The Biking Thread

My Strava premium/summit subscription is set to end in a few months. It's become useless for my flaccid level of fitness.
 
Well if anyone is interested I downloaded Mapmyride and ran it along with Strava today on my ride. Some interesting things. First off they did work together. Secondly it doesn't appear that MapMyRide gives much more information in the basic form than Strava does. In some respect maybe less since they seem to have more smoothing going on. On Strava you see some very sharp spikes in speed as you accelerate downhill or come to a stop at a light (yes I stop for lights I know not a real cyclist :grin:). MMR doesn't seem to have those spikes. Since I've only done 1 ride in MMR I don't yet know about ride/route comparison. The one thing I think is pretty interesting is the stats. They are more than a bit different and right now I don't know how to explain all of it though at least some of it appears to be due to the fact that MMR doesn't pause (not sure about this but see below) when you stop.

MMR Distance 44.71 miles Avg spd 16.4 mph Max spd 34.1 Elevation 2192 ft Time 2:44:20 Kcal 2301
Strava Distance 45.64 miles Avg spd 17.0 mph Max spd 40.3Elevation 2471 ft Time 2:40:48 (moving time) 2:43:49 elapsed time Cal 1631

The difference in elapsed time and MMR is probably the time to turn on the apps since I started Strava second. That's why I think MMR don't pause on stops like Strava does. It also might be sampling slower which could explain the elevation differences since some of the ups and downs on this route are quick steep deeps and small hills. It might also be how the 2 apps get their elevation data.
 
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There's an auto-stop setting in MMR - I run them both MMR and Strava simultaneously and the data sets are pretty much identical.

My problem with the 'premium' apps (aside from the price(s)) is that in my experience, secondary apps never ... really last.

For example, I pay Sirius and Spotify monthly, and I'm glad because very little changes. But just the way Strava's gone about things shows me that if I pony up, I will NOT be able to "set it and forget it." Because they'll screw around with it. Because: smaller company.

This would probably be a great place to rant about my issues with my TWO smart-watches - Fitbit and Samsung. For devices that are supposed to be centered on fitness, neither is as good as my phone. The Shitbit chronically under-reports all kinds of data, and the Samsung, while a super-nice telco device, has a poor heartrate sensor and the GUI for their 'fitness apps' are comically childish and nearly unusable.

I find it very, very strange that I can track a walk with Strava on both my Fitbit and my phone, and the Fitbit will be off by as much as 30%. And it has GPS.

I suppose I could've gone Garmin or Suunto, but at the time a $400 watch with little developer attention seemed suuuuuuuper-rich for my blood.
 
Well if there is an auto-stop setting in MMR I cannot find it. I've run both apps for the last 3 rides and MMR is consistently a bit less in elevation and more interestingly 1 mile less. And the interesting part is that it's been almost the same amount less regardless of the distance (30, 36 and 45 miles). Checking partial routes (it's hard to do the whole thing because mine are often circular and varied) on google maps shows me that over at short distance Strava matches Google Maps but it's only a bit difference. If there was a slight difference like a rounding error or a smoothing of the route it should change over distance and it really isn't all that much, the deltas are 1.12,0.95 and 0.93 miles for the respective rides above :shrug: As it is I'll probably stick with Strava since right now I don't see anything that MMR gives that Strava doesn't though I will keep MMR too because it looks like route planning is still available though I haven't used it yet. And I might try the 60 day free upgrade to see if there is something that is useful enough to pay for it though I have my doubts.
 
I like MMR because it gives current pace, and has a British female voice call out split times.

Honestly, that's the only reason I like it.
 
You must leave your phone on to get the pace and split times? I just start the app and then put the phone in my pocket. The iphone built in do not disturb while driving kicks in and I get no notifications while I ride, which is fine by me. I can use MMR route planner so I will if I need to. Interestingly I planned the route I rode yesterday on the planner and the distance matched Strava but not the MMR app :huh::huh:
 
Been nursing a hemorrhoid and have been off the bikes. Getting tired of it. Put a call into the doc who does my colonoscopies to see if I need to do anything about it.

As for the app, for now, I am just going to keep going with strava.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
Been nursing a hemorrhoid and have been off the bikes. Getting tired of it. Put a call into the doc who does my colonoscopies to see if I need to do anything about it.

As for the app, for now, I am just going to keep going with strava.
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Rhoid mojo.

I haven't had a puter of any kind since 2014 or something. Wish I knew how fast I was going a lot but that's about it. Using paper maps can get pretty old I guess, and soggy. *spits*
 
I'm on Droid, so don't know. I do know that the app doesn't have to be open - I have Spotify open, and both Strava and MMR running in the background. Nice British gal calls out the split times on the mile; I know that somewhere I did this in settings.
 
huh, I thought strava was cutting off access segments/KOM stuff and route making, but you should still be able to use the free version to record and review rides, no? (maybe I misunderstood the changes they were making)
 
Yes you are right, you can record and review rides but you cannot see your own previous data on segments. I would look at that to see why I was faster/slower than normal. You could still do that but it would be much more laborious especially when you might have 100's of rides over a particular segment. You can still see the top 10 from any segment but that's not much interest to me.

Dan I really cannot see any adjustable settings in MMR other than things like miles/kilometers. There is an audio "Start your ride" but that's it for me. Maybe a ios thing :shrug: I don't really want or need someone call out a pace or a split anyways, just can't seem to see any of these settings that you have in the app on the iphone
 
Well, hope I'm not trying your patience, but my biggest reason for using MMR was to get an idea of current speed. I can't even remember if free Strava (Free French?) does that now - I just like seeing the per-mile and having the splits. YMMV.

Also, I guess I am thinking and realizing that I use the apps to check up on each other.

Which is crazy. But so what.
 
Danhedonia said:
Well, hope I'm not trying your patience, but my biggest reason for using MMR was to get an idea of current speed. I can't even remember if free Strava (Free French?) does that now - I just like seeing the per-mile and having the splits. YMMV.

Also, I guess I am thinking and realizing that I use the apps to check up on each other.

Which is crazy. But so what.
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I don’t know that that is so crazy. I used my weekly shop group ride to motivate myself, until that ride fell apart. I am not saying that checking in with everyone on strava is as good a source of motivation, but I can track how I am doing, and keep connected to others for inspiration and motivation. I am not thinking that is so crazy.
 
My dad had tools to get the broke gear cable out of my shifter so I'll be mobile again by the weekend :)

Mid 20s Celsius here just now so probably not be going out on it until it cools down abit.
 
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jbj said:
My dad had tools to get the broke gear cable out of my shifter so I'll be mobile again by the weekend :)

Mid 20s Celsius here just now so probably not be going out on it until it cools down abit.
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wimp :grin: I was out yesterday...it was mid 30's Celsius :Wave:

I would never have know that the apps were different (in my case they are) if Strava hadn't made the change. I had an older wireless speedometer on my old bike that was given to me by a coworker as a xmas present. I thought it was great until I found myself trying to go faster because I could see the speed...not always a safe thing to do. I stopped using it though when for safety I started riding with a front light and it interfered with the speedometer. It was about that time than I got my new bike and found out about Strava since I was already carrying a phone for emergency
 
Had my ‘Rhoid looked at, and good to go. Just need to keep things clean and such and it will heal. So, gonna do a small easy spin on the mountain bike tonight.
 
sunvalleylaw said:
I don’t know that that is so crazy. I used my weekly shop group ride to motivate myself, until that ride fell apart. I am not saying that checking in with everyone on strava is as good a source of motivation, but I can track how I am doing, and keep connected to others for inspiration and motivation. I am not thinking that is so crazy.
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Since covid distancing started, Strava has been a great way for my usual group ride buddies to see each other’s rides and give kudos. It’s motivating to see what others are doing, and if you’re the typical group rider taking their achievements as competitive motivation.

I use the free version and always look at the segments for a gauge of my fitness and speed compared to others. My area has lots of popular segments that everyone competes on.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
I use the free version and always look at the segments for a gauge of my fitness and speed compared to others. My area has lots of popular segments that everyone competes on.
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Well really not anymore unless you are in the top ten. That was/is my big beef about then change, I want to know how I compare against myself as a gauge of my fitness, not others but it's very difficult now. I never cared about where I compared to the top 10 as they are most likely to be (a) very very serious cyclists and (b) probably 30-40 years my junior.

Yes I'm bitching about it again.
 
nuke_diver said:
Well really not anymore unless you are in the top ten. That was/is my big beef about then change, I want to know how I compare against myself as a gauge of my fitness, not others but it's very difficult now. I never cared about where I compared to the top 10 as they are most likely to be (a) very very serious cyclists and (b) probably 30-40 years my junior.

Yes I'm bitching about it again.
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It's a very valid complaint. They 'changed their business model' and I always smell venture capitalists (aka sociopathically greedy individuals) when that happens. They did a disservice to their user base, and likely a disservice to themselves.

I'd be surprised if no one steps in to the gap and brings out a better platform. It's not as if bike computers and spread sheets were that long ago, and that we could never go back.
 
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