I’m over 3500 miles for the year thanks to Strava. Last year I had 4400 for the year, so I’ve got 5 months to ride 1000 miles and beat last years total. I’m averaging over 700 miles a month, so I can completely take November and December off this year and still beat last years mileage.
What’s so great about getting more miles? I’m not sure, but I’m definitely riding stronger, take my Williams Hill climb for instance. Thanks to Strava I can compare every time I’ve ridden Williams Hill this year and see that my work has resulted in improved performance.
Another cool thing Strava does is calculate VAM for your climbs, this number represents the meters climbed per hour. Its a way to compare efforts on different climbs even when their slope is different. You may go much faster on a shallow climb, but on a steep climb even though your speed is slower you ascend faster, your VAM will be about the same if your effort is equal.
I remember a few years back when I rode Williams Hill I used a triple crank with a 26×27 low gear and crawled up the hill averaging around 4 miles per hour. Now I’m spinning up most of the hill with my 34×27 and using a bigger gear more often, my fastest average so far has been 10.2 When I reached the top I always felt like was going to die, yesterday I climbed it twice and since i had ridden it the day before as well I decided to take it easy, I realized I had reached the top and wasn’t even breathing that hard.
I’ve already decided, 2012 is the year of Strava, not just for me but for the whole cycling community.
It should be interesting to see how you do next year in Chattanooga on the 3 climbs. While you have no current baseline, I suspect STRAVA will be able to atleast record your VAM. And of course compare you against everyone else who is recording via STRAVA for that event.
Speaking of being in shape, the May issue of Bicycling magazine had an article “Your Ideal Weight”. Standard formula for men was 106 lbs for the first 5 feet of height plus 6 lbs for each additional inch. One cycling coach suggested 2.1 lbs per inch of height for professional cycling. If your 5 foot 11 inches this would put you around 149 lbs. I guess we all need more salads.
Thanks for reminding me, but seriously 149, who wants to be a tiny man. If I could hit 200 I’d be very happy.