Strava changes - great analysis by DC Rainmaker: "Today, Strava sold its segmented soul."

MeHereYouWhere?! wrote:

My 37 Strava segment records I set last week are going to away because I'm cheap and don't want to pay?

Damnit. How is anyone going to know about my:

Fastest Time from my couch to my bathroom in the morning

Fastest Time from my bed to the bathroom between 3:30 and 4 am

Fastest Time to from the front door to my car when it's the 2nd car in the driveway

Fastest Time from the car to the kitchen counter with 3 plastic grocery bags on each arm

Fastest Time from the 2nd bush on the right hand side of the house to the 4th step up to the deck

MadMax wrote:

Please start a Go fund me campaign or something.

I am following you for the last 5 years and I was surprised how fast you where with 3 grocery bags in each arm.

I gotta give the credit where the credit is due: LetsRun made my dreams become reality. Without people like yourself following me and advising me on the "Train Me: I need to get faster when carrying 3 grocery bags in each arm from my car to the kitchen counter" thread, it never would have happened.

You know, I felt pretty good going in. My training went really well. No setbacks, only a few bad workouts, but that comes with the territory. I knew on that day I had to execute though. It all comes down to that. I basically did it on pure hate because that's what champions do. I do have to say that the my VaporFly Next% probably gave me a good boost and allowed me to go so fast.

The other thing I've wondered about is what do 180+ employees do?

DeeksQuarters wrote:

I'm a frequent user of Strava, in fact it's the only "social network" that I participate in. Looks like they've just done a pretty clumsy play for paying subscribers though. Typically thoughtful analysis from the excellent DC Rainmaker blog:

DC Rainmaker: Strava Cuts Off Leaderboard for Free Users, Reduces 3rd Party Apps for All,

and More.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/05/strava-cuts-off-leaderboard-for-free-users-reduces-3rd-party-apps-for-all-and-more.html

Thoughts on this?

Now is the best time for this from a business perspective. With races gone for who knows how long, a lot of people were looking to race strava segments. At any other time, it was only whackos and people who'd lost sight of what really matters that cared about strava segments.

I don't use a gps watch at all, so I don't really care that much, but I imagine they'll make a killing from subscribers.

The only thing I'll miss, as a freeloading user, is comparing my previous efforts on the same 'course' or 'segment'. Say La Vee. Did they get rid of kudos?

kudosmyass wrote:

Say La Vee.

This is a french phrase. It is written "c'est la vie".

Let's knock out another one while I'm here:

it's "voila", not "walla"

Kvothe wrote:

DeeksQuarters wrote:

I'm a frequent user of Strava, in fact it's the only "social network" that I participate in. Looks like they've just done a pretty clumsy play for paying subscribers though. Typically thoughtful analysis from the excellent DC Rainmaker blog:

DC Rainmaker: Strava Cuts Off Leaderboard for Free Users, Reduces 3rd Party Apps for All,

and More.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/05/strava-cuts-off-leaderboard-for-free-users-reduces-3rd-party-apps-for-all-and-more.html

Thoughts on this?

Now is the best time for this from a business perspective. With races gone for who knows how long, a lot of people were looking to race strava segments. At any other time, it was only whackos and people who'd lost sight of what really matters that cared about strava segments.

I don't use a gps watch at all, so I don't really care that much, but I imagine they'll make a killing from subscribers.

they haven't made a killing off subscribers in the past, why would they now?

Je suis Francais wrote:

kudosmyass wrote:

Say La Vee.

This is a french phrase. It is written "c'est la vie".

Let's knock out another one while I'm here:

it's "voila", not "walla"

Have you ever been to Walla Walla? It's eye opening.

no more training log (aka view your weekly mileage) either

No more training log? Now that really blows. I used to use strava as a automatic diary for my training. Now that I can't see how much time I've spent training, Strava is pretty much useless to me given that I don't use it other than a training log. I get that the company wants people to pay for its premium features, but shouldn't they retain the bare basics of what a exercise app instead of the more extraneous add-ons, such as the segments? I think they are shooting themselves in the foot as more athletes will turn to apps such as Garmin or Polar, since most people already use such devices to upload their data from. I can agree that people will continue to use Strava for the social component though, as it's basically FB for endurance athletes.

I am not a huge fan of Strava, but it’s routes are really useful when I travel. Being able to make a route based on heat maps makes running on vacation way lower risk.

WFH mileage wrote:

Pretty $hitty. Segments were literally the only reason I signed up for the site. Everything else can be done (arguably better) by tons of other services (Garmin Connect, etc.). Don't they make any kind of ad revenue off the non-paying users? They have all the sponsored "challenges" and whatnot. I'm sure they could add some banner ads or something, too.

Laughable. I've used Garmin since before there was a connect (2007, Training Center), and it sucks compared to Strava. Sucks in basically every single comparison.

Sixty bucks a year seems like a bit much, but oh well.

Chicken556 wrote:

What’s the best alternative to Strava? I’ll happily change to an app that does not charge

Why do you think someone should provide a completely free service and storage for all of your activities?

jhlkjhlkjhjlkhkl wrote:

no more training log (aka view your weekly mileage) either

I don't think I've read anything about the training log going away for non-paying users. Where are you getting that from?

Ugh, nevermind, I was wrong. Straight from the horse's mouth.

https://www.strava.com/subscription/whats-new?btn=3hEN9XMDiT7uQIkNW2m3JJ&par=5NqAxGeN5iAQdZqRz3aAjR

Don't know how I missed that. Woopsies, that's a very basic feature to remove, isn't it? Welp, the more basic the feature, the easier to replicate lol

I hadn’t ever chased a segment intentionally until racing got cancelled. So the timing of the change is unfortunate.

Why would Strava be doing worse financially during the coronavirus? I’m brainstorming on that one.

turtlegirl wrote:

Yeah not sure what the big deal is about segments when it still shows the top 10 for free....

Alright nevermind my other post then.

Ok, the training log going away has me in a quandary. I use it a lot to compare over the years so I'm torn between upgrading or just giving Strava the finger. As an old hobby jogger I guess it will be the finger.

Illium wrote:

I am not a huge fan of Strava, but it’s routes are really useful when I travel. Being able to make a route based on heat maps makes running on vacation way lower risk.

I use Garmin for this functionality. I never thought having maps on my watch would be useful but now that I have them (945) I can't imagine not having them, especially when I travel.

Do longtime Strava users really care about Segments? I thought segment chasers were mostly new to the app . Probably doing most a favor as comparing yourself to others in training is a rookie move and certainly not conducive to smart training. I like looking at my "past results" but only to see trends over time. I also like how it tracks my shoe mileages,weekly/monthly yearly miles and seeing what my friends are doing.

Other than seeing what friends do, I think Garmin Connect can do what I need. This has me thinking I should just cut the cord now.