Strava For The Win!

[Razors Edge ★]

A couple days ago, a local guy I follow on Strava posted a gravel ride over a mix of roads I know and ones I don't.  With Strava, it is as easy as "create route" and boom! Load it to GPS and you are good to go ride it on your own.

Sunday was PERFECT Fall weather, so what better activity than a gravel ride???  I got suited up, and headed off towards the start of the route he followed.  I took it particularly easy on the ride out to Leesburg where the gravel starts, with a couple minute stop for a water fill up.  Man, the early bits are always tough with some steep ass gravel climbs with a few strategically paved at the steepest parts.  Eventually I got to parts unknown - or, rather, parts I have ridden in the other direction.  It was on that stretch where I passed the ONLY other gravel cyclist - a dude with a Brit accent.  Anyway, I said hi, and continued on past him.  Then I got to parts unknown   - a mixture of totally new and some of the reverse direction riding - and just loved the time seeing the countryside at my own pace and saying hi to the horses, cows, and assorted livestock out in the fields.  Perfect weather!

Towards the middle of the second half of the ride, I spotted a rider ahead of me on the road.  THE SAME GUY!  Anyway, this time by, I slowed down and just started chatting with him.  I think we rode together for the next 30 or 45 minutes.  Chatting about gravel, our bikes (his was a slightly older Cannondale with a Lefty fork), his Brit accent, etc. etc..  Definitely a nice twist on my usual solo rides.  We parted ways as we passed his car at the high school, and I poked along for the last bit home.

Perfect weather, new route options, a friendly compatriot, and a few sore muscles. A good ride indeed - and while not only because of Strava, but certainly helped a LOT by Strava.

[Mr. Beanz]

I like the create a route thing myself. But I create routes at times just to get the stats for the ride ahead of time. Elevation gain, distance etc. I don't into a GPS since I know the places I ride so I just like to get the stats as at times, friends will ask me to come up with a course for our rides.

Good stuff on strava, like create a route, fly bys and other things people don't know about. Too many people dissing strava saying it's all about competition. They have no idea other than what they read in the fake headlines ha ha ha! 

[Razors Edge ★]

14 hours ago, Mr Beanz said:

I like the create a route thing myself. But I create routes at times just to get the stats for the ride ahead of time. Elevation gain, distance etc. I don't into a GPS since I know the places I ride so I just like to get the stats as at times, friends will ask me to come up with a course for our rides.

Good stuff on strava, like create a route, fly bys and other things people don't know about. Too many people dissing strava saying it's all about competition. They have no idea other than what they read in the fake headlines ha ha ha! 

Strava and MapMyRide, RideWithGPS, GravelMaps, and some other ones are huge help in planning rides in new areas.  I got the Diverge in April 2020, and had no idea which roads were paved vs gravel, what were good loops, etc., because I rarely drove on those gravel roads in my car!  With heatmaps, flybys, and just reviewing other folks rides, you really start to piece it all together in your head, and I got pretty good last year doing that, and even now, I'm still adding new roads to the network  

Strava is a BIG part of that planning and discovery.  At my pace, there is NO racing going on, especially at a gravel pace where it is all about just riding and enjoying the changes in scenery.