A question for the Stravaminati.

[Tim Kelley]

Maybe you didn’t start far enough back to pick up the beginning?

I’ve come at it from the road around the circle vs. trying to pick it up from the sidewalk/trail…

[Vicegrip]

The segment shows up as a pass with recorded time if you go and look for it but did not in the original ride. I don’t tend to go hunting segments but do see the little symbols pop up on some rides when I ether are new to that area or was having a good day.

[hozn]

Hidden segments are ones that other Strava users have essentially “voted down”. This is for a number of reasons — usually they’re just not very good segments (maybe not quite flag-worthy but “dirty” w/ frequent pedestrians or any number of other reasons). Sometimes they’re just new and they haven’t been ‘Unhidden’ by enough people.

You won’t see any merit badges for segments that are hidden when you upload your ride. You will, however, see badges for segments that you “Unhide” on future uploads.

Hope that makes sense / explains what you’re seeing.

[Tim Kelley]

Ah, now I understand what you are asking.

Here’s some info on hidden segments and how they work: https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/20945957-Hide-Unhide-Segments

Now go ride it again 2mph faster!

[Vicegrip]

@hozn 57041 wrote:

Hidden segments are ones that other Strava users have essentially “voted down”. This is for a number of reasons — usually they’re just not very good segments (maybe not quite flag-worthy but “dirty” w/ frequent pedestrians or any number of other reasons). Sometimes they’re just new and they haven’t been ‘Unhidden’ by enough people.

You won’t see any merit badges for segments that are hidden when you upload your ride. You will, however, see badges for segments that you “Unhide” on future uploads.

Hope that makes sense / explains what you’re seeing.

Yes makes sense. I figured there was some metric to the segments. So a new segment stays hidden until enough people vote it up?

@Tim Kelley 57042 wrote:

Ah, now I understand what you are asking.

Here’s some info on hidden segments and how they work: https://strava.zendesk.com/entries/20945957-Hide-Unhide-Segments

Now go ride it again 2mph faster!

Ha. 2 mph sure does not sound like much but I know better. Will see if I can make another pass on 7/4/14. (by then you will have likely cut the time by another 3 seconds and I will be yet another year deeper into the Senior class.) Just found the side by side comparison feature. You just trounced me on lead out, held the gap in the run and I lifted out too early at the end. Taking notes……

Thanks for the info guys!

[NicDiesel]

So, I rode 33 miles today from Crystal City to Vienna and got this crazy suffer score.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3241[/ATTACH]

Now, to be fair, I did really push it (probably too much) but I get the feeling a score of 235 “EXTREME” is probably either a) a bad idea to replicate b) the result of incorrect heart rate zones or c) both. Here’s a link to the ride where you can see how the zones are set based on my max heart rate of 165:

CC to Vienna Pain Train

Any thoughts on this?

[ronwalf]

@NicDiesel 57086 wrote:

Now, to be fair, I did really push it (probably too much) but I get the feeling a score of 235 “EXTREME” is probably either a) a bad idea to replicate b) the result of incorrect heart rate zones or c) both. Here’s a link to the ride where you can see how the zones are set based on my max heart rate of 165:

Here’s one person’s attempt to break down Strava’s Suffer Score:
http://djconnel.blogspot.com/2011/08/strava-suffer-score-decoded.html

By definition, you shouldn’t be able to exceed your maximum heart rate. The age based max heart rate formula is just an estimate, so you probably have your zones off a bit.

That said, I’d listen to your body more than the numbers. This was my first commute with a heart rate monitor:
http://app.strava.com/activities/3925699
I slammed my heart rate up to 185 (probably close to my max) and kept it between 165 and 185 for the rest of the ride. I didn’t feel particularly bad after the ride.
A few months later and a bit more fitness, and I couldn’t sustain heart rates even close to 185 for more than a minute or so.
That’s just anecdote, though, and your experience could be much different.

[mstone]

@NicDiesel 57086 wrote:

So, I rode 33 miles today from Crystal City to Vienna and got this crazy suffer score.

Maybe it noticed the weather.

[KLizotte]

There are numerous websites out there that will help you determine a safe range based on your resting pulse. I would use them as a guide along with your heart monitor over what Strava is telling you with respect to level of exertion. If you can fine tune Strava so that it gives you reasonable, time tested results then use it as a back of the envelope indication. That said, I suspect Strava is like the output data on a treadmill – so generalized for everyone as to be meaningless. I’ve also noticed that my Garmin 800 does not report air temperature at all accurately (at least not this week).

That said, “extreme” does seem to indicate that maybe you were doing too much, esp in the heat/humidity we’ve been having.

Remember that your heart is a muscle like any other and it needs to be built up slowly and have rest periods to repair itself. The one thing to always keep in mind about your heart is that it doesn’t send pain signals unless it is dying. That’s what a heart attack is (lack of oxygen). Because it doesn’t send signals like, say, your leg muscles, it is very easy to do too much. Also, in extreme weather your heart has to extra hard to keep you cool; this is done by sending extra blood to your extremities and surface areas.

Find out what your healthy zones are, esp for your weight, and go from there. If you have heart disease in your family, you may wish to consider a stress test if you aren’t feeling ok or are really concerned. (They put you on a treadmill with electrodes attached and have you run at max exertion for a few minutes to see how your heart responds).

Be careful out there!

[NicDiesel]

I think part of the problem with Strava, and really any exercise score or metric, is that if you’re an extreme outlier (like me) you have to ignore any proprietary aggregate scores they offer. While I do weight 360lbs, and look like I should be in really awful shape, I have a really healthy heart, a resting heart rate below 60, and, if I weren’t lugging around an extra 140lbs, could easily run 10 miles in a day. I did spend this past fall and winter “woodshedding” at the gym getting my heart and lungs built up by spending an hour on the elliptical and dropping 60lbs but 360lbs is still 360lbs; it’s the extra 140lbs that I think throws Strava and other exercise scores for a loop.

Having said all of that – if I’m going to do a long ride like that in the summer heat and sun it’s going to have to be on flat ground. Sure, the W&OD isn’t the French Alps but when you’re carrying 140lbs extra pounds a gradual 400 foot climb might as well be 4,000 in this heat and humidity. Even with plenty of electrolyte fluids and taking a 10 minute break every half hour of riding my legs started cramping and bouncing like jumping beans at the end of the ride and I wound up falling asleep after I took a shower. Outside of a sunburn and a little bit of a backache I feel fine today but the W&OD will have to wait to see me again until September.

[dbb]

The take home points are:

First and foremost, you did it! Congrats on that.

Riding at your pace is key to this effort. Take breaks as need and hydrate the hell out of yourself.

[Tim Kelley]

Because we talked about it earlier, I’ll mention that using a power meter would give you less subjective data…

[NicDiesel]

If I only had $1,500 extra.

[PotomacCyclist]

If it’s really hot outside and you have concerns because of extra bodyweight (as you mentioned), it might be better to do shorter loops, instead of long one-way or out-and-back trips. With a shorter loop, you can cut it short at any point. On a longer out-and-back, it’s more difficult to quit the ride and get back to the starting point/home.

Whether you use a heart rate monitor, Strava, power meter or perceived effort, you should also listen to your body. The more riding experience you have, the better you will become at detecting signals from your body, whether you have done too much that day or not. It’s also good to proceed gradually, in terms of duration, effort and heat tolerance. That is, if your longest ever ride was 2 hours, then pushing that to a 4-hr. ride the next week is probably not a good idea. Or if you haven’t done much riding in 90F+ temperatures, then you should be more cautious about doing long rides in such conditions, and so on.

Be safe out there. Not just in terms of looking out for traffic, but also in terms of knowing your individual limits. No Strava ride, or any other metric, is worth risking your health.

[NicDiesel]

The heat and distance hadn’t been a problem until yesterday, but I also hadn’t done that much climbing on a bike in years (read: when I was much thinner). This wasn’t the longest ride I’d done this year (that honor belongs to the AF Classic) but it was the longest I’d done in pure sunlight at 95 degrees. I’m not looking for any glory (Strava or otherwise), I just found that particular score to be crazy.

I managed 18.5 miles today but that was all pretty low effort and a lower temp (though stronger winds). Definitely need to figure out a better electrolyte mix though.

[Author]

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