The Strava Files

I use Strava all the time. As a cat 1 racer it makes it fun to set KOMs and "race" against the elite in the state. That being said I think Strava needs to have a way to limit the Downhill segments. Some downhill segments where I live, utah, are outrageous with top speeds of 70mph. While I'm a Strong advocate for the segments I wish people would stop making downhill segments as they're far too dangerous. If I ever do a climb then a descent and see a segment that is way too dangerous I always flag it. The problem is, people can continue to re make the segment so no matter how many times me or my team mates flag the DH segment it continues to come back.

Strava can't take all the blame, its really up to riders to not ride out of their level, on a public road. You're not in the tour de France, you're on some public road.

While I talk down upon the DH segments its because I got lucky. While riding in Colorado I decided to go hard down a climb like I was the lead in the tour de france, I didn't know the descent what so ever. I came around a corner and it got much tighter than I had expected I went into oncoming traffic and had to bail into a ditch, destroying my bike and nearly killing myself. After that I realized it's not worth being a hero on the descent.

I think that is an amazing article. From the Theremin to the psychology researcher to the objective presentation of the legal arguments without shying away from any of the details.

It's caused me to rethink how conservatism/liberalism evolve in our society in terms of the reading of existing law (in this case, is Strava liable or partially liable?) Based on what is just, reading of the law evolves (and in turn can lead to introductions of new laws). But the fundamental difference between how we read the law (conservatively or liberally) is the kernel of our entire political system.

I'm a relatively new Strava user, and so far I have found it to be very helpful and motivational in my adventures into cycling. As an inexperienced rider, I'm usually a couple hundred spots down from the leaderboard, so seeing the fastest riders serves only to inspire me to push harder on my own rides. Without this motivation, I doubt that I would try as hard as I do on my recorded rides, so there is no question in my mind that Strava is at least partially a beneficial force.

However, there are certainly times on downhill segments where I have seen fastest time and shaken my head at the ridiculous speeds the riders had to go to win. I've marked my fair share of dangerous segments and I believe that is the users' responsibility to do so to prevent insane accidents like the ones listed in this article.

While I feel complete sympathy for the families of these victims, I don't believe that Strava is at all responsible for what they did. It was illegal, inconsiderate, and gives every other rider a bad name, and regardless of any leaderboards they may have been striving for they should have had more self restraint. Furthermore, I believe that cyclists like that would push themselves to speeds like that regardless of Strava, whether to beat their friends or just set personal records. Just like many other web apps, Strava provides a service that opens up data, and it is up to the user to use the data responsibly.

(Odd, this exact link was on HN last night, and I'm the only one that commented on it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6578639. Should this be a dupe? Anyway...)

It would seem that there's an easy solution. Strava knows the grade of a climb. If the segment has a negative incline, don't have a leader board. Otherwise it looks to me like they're just encouraging dangerous racing on a non-closed course. Breaking speed limits, running stop signs and lights: imagine Strava for motorcyclists and ask yourself how long that would last. I've hit more than 50mph on a bicycle plenty of times, but it sure as hell hasn't been in the Castro District of SF. The rider carries the responsibility of choosing an appropriate time and place for such antics, but let's not egg them on.

I've followed this story since the beginning and I'm more convinced than ever that Flint would have eventually killed himself on his bike, with or without Strava.

This article makes it exceptionally clear that Flint is a classic "rookie" in the sport with few if any real bike handling skills - no programmer or policy will ever prevent these types from hurting themselves or others.

At a club level, the sport is rife with cyclists that have quickly found a bit of fitness and not taken the time to let their skills catch up - and they are always dangerous.

Its also true that experience != good judgement and unfortunately (as the article points out) there are a good number of experienced riders who don't factor safety into their riding.

I'm not sure which type of cyclist is more dangerous. Fortunately, both are easy to pick out and I make a point of not riding with them. My riding and my life are simply to precious to let someone else's mistake become my penalty.

(As background, I hold a world record in Ultracycling and ridden as much as 25,000 km in a year. I didn't ride much this past year, taking a break to spend some time with my family. Stories like this don't discourage me from wanting to jump back wholeheartedly into the sport I've loved all my life. And oh yeah, I adore Strava - and I also realize that using it requires a tiny bit of common sense...)

I wanted to read this article -- I bike frequently, use Strava, live in the Bay Area, and am in the tech industry. But bicycling.com kept kicking me off their site and auto-launching iOS App Store links!

I've never seen that sort of advertising before, and am surprised Apple / Google (I'm using Chrome) even allow JavaScript to silently throw me out to the App Store without clicking a link.

It seems ridiculous that strava would be liable for someone's injuries in any legal sense- if you ride a bike it should be up to you to ride safely, no matter who or what is emailing you, telling you you should be going faster.

OTOH, if I was the developer of strava, in light of this kind of behavior I don't think I'd have these kinds of segments on the site. It seems like any KOM on a downhill section would be faster than the speed limit and faster than is probably safe for that road. Does the community at strava really gain from that? Does it add value to the experience?

(in the cycling community, no one really cares that much how long it took you to descend from one point to another. What really matters is how long it takes to climb back up.)

As an ex-bikie (I earned my disabled vet status and at 63 I'm reaping the 'benefits') this story resonates with me quite loudly. The idea of anonymous competition is one I've always craved in that I find actual competition painful for reasons I'm not clear on. So while Strava may be described as anti-social, I see that as a plus. Further I'd point out the subject of the article became quite competitive in the normal bikie fashion. Powerful article for those who think in similar fashion...

I thought that the primary use of most roads is to provide transport and access, and only as a sort of side effect they are available as a means of sport and entertainment. So, regardless of whether one is driving a car or riding a bicycle, putting lives at risk is not only illegal, but also breaks the social contract that let those roads exist in the first place. It is a form of free riding, the bad kind, invisible until an accident happens.

Flagging is insufficient for safety.

In my area there are continual "flag wars" where a descent will be flagged, so someone will create a new version with a name like "xxxx (do not flag)"

Arguments quickly flow over to local forums about flagging with the predictable discussion of individual rights vs Strava's responsibility.

In my view they should just auto-flag anything over 2 or 3% average descent.

As a mountain biker, I see some of the times listed on the trails I frequent, and wonder how people can ride them so fast. I'm too afraid to ride at top speed down some of these trails for the fear of colliding with someone else. I like Strava, it's and easy way to keep track of my riding. I wish that Google made My Tracks for iOS.

On the running side there are almost no downhill segments and the site still seems to be popular enough. I know it's 2 different sports, but downhills bike run KOMs seem to be little cause for bragging rights.

Single page (print) version: http://www.bicycling.com/print/99136

Reading the title makes me hungry. For in Ukrainian strava means dish(as in meal, food).