I wasn’t expecting that either. Leaderboards were/are a fun distraction but comparing my own results is where I get the most value out of Strava. Actual races are fun but I get nearly as much satisfaction lowering my personal bests on my home trails, and Strava is currently the easiest way to do that. So good game guys, you now get my $60.
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We have different ideas of what an agreement between two parties entails.
An agreement does not need to include an exchange of currency in order to have both parties agree to an arrangement.
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You’re probably right but I think that was a mistake. To be seen as a serious analytics tool you almost have to use TSS or hrTSS.
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I don’t know if they do or don’t…I only know that TP representatives have, in the past, made multiple public assertions that other entities could use those terms in exchange for recognition of their trademarks. You can go search the forums at a well-known tri forum for examples.
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You will have signed a user agreement when you joined Strava. This will have told you what rights they have to use your data AND that they can withdraw access as they wish. If you hadn’t agreed to this you wouldn’t be able to use the service. So signing up to an agreement and then complaining when they act within that agreement seems strange.
People do it all the time with Facebook, Twitter, name it. Claiming “first amendment rights violation” to boot.
Yup…we covered that above. I have expressly said multiple times that Strava is within their rights to do this.
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so why you complaining?
No it’s not strange for these types of agreements. In fact it is pretty common. And sometimes a company will make changes based on the reaction of their users.
Explained multiple times in my posts above.
Tailwinds-
I kind of think that is what Strava was going for with their Weekly Intensity and Fitness metrics they introduced a while back. At its heart, Strava is a social platform. As of late though they have kind of been masquerading as an analytics tool as well, albeit at a much less sophisticated level than TP. For the majority of amateur athletes their tools will probably be sufficient and worth paying for.
Many however, like those commenting in this thread that use TR, will require something more sophisticated/detailed. I have been a Summit/Premium/whatever the F they will call it moving forward subscriber for years and have somewhat of a love/hate relationship with it. It is useful and some of the tools, like route building, are handy. The fitness metrics are worthless for my purposes although I can see the value to others. With so many users, it’s impossible for Strava to keep everyone happy since there really is no such thing as “one size fits all”.
Sure. I was using it as an example.
But is still the same. The agreement is you are allowed to use their system to put your data.
In exchange they will let you see that data.
KOM and CR was just the hook. No one is entitled to use that for free. They gave it to us, and now they want to make money and they feel (i think is a mistake) that this is the way to do it…
Nothing anyone can do about it
Cyclists as a whole think they should get shop discounts, free stuff, and Bro Hookups. This ultimately hurts our industry. Almost no shop makes money from sponsoring a local team but many as a Cat5 or even Cat1 on a team think they should be rewarded. As a result it has created a skewed reality for many.
However, i think the sentiment here is that Strava has in the eyes of many failed to produce a product worth paying for even though the amount of data they have should have produced something worthwhile. Its not the 5 bucks a month its a lack of vision or direction or even a hint at where they are going. Its not like if they said we are going to develop X someone comes up with an amazing alternative as it hasn’t happened yet. The same gripes today are the same made for years and still no alternative. As a result people are like why will now be any different.
I liken this all to multiple things right now… We have people complaining about cheating in Z. Ultimately Z has overall missed the boat. Even recent changes its not much better. Again when your consumers complain to the point where numerous published articles address the topic you will start to see attrition over time. The same argument holds true for USA Cycling in IRL and why numbers diminish. USAC has chosen to ignore the need to continually look at parity and current Cat1-5 is not it.
This parity is why gravel has taken off but will ultimately lead to its demise as more people turn it into a profession. Cross has grown and is somewhat peaking and will have a negative turn for the same reason. Everyone is not expecting a trophy, they want to feel a part of the pack or group or that they wont get embarrassed when racing.
However, in the end its about listening to your consumers and with the number of 3rd partys creating supplements to Strava and Z and even USAC, you either adapt or flounder, and I think the prior are all floundering and have been for years and people are like i’ll take my money elsewhere.
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I don’t think you have been understanding my posts…
Look, there was an agreement in place…Strava said “here is this service we will provide and it has these features. Sign our User Agreement (which included permissions from the users for access to data, etc)and we are good to go.”
Now, Strava is saying “well, we wanna change those features that we were providing to you and you now have to pay for them.” Are they doing it within the bounds of the agreement? Absolutely. Is it their right to do this? No doubt. Does that mean users can’t rightfully say “Jeez…this kinda blows, Strava”. Absolutely not.
As I have stated multiple times, I am more than willing to subscribe to Strava…provided they provide features and content that I feel are of fair value. Thus far, they have failed to provide that value.
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Contract law dictates that each party must be exchanging something of value. Strava may be acting within their rights of the contract, but the consideration many users were expecting in return is no longer being met. There’s a good argument the social aspects of Strava still technically meet the exchange-of-value requirements of an enforceable contract, but there’s no denying users are getting less now than they were in exchange for their same participation. It’s foolish to think there won’t be a backlash: <<insert Darth Vader “I am altering the deal, pray I don’t alter it any further” meme here>> Really, this is all just a side effect of clickwrap licenses… there’s no negotiation, it’s the vendor’s way or the high-way, so of course no one cares what rights Strava reserved for itself.
If computing segments is one of the more expensive parts of their infrastructure, I’m surprised they’re still bothering to compute them for free users. Just cut them off entirely. It not like the segments will be useful to non-subscribers anyway from here on, so why waste compute cycles on them? I won’t miss it. I barely found them useful before, and they’re definitely useless now.
I’ve never paid for Strava and never used the majority of their features. The main reason I use it has been to determine if higher elevation trails are clear of snow in the early Spring and late Fall. I’d pull up a segment to see if anybody had ridden it recently, if so, it was probably snow free.
Are there any other tools or apps you use for this kind of thing? I can always go back to my pre-Strava ways and call shops or talk to friends to find out 
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Gotta dangle carrots and convince people to subscribe. Telling people they’re setting PRs but can’t measure themselves against others might help convert users.
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If I understand the (revised) business model (which is pretty unlikely, but humor me nonetheless), the idea is to give an incentive to free users to jump the paywall. “Look at these climb times, don’t you think you could match those? For a meager $4.99, you can!”
Compare that to the x free articles per month many news sources allow you. Enough to give you a taste and convince you to subscribe.
Given the general financial state of news sources in general, I’m not sure it’s a model I would emulate, but to each his own.
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This is an excellent post
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Can anyone confirm if the new route builder supports turn-by-turn on the Wahoo Elemnt without any bodges? Just one or two clicks, working as expected sort of thing?