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

reed wrote:

The feature I like the most is the heat maps which you can find using the route creator/building tool, which is now for paying users only. That alone is worth the monthly fee, for me definitely but also for anybody who travels much or enjoys finding new places to run.

Golden Cheetah desktop app (free) does heat maps , at least the version I'm running.

Are people that up in arms about paying $60? If you have a Garmin, chances are you can afford the $60 yearly charge. That's 2 months of Flotrack

It's $60 wrote:

Are people that up in arms about paying $60? If you have a Garmin, chances are you can afford the $60 yearly charge. That's 2 months of Flotrack

95% of the people up in arms about paying $60 for Strava are the same ones that will pay $35 for a 5k

DC runner 2 wrote:

The segments are full of blatant cheaters or people who go there to sprint the section in question.

To be clear, there is nothing wrong with this. It's the only way to get most of the segments where I'm from. It's all fun.

I don't pay, and I still have access to it all!

segments are basically for loser who can't compete meaningful in their sport.

Plus there is loads of cheating and Strava sells your data. who cares except losers trying to retain some relevance.

Its a business.

No one works for free.

I'd rather pay for my subscription than have it clogged with ads.

And It'll go a long way to cleaning up the boards full of cheaters.

DC runner 2 wrote:

Who cares? It is a running log that automatically uploads my runs and tracks the mileage/pace. All I use it for anyways.

The segments are full of blatant cheaters or people who go there to sprint the section in question.

How is that cheating if they covered said distance in said amount of time?

Runner10287 wrote:

DC runner 2 wrote:

Who cares? It is a running log that automatically uploads my runs and tracks the mileage/pace. All I use it for anyways.

The segments are full of blatant cheaters or people who go there to sprint the section in question.

How is that cheating if they covered said distance in said amount of time?

It is cheating because it is not how OP wants everyone to play the game. I'm sure strava LOVES dealing with the whining coming from the strava-competitive demographic, it's why they got into business.

Sounds like OP should start building their exclusive app, with RULES!

Working Harder wrote:

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.

?up yours strava

Bashes KOM hunters for bolstering their egos. Whines about someone wearing better shoes and beating his CR. I lold.

injured guy wrote:

Cb wrote:

Do longtime Strava users really care about Segments?

For cyclists, yes it's the core, almost sole reason for the popularity of the app. It's incredibly common to specifically plot out your route around a handful of hill climb segments and to focus on segment PRs the way a runner would focus on distance PRs.

I'm pretty bummed about this, it essentially kills strava for me, competing against friends on the various notable climbs around town is the main reason for using it, but at the same time, not something I want to allocate $600 to over the next decade.

Is $600 over the course of a decade going to break you financially? That's like Haiti level poverty.

adflkj;laasegemem wrote:

segments are basically for loser who can't compete meaningful in their sport.

Plus there is loads of cheating and Strava sells your data. who cares except losers trying to retain some relevance.

No one is competing meaningfully right now. The races are mostly canceled.

I always figured Strava is part of douchebag culture I'll never understand. Now the douchebags will have to pay.

Another software company trying to fix what isn't broken. They added way too much functionality people don't care about and now they can't pay for it. Ridiculous.

Je suis Francais wrote:

Runner10287 wrote:

How is that cheating if they covered said distance in said amount of time?

It is cheating because it is not how OP wants everyone to play the game. I'm sure strava LOVES dealing with the whining coming from the strava-competitive demographic, it's why they got into business.

Sounds like OP should start building their exclusive app, with RULES!

Do neither of you two understand the word "OR"??

The blatant cheaters - people that have a 3:40 mile segment in the midst of a 10:30/mile pace run.

The people who go to sprint the segment - not cheating - but seems kind of lame to me. Would rather just do it in the middle of a run.

DC runner 2 wrote:

Je suis Francais wrote:

It is cheating because it is not how OP wants everyone to play the game. I'm sure strava LOVES dealing with the whining coming from the strava-competitive demographic, it's why they got into business.

Sounds like OP should start building their exclusive app, with RULES!

Do neither of you two understand the word "OR"??

The blatant cheaters - people that have a 3:40 mile segment in the midst of a 10:30/mile pace run.

The people who go to sprint the segment - not cheating - but seems kind of lame to me. Would rather just do it in the middle of a run.

Got it. You can flag those records if it looks they rode it on a bike and recorded as a run or something. Hammering specific segments actually sounds like a good way to structure a fartlek workout and have some fun out of it.

I have had some fun lately with grabbing KOMs for segments now there aren't any races.

I pay for Strava anyway, but I doubt hardly anyone will convert to Paid for the additional segment functionality.

Further, it scares me a bit they need the cash. But given how much data they store and move around, their costs are probably much higher than the average app/web application.

NERunner053 wrote:

I hope they looked at other ways to make revenue -- ads & such.

The advances they've made here are why I'm so surprised they've made this decision now of all times. In the last year, they've transitioned well into running/cycling-based advertisements through challenges, trophies, clubs, and specialized gear. Although they're not yet profitable, they're bringing more dough than ever.

Despite that, they decided now is the right time to squeeze their userbase.