If, like me, you resolve to eat healthier, lose weight, drive less and cycle more in 2017 then you are not alone.
The act of making resolutions in the New Year has become big business but the problem is that, no matter how well-intentioned they are and committed you are, life tends to get in the way.
What seemed entirely realistic on January 1 may, by the middle of the month, seem like an impossible mountain to climb leaving you feeling as if you have failed at the very first hurdle.
Making a commitment to ride more in the summer when the days are long and the weather more conducive is relatively easy, but weather-wise January throws up a whole lot of reasons to put off that ride for another day.
Having others to share your commitment along the way is a great way of increasing your motivation and keeping you on track, but sometimes joining a club or just meeting friends is not always possible. The end result is that often you’re left to rack up the miles and motivate yourself alone.
“Strava” is a popular tool used by many in various different sports, but for cycling it has become de rigueur for many cyclists. I have written before about the GPS based cycling application and how it has transformed cycling in the last few years, but it is not for everyone.
For all those who love Strava and will not ride without a method of recording their cycle and ability to upload their route upon completion there are just as many detractors who see it as a gimmick and something that should be avoided at all costs.
For me, I am somewhere in the middle. I often write about cutting out the distractions on the bike, getting away from our increasingly digital lives and enjoying the pleasure of pedalling for what it is, but conversely I also use Strava a lot and enjoy the training benefits and fun it brings.
There are many add-ons and benefits to Strava beyond the basic theme of chasing ‘king and queen of the mountains’ times. One recent third-party application that links with Strava takes your uploaded GPS route through Strava and converts it into an aerial view of the route in the style of a preview of a Tour de France stage on ITV4.
However, it is the club section that interests me most about Strava. I am a member of several cycling clubs, some real and some virtual. Even the real ones have virtual counterparts. What they represent is an ability to log your own miles ridden and altitude climbed and log them against those of other members in the club. Some of those clubs are just a group of friends, or they can be members of an actual club that exists in the real world. Others are organisations with a cycling background that have members from across the world.
They can set real-world challenges in the clubs and track each other’s progress with a weekly, updated league table of who has been out on their bike and for how long.
For someone like me it is a great way to motivate myself and if I find myself lurking in the lowly standings of the league table one week I am more predisposed to get out and ride, even when it’s raining, than I may have been otherwise, all with the intent of moving myself up the league table.
For those with a less competitive nature the clubs represent an opportunity to be part of a virtual community of cyclists with a common theme. Even in that respect it’s a great motivator and just viewing other people’s activities and getting ideas for routes they have ridden is a great way of invigorating your riding.
And the best thing about it all is that it’s free. Apart from having the means to record a ride (which can be done on any GPS device, including smartphones) it is simple and you don’t need to make any other commitments. Even if you don’t ride a lot you can be part of the virtual community and track how everyone else is doing.
For 2017 I have set up a Courier Blazing Saddles Strava club to bring all the readers of this column together and see how many miles we can accumulate in 2017.
For more information on being part of the Blazing Saddles Strava club see below.
Be part of the Blazing Saddles Strava Club in 2017 and let’s see how many miles readers can rack up in 2017.
To join the Blazing Saddles Strava account you need to be a member of Strava. It’s free to register and once you have set up an account you are ready to go.
Join the club at: www.strava.com/clubs/BlazingSaddlesWeekendCourier
Set your mobile GPS device to link to Strava via the Strava app, or by following the unit instructions, get on your bike and ride. Your ride statistics will be automatically uploaded to the club page and you can track your weekly mileage.
