Just Add Strava

Strava led me to doping

I'm not competitive. At least I wasn't until I started using Strava.

Strava is a website where you can keep tabs on your training and log anything that you can track with a Garmin or iPhone...anything with GPS. This is harmless enough. There, for all to see, is what you did, or more importantly, didn't get up to. That's the hook. There is always...I repeat ALWAYS someone that goes out more often, goes faster or climbs higher. If you can accept that then Strava will bring you no harm.
I can accept that.
BUT, when I upload my activities, it compares what I did with what you did before. Personal Best...third fastest time on the mile and so forth. THEN it compares that to what everyone else did over a given segment.
Segments are designated by anyone, anywhere. If you could get a GPS signal in the stairs at work there would be one in there.

Herein lies the problem.

I decided I would log everything this year. Not just training rides but also runs and commutes. I've got the Garmin thing so I might as well use it. It is awkward for running because I have to carry it in my hand. I feel like I'm running with a beeper.

Some of you might not remember what a beeper is. Basically a beeper is something that people carried to let the cops know they sold drugs

So I am logging everything and being diligent about remembering it every time I leave the house. On my first commute ride with the Garmin I put up the file and I got a message...9th Overall on Blackfriars Bridge Northbound Sprint. (It is a little uphill stretch over Brackfriars Bridge). It goes away from the lights to just past the top of the rise. I like to ride that part so I looked...900 plus people have logged over 5000 trips over that segment and only 8 of those journeys have been faster than mine?! Bonkers.

I was stoked. That's pretty cool!
Then something odd happened the next day.
I rode in slower than normal conserving energy for the sprint over the bridge. I didn't get the lights right so I hammered it to make up for the bad jump.
I got to work and uploaded the data...tie with my other time.
Then the next day it was slower...wind...tired from running.
This is nuts.
Who cares?
Phil Attaway cares...with his smug smile, that's who.

Still, Mr Attaway has 4 seconds on me and that is all I care about in the entire world. I haven't brushed my teeth all week as a punishment for being soft. I've been doing 3am sprints down my road with a backpack full of bricks and pulling a sled full of gypsies. (Joking, I've brushed my teeth)

This in a nutshell is what Strava does. It takes innocuous training and gives it little chunks of incentives. It's easy to get hooked. There was a cyclist in the US killed because he was recklessly descending a climb desperately trying to get back a KOM (King of the Mountains) that he'd lost on Strava. This led to Strava not keeping leader boards for dangerous segments like downhill ones. Seriously though, anyone can go fast down a hill.

I did get my first KOM this week. I managed 13,110km/h (8146.18mph) on just 44 watts! I do have atmosphere burns but I couldn't be more proud...

I'm not sure how legit some of this is. I do enjoy it and when I'm having an average day on the bike or running (which is most of the time) I like putting in the data and seeing if there is some random segment somewhere that I might have been better than last time.

If I can't beat Mr Attaway by the end of the month I'll have to consider cheating.

UPDATE:

Didn't even cheat!