In praise of the big S

I warn you that you can stop reading immediately if you are on the anti Strava bus for I am paddling its good canoe onward. There will be no naysayers here. I know the arguments especially within the mtb community, I realise that riding head down and metaphorical knackers out can lead to danger. Users should have some awareness of there own self preservation. 

I flamin' love Strava. I got four KOM's last year. My friend Joe didn't disclose how many he got, but he got more than me. We talk about Strava in the pub. We are sad men in their thirties who from the outside appear normal. I got a KOM the other day. I didn't know it was there, it appears that only two other people in the world did. So I must have upset someone!

Either way we are in the guts of the year. The time when you really can't stand still because you will wake up one day in March and regret it. Strava helps me do that. Not sit around... the opposite. 

Strava helps me tick my goals off, it has more and more become a method of communication, it helps me meet people, show me routes and that actually I'm not the worst. It is informing local authorities where people are running and cycling via their heat maps and assisting in town planning for crying out loud!

It also shows you that good performance doesn't come without putting in the effort. It's clear that the guys who are regular top tens (especially on the road) are the guys (and gals) that do loads of miles. For people who aren't skirting top tens it is brilliantly visual, which for me was why I stopped using Garmin (although I do appreciate the benefits of the latter), showing you where you are going and now who you passed!

"Bloody Strava segment wasnt' it!?"

Part of me does think back to when I rode without data, not knowing how fast I was going, where maybe exactly I was going or who I had beaten in the process (even though I had a raging tailwind). Things were simpler, I certainly didn't take as long to leave the house, but I do prefer life with the big S. I'm a bit of an addict. 

So, it is with great pleasure that we are doing our inaugural January Strava giveaway. Each week through January (and maybe February as well,but January for sure) we'll be giving away little prizes to those of you in our Strava club. We'll announce the competitions via our newsletter and twitter. The first week the person who comes 7th in the climbing table will earn themselves a duck cap! If we gave it to the first person in the table every week I think Mick Bath would soon be overloaded with caps and socks!!   

So, don't be a stranger, join the strava club, click the link below, sign up to the newsletter and have a great January (and maybe February)!!