21 Lessons In Strava Etiquette From @stravawankers

Photograph: Andreas Kambanis (Creative Commons)

It’s easy to make friends on Strava, the wildy popular running app that brings exercise fiends across the world together to track their runs and bike rides.

However, it’s also easy to make enemies on Strava. Whether it’s cheating on a segment to set a new record and claim the King of the Mountain (KOM) title, or spamming feeds with bizarre activities, there are plenty of ways people infuriate their fellow Strava users.

To help you avoid these pitfalls, here are 21 lessons in Strava etiquette learned from the must-follow Twitter account @stravawankers.

1. Make sure your routes look good from above

When running and cycling gets boring, plan your runs to produce a birds-eye treat.

RECOMMENDED: This Guy On Strava Is Drawing Christmas Pictures With His Running Routes

2. “I was flying” should only refer to fast sessions

Yes flights can be boring. No that doesn't mean you should Strava them.

3. Giving kudos is good, giving too much kudos is creepy

This is the Strava equivalent of going through someone’s Facebook and liking every profile photo going back to 2013.

4. The Strava dress code is the same as Tesco’s

Pyjamas are a bit much.

5. Accept your limitations

Some Strava segments will just be beyond you.

6. If cycling indoors, try and stay in place

Either someone’s GPS struggled to cope with an indoor training session, or this is the worst attempt at a Strava illustration ever.

7. Strava is not the place for wall stands

Strava is a great fitness app, but there are other great apps for recording your bodyweight workouts.

8. Or touch rugby

To be fair there might not be an app for tracking touch rugby.

9. Or gardening

There almost certainly isn’t an app for tracking gardening.

10. Spectating is no barrier to participation

It turns out you can cover an impressive amount ground while watching someone else run.

11. There’s no need for holiday bragging

Facebook is where you brag about holidays. And Twitter. And Instagram. And Snapchat. Basically, you have options, Strava isn't one of them.

12. If you can cycle at 400mph, head for the Olympics, not Strava

No-one can be sure this man isn’t the fastest cyclist on the planet until we see him take on Jason Kenny.

13. If you miss a target, don’t play the blame game

You can always hit 1,000 miles next year.

14. Foam rolling doesn’t need GPS Tracking

Getting a new activity tracker is exciting, but wait till you do some actual activity before testing it out.

15. If you borrow someone’s watch, make sure Strava isn’t running

That advice is especially true for anyone who steals activity trackers. It’s basically rule number one when stealing activity trackers.

16. Some days you won’t run or cycle, no-one needs to know why

It might seem surprising, but none of your Strava followers are actually following your activity that closely.

17. There might even be entire weeks when you don’t need to use Strava

A 0.1-mile walk isn’t going to fire you up any leaderboards anyway.

18. Don’t overdo it on the mid-run snacks

Co-op does stock some tasty, tasty treats.

19. Don't fill in your personal details too quickly

Especially the section marked gender.

20. Always, always work in round numbers

Sure, there is no real difference between 99.9 miles and 100 miles, but still.

21. Really, a jet ski?

We give up.