The Do's and Don't's of Strava.

Get the most out of the platform. And remember to have fun while at it.

Probably everyone who has some cycling knowledge will have heard of Strava. It's an athlete's instagram, it's a place to track your trainings, a place to connect, a place to find new community or a place to brag (pls don't tho). Some love it, some would never even consider stepping foot into the network. But, it can elevate the heck out of your workouts and your cycling, if you use it the right way. Nic (a certified Strava running champ) shared the most important do's and don't's of the app with you on Youtube and we'll do the same on the blog today so you've got all the info you need to get the most out of Strava and experience it as a platform where everybody feels welcome.

1. Do: Join clubs and add people from your area.

It's all about connection! And especially if you just moved to a new city or picked up cycling as a hobby only recently, establishing that and finding people to ride with can be pretty hard. Not only can it be intimidating for some to approach new people, you might also have issues even finding cyclists in your area in the first place. A great and quick way fix for that however, is simply joining local clubs on Strava. Bonus points for social courage if you add recommended people in your area too.
Most active clubs organize regular events and rides for you to join and most clubs specify what kind of riding they normally do. So if you’re looking for a chill gravel ride, chances are there is a Strava club with likeminded people. Just make sure to familiarize yourself with group ride rules first before heading out with a crowd of cyclists!

In the clubs you can also create posts, if you have question about your area, technical difficulties or if you’re looking for cycling buddies... So whenever you're not sure where to start as a city or cycling newbie: Join clubs (we've got one too)!

2. Do: Plan your routes with the Strava Heatmap.

Maybe you’ve ridden the same route a hundred times and are starting to get bored by it. Maybe you are just trying to explore a new area you haven’t been to before. Maybe you don’t know where to start when planning a new route. Either way: The Strava Heatmap has got you covered!

Everybody who rides contributes to the Heatmap. Each individual activity gets represented by a thin blue line, and you can imagine how these add up over time! You can see at a glance which streets or trails are the most popular in an area and plan your ride according to that. Another benefit is that you can be pretty sure that the streets with the strongest blue lines are pretty safe as well, because local cyclists would avoid them otherwise. With a Strava Premium membership you also get access to your personal heatmap, where you can see all your rides on a map. This is a great way to find out where you have been before if you aren’t sure. Another premium feature where the heatmap comes in handy is when creating routes with Strava, since you can then tell Strava to follow the most popular streets rather than suggesting the shortest route.

3. Do: Use Strava to find new motivation.

Strava has one very very great feature: Challenges. They dare you to either ride certain distances or duration, cover a certain elevation or do different workouts all at once. These pre-defined goals can really motivate you to get out riding if your motivation is low every once in a while – especially if there are grand prizes involved, which is oftentimes the case!

Since there are many challenges to choose from, you're certain to be find one that suits your training style the most. So if you don’t have any other training goals at the moment, joining challenges gives you a reason to get out and ride more!

4. Do: Track your progress with Strava.

With a premium membership you can dive deep into your training metrics. In the training diary you can see all your activities in a calendar, which offers a great summary on how your training is going. Strava also offers a big selection of pre-made training plans, great for whenever you are not in the mood to plan every workout yourself or when you're a beginner who still finds that rather difficult. With training plans, there's less thinking and planning and all the more focus on riding – perfect, no? Fitness and Freshness is another great premium feature for tracking your progress. It will intuitively capture the building up of fitness, as well as the loss of fitness during a break. You can compare your current fitness with the past to see patterns or measure the effects differences in training have.

5. Do: Leave positive comments.

Strava can get pretty competitive from time to time. Many people get carried away overanalyzing every ride they do, while completely forgetting what their workout should be about: Having fun and doing your body well.

Imagine yourself in this situation: you’ve just finished a ride which didn’t feel good at all. Maybe your legs were just too tired, the weather conditions slowed you down or you just didn’t feel it that day. Imagine how it might cheer you up, when the first thing you see after opening Strava are positive comments from your cycling buddies. So why not do the same. We can’t all just perform day after day, some sessions are just not your best. But to keep up the good spirits, positive feedback from the community can make all the difference. We all want an atmosphere where we don’t feel judged by others, so why not cheer up your friends on Strava once in a while?

6. Don’t: Be toxic.

That being said: We get that sometimes it might be amusing to poke fun at your mates on social media, but please don’t overshoot the target and stay respectful. While some comments can be funny, its hard to be sure to know that you’re not hurting someone’s feelings or make them self-conscious about their activities. Everybody is welcome in the cycling community and bullies spoil the fun for everyone. Think before you comment and if you’re not sure that your joke/funny comment is appropriate, it might be better to keep it to yourself.

7. Don’t: Get to hung up on performance metrics.

While it's great to have all the data and analyses of your rides available on your phone, this can often times lead to a fixation on metrics. Hopefully, the most important reason you ride bikes is because it brings you joy. But that joy can quickly fade if all you ever think about is how high your power was, how fast you went or what average heart rate you had on the ride. While these metrics offer great insights into how your body is adapting to your training, they are just that in the end: metrics and numbers.

You’ll have a way nicer experience if you enjoy every ride no matter how fast you were. So don’t be scared to dive deep into all the data Strava gives you while always making sure you have a healthy relationship with it. Especially if you notice that looking at your data negatively affects your mental health, its time to reevaluate that relationship.

8. Don’t: Think „Strava or it didn’t happen“.

You might have heard the phrase „Strava or it didn’t happen“. Please don’t take this too seriously. Bragging about amazing efforts without showing any proof might not be the coolest, but pressuring people to upload every activity is also not the coolest. Everybody can choose wether or not they want to publicly show how they are performing, and if they choose not to, that’s totally fine.

Remember that some people might be too insecure to upload their activities, which is a bummer, but all the more reason to keep Strava a welcoming and safe space. Discouraging anyone from using Strava by pressuring them into uploading everything isn’t the way to go. Make people feel good about themselves and respect their decisions to keep some rides private while uploading others. But also, please don’t think you can only upload your best rides!

9. Don’t: Ride for Strava, ride for fun. And be safe.

Especially the Strava segments can really motivate you to go out all out on certain parts of your ride. And while hunting for KQOMs or Local Legends can be really fun, please don’t forget your safety and that of those on the road with you. Make sure that you don’t overtrain just because you want to keep your local legend badge or risk a crash because you go full speed on a segment. Take road conditions and other people into consideration and only go with full force ahead if you can guarantee everybody’s safety – including your own. It's always ALWAYS better to skip a sprint segment than to do it and put yourself at risk.

10. Don’t: Think you have to use every single Strava feature.

And lastly: While Strava offers many amazing features, you don’t have to use them all to enjoy the platform and its opportunities. Don’t feel pressured that hunting KQOMs is mandatory or that you have to scientifically analyze all your data. Use Strava for everything you enjoy and ignore everything else. If you just want to use it as a training diary and not the social features, that’s fine. Its also totally fine if you just want to connect with other athletes and not really look into your own performance stats. We understand that the fun can quickly fade when you feel pressured to behave like a „real“ Strava user. Luckily though, there is not a single "real" Strava user out there.

There is also no "real" buycycle user – sell a bike, buy a bike, we don't mind. We want you to have fun on your bikes, we want to make trading them as safe and convenient as possible for you and we want to connect the cycling community all over the globe on our marketplace: buycycle is where all that happens for you. Check it out, join our Strava club and contact our team whenever you have questions about Strava, bikes or cycling in general. They're always there to help, as is our blog... For now though, we wish you, as always: Happy browsing, happy cycling.