Strava Invitation - 2018

January 3, 2018 5:57 PM

Well, it is that time of year again where we promise ourselves to get off the couch and be more physically active, so I just wanted to remind everyone that there is a MetaFilter Strava Club that is open to anyone who wants to join.

Last year when I posted this invite we had 63 members and I detailed all of our accomplishments. Well, this year we have 100 members (YAY!), and I am not going to go through and tally all of our statistics, so just know that we did A LOT!

In fact, we just completed our Polar Bear 5k Run for the third year in a row, and we had a better turnout than ever!

Our group is comprised of a lot of cyclists, more than a few runners, and I think we even have a swimmer or two. Strava accepts all kinds of activities, though, and our club is happy to have anyone who wants to participate no matter what kind of workouts you are doing. So, if you want to join a group of a bunch of friendly MeFites, please do!

posted by Literaryhero to MetaFilter-Related at 5:57 PM (21 comments total)

This is exactly what I needed for accountability on some big fitness goals this year. And yay for manual entry (for those of us in the dark ages still). Yay!

Joined! Thanks Literaryhero!
posted by barchan at 6:23 PM on January 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

Joined! Don't think I'll be doing much riding until the temperature creeps out of the 30s, though.
posted by waninggibbon at 7:29 PM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

You know you get, like, double or triple fabulousness-points the colder it gets, right?
posted by asperity at 8:57 PM on January 3, 2018 [1 favorite]

Been hiking a lot since I broke my collarbone in September, which has been very, very interesting. However today I logged my first bike commute—my first bike ride!—in three months and now I'm sore but desperately happy to be cycling again. Looking forward to enthusiastically up-thumbing and enkudosing your hikes and runs and bikings this year!
posted by carsonb at 11:46 PM on January 3, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'm hoping to find someone who'll one-up my lazy-ass morning commutes, in which most of the distance is covered by the train, not my legs, and also I sometimes stop for terrible fast food breakfasts. Maybe we need a least-healthy-Strava-activity challenge? I'm thinking beer runs and swimming to a pool bar, or possibly just getting in the water less than a half hour after eating.

I... might be missing the point.
posted by asperity at 8:35 AM on January 4, 2018 [4 favorites]

Polar Bear 5k inspired me to get back outside. The community there is still new. Trying to bring the good parts of MetaFilter culture to body and activity (which are fraught!) feels like a great project. Thanks for setting it up!
posted by gregglind at 9:32 AM on January 4, 2018

carsonb, if all goes well I should be logging a lot of hikes. A LOT. I'm kind of excited about all the exercises offered, and after playing around with it last night I'm getting kind of tempted to get a device which includes GPS in order to upload data.

Also I just discovered Strava is something you can add to your MeFi social apps, so FYI for those who also didn't know.
posted by barchan at 9:45 AM on January 4, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh, cool, never knew about this. Will join immediately.
posted by gaspode at 10:57 AM on January 4, 2018

Burhanistan hahaha I'm so with you. Sometimes I'm not sure whether the reason I workout is so that I am healthy and stronger, or it's because I get to make soooooo many spreadsheets with plans and measurements and make charts and graphs and MEASURE ALL THE THINGS.

The GPS thing though has never been my deal because a) I'm an old school map and compass user out and about but b) also have enough GIS software as it is for the digital fun stuff. And coming back from a hike and plotting it, or pre-plotting it beforehand when it's a training hike, is seriously half the pleasure. But what Strava can do looks so cool I'm seriously tempted, and admittedly it would be a time saver. (And wow Fitbit sure could learn a thing or two about UI and design for tracking activity and exercise. Maybe different audiences but still. . . .)

Thanks for the recommendation!
posted by barchan at 11:19 AM on January 4, 2018

StravaFilter: The Enkudosing

I had a freak skateboard accident a couple of months ago that took out my left wrist and elbow (which equals "forearm"), and I'm just now getting to being able to do pushups again, riding twice in the past few weeks.

I'm looking forward to adding more to the group and continuing to silently battle in the rankings against my local MeFi nemesis.
posted by rhizome at 12:20 PM on January 4, 2018

So cool! I just joined. Runner/bike commuter. I'm sad to have missed the Polar Plunge. Do you have any events planned for January/February? Maybe a Valentine's Day Dash?
posted by MrBobinski at 4:07 PM on January 4, 2018

Making resolutions to get out and exercise more in January seems like a way to guarantee that 90% of people will fail. I bet that April 1st resolutions would work much better - no polar vortexes or snowmageddons.

But perhaps I'm being April foolish.
posted by clawsoon at 7:13 PM on January 4, 2018

Do you have any events planned for January/February? Maybe a Valentine's Day Dash?

I try not to overdo it with the activities, but I was planning one for later in the spring when people who are winter averse start to get back out there. But I am more than happy to set something up if there is popular interest.

Also, since it wasn't mentioned, there is a huge range of people in the Strava group from super dedicated every day on the bike types to very casual, here and there people, so please don't be afraid to join because you think every one will be too hard core. I promise you that we are not. :)
posted by Literaryhero at 8:18 PM on January 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

barchan: The GPS thing though has never been my deal because a) I'm an old school map and compass user out and about but b) also have enough GIS software as it is for the digital fun stuff. And coming back from a hike and plotting it, or pre-plotting it beforehand when it's a training hike, is seriously half the pleasure.

Part of what has been fascinating about all the hikes I've been going on lately is the email backchannel I've got going on with some local historians. One in particular is all over the place restoring legacy trails and tracking down crazy cool ruins in the canyon we've been exploring. He sent out some aerial photographs and some old topographic maps of the Arroyo that show the old trails. I figured out that Google Earth Pro will allow you to place old aerial photographs and topographic maps on top of current 3D maps, and stretch them to actually fit the 3D terrain.

On my next hike I'll have the mobile version of Earth running, showing me a modern hillside with recognizable features (rock outcroppings, trees, etc.), the legacy trail outlined on it, and a little blue dot that'll be me, following the old trail down the modern hillside into a canyon I've ridden my bike around countless times without knowing of the century-old cabin remains down in its bottom. How cool is that?

Anyway, the phone works good mostly, but the Garmin device on my wishlist is the Garmin Rino 750. Color topo, all the usual route-mapping and tracking stuff, and it's also a satellite phone/walkie for when I get myself up to serious wilderness exploring shenanigans.
posted by carsonb at 10:48 PM on January 4, 2018 [3 favorites]

I also broke my collarbone (in late October) in a very otherwise boring bike crash so have not logged any bike rides since then (I usually bike to work year-round). I was going to get back on the bike after the holiday break, but given that we started out the new year with double-digit negative temperatures followed by a blizzard I decided to give it another week so the roads can get cleaned up/thawed out at least a bit.
posted by mikepop at 8:53 AM on January 5, 2018 [3 favorites]

mikepop: I also broke my collarbone (in late October) in a very otherwise boring bike crash so have not logged any bike rides since then (I usually bike to work year-round)

Such a drag to recover from, hope the weather permits riding soon. Did my first ride Wednesday, commuting to work, and a longer fun ride around town yesterday, feels so good to roll again. Oddly, my crash got on Instagram and I somehow became an Internet Douchebag. Didn't find out until a few weeks later, so it was low-intensity for me but still weird. Never been an Internet Douchebag before! (pretty sure at least)
posted by carsonb at 10:27 AM on January 5, 2018

and I somehow became an Internet Douchebag

What, did you crash into a puppy or something?
posted by mikepop at 11:25 AM on January 5, 2018

and I somehow became an Internet Douchebag

Yeah, story please!
posted by Literaryhero at 2:17 AM on January 6, 2018

This is already so much fun! Look at y'all go!
posted by barchan at 8:50 AM on January 6, 2018

What, did you crash into a puppy or something?

OMG it's embarrassing and based on a misunderstanding, but basically I was condescending when asking about another riders' front tire choice and didn't do a good job making amends on the trail. Toss in some classic White Knighting by yet another rider/internet hero and a little unwarranted vitriol and boom, Instagram Drama is born. Major irony rears its ugly head because if my front tire was a little chunkier maybe I don't wide-right into the buckthorn and get me a broken collarbone. I didn't even find out about the drama until weeks after my crash.

ANYWAY, I unexpectedly turned in about 23 miles Thursday just tootling around town and my legs aren't screaming at me today so that's good!
posted by carsonb at 1:41 PM on January 6, 2018 [2 favorites]

My Strava goal for this year is to take more pictures, but I generally don't carry my phone or a camera on my person while riding, and it's a pain to dig things out of my panniers mid-trip. Plus the battery on my phone refuses to work if I leave it on the handlebar mount below about 45F.

Not sure how to make this goal work. I'm not any good at drawing.
posted by asperity at 10:30 PM on January 6, 2018