Helderberg

Went out for a ride earlier this week and was out to set a new PB for a segment on my Strava. Got home after the ride and found the only thing recorded was a straight line. Checked the settings and went out for a ride today and again, nothing but a straight line. Ended up deleting the app and reloading it. Went out for a short ride and it seems that has corrected the problem. Will find out tomorrow when I go for a another ride. My phone crashed last week and ended up resetting itself and I had not given the app a second thought. I guess I should have.
Frank.

Wildwood

Tech always has bugs and quirks. Add in wireless and that's a whole new issue.

Ctrl Alt Del

BengalCat

Why don't you submit a support request to Strava? They fix such problems all of the time and give direct answers to any direct questions you may have.

base2 

This may/may not apply anymore, but I found the phone app buggy when battery save mode &/or data save mode was enabled. Sometimes it would only record while the screen was on, sometimes not. Sometimes it only recorded when background useage was allowed, sometimes not.

Arrrgh...One reason I bought a designated GPS bike computer.

My latest attempts with Samsung S8+ & current update have proved "not disappointing." So that's somethin'

CliffordK

A straight line?

That often indicates that Strava/Phone has crashed or was turned off, and recovered from the crash. So it connects the known points with a straight line.

So, for example, a couple of days ago, I stopped at one store. I apparently jostled my phone in the pack, and it shut off. Then at the next store I jostled it again, and it restarted.

Thus, for that ride, it shows the whole loop, but a straight line for the section between the two stores.

Do you have a handlebar mount for your phone?

I tend to like to keep Strava running in the background on my phone. So, should the phone screen get activated when I'm not aware, it takes a couple of button clicks for Strava to pop up.

Bmach

Also depends on your phones battery saving mode. If it is on shut it off.

Helderberg

Thank you all for your responses. I did have it on the battery saver mode and have since shut it off. I did a small round the block ride and it seems to have cured the issue.
Thanks again, Frank.

OldTryGuy

ON - OFF - ON - OFF ..... with my 920XT yielded the following ---- actually took 90 miles of riding to generate (my computer is old and dumb and requires re-start action to complete the flow, hoping your's is better)

https://www.relive.cc/view/2451774101

ON at beginning and OFF when done for today's ride -----

https://www.relive.cc/view/2471651235

BlazingPedals

It sounds like you figgered it out. I was going to add that even Strava is garbage in/garbage out. Straight lines sure sounded like you weren't recording properly. I've had places where I lost GPS signal and got the dreaded 'straight line' too; but it wasn't Strava's fault then either.

Helderberg

Thanks all for the responses. Had it out yesterday and after changing the battery setting from saver mode it is working again. I crashed my phone last week, user error, and when I got it back I decided to try the saver setting. Lesson learned. Lost about 25 miles against my total so not a big loss but the timed segment I turned would have been nice to have recorded. Life goes on.
Thanks again, Frank.

Bmach

Glad it worked out.

freeranger

I don't have any high tech. But a friend and I went trail riding and she uses Strava (think that's the one). We ended up with a 2 mile difference in distance at the end of the ride (which was 6 miles+) (we both started at zero-me on my cyclometer and her on her app). I double checked my mtn.bike cyclometer against my road bike and both get identical distance readings (I know the road bike is correct-now I know the mtn.bike is also). Guess apps aren't foolproof.

CliffordK

2 miles in 6 is quite a bit.

I run both RideWithGPS and Strava on my phone. They usually differ from each other slightly... maybe 1/2 mile in 30.

I do a lot of utility riding, so one of the biggest differences seems to be how the apps deal with parking the bike and walking around for a half hour.

Once I had Strava go bonkers when I started it, and then didn't ride for a couple of days while it jumped all over the place looking for satellites.

I also had a descent once where it also jumped off the road quite a bit giving me very bad false readings.

DiabloScott

I put the APP on a new phone and went through the settings and somehow invited everyone in my contacts to join Strava... some of them were pretty annoyed.

Diablo Wife somehow created a Strava account for herself from her Facebook page without realizing it and got hundreds of e-mails from those weird people that want the maximum number of follows.

TimothyH

Is it OK to laugh at this?

Even if it isn't OK....


-Tim-

ironwood

What's Strava?

Helderberg

Strava is a free app that you can load to your smart phone and pc that allows you to track your rides. There is also a subscription version that offers more options. I like it as it allows what I am looking for in the free version. I have it phone mounted on the bike handlebar so it can "see" the GPS signal.
Google it and see what you think. Free to look.
Frank.

jadocs

I would get a dedicated computer to record your rides and just have it auto upload to Strava. Use your phone as a phone and have it available for emergencies. If your going to rig it with a battery pack just to run it on your bike, you might as well just get a computer.

Helderberg

This is good advice but the reason I was running the phone on "battery saver mode" was more about me being an old tightwad and less about actually saving the battery charge. I am going to look into a Garmin for the bike as I think it would be nice to have a system dedicated to just riding.
Thanks, Frank.