Sweet, I'd have about 10 free licenses then...STRAVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I gotta say, I was pretty anti-strava for a long time for this very reason. But I downloaded it a couple weeks ago and from a data logging perspective it's awesome, I love seeing how many feet I've gained, speed graphs and maps, it's also great to see how many miles you're averaging a week/month etc. I've also used the "explore" feature to find new spurs on some of the trail systems I've ridden for years. The KOM thing is pretty cool but I have to agree that it does encourage more dangerous riding on multi use trails. I had a moment last week when I was railing through a rolling section of trail and came across some hikers, I pulled off and for a split second I was like "damn it, I probably had a good time" then I had a reality check and said "great now you're one of those F'ing KOM asshats." That was the one and only time since using Strava where I had an Ego trip and since then I've actually gone out of my way to be a more courteous riding because I know so many people are using Strava and they are probably pissing hikers off. So in a roundabout way Strava has actually made me more courteous and I go out of my way to pull off and make small talk with hikers and runners.
i guess i'm a luddite, but i don't see the need to quantify everything. I still gauge my rides by how much fun I'm having. Get off my lawn you lousy kids!
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I don't give a crap about these tracking apps but from what I've heard there are plenty of good tracking apps (Locus, endomondo, ..) that accomplish what you describe above. Not accusing you of this at all, but I get the sense that Strava defenders use the 'I like the data logging features' line to avoid trying to defend their KOM asshattedness.
this, im always 5 seconds off my buddy's driod with my iphone
I've tried every app under the sun including locus and Endomondo and none of them even came close to how accurate Strava is. Endomondo would track me for half a mile then miss 5 miles then pick me up for 500 feet then lose me again. I would use strava for the accurate data logging regardless of the KOM feature, I'm not gonna lie and say I don't look to see how I stack up but I'm never going to let it put myself or any other trail users in danger. I ride some of my local trails fast, but not any faster now that I have Strava, if anything my new bike allows me to ride faster.
I bet he has a good personality!
best software in the world can't overcome the fact that the gps chips used in cell phones are only accurate to within 10 feet at best [edit] and that's in ideal conditions - no obstructions (things like trees, mountains, etc). so in average riding conditions, that 10 feet of accuracy is more like 10 yards. puts a pretty wide margin of error into any of the "data" you get out of it [/edit]
Considering whatever "data" I get out of it was free and only required me to download an app I'd say I'm pretty satisfied. I did a 25 mile ride with a guy a few weeks ago that had a 400 dollar Garmin and at the end of the ride the difference in "data" between my free app and his Garmin was less than 1%. For spending 0 dollars I'll take an error of 1%.
