TXCiclista

That always surprises me too. “Oh, hey, look. A small, out-of-the-way segment. I wonder how many people have ridd—126. Wow.”

dim

There is no better app for cycling than Strava .... it is the industry standard, and most serious cyclists this ... (fact)

RideWithGPS is what I use to plan routes ... I download onto my Garmin Edge 1000 and my Garmin Edge 500 (backup satnav for long rides)

I have not found a better app for planning routes that RideWithGps

Wileyrat

Ride with gps for me, and when I feel like being social or outgoing, I ride with the club I'm in.

TXCiclista

Hardly a fact. There are FAR better apps than Strava. Strava succeeds because it does the social part well. Take that away and Strava is one of the weaker offerings we have. It is definitely not the industry standard. Don’t confuse popularity with being a standard

Sy Reene

So I take it you mean to say, but correct me if I'm misinterpreting -- Strave is best to use AFTER the ride (analysis), RWGPS is best BEFORE the ride. And, you use the Garmin DURING the ride.

dim

such as?

turkey9186

This^. RWS is easier to build routes and transfer to my Garmin.

WNCGoater

I responded to this thread about a month ago. Since then, I've run both Strava and RWGPS apps on my iPhone. I don't run cadence counters, power meters, HR monitors etc. so I'm just using the free app on both to track miles and averages, etc. I can't see one is better than the other, however, after running Strava the last three years, I'm leaning toward liking the RGPS app better for a few reasons.
One thing that has always bugged me with Strava, is when you stop it takes about 10 seconds for it to go to autopause. RGPS pauses immediately. Not a big deal but I stop a lot on some rides to take photos. So my average speed is 1-2 mph slower on Strava, I assume because of that delay in pausing.
RGPS tracks total time, actual MOVING time, time spent climbing, time spent descending, elevation climbing and descending...all on one pull up screen. Strava just gives your average elevation gain, speed, top speed and total time.
RWGPS apparently doesn't offer in free mode the ability to hook up and follow others, or else, no one local uses it.
I like Strava feature of "fly by's" to see who else was cycling in the area or who that was that you passed and waved at.

Again, one wouldn't bump the other out of use but I like those extra little ride statistics with RGPS.

Sy Reene

Always go with the app that returns a higher Avg Speed! just kidding. Have you tried adding the Stravistix plugin for Strava? it does a lot.

TXCiclista

A few that come to mind, in no particular order:
Cyclemeter
Map My Ride
Training Peaks
Wahoo Elemnt app (if you have an Elemnt, of course)


Strava’s main selling point is the social, which is does very well (except for KoM exploits). For actual tracking of a ride, they rely on other, better apps to do very much. They’re definitely not the industry standard. They are certainly popular (deservedly so), but they have a way to go before they’re the app everyone turns to. Most “serious cyclists” I know use them for the social and segments and look elsewhere for data analysis, etc

billyymc

I only tried Strava for a couple weeks a few years back, but I did notice a segment that was on the gated campus where I work. One guy had all the top times - up a slight grade of about a half mile to get to the building with the lockers/showers. I figured I'd be courteous and not try and take it from him. Anyone else would have to risk getting chased down by security if they wanted that KOM.

joesch

I have been using Map My Ride for years as it serves my purpose of distance, route, average speed and sprints. Guess I should see what advances some of the newer apps RWGPS and Strava offer and move on past the olden times

OBoile

Yeah. I use Cyclemeter and then simply upload to Strava. I get all the benefits of Strava, with the increased statistics and information available during my ride from Cyclemeter.

TXCiclista

dim

so tell me ...

with the above mentioned, can I see what my climbing speed for the route or segment is? .... Can I check my times for the day (or week or month or year or my age group) with others who have ridden the same route (on the same day ) as me?

with the other mentioned apps, can I download info onto my Garmin Edge 1000 so as to give me a virtual partner? (google that if you don't know what it does)

with the other apps that you suggest, will it show me my times vs the majority of other riders on the same routes and on the same day etc? ....

not here where I live .... everyone that I know who is serious about cycling uses Strava

so bottom line .... if you are a serious cyclist .... get Strava (Heck.... it only costs a few dollars a month) .... link it to Stravastix (costs nothing) .... and you have all the info that you need if you have a cadence sensor, heartstrap monitor and powermeter .... even if you don't have all the sensors, nothing comes close to Strava

mrodgers

So TXC says that all Strava has going for it is the social aspect. Then you try to prove him wrong by giving a bunch of examples of..... the social aspect?


I couldn't care less about the social stuff. I couldn't care less about KOM's. I'm on a hybrid that weighs about 45 lb. or so in my rideable shape (aka, carrying a LOT of water in my always mounted panniers.) The metrics I care about where I ride, how far I ride, and how much I climb. I use RWGPS and download all the gpx files and load them into Google Earth. Wish I could do that over the net somewhere but on Google I can only add 8 files I think.

I started running Strava simultaneously when I learned of Relive. I only run it for that purpose. One thing that I would like but not paying only for this feature is the heatmap. That would take care of my wanting to map all my riding on a single map.

sreuter13

I like using Ride With GPS. The turn by turn directions have saved me many times and I like how you can download offline maps.

There is not as much of a user base when compared to Strava, but that just keeps it hipster.

pickettt

I love this generation, typing "fact" makes it the new gospel.

noglider 

Is there a way to sync my data between ridewithgps and strava? If so, I would use strava. I just use ridewithgps now.

TXCiclista

I can tell that all you’ve tried is Strava, otherwise you’d know the answers to those questions (nearly all of which are “yes”). The fact that you apparently don’t even recognize Training Peaks speaks volumes. And you’re using a 3rd-party Chrome plugin to get the data analysis that Strava won’t (VeloViewer fills a similar gap). The virtual partner? That’s a Garmin feature built into most Garmin products (and common to other apps/devices as well). VAM? Elemnt gives it to you isntaneously on the bike. Your data is “app agnostic,” and many other apps will break it down in equally (or more!) useful ways. Strava’s just a “wrapper,” as it were. StravistiX just uses an API to get the data that Strava’s storing (Strava’s actual analysis is quite thin). They could do the exact same thing with a Cyclemeter upload if they so chose. Or Garmin Connect. Or Map my Ride. Heck, an Excel spreadsheet would suffice.

I’ve already admitted that a Strava does social well (that’s all age grouping, competing against other cyclists on a segment, etc. is). But as I said above (and others agreed), “serious cyclists” (whatever that means) look elsewhere for data analysis. Including you! Why use StravistiX if Strava has what you need? (Heck, they even say “if these features could be added by default in Strava...” because they aren’t). You’re just talking about data, not Strava. If Strava was as good as you say, you wouldn’t need the Edge, or RWG. You’d just use the Strava app! (But really, don’t. ON the bike, Strava is one of the least useful apps I’ve ever come across).

I’m glad you like Strava. I do too. But there are many services that “come close” (and exceed!) Strava (remember, StravistiX isn’t Strava). Google around for “Is a Strava Premium worth it,” and you’ll see just how few “serious cyclists” pay for it, and how many admit to just using the free version for the social stuff and putting their money elsewhere (e.g. TP).

Sy Reene

Why not use Stravistix? Who cares if Stravistix is not Strava? The combo works well for me, and I don't find rwgps offers more data by any means. I can't speak to whether the other apps offer more data than this combo either, but if they do, I can't imagine needing more than I already get.

TXCiclista

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely agree on using StravistiX (or VeloViewer, etc). The question, however, was whether Strava is the “industry standard” for “serious cyclists,” with no other app or service even “coming close.” That’s simply not the case. I was pointing out the fact that to say that, and then have to turn to StravistiX for in-depth analysis of the data, gives the lie to the original claim. Strava isn’t the industry standard. It’s not even a particularly great tool for analyzing data. It just does the social aspect very well. (Which is great! I love it.)

Edit: I agree on RWG: it doesn’t offer more data. It does, however, do mapping much better than Strava. Aside from heat maps, Strava’s ability to set up routes is limited compared to RWG. But again, that’s fine. Strava’s the cycling world’s jack of all trades. It’s a great place for the average cyclist to get started, but has enough social features to keep this mysterious “serious cyclist” using it after they move on to other tools for training and analysis

TXCiclista

I think you can sync RWG to Strava. How are you getting your data to begin with? Cycling app on a phone? A cyclocomputer? There are a lot of ways to do all this, and you can definitely get your data to Strava rather than RWG, unless there’s something “proprietary” in the way (and if so, let’s find you something more “open”).

qajaq

Ride w/GPS will export a ride as a .gpx file which can be uploaded to Strava if you want. Not a direct swap, just takes a couple of steps if you want to bother. I have both but Ride w/GPS suits me better. Not interested in segment standings or the "Facebook" like features of Strava. Ride has turn-by-turn (not free) which is more valuable in my opinion and it runs on my old iPhone so I don't need another $$$ bug infested Garmin.

TXCiclista

For what it’s worth, if you ever decide you do want a dedicated cyclocomp, I recommend the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt. It’s everything the Garmins should be, just without the color screen.