Open Letter To Strava

[Mamil]

1 hour ago, Frosty said:

There’s been a lot of discussions around this. The data is yours, and they don’t deny it, and you have full right to see it in any 3rd party app that connects is the Strava. 

However, no-one else can view it (as they stated in their T&Cs) so you are not affected by this but rather anyone wanting to view it. What you are affected by, and it’s as clear as mud, in their T&Cs, relating to 3rd parties using it for analysis purposes. David (Intervals) has clarified that coaches can still see the data, so the muddy waters around the analysis of data is still (extremely) murky. There bullish communication is part of the problem.

It's the principle I don't like. I pay them for the platform and must give them my data to enjoy the benefits of the platform. My view is that I should maintain control over who is and isn't allowed to see and use that data. I may not be directly affected but I want Mr Tinker and some others to be able to use my data because I like the way intervals.icu works.

And the reality is I don't need Strava. And unless they plan to start providing devices themselves, it would be politic for them to keep other players in the industry onside considering that a very significant portion of their data is imported into the site from other apps (wahoo, Garmin etc).

Imagine if all the other APIs forbade Strava from displaying data pulled from their sites!

[Frosty]

7 hours ago, Mamil said:

I've decided to delete my Strava profile on 1 January. My sub expires in June 2025.

I pay them, I provide them with every heartbeat, every watt and every route. The data is mine not theirs to control.

I'm also looking at my other digital footprint stuff, Google, meta and minimising how much data I'm giving them. I don't like how these big tech businesses are behaving globally and I don't want to be part of it. I love the data and the convenience of the apps so I'm not willing to go fully analogue but intervals.icu and Garmin are where I'll be in terms of sport.

 

Ask them for a refund, like this person did.

[SwissVan]

2 hours ago, peepeekaitjie said:

without kudos how are you going to KOM?

Ja nee, at my age KOMs are not a factor, I use strava mostly to “spy” on my friends.

There is a time trail series (running and cycling)  that I do every year which uses strava to record the participants times and other data like meters climbed. It will be interesting to see if this would still work in 2025.

 

[Robbie Stewart]

4 hours ago, peepeekaitjie said:

without kudos how are you going to KOM?

The only people still getting KOM are the ones riding full fat eebs but not stating as such on Strava. They're of the same ilk as the people who will straightline a berm to cut milliseconds of their PB on an otherwise fun bit of trail, and in so doing miss the entire point of being on their bike in the first place.

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, SwissVan said:

Ja nee, at my age KOMs are not a factor, I use strava mostly to “spy” on my friends.

There is a time trail series (running and cycling)  that I do every year which uses strava to record the participants times and other data like meters climbed. It will be interesting to see if this would still work in 2025.

 

 

The I-Love-Boobies charity events also use Strava.

 

With the October Imagine Challenge they opted NOT to pull Strava data automatically .... it would have cost something like  $10k for this perk.  Participants had to manually upload events onto the I-Love-Boobies platform.  Minor shlep, but fine for this type of charity event.

 

Might even be fine for NON podium podium positions in fun events.  Few years back there was a two-day stage race in Stanford using a similar approach.

[Frosty]

@The Ouzo