Whether or not to invest in Strava Premium?

[ruariatp]

I know a lot of people who've been in two minds over whether the paying version of Strava is worth it. Until recently I would've said no, but they've really innovated it in 2013 and it now boasts quite an array of features (see here http://www.andbethere.com/2013/02/so-is-strava-premium-worth-it.html). Particularly for riders with power-meters, there seems to be a lot of new analysis options on the site, with more coming later this year. Another factor to bear in mind is that they now have the raceshape founder on board. So many of those external features people used for segment analysis should now be integrated! Let me know what you think

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I'm still on basic. Between RWGPS, Map My Ride, Strava, Bike Journal and an old fashioned day planner written log coupled with several mapping sites...I'm good. I guess I've always had real world training partners, team mates and other racers to compare myself with.

For data freaks and training by numbers, the premium levels offer advantages that only the individual user can determine the value.

For the younger racer trying to make the upper catagories and using a power meter and the latest Garmin or smart phone app, I think it would be one more good tool to have available. Even if a rider chooses the premium features just for fun and gets enjoyment out of the features it is a worthwhile investment. $60 after buying a phone with service contract and/or a power meter is chump change.

 

[ruariatp]

Agreed - an if you have invested heavily in loads of gear - garmins power taps etc, then arguably you're not getting the most out of them until you're using the full service to interpret all that data.

 

[maydog]

... or you want to see yourself at the top of the leaderboard by filtering out all of the featherweights and young'ins.


I went premium for a month last year, you get a suffer score and filtering capabilities. I do not have a power meter, the premium service will generate a calculated power curve; overall the additional perks were not worth it to me.

But... I do like the site and they need to make money, so yes you should go premium so that all of us freeloaders can keep uploading.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

"... or you want to see yourself at the top of the leaderboard by filtering out all of the featherweights and young'ins."

You kids get off my lawn hill!

 

[ruariatp]

yeah i can see that that leaderboard option could be pretty useful

 

[San Remo GT]

Wouldnt bother unless your actually trying to get competitive or somethin.

 

[Dave Pace]

While I can not give you and reasoning as to go for it or not as I do not like the Strava interface, I will watch this thread as to the results.

 

[ruariatp]

well i think that the whole point of the segments is for a bit of competition - it's a way of racing people when not actually with them

 

[Felt_Rider]

ruariatp, I signed up for Strava Premium soon after the introduction of the new power metrics. I like what Strava is doing and hope they continue to improve and add more features. However, I really find the PMC in WKO to be one of the best tools as I am learning to train with a power meter. It has been interesting how Strava, Garmin Connect and RWGPS are all trying to add more of these features and of those I like the visual look of Strava. So far Garmin Connect is still completely free with some power metrics and if they add in more features I will be a happy camper.

The Strava Premium power metrics are nice to look at an individual ride, but hopefully there will be an additional feature where the athlete can analyze progress over weeks and months worth of training data and look at metrics like CTL, ATL and TSB. It may be hard for me to justify renewing next year when my home version of WKO was a one time cost. And of course Golden Cheetah used by many is free download and is comparable to WKO in analyzing training data.

My step up to Premium was more of a donation to help support this year.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Another point to consider is how many Strava users are in your area. My locale is fairly devoid of users and most of the routes are out of my immediate area of operations as far as training routes go.

 

[ruariatp]

Well yeah strava do say they're intending on adding to the already packed power data side this year. You have a point though about garmin connect being free, if slightly less user friendly.

And numbers of local strava users is actually a very good point - back home in London the road can't even think about turning uphill without someone making a segment, and they're all ridden very frequently. Out here in Sicily though, barely anyone uses it so between me and one other guy, we have pretty much all the KOMs in the region covered! (cheating a bit I know )