Strava

In an age when the whole world is becoming more and more connected Strava has seen a momentous rise in popularity, seemingly bringing out the competitive spirit in cyclists across the globe. Whilst it also offers the facility to track and analyse your training, in a similar way to Garmin Connect, the real heart and soul of Strava lies in the ability to easily rank your performance against others over a specific section of your ride (known as a segment) automatically placing you in your rightful position on the leader-board when you upload your ride data from a smartphone or GPS device. And, if that wasn’t motivation enough, you’ll also be awarded with a virtual King or Queen of the Mountains trophy against your name (along with infinite bragging rights) should you be the fastest.

Without question, Strava can be used as a great motivational tool for you to judge your performance both against yourself and others, and has seen riders morph from regular rider to Strava-junkie – sprinting up climbs, mapping segments and turning themselves inside-out on every ride in a flurry of intervals. Whilst an increased, and consistent, impetus on your exertion levels can bring on new found levels of fitness it’s still crucial to include enough recovery so that you get the benefit from your training. Be warned, if you do get into Strava it can become addictive. You may never look at that section of road or hill on your normal training ride in the same way again!

If you need any more advice on judging your effort the feel free to get in touch on Twitter @cottydale and I’ll do my best to help. You can find me on Google+, too.

Ride safe all and enjoy the festive season!

Mike Cotty