Trying Out Strava

I noticed that I get Strava updates from my friends on my Facebook feed every now and then. I guess some of you with biker friends get the same thing. I get updates from the likes of Edmund Mangaser, who did well on his Tour of Matabungkay debut, to Ferds Faytaren, who did a Batangas - Lipa - Rosario solo loop.

Intrigued, I decided to give it a try yesterday on our short ride in Timberland. After turning on my old Garmin Edge 305 to track my ride, I launched the Strava app on my phone, clicked on the record button, and pedaled off.

I really didn't think about it at all until the end of ride. There was a very faint signal at the Timberland Clubhouse parking area, but I was miraculously able to sync my ride to Strava.

I was only able to appreciate my ride when I got home and saw the results on Strava's website. Check out my experience:

So this is the Strava app. I placed it in my Health folder.

This is the Strava app's launch screen

This is the Record page, where you start and stop your session. It has a big record button to make it idiot-proof.

This is the feed from my friends who also use Strava. That's Mitch Padua's Nuvali ride up there.

This is my ride yesterday. It shows me the total distance, time, and elevation gain from the moment I pressed "record" to the time I stopped it. The segments part is where it gets interesting. 

This is a sample of one of segments of my ride. Someone made it a segment and then Strava measured my performance and compared it to everyone who did the climb. It can also show how I did versus my friends. I'm now in 8th place.

It seems there's an option to upload my Garmin reading to the website. I'll give it a try next time. Overall, I like this experience. It's fun knowing how I did and it pushes me  to be better. On the downside, I might need to bring a powerbank on my future rides as it drains my battery quite fast.