell Park in DC, Eastham Park in Front Royal, Boyds MARC Station, Thomsons Crossing Park-and-Ride) to allow the GPS unit to lock in on an accurate elevation to start. This won't completely prevent drift but it certainly helps.

An example: before programming the elevation into my Garmin, I'd often see my neighborhood reading at 60 to 70 feet below sea level during the hottest months of the year. While the elevation reading for the ride wouldn't necessarily be too far off, it would read low, overall. And if I did a longer rest stop there were times when the Garmin would re-calibrate its elevation and show precipitous drops or climbs when I resumed the ride. Strava's elevation correction (and RWGPS has it, too) will often bring things back into alignment with reality - all dependent on the quality of the ride track, of course.

I've not used the distance adjustment more than once, as the corrections can sometimes be jarring and flat-out wrong.
 

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I will sometimes ride my bike (with Strava on) to a friend's, hop in her 4runner and drive to a trailhead. If I forget, I get flagged for recording while in a vehicle. I presume this is automatic as it's pretty obvious I'm not doing 50 mph on my bike on a level road. There is a 'split' option to segment the ride into different recorded rides. I split the ride into 3 pieces and delete the vehicular section.

You can also crop rides to eliminate unintended recording. @Tricia could do this to eliminate her 'false high speed' section.
 

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Next time you're missing a segment, click on the Distance or Elevation correction links and see what happens. These:
Looks like the Distance correction is only available for Premium users? Elevation correction didn't really do anything for the ride I mentioned earlier...Riding pretty close to sea level with very minimal elevation change on that particular trail system.
 
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Tricia

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I will sometimes ride my bike (with Strava on) to a friend's, hop in her 4runner and drive to a trailhead. If I forget, I get flagged for recording while in a vehicle. I presume this is automatic as it's pretty obvious I'm not doing 50 mph on my bike on a level road. There is a 'split' option to segment the ride into different recorded rides. I split the ride into 3 pieces and delete the vehicular section.

You can also crop rides to eliminate unintended recording. @Tricia could do this to eliminate her 'false high speed' section.
I have never been flagged for a false high speed section, which is really only when I'm on my bike going down hill to my house.
I've only been flagged for not changing my ride type from Ride to E-Bike Ride. At the pace that I ride, I am confident that someone flagged it and not in the algorithms because I am not a fast rider, even with e-assist.


Example of my speed on a typical ride in comparison to @AmyPJ who is not on e-assist
Screen Shot 2021-06-22 at 9.26.18 AM.png



Screen Shot 2021-06-22 at 9.29.16 AM.png
 
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Tricia

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You can't set your default activity to e-bike? Of course, they don't offer MTB as an option which is stupid IMO, so I can't imagine they offer e-bike. But there are e road bikes, so why not? Good question for Strava, I suppose.
I have looked at the settings and can't see where to make E-Bike Ride my default.
As for the kinds of activities. If you look at the list of activities, I wonder about hiking as well. I mean, they have yoga and weight training on an app that maps you but not Hiking??
I have my hiking shoes listed under "running shoes". It makes me wonder. To be clear....I don't run. I do, however, have three different pair of hiking shoes depending on the type of hike I'm doing.
Screen Shot 2021-06-22 at 9.23.12 AM.png


It has never occurred to me to flag someone on Strava. Maybe because I'm more competitive with myself (and the ladies I ride with haha), and don't feel the need to be too competitive with strangers. Maybe it's where I ride (northeast) that the GPS isn't always accurate in the trees and there's so many glitches that people don't always have the times that are recorded.

For example, last week I rode with two friends, we all rode together yet I recorded 12 segments, one of them recorded 14, and the other 11. One of the segments that we all recorded was timed at 5:02, 5:12, and 5:29. I was the 5:29, but I was ahead of the person at 5:12 by probably 5-10 seconds.
The more I use Strava, the more I realize how unreliable it is.

The first time I was flagged, I thought, "Oh gee I didn't know that was there, glad someone flagged me so I can change it."
The second time I was...WTF!!! Maybe I'm wrong but that time I figured it was a petty jerk.
 
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cantunamunch

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Looks like the Distance correction is only available for Premium users?

It's for all users. Sounds like they just didn't note a disparity.

As for the kinds of activities. If you look at the list of activities, I wonder about hiking as well. I mean, they have yoga and weight training on an app that maps you but not Hiking??
I have my hiking shoes listed under "running shoes". It makes me wonder. To be clear....I don't run. I do, however, have three different pair of hiking shoes depending on the type of hike I'm doing.
View attachment 136322

Eh? Hike is the 4th activity on the list, and it maps just fine? What's the problem again?
 
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Tricia

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Eh? Hike is the 4th activity on the list, and it maps just fine? What's the problem again?
Doh, I guess it is.
I was thinking it wasn't because they don't have an option for hiking shoes as gear, but have running shoes.
 

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The first time I was flagged, I thought, "Oh gee I didn't know that was there, glad someone flagged me so I can change it."
The second time I was...WTF!!! Maybe I'm wrong but that time I figured it was a petty jerk.
Might be the pessimist coming out in me but, you're probably right about the petty jerk piece. Especially if there were no obvious signs that you were on an e-bike (and didn't steal anyone's QOM/KOM). I'm not even sure how someone random would know unless they saw you on the trail, then found you on Strava (pretty easy with the segment Leaderboard option for "today"), and then flagged you. :rolleyes:
 

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