# Strava vs MapMyRide ?



## InfiniteLoop

MapMyRide is stepping up the competition (or catching up with Strava) with their Courses product. Interested in others thoughts on how these compare now.


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## ThemBigAnts

I don't like either iPhone app. It should stop timing when the bike stops.


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## f3rg

ThemBigAnts said:


> It should stop timing when the bike stops.


I totally agree. Hopefully, Strava will get on this before much longer.

To answer the OP's question, I prefer Strava since you can create segments, and most people in my city seem to be using it, so there's a lot of competition.

I tried Map My Ride on my Android, and it basically just doesn't work very well.


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## Salsa_Lover

I use Cyclemeter, that is a very good app, then export the ride on gpx format and upload it to strava.


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## EWT

Wahoo Fitness will upload directly from the app to Strava.


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## Eric_H

Strava doesn't always work right with a Garmin either with respect to stops. For instance, I was riding a climb a few days ago and ran into a friend coming down. We stopped and talked for a while and when I uploaded the ride to Strava it had my 3 minute climb taking me a whopping 26 minutes! In this case Strava must be taking the "Elapsed time" not the moving time. My Garmin was set to auto-stop at anything under 4 km/h so the ride time was definitely stopped while I was stopped. Interestingly for the entire ride the values uploaded by Strava for distance and time were correct, that is it uploaded the moving time only and not the elapsed time.

Not a big problem, I was not going for a KOM or anything, but definitely something wonky I noticed.


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## mtnroadie

Glad someone started this thread.

I pretty happy with Map my ride, I use it with the Wahoo fitness bike pack. I get the map on one screen, then I can switch over to speed, cadence (both from my wahoo sensor), time and distance on the next screen. 

I would love to use Strava for the segments function. However from what I can tell Strava so far is not capable of reading my wahoo sensor and showing me my speed and cadence along with the distance and time elapsed on one screen like map my ride does. Does anyone know how to make this happen with Wahoo fitness bike back?


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## PCCharger

ThemBigAnts said:


> I don't like either iPhone app. It should stop timing when the bike stops.


Map My Ride now has an auto pause option on the Android app. Don't know if this is true for the iphone.


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## mike77

I use both at the moment, importing from Garmin. Strava seems to have a bit of a problem with accuracy (as mentioned by Eric_H), mostly pause time still counts as ride time. Before I got the Garmin, I preferred Strava over MMR, because Strava respects that your ride data is in fact your ride data. If you record with MMR, you will never be able to look at that raw data elsewhere. (You can export the route, but not the workout.)

I'm not excited about MMR's courses yet, and stick with Strava because the Segments allow you to compete against a large number of people without having to ride the same entire course that they did. Perhaps MMR's courses feature will surprise me. Since I switched to Garmin, it'll at least be easy to move my data wherever I'd like in the future.


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## RJP Diver

InfiniteLoop said:


> MapMyRide is stepping up the competition (or catching up with Strava) with their Courses product. Interested in others thoughts on how these compare now.


I prefer MapMyRide, mostly because as a "MapMyFitness" user I can track swims, runs, and weight work-outs there as well.


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## the_don

I quite like cyclemeter. 

It seems well polished and does everything needed,


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## mando54

I prefer Strava. I like to map rides on Map My Ride, but the elevations it provides are completely useless. You just gotta know that you are going to do a lot more climbing that what it says.


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## B05

I run both on my Android. 

I like Strava for the segments (ehh, more for bragging right I must say).

I use it as a tool to find out routes/maps. I stalk out the beasts and see what they're doing and I go for it.


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## sometimerider

I don't understand the use of MMR. I consider RideWithGPS to be far superior. I do use Strava for recording rides, but now RWGPS also provides that function. However all of them will have trouble overcoming Strava's head start on competitive comparisons.


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## Joe Dirte

There is a reason Strava counts stopping time. Rider 1 climbs from point A to point B and it times you on that segment lets say 1 hour. Rider 2 climbs the same segment and takes a 20 min. break to freshen the legs halfway through. He now completes the same segment in 49 min because of fresh legs but it actually took him overall 69 min. He beats Rider 1's segment time but was actually slower. I think Strava handles it the right way. Ever take a break during a race or ever see the Pros in the peleton take a time out?


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## bmach

I use my tracks by google. It creates a spread sheet of all your rides and an over lay onto google maps of your ride. It also gives you total time of the ride, time while moving, avg speed and avg speed while moving.


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## mike77

Joe Dirte said:


> There is a reason Strava counts stopping time. Rider 1 climbs from point A to point B and it times you on that segment lets say 1 hour. Rider 2 climbs the same segment and takes a 20 min. break to freshen the legs halfway through. He now completes the same segment in 49 min because of fresh legs but it actually took him overall 69 min. He beats Rider 1's segment time but was actually slower. I think Strava handles it the right way. Ever take a break during a race or ever see the Pros in the peleton take a time out?


That makes sense on competitive segments, but not on entire routes. E.g., on a 115 mile ride from Virginia Beach to Richmond, I hit pause on the Garmin for a ferry ride across the James River. (~20 mins loading and waiting, ~30 mins crossing the river, ~10 minutes unloading...) Having that hour of traveling virtually 0 mph sure killed my averages for the day.

Adding logic for competitive segments makes sense, but having a functional pause button is basic fundamentals. And that sentence sums up why I use Strava for tracking segments, but nothing else...


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## Special Eyes

Who determined that the OP was talking about a smartphone app? Since I use a Garmin 500, I'm more interested in the websites and what they do with my uploaded data. I use both Strava and MMR. I like Strava's layout and segment features, but it doesn't give me full screen maps which I use MMR for.


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## Steve B.

I decided this year to move to a cloud based activity log, having used a PC based software for the past 10 years (Training Base) as well as My Tracks on Android. 

Tried Map My Ride. OK, just gotta get past the ad's. The website access is bloated and only so-so. If memory serves, you can't draw a route for a workout you finished (if you forgot to turn on the tracking app on the phone). The GPS was not that accurate and had no auto-stop.

Strava I found had poor privacy settings. EVERY activity you do is available to every Strava member, which I have issues with. You can "off-set" where you live when starting a ride from home, but that was hit and miss. 

SportyPal was OK as well except had poor ability to create a workout that wasn't trackedl. Your choice was all related to indoor activities, As well, the date was off by a day and the website owners could not fix.

MyTracks to Google is OK, just crappy Google MyMaps log. 

Endomondo so far is the best I've used. Free like the others but with fewer ad's compared to MMR. Rides can be totally private. Tracks a lot of other activities. Android GPS app is dead-on accurate and has auto-stop. Automatically uploads. Easy to edit on-line. Allows a workout that wasn't a tracked route to be drawn on a Google map - just won't pin to a road. Other then that and after trying MMR, Strava, SportyPal, MyTracks, I'm finding Endomondo to be by far the best and easiest to use.

SB


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## mpre53

mike77 said:


> That makes sense on competitive segments, but not on entire routes. E.g., on a 115 mile ride from Virginia Beach to Richmond, I hit pause on the Garmin for a ferry ride across the James River. (~20 mins loading and waiting, ~30 mins crossing the river, ~10 minutes unloading...) Having that hour of traveling virtually 0 mph sure killed my averages for the day.
> 
> Adding logic for competitive segments makes sense, but having a functional pause button is basic fundamentals. And that sentence sums up why I use Strava for tracking segments, but nothing else...


That I can understand, but using auto-pause for every stop sign, traffic light, and pee break kind of fudges "average speed" IMO. Those delays are part of road riding.

I don't use auto-pause. Unless there's a substantial delay---waiting for a ferry, walking over a half mile boardwalk, waiting for a drawbridge when there's a flotilla passing, or a 200 car freight at a RR crossing---I keep running time.


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## mike77

mpre53 said:


> That I can understand, but using auto-pause for every stop sign, traffic light, and pee break kind of fudges "average speed" IMO. Those delays are part of road riding.


I agree there is little to no use for auto-pause. I haven't looked for or used such a feature myself.


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## scottma

I started with Endomondo before I got my Garmin 500. I had a Blackberry and options were limited. I liked Endomondo a lot and still do. It has good historical stats and I like the personal bests.

My primary is Strava now. I like the achievements and the competition on segments with friends. Keeps me working harder.  You can make any ride private on Strava. You can also hide your start/stop location (your home) in the privacy settings.


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## Madone SIX

mpre53 said:


> That I can understand, but using auto-pause for every stop sign, traffic light, and pee break kind of fudges "average speed" IMO. Those delays are part of road riding.


I agree. In-fact, if you train with power most software out there recommends (or requires) turning off auto-pause and non-zero averaging. It is not an accurate reflection of your workout to disregard breaks. Whether they were planned or forced (stop lights etc).


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## Steve B.

scottma said:


> I started with Endomondo before I got my Garmin 500. I had a Blackberry and options were limited. I liked Endomondo a lot and still do. It has good historical stats and I like the personal bests.
> 
> My primary is Strava now. I like the achievements and the competition on segments with friends. Keeps me working harder.  You can make any ride private on Strava. You can also hide your start/stop location (your home) in the privacy settings.


There is no way I found to make Strava totally private so that you are the only person to see the workouts. If you can tell me how to do this, I'm all ears. As well I found the function to hide the start location hit and miss as to whether it hid the start point. Since I ride from home a lot and when combined with poor privacy settings, I gave it a pass.


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## Madone SIX

Steve B. said:


> There is no way I found to make Strava totally private so that you are the only person to see the workouts. If you can tell me how to do this, I'm all ears. As well I found the function to hide the start location hit and miss as to whether it hid the start point. Since I ride from home a lot and when combined with poor privacy settings, I gave it a pass.


Open one of your rides, on the right hand side you will see an Edit Ride and an Actions button. You can make it private under Actions.

Screenshot attached.


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## Special Eyes

If you care about your average speed for an activity, auto pause is essential.


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## Eric_H

Joe Dirte said:


> There is a reason Strava counts stopping time. Rider 1 climbs from point A to point B and it times you on that segment lets say 1 hour. Rider 2 climbs the same segment and takes a 20 min. break to freshen the legs halfway through. He now completes the same segment in 49 min because of fresh legs but it actually took him overall 69 min. He beats Rider 1's segment time but was actually slower. I think Strava handles it the right way. Ever take a break during a race or ever see the Pros in the peleton take a time out?


Yeah, that's fair enough. I was not concerned about this issue, although my 26 minute climb up a 3 minute climb has me firmly ranked at the bottom 

I did find it interesting on Strava that on this ride it used elapsed time instead of moving time on this climb, but for the entire ride it used moving time (my average speed from my Garmin agreed with Strava). I guess the Strava software must treat segments with elapsed time and the whole entire ride with moving time. Which is, as Jo Dirte points out, correct from a purity standpoint.

I'm very new to Strava and quite new to the Edge 500 as well. One thing I find a little goofy on Strava is segments that involve stop lights or significant intersections. I wonder if there any hardcores who risk running lights to get the KOM on a segment??


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## Robert1

This is exactly how it should be while you are in the middle of a segment. Strava doesn't count your stopped time for your overall ride thought. It all makes sense to me.

I started out with MMR but then changed over to Strava based on feedback from this forum. I much prefer Strava over MMR.



Joe Dirte said:


> There is a reason Strava counts stopping time. Rider 1 climbs from point A to point B and it times you on that segment lets say 1 hour. Rider 2 climbs the same segment and takes a 20 min. break to freshen the legs halfway through. He now completes the same segment in 49 min because of fresh legs but it actually took him overall 69 min. He beats Rider 1's segment time but was actually slower. I think Strava handles it the right way. Ever take a break during a race or ever see the Pros in the peleton take a time out?


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## FastRich

I started out using Endomondo and liked it fairly well. It proved to be reliable and simple. I switched over to Strava because most of my friends use it and the social/competitive aspect is appealing. 

I convinced a friend from the mid-west who I'm doing ragbrai with to start using Strava so we could track each other and his first go with it was an epic fail. It had him crossing the Missippi where there was no bridge, it jacked him out of 7 miles, his elevation profile was thousands of feet out of whack.....:mad2:

I had never had a problem with Strava until yesterday when it lost my entire 20 mile ride (the same ride I track with it every day) at the very end.....lame! :mad2:

Strava better step up its game or it's gonna get bounced.


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## FastRich

I figured there was no way it would jack me two days in a row on a ride I've done and recorded with it so many times but today it did the same crap! Lost my entire ride minus 0.4 miles.

Strava can suck it!!!!! I'm 100% glad I didn't pay for that trash! 

Before I started using strava, I used Endomondo, it's simple, accurate, and reliable and I'm going back to it.

With Endo, I'd do mt. bike rides in the geographical center of nowhere and it never missed a beat! 
Strava can't even track a road ride in a major suburban metropolis on a sunny day! 

I'm going to upgrade the Endo to the premium. For like $2.99 (one time fee) my wife can real time track me online to see where I'm at etc....

Strava = $6 a month to see your "suffer" score...........gimmee a break


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## tenkerman

Used to use MMR but found it to be a battery killer. Now I use Strava. Sometimes the achievements are screwy. For example, there is a loop that I often do from my house. Last week I set a personal best on one of the segments and Strava recognized that. A few days ago I beat that by 30 seconds and Strava failed to recognize it as a personal best. I can go look at the segment and it accurately tracked my time, just no silly little trophy. Rally though I just use it to get an overall picture of my rides.


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## Robert1

These sound like GPS issues with the device that was being used. If you upload the ride to another site does it show it correctly or the same? I doubt this is a strava issue.



FastRich said:


> I started out using Endomondo and liked it fairly well. It proved to be reliable and simple. I switched over to Strava because most of my friends use it and the social/competitive aspect is appealing.
> 
> I convinced a friend from the mid-west who I'm doing ragbrai with to start using Strava so we could track each other and his first go with it was an epic fail. It had him crossing the Missippi where there was no bridge, it jacked him out of 7 miles, his elevation profile was thousands of feet out of whack.....:mad2:
> 
> I had never had a problem with Strava until yesterday when it lost my entire 20 mile ride (the same ride I track with it every day) at the very end.....lame! :mad2:
> 
> Strava better step up its game or it's gonna get bounced.


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## FastRich

Robert1 said:


> These sound like GPS issues with the device that was being used. If you upload the ride to another site does it show it correctly or the same? I doubt this is a strava issue.


I would tend to agree with you especially the first time it happened since at the end of the ride it didn't want to acquire a signal and wouldn't pick it up for whatever reason. Yesterday when it happened I had a strong signal and it still failed. 

Endo seems to always have a strong signal even it very remote areas where you'd think it wouldn't. 

I have a good computer on the bike that tells me everything I want to know during the ride. I use my phone for the gps tracking (Strava/Endo) so I can see my averages, elevation and cumulative miles, etc.. 

I'm not interested in dropping a bunch of cash for a high dollar garmin that I don't need. Cheap, easy and effective is how I'm looking to roll and Strava isn't presently fitting that criteria.


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## EHietpas

I've used both and both don't work very well. Luckily I have my Garmin 305 when I came over from the running end of things. I rode this morning and burned off 1800 calories. When I upload to strava it shows me at just over 600 calories. Otherwise the speed and cadence seem to keep up pretty well. Not bad for free software all in all.


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## Steve B.

@ Madone

Thanks for the info, but I admit to being confused. The Strava accounts settings page says this:

So while Strava is telling you that your workouts are viewable to all logged in Strava users, the method of setting privacy as you indicated, does not state if logged-in users are still seeing your workout. As well, you would need to set the privacy to every workout recorded, every time ?, as opposed to a simple global setting to make all workouts private ?.

Note that I'm certain that many folks like Strava, I just find the whole privacy system confusing and tedious, thus am very happy with Endo.

SB


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## Robert1

LOL, you can't get your phone to work right but don't need a garmin device and are trying to blame the GPS issues on the app? If you don't use a device where you can upload the actual data to multiple sites to compare there is no way you can definitively say where the problem is. I've got almost 40 rides on strava using a garmin and have never, ever had one where the ride locations did not match where I was actually riding.



FastRich said:


> I would tend to agree with you especially the first time it happened since at the end of the ride it didn't want to acquire a signal and wouldn't pick it up for whatever reason. Yesterday when it happened I had a strong signal and it still failed.
> 
> Endo seems to always have a strong signal even it very remote areas where you'd think it wouldn't.
> 
> I have a good computer on the bike that tells me everything I want to know during the ride. I use my phone for the gps tracking (Strava/Endo) so I can see my averages, elevation and cumulative miles, etc..
> 
> I'm not interested in dropping a bunch of cash for a high dollar garmin that I don't need. Cheap, easy and effective is how I'm looking to roll and Strava isn't presently fitting that criteria.


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## ziscwg

Eric_H said:


> Strava doesn't always work right with a Garmin either with respect to stops. For instance, I was riding a climb a few days ago and ran into a friend coming down. We stopped and talked for a while and when I uploaded the ride to Strava it had my 3 minute climb taking me a whopping 26 minutes! In this case Strava must be taking the "Elapsed time" not the moving time. My Garmin was set to auto-stop at anything under 4 km/h so the ride time was definitely stopped while I was stopped. Interestingly for the entire ride the values uploaded by Strava for distance and time were correct, that is it uploaded the moving time only and not the elapsed time.
> 
> Not a big problem, I was not going for a KOM or anything, but definitely something wonky I noticed.


Here's the other side about the start/stop on climbs. On a long climb, if you need to rest because you're worn out, shouldn't that count in your climb time from start to finish?


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## ziscwg

sometimerider said:


> I don't understand the use of MMR. I consider RideWithGPS to be far superior. I do use Strava for recording rides, but now RWGPS also provides that function. However all of them will have trouble overcoming Strava's head start on competitive comparisons.


I like RideWtihGPS too. If I had to pay for a site, I'd use that one. 

I have a garmin 800, so I essentially paid for Garmin Connect already. I log my training there. However, all my routes that I plan go to RidewithGPS. It's a good interface that always seems to work well. 

I put my rides on strava for the competition aspect of segments.


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## zigmeister

Mapmyride isn't doing anything to compete with Strava IMO.

One basic cycling thing I like Strava can do is estimate your power output if you don't have a power meter. Amongst other things. 

Mapmyride seems to be more geared towards a more general audience as well.

I tried mapmyride, beside mapping your ride, not much else I found useful. Garmin's own website is bettern than mapmyride...haha..I kid.

It won't be long before Strava decides to tweak some stuff if they think there is something wrong with their method of KOMs and other stuff. Just takes some development work and programming to implement. 

I think all of them still have a lot of work and opportunities with their offerings. With that said, I primarily use Strava now with Garmin as a backup for my history.


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## nacnac3

I use Strava, its easy and accurate enough for me. Run in on my phone.

You can pause it, if you really want to.


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## goodspeed11

As of yesterday I'm going to always record with both. I love the Strava segments as it give's me a chance to turn my dull riding areas into a competition (minus the human factor). I like the ability to track my diet on mapmyride.


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## gusmahler

For a pure mapping purposes, is there an alternative to mapmyride? I used to track my mileage by entering my route in mapmyride.com. But the new "upgrade" to the map makes it completely unusable. E.g., part of my route has me go south, then east about 0.1 miles later. The old mapmyride tracked it fine. The new mapmyride thinks I'm going 0.5 miles south, then making a u-turn, and traveling 0.4 miles north until I make a turn to go east. And the only way to get rid of that is turn off "follow my roads" which makes it much harder to enter in my route."

I should probably just get a computer.


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## Madone SIX

RideWithGPS is what I use to build routes. That, or just plain Google Maps if I know the area well.


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## leadout_kv

Steve B. said:


> @ Madone
> 
> Thanks for the info, but I admit to being confused. The Strava accounts settings page says this:
> 
> So while Strava is telling you that your workouts are viewable to all logged in Strava users, the method of setting privacy as you indicated, does not state if logged-in users are still seeing your workout. As well, you would need to set the privacy to every workout recorded, every time ?, as opposed to a simple global setting to make all workouts private ?.
> 
> Note that I'm certain that many folks like Strava, I just find the whole privacy system confusing and tedious, thus am very happy with Endo.
> 
> SB


Might I suggest that you remove your Strava image from your post. It is showing an address that you probably want to keep private.


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## sometimerider

gusmahler said:


> For a pure mapping purposes, is there an alternative to mapmyride? I used to track my mileage by entering my route in mapmyride.com. But the new "upgrade" to the map makes it completely unusable. E.g., part of my route has me go south, then east about 0.1 miles later. The old mapmyride tracked it fine. The new mapmyride thinks I'm going 0.5 miles south, then making a u-turn, and traveling 0.4 miles north until I make a turn to go east. And the only way to get rid of that is turn off "follow my roads" which makes it much harder to enter in my route."


I consider ridewithgps far superior to MMR.

In any case, here are some hints that probably apply to all mapping web sites:



When creating your route, do NOT put route points near intersections. If you do, sometimes it will think that you meant to turn onto the cross road. Then, when you place your next point further down the original road, it will add a U turn to the cross road to get you back on course.
When you add a point, check that the connection to that point (that was just created) follows the path you wanted. If it does not, simply grab the errant line and pull it onto the path you want. (Ridewithgps is particularly good at this.)


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## RobDa29

I've only use Strava and I love it. It calculates total moving time and not the duration of your entire trip. I like how it calculates running time too.


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## scottma

I used Strava for recording my rides. I use RWGPS if I want to create a course.


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## ddimick

I found Strava's map privacy masking to be perfectly reliable, and I like knowing total moving time versus total ride time. Bike Ride Profile | AIDS/LifeCycle 11 near San Francisco | Times and Records | Strava


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## vtecgreen

When I wanted to start Tracking rides, I went with Strava, and haven't looked back. As some have mentioned, I love the segments feature - I don't know who I'm competing against, but knowing that I'm improving my times is always a good thing (gets me to work just a little harder in those segments). 

I was using the program on my Iphone - which works OK if you're just lesiurely riding or tracking Unfortunatley for me, a good section of my ride is through a state park, which is heavily wooded, and the GPS on the iphone sucks. I'd get back and have maps that made it look like I was MTB'ing or my personal favorite - riding on top/across the Missouri river. 

I recently purchased a used Garmin 205 watch ($60), and it's made a huge difference - the accuracy is MUCH MUCH Better. 

Also, I think as of late Strava has had some issues recognizing some of the segments (therefore you weren't getting credit for them). My last few rides have recognized the segments though, so I believe they fixed that problem.


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## Madone SIX

Steve B. said:


> So while Strava is telling you that your workouts are viewable to all logged in Strava users, the method of setting privacy as you indicated, does not state if logged-in users are still seeing your workout. As well, you would need to set the privacy to every workout recorded, every time ?, as opposed to a simple global setting to make all workouts private ?.
> 
> SB


The privacy setting will, in fact, make the ride only viewable by you. You are correct in that you would need to set it on each ride. However, each time you upload your ride, when it redirects you to the page to Name the ride, it has a check box to make it private. That page is viewed after every upload, all you would need to do is tick the check box.

I would agree that a global setting should be available, although I can see why it is not as well. It is the "social network" of cycling. They want to get users sharing rides, competing, etc. Over time I would bet that a global feature will be available, but for now, the option I specified is the only way to accomplish your goal.


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## mow4cash

Strava has segments. Im racing people every time I go for a bike ride now.


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## Eric_H

mow4cash said:


> Strava has segments. Im racing people every time I go for a bike ride now.


Which is good or bad, I have yet to decide


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## scottma

I HATE when I go for a ride and dont get any medals!


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## mow4cash

scottma said:


> I HATE when I go for a ride and dont get any medals!


It's hard when there are a lot of strong riders out there. It makes me work that much harder when I fail. All I can hope is that my training pays off and I see KOM's after every ride.


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## sometimerider

Madone SIX said:


> However, each time you upload your ride, when it redirects you to the page to Name the ride, it has a check box to make it private. That page is viewed after every upload, all you would need to do is tick the check box.


I don't get a chance to rename the ride or change the privacy settings after doing an upload (Garmin 500). (Yes, I know I can do this if I open each ride and edit them.)


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## scottma

KOMs? I dont have any and probably never will. Its hard to bust into top 20 for me. I'm usually maybe top 25%. There are a few top riders who crush pretty much all the segments around here. 

I meant when I get no medals. Not even a 3rd best personal on a segment. Other days I dont seem to be riding very hard at all and I rack up a bunch of PRs.


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## Madone SIX

sometimerider said:


> I don't get a chance to rename the ride or change the privacy settings after doing an upload (Garmin 500). (Yes, I know I can do this if I open each ride and edit them.)


Hmm. That is where it redirects me when the ride is uploaded. I have the 500 as well. I will verify on my next upload.


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## white_giant

I started out with MapMyRide, then moved onto Strava and then moved onto Cyclemeter. I'm happy with Cyclemeter but I wish they had a option to sync with website. I lost all my data when I switched phones and thought I backed it up correctly but I didn't. But I still have mad love for Cyclemeter. Best App so far;


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## greyshirtguy

white_giant said:


> I started out with MapMyRide, then moved onto Strava and then moved onto Cyclemeter. I'm happy with Cyclemeter but I wish they had a option to sync with website. I lost all my data when I switched phones and thought I backed it up correctly but I didn't. But I still have mad love for Cyclemeter. Best App so far;


I know its too late now...but FYI: Cyclemeter has a setting for auto syncing to iCloud (Both manually and automatically as often as every day)
I also love Cyclemeter and use it as my live riding app (just got a hacked script to auto forward rides to Strava too)

Cheers


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## vtecgreen

I thought this was pretty interesting, since I know that I feel the same way about improving my time in segments:

Family Sues Strava For Cycling Death - BikeRadar

However, I would never break laws in order to do so! Its probably why Strava updated their T&C last night....


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## jheeno

mow4cash said:


> Strava has segments. Im racing people every time I go for a bike ride now.


quite hard for me or the guys in my bunch when we are trying to beat the KOM of an olympic rep
http://app.strava.com/rides/10256266#180090552


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## djtodd

f3rg said:


> I tried Map My Ride on my Android, and it basically just doesn't work very well.


THIS.

Oh how I miss Cyclemeter for iPhone.


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## Sangster

I used Strava for recording my rides


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## roox

Using IpBike on my android, and then it uploads to Strava at the end of the ride. Gives me real time display of about a million different parameters, true altimeter on my xperia phone and even line graphs my power, cadence and HR as I ride. Its ugly, its a bit confusing to initially set up, but nothing I have found gives me the real time info I need better than it.


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## genux

I've been using Strava, MapMyRide, and RunKeeper. Strava gets my vote for being "good enough" across the board. I especially like it's clean interface and segments feature.

MMR has definitely improved over the 2 years I've been using it. It's what I turn to for mapping out trails when I want to try something new. Strava's "segment explorer" seems to be catered to KOM-activities, whereas I'm more interested in recreational, long rides.

I've also been using RunKeeper (iPhone app) to track my rides, as in the past it seemed to be much better at filtering out the unreliable GPS behavior of the iPhone. Other nice features it had was a "10-second countdown" to starting your ride, as well as auto-pause. Strava seems to have caught up with regards to that. I don't like RunKeeper's website, though, but they do have the ability to export data which I then import in Strava.


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## 768Q

I really like the Strava free app the best been saving all my rides the last few weeks, seems to give you more to play with then MMR which I used for a week or two.


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## bwbishop

scottma said:


> KOMs? I dont have any and probably never will. Its hard to bust into top 20 for me. I'm usually maybe top 25%. There are a few top riders who crush pretty much all the segments around here.
> 
> I meant when I get no medals. Not even a 3rd best personal on a segment. Other days I dont seem to be riding very hard at all and I rack up a bunch of PRs.



From what I understand, this is what MMR is trying to address. Their segment leader is not based just off of time, but how often you ride it as well as beating your P.R. They are trying to reward people who ride often and keep improving their times, not just a bunch of CAT1/2 racers going around collecting KOM. It rewards consistency and improvement vice just speed.

That being said, I use Google My Tracks because I love having raw data in an excel format.


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## Srode

sportstrackerlive for Android will also let you import from Garmin - lots and lots of stats, just less competition vs others. Probably a better training tool IMHO. It does show you personal bests but doesn't allow creation of segments like Strava so it's not easy to analyze a specific section of a ride unless you down load the file and use another application too look at segments. I run sportstrackerlive and Strava at the same time on my Razr max. Sportstrackerlive can give you audio feedback if you want it at time or distance intervals and will also let you know when your switch heart rate zones.


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## Skinner222

*Runtastic Roadbike Pro*

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Runtastic Roadbike. I tried Strava, MMR, and iBike and Runtastic is by far my favorite. I use it on an iPhone 4s and find that the real time speed is more accurate and updates more quickly than Strava. And I find the interface much more to my liking. YMMV of course.

Cheers!
K


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## Jwiffle

Eric_H said:


> Strava doesn't always work right with a Garmin either with respect to stops. For instance, I was riding a climb a few days ago and ran into a friend coming down. We stopped and talked for a while and when I uploaded the ride to Strava it had my 3 minute climb taking me a whopping 26 minutes! In this case Strava must be taking the "Elapsed time" not the moving time. My Garmin was set to auto-stop at anything under 4 km/h so the ride time was definitely stopped while I was stopped. Interestingly for the entire ride the values uploaded by Strava for distance and time were correct, that is it uploaded the moving time only and not the elapsed time.
> 
> Not a big problem, I was not going for a KOM or anything, but definitely something wonky I noticed.


It would appear to me that you are seeing the 26 minutes on the segment...which is apparently how long the segment took you. For the entire ride, Strava does just show the moving time, but for segments it always shows the total time of the segment. Otherwise, I could "beat" people up a climb by sprinting for 30 seconds, take 2 minutes to recover, sprint again, repeat until the top. I'd have an average speed of 15 mph where the next guy who never stopped only had 10 mph. So there system IS proper.


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## pmorris

I prefer Strava over MapMyRide. It's a simpler interface and doesn't harass you to post to your social networks. It also seems like MapMyRide changes its interface with every update.


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## EMB145 Driver

Joe Dirte said:


> There is a reason Strava counts stopping time. Rider 1 climbs from point A to point B and it times you on that segment lets say 1 hour. Rider 2 climbs the same segment and takes a 20 min. break to freshen the legs halfway through. He now completes the same segment in 49 min because of fresh legs but it actually took him overall 69 min. He beats Rider 1's segment time but was actually slower. I think Strava handles it the right way. Ever take a break during a race or ever see the Pros in the peleton take a time out?


It's much more simple than that. When the ride is uploaded, Strava looks at the time one began the segment and the time one ended the segment and awards the ranking accordingly. It does not look at the elapsed time of the ride, but uses the actual start and stop time. All GPS devices and smartphones know what time it is.


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## desertgeezer

I hate MapMyRide. It never works properly. I do use their website to input my milage on the calendar, but that's all. 

My favorite is BikeBrain. Works perfect every time, and it stops running your ride time when you stop at a red light or whatever. 

BikeBrain gives you average speed, max speed, distance, ride time, stopped time, total elapsed time, calories burned, total bike milage and a bunch of other stuff I never look at. The time vs distance and speed vs distance graphs are pretty good also. It's a free app for IPhone.


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## VanillaEps

ThemBigAnts said:


> I don't like either iPhone app. It should stop timing when the bike stops.


MapMyRide does that. Its an option on the iPhone app. Is called Auto Pause.


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## leadout_kv

This thread is telling me one thing, IMHO. That's to try out the multiple services (Strava, MMR, etc...) and to come to my own conclusion for what's best for me..


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## crosschecking

Steve B. said:


> I decided this year to move to a cloud based activity log, having used a PC based software for the past 10 years (Training Base) as well as My Tracks on Android.
> 
> Tried Map My Ride. OK, just gotta get past the ad's. The website access is bloated and only so-so. If memory serves, you can't draw a route for a workout you finished (if you forgot to turn on the tracking app on the phone). The GPS was not that accurate and had no auto-stop.
> 
> Strava I found had poor privacy settings. EVERY activity you do is available to every Strava member, which I have issues with. You can "off-set" where you live when starting a ride from home, but that was hit and miss.
> 
> SportyPal was OK as well except had poor ability to create a workout that wasn't trackedl. Your choice was all related to indoor activities, As well, the date was off by a day and the website owners could not fix.
> 
> MyTracks to Google is OK, just crappy Google MyMaps log.
> 
> Endomondo so far is the best I've used. Free like the others but with fewer ad's compared to MMR. Rides can be totally private. Tracks a lot of other activities. Android GPS app is dead-on accurate and has auto-stop. Automatically uploads. Easy to edit on-line. Allows a workout that wasn't a tracked route to be drawn on a Google map - just won't pin to a road. Other then that and after trying MMR, Strava, SportyPal, MyTracks, I'm finding Endomondo to be by far the best and easiest to use.
> 
> SB


Agreed. I use Strava for the segments most times but I always use Endomondo. I like the interface a bit better, it tracks my runs better, the auto pause works my accurately and it seems that it tracks slightly better. JMO.


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## atomiclab

I use strava and like it


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## atomiclab

One weird thing though.
I often ride with a friend whom uses a Garmin 305 or something like that.
I use an app on my phone. 
He always gains 150+ more feet than me in an identical simultaneous ride.


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## pedalruns

Map Bike Rides with Elevation Profiles, Analyze Cycling Performance, Train Better. Ride With GPS For maps and all kinds of data breakdown... ride with gps is great. 

I also use strava which is the best for the segments because of all the people but ridewithgps is better on all the data they give you and the maps are far better.


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## Megazine

I haven't tried starva only because the iPhone app kills battery


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## Thiel

Mapmyride does not allow you to export your data back out. Strava does. 

To me, that was reason enough to switch.


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## Greg4jc

I import my garmin 500 to mapmyride export back out to Facebook


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## deadhead1971

I'm a Strava user, having ditched mapmyride when I realised I couldn't export my data intact (it strips out the time data, to prevent people migrating to other sites like strava). 

There's a great list of cool third party tools that let you do amazing things with your Strava data here:
Scarlet Fire Turbo charge your Strava data with these third party API tools | Scarlet Fire

It's like your Strava data, on steroids


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## noyade233

I switched to strava and don't regret it. Everyone I introduce to strava says the same thing.


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## deadhead1971

noyade233 said:


> I switched to strava and don't regret it. Everyone I introduce to strava says the same thing.


Me too, come to think of it! 
And to those of you who think it's too competitive, you can just use it to track your own progress up your local hills, and monitor your own improvement. I find it very motivational in that sense. You'll be out on a ride and you'll suddenly remember that there's a Strava segment coming up, and you'll work harder to beat your pb. 

A quick note on iphones and gps accuracy - I did a little test on a Sunday club ride and ended up writing up this "evidence" . 
Scarlet Fire iPhone #GPS #fail | Scarlet Fire


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## elanzarotta

MMR is the way to go if you just want a basic app.


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## deadhead1971

elanzarotta said:


> MMR is the way to go if you just want a basic app.


For basic recording on an android phone, you can't beat the simplicity of MyTracks. It's a very light app that will run well on underpowered phones like the HTC wildfire, which incidentally (from personal experience) would crash every time running the mapmyride app. 
Any MMR user needs to be aware that if you ever want to migrate your data to another service, they won't let you. You cannot export your data back out!

Most people I know who happily use mmr are the sort of people who would say they "don't really do computers". For them, it works just fine at a basic level and it means they don't have to mess about with different apps, or transferring files around. 
For others, who like to dig a bit deeper, there are very interesting alternatives.


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## bwbishop

I use Google My Tracks and it's great. I like the fact that I can export to Google Docs and it automatically makes a spreadsheet with all my rides that I can manipulate in Excel.


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## ratherBclimbing

deadhead1971 said:


> I'm a Strava user, having ditched mapmyride when I realised I couldn't export my data intact (it strips out the time data, to prevent people migrating to other sites like strava).


Sorry to resurrect this old post, but I figured it's better than starting a new thread.

I'm in the same boat. Been using MMR for a couple months now, and just discovered that I can't pull my data back out; something that really bothers me. I'm assuming Strava allows you to export, preferably to a spreadsheet? Can you export from Strava into MMR by chance?


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## benroe1000

I used to use strava on my android and liked it even with the occasional hiccups. I've since gotten a garmin edge 500 and that is now my go to device. It never lets me down and the battery lasts forever. But I still upload all of my rides to the strava website. I love the ability to create segments.


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## deadhead1971

Quick update on the issue about not being able to export from mapmyride - 
I found a third party tool that lets you do it
http://www.scarletfire.co.uk/2012/11/how-to-export-your-ride-data-from-mapmyride-to-strava/


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## ratherBclimbing

deadhead1971 said:


> Quick update on the issue about not being able to export from mapmyride -
> I found a third party tool that lets you do it
> Scarlet Fire – How to export your ride data from MapMyRide to Strava


Nice find. Have you tried it?

The author's comments on Captcha were hilarious, glad I'm not the only person who struggles on those damn things.


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## deadhead1971

Yes, I've tried it. I wrote that article ;-) 
It works, by the way. 
I've also emailed the author and suggested that it would be perfect if it had a batch process feature. Currently, you have to do them one by one... 
They did reply, saying they would work on it - great!


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## deadhead1971

LubbersLine said:


> This thread is telling me one thing, IMHO. That's to try out the multiple services (Strava, MMR, etc...) and to come to my own conclusion for what's best for me..


Sounds like good advice generally  
Make your own mind up!


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## timtak

*Strava for the Win*

I wanted the ability to 
1) Share (a little bit of kudos, even recognition)
2) Compare with self
3) Compete with others

Share:
I think at first one could share Mapmyride to Facebook so as to display a map (as Runtastic and Strava do) but I think that part way through Mapmyride started displaying only a link, and requiring that Facebook friends become Mapmyride members before they could see the map. My tracks lets you link to a kml or whatever file, which if people click they can click again to see on a map, but I don't see a way of sharing a map to Facebook. So for a quick boast, Strava and Runtastic may be preferable to MapMyRide and My Tracks on sharing.

2) Compare with Self
Mapmyride, Runtastic, and Strava all have this I think. My tracks is okay, but it is not possible to do the same track AFAIK (despite people asking for this feature) 
https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mytracks/aePdHhfeeAg
other than by opening multiple tracks in Excel. Perhaps mytracks is better in its detail, but for dummies, the Websites (MMR, RT, S) provide easy 'leader boards'. 

3) Competition
I have not yet managed to figure it out (the one segment I defined does not seem to be finding my other rides, let alone those of others), but Strava seems to be the one. 

Strava can be life changing. There is a review with a girl with depression on Google Play, saying that the Strava app and the competition that it provided was getting her out of the house. 
I think that becoming "King of the Mountain" can motivate some people a lot. See this impressive list of KOMS
http://app.strava.com/athletes/254600/segments/leader

Every route you do will probably coincide in part with routes of others so every ride you do can be like taking part in a competition. Thought of in that way, the $60 a year (or $6 a month x 6 for the cycling season?) may be very cheap, compared to the entrance fee to just one competition. 

But as I say, I have not got it working yet, and I will not be in the top ten! All the same, I will still enjoy beating even one person if I do. I may have to get the premium membership so that I can filter the leader board by age (a premium feature).

Additionally, the fact that MapMyRide can't export (unlike Mytracks and Strava) sounds pretty damning.


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