firebird854

Me? These tools used strava's route builder as a starting point. I wanted to create routes a bit easier, with weather forecasting, amenity projecting (cafes, public water/bathroom, etc.) Google Map traffic layers, auto generate routes that could be generated above 70miles, the list goes on. Strava didn't have enough for me and I wasn't willing to pay for some of these other services. We happen to own a server and we could host many of the services ourself (this would have been impossible with AWS).

Then, I could never decide what bike to bring to what gravel or xc mtb race, what the weather will be where, and how many gels/carb drink to bring. SO, I wrote the simulation tool to help figure that out.

Lastly, I like strava's flyby tool, but it was way too limited, I could line people up at particular portions in a course and see who was faster, say, through the mtb section, or line my past self up vs my current self over the same race course and see how it played out.

So, the takeaway is, I wanted these tools, for me, and I happened to have a server, so might as well make it accessible. I also don't believe in squeezing every sent out of people, I mean, I offer weather completely for free, and you know how much those api calls cost? practically nothing, I just force people to log in to access it so I can cut it off on the backend person by person if I notice some runaway loop or something.

I also just love seeing when people use the site, it's just widely motivating.