Discussion
I did notice the flybys disappear from walks a few months back at the start of lockdown - I used to see people's daily walks on my fly-bys but they were just no longer showing up one day.
I've turned mine on - they only appear on the activities that everyone can see and I leave the vast majority of mine on 'Followers only' so it's only the special events that will appear on there, for example I did a virtual 10k on Sunday so put that as visible to everyone (I do a small warmup first so none of my activities start at my house). I passed about a dozen other runners and cyclists, normally I would see 3 or 4 on the flybys but there weren't any so it looks like it was only me running around!
I suspect the amount of people who use Strava on a desktop rather than a phone app is quite small and the majority won't even notice it has gone.
I've turned mine on - they only appear on the activities that everyone can see and I leave the vast majority of mine on 'Followers only' so it's only the special events that will appear on there, for example I did a virtual 10k on Sunday so put that as visible to everyone (I do a small warmup first so none of my activities start at my house). I passed about a dozen other runners and cyclists, normally I would see 3 or 4 on the flybys but there weren't any so it looks like it was only me running around!
I suspect the amount of people who use Strava on a desktop rather than a phone app is quite small and the majority won't even notice it has gone.
El stovey said:
Yellowjacket, to me it’s a personal safety thing.
A woman goes running, some bloke passes her and checks out flyby later and can see who she is and where and when she goes running and where she lives.
That’s due to everyone being opted in to flyby as the default.
Obviously it’s much safer if those that want to be involved in this have to opt in. In the same way that the user decides if they want to be your friend on strava or their activities to be private or where their privacy zone(s) is/are etc
The feature is effectively dead now but I was always surprised it existed at all tbh, I’m not funny about my own privacy on strava but I wouldn’t like my daughter or wife’s workouts to be available like this. My female workmates on strava were all pretty shocked it was there when I told them a while ago and opted out of it. They just used the phone app and didn’t even know it existed.
There’s an interesting article about it here
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/10/strava-flyby-t...
The comments as expected show a wide range of opinions and views on privacy.
I'm broadly in agreement with DCR on this. My personal security is dealt with in much the same way. I don't start/stop activities on my street even, let alone on my driveway. And I have several overlapping privacy zones set for home, and a few other places, to further cloud the beginning and end of rides. So, like DCR, I've re-enabled flyby.A woman goes running, some bloke passes her and checks out flyby later and can see who she is and where and when she goes running and where she lives.
That’s due to everyone being opted in to flyby as the default.
Obviously it’s much safer if those that want to be involved in this have to opt in. In the same way that the user decides if they want to be your friend on strava or their activities to be private or where their privacy zone(s) is/are etc
The feature is effectively dead now but I was always surprised it existed at all tbh, I’m not funny about my own privacy on strava but I wouldn’t like my daughter or wife’s workouts to be available like this. My female workmates on strava were all pretty shocked it was there when I told them a while ago and opted out of it. They just used the phone app and didn’t even know it existed.
There’s an interesting article about it here
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/10/strava-flyby-t...
The comments as expected show a wide range of opinions and views on privacy.
The most interesting part of the article is that the Tweet that kicked this off was mostly factually incorrect, and the "issue" the Twitter user had wasn't even with 'flyby' but with the Group Activity function. So even with 'flyby' turned off, if you go for a run/ride at broadly the same time, and on broadly the same route as another user/users (such as a day at a MTB trail centre, or during a race) you will still be able to find that you "rode with" some random you either never met, or simply glimpsed a couple of times as they rode the same route as you.
More creepy, for me, was when someone in a Strava club used the "rode with someone who didn't record" feature to add me to an activity thousands of miles away from me. He did it to prove a point about social distancing (claims too many people were still riding in large groups) during lockdown.
Where I'd most miss the flyby feature (if races were still happening during Covid-19) would be on race day. Being able to watch the flyby back of how the race unfolded is really interesting and informative. It shows you where the best riders make the most gains, and equally it shows you where on a course you lost the most time, so it can inform you as to which single-track sections you need to work on for next time. And it's just funny watching an XC MTB race unfold while the Benny Hill theme plays in another tab.
The whole hoo-haa could have been avoided too. It was already the case that any activity set to 'private' couldn't be viewed as a fly-by. And I hate to be the one to point this out, but if you actually saw the other Strava user on their activity, it isn't hard to work out which segment they were on when you saw them. So a determined stalker would only have to filter the segment leaderboard (by clicking 'today') to see which users passed through the segment. Then they could click into that user's activity and see it from start to finish anyway. More than one runner/rider through the segment today? Then it's just a process of elimination, unless the activity has been set to "private" of course.
I'm also baffled by this concern about "security" on the Strava platform, while generally people are over-sharing almost every aspect of their lives on other social media platforms. Photos of your kids? Fine. Photos of your lovely house, contents, and car? Sure. Why not? Date of birth? Yup, have at it fraudsters, and here's my mother's maiden name while you're at it. Hell, I wonder if some of these car thefts where the keys are taken can be pinned on Facebook/Instagram pictures inadvertently showing all and sundry where you keep your keys. But allowing a small number of Strava users to see where you rode/ran today? OMG! OMG! Call the cops. Won't somebody think of the kittens, FFS!
DC Rainmaker said:
...Alternatively, Strava could always just obscure the first/last 200-400m of any ride/run, no matter the location using an always changing value. That’d help for cases where you might start at a friend’s house, etc… Of course, if you live in the middle of nowhere with nobody around for miles, then privacy zones are less useful. But as always, don’t post on a social platform if you don’t want social data shared on said social platform...
El stovey said:
millen said:
Thanks El stovey - yes found the non-obvious hidden sub-menu. It's an annoying further swipe to get there for each segment of interest. Don't understand why they emphasise the Local Legend thing - pointless really as for most segments it goes to a local inhabitant who uses it just to leave the area!
I think it’s an acceptance that most segments top places become unavailable to the masses so we/they might get local legend? It’s like the prize at school for effort or most improved. If you’re slow you can’t win a segment but you can win local legend by just doing it loads.
Plus it might encourage us to do more exercise to get the badge.
I’ve got local legend somewhere I run and do hill reps. It’s pretty meaningless but a nice little thing to pop up I suppose. I only do it during school terms as part of my school run so during holidays and half term some local guy gets it instead as it’s a rolling 30 days I think.
It’s interesting as you see how close you are to losing it etc so I can see how people like it.
I've just checked my profile, and found that I have 'Local Legend' status on three segments.
| Type | Segment Name | Distance | Elevation | Number of Efforts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ride | PlanetX | 2.39mi | 136ft | 1 |
| Ride | Up to the Downs | 0.33mi | 95ft | 1 |
| Ride | Mini Tech section One | 0.23mi | 49ft | 1 |
Which would suggest that in many cases the feature is, indeed, "pointless". In the last 90 days the only person to ride those segments was me. And no, none of those segment s was created by me. They were all ridden as part of far longer rides, and they are mostly obscure segments I'll never return to, having only visited them in the first place in an effort to claim VeloViewer Explorer tiles.
I'd "get" the local legend feature more if it concentrated on segments with a minimum length, or on segments that were visited often. But short segments that are rarely visited suggests to me that Strava's algorithms aren't working terribly well. Or weren't anyway. I know when it launched that the 'Local Legend' feature was only available in selected segments. Maybe now it's opened up to all segments? But me being me, I went out the other day and had a crack at trying to earn 'Local Legend' status on another obscure segment ( https://www.strava.com/segments/23402577 ) with only three riders on the leaderboard. I did 4 reps of the loop, and still came up short! But who wouldn't want legendary status on a segment which resembles a cock and balls?
El stovey said:
Yellowjacket, to me it’s a personal safety thing.
A woman goes running, some bloke passes her and checks out flyby later and can see who she is and where and when she goes running and where she lives.
That’s due to everyone being opted in to flyby as the default.
Obviously it’s much safer if those that want to be involved in this have to opt in. In the same way that the user decides if they want to be your friend on strava or their activities to be private or where their privacy zone(s) is/are etc
The feature is effectively dead now but I was always surprised it existed at all tbh, I’m not funny about my own privacy on strava but I wouldn’t like my daughter or wife’s workouts to be available like this. My female workmates on strava were all pretty shocked it was there when I told them a while ago and opted out of it. They just used the phone app and didn’t even know it existed.
There’s an interesting article about it here
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/10/strava-flyby-t...
The comments as expected show a wide range of opinions and views on privacy.
Totally get the female/security option, but you have the option of private...and you have the option to hide the nearest few hundred metres. Even I do that.A woman goes running, some bloke passes her and checks out flyby later and can see who she is and where and when she goes running and where she lives.
That’s due to everyone being opted in to flyby as the default.
Obviously it’s much safer if those that want to be involved in this have to opt in. In the same way that the user decides if they want to be your friend on strava or their activities to be private or where their privacy zone(s) is/are etc
The feature is effectively dead now but I was always surprised it existed at all tbh, I’m not funny about my own privacy on strava but I wouldn’t like my daughter or wife’s workouts to be available like this. My female workmates on strava were all pretty shocked it was there when I told them a while ago and opted out of it. They just used the phone app and didn’t even know it existed.
There’s an interesting article about it here
https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2020/10/strava-flyby-t...
The comments as expected show a wide range of opinions and views on privacy.
But the flip side is that when you end up riding for a few KMs with someone, share pleasantries, then peel off, it's nice to be able to look them up. Learn from them and spark potential riding buddies.
Half a dozen of the guys I ride with were people I bumped into on a ride, rode at similar levels, then connected via Strava.
I found a credit card on Sunday off the back of Ranmoor Common on my way to Box Hill, I was cycling back to Fleet. Flyby didn’t show the person up as it was wasn’t on the road on the way down but was there 20-25mins later.
5mins searching through segment and I had found the person, strangely they were surprised I had managed to find them. I do think a lot of people don’t realise how easy it to find people or what they have been up to.
Best bit was I messaged him at 9pm some 10 hours later and he hadn’t cancelled it!
5mins searching through segment and I had found the person, strangely they were surprised I had managed to find them. I do think a lot of people don’t realise how easy it to find people or what they have been up to.
Best bit was I messaged him at 9pm some 10 hours later and he hadn’t cancelled it!
Ares said:
Half a dozen of the guys I ride with were people I bumped into on a ride, rode at similar levels, then connected via Strava.
When you say "guys", do you mean attractive women in their mid-late-20s, and "rode at similar levels" , do you mean you either ride slower, or bust a gut, to stay with them?
MC Bodge said:
Ares said:
Half a dozen of the guys I ride with were people I bumped into on a ride, rode at similar levels, then connected via Strava.
When you say "guys", do you mean attractive women in their mid-late-20s, and "rode at similar levels" , do you mean you either ride slower, or bust a gut, to stay with them?The latter, when you find yourself naturally paced with someone, it usually because you ride as a similar speed (or they've latched on to gain the draft)
Does anyone know if it’s possible to stop someone seeing the members list of a Strava club? Our club is having issues with a local guy that keeps adding every single club member as they join (even though he’s not a member of our club) and the female members are getting a bit weirded out as he’s left some strange comments on their activities and leaves kudos on every single ride about 10 seconds after it’s been uploaded.
We have all individually blocked him but would be nice if we didn’t have to explain it to new people every time.
We have all individually blocked him but would be nice if we didn’t have to explain it to new people every time.
MC Bodge said:
A 30-something woman colleague of mine has huge numbers of male followers, some of whom are in far-flung parts of the world.
A 1 mile walk produces lots of kudos and a few odd comments.
She must have accepted their follower requests, so presumably doesn't mind.
Depends on her settings. I don't require requests - folk can just click and follow me. And I've only had to block a handful of those annoying super-hot Russian ladies who turn out to have no activities on their profiles, and just a porn website URL in their description.A 1 mile walk produces lots of kudos and a few odd comments.
She must have accepted their follower requests, so presumably doesn't mind.
The 'following' thing is very different in some countries to others. Brazilians are the worst for it, they seem to follow anyone and everyone, presumably in the hope that some of the users they follow will reciprocate to drive up their own follower numbers. I seem to get quite a few really rather attractive South American ladies follow me. I'm under no illusions that it's got anything to do with my youthful good looks, principally because I rarely post pictures of myself. My follower count hovers around 1,000. Mainly because I post photos, and engage with people in the comments section of their activities, my own activities, and clubs, etc. And it does me no harm when a rather delightful couple of Columbian ladies I follow post pictures of each other in Lycra, holding their bikes aloft at the top of a climb. People I follow range greatly. A 68 year old former elite racer who I rode with a couple of times before I moved away. And even at 68 he could rip the legs of most 25 year-olds. We met for a ride after I took a KOM from him and he exacted revenge by going out and taking it back, along with a bunch of "mine". A 55 year-old grandmother from Tennessee whose hobby is riding double centuries and spreading God's word through cycling. A 40-something New York Jew who is also into long rides, out into upstate New York. A Bradford based Muslim charge nurse who seems to be a close match for the kind of cyclist I am, and who got me into the VeloViewer "tiling" thing. An age group World Champion 400 metre runner from Surrey who zipped past me while out riding with her son, and showed up on the flyby feature. Oh, and some bloke called Darren who races across continents and posts right here in Pedal Powered. There's an ex-Royal Marine who occasionally disappears from Strava and then reappears with the explanation that he's had yet another piece of his lung removed. I follow about 500 Strava users. Most of them follow me, a couple of Pros, friends (real life ones) and former colleagues, and my brother. And probably half of the names on the list are no longer regularly active, but there's no point in trimming them from the list because inactive users post no activities and so don't clog up my feed. Of those who are active, some of them I follow because they are funny. Some are informative. Some inspirational. Some need support, some support me. But all are engaging in some way, either through comments, or photos, or both. I presume they engage with me for the same reasons.
Apart from PH, Strava is my only exposure to 'social media'. Some I follow have said the same. So for me the "social" side of Strava is important. And I think that the (effective) loss of Flyby is a loss to that community element of Strava. For what it's worth, I believe that users already had the ability to control their exposure on the platform. So instead of knee-jerking the off switch so hard they gave themselves a black eye, Strava HQ really ought to have corrected the inaccuracies in the Tweet that prompted the change. And then put out a reminder to all users to review their security and privacy settings.
Sorry. It's a bit of a late-night ramble. If it's too long or makes little sense I apologize. G'night...
Dan_1981 said:
Does anyone know if it's possible to plan a ride route in Google maps and somehow import it into the routes section on Strava so I can follow it once on the road without having to have numerous apps all open doing the same thing.
Well a quick Google suggests that it is possible to export .gpx files from Google Maps albeit a bit fiddly with 3rd party software involved. Better to just plan the route in Strava / Ride With GPS or similar in the first place though, surely?Gassing Station | Pedal Powered | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff