Every day, thousands of Strava users The app or website allows users to upload their training sessions - whether by mountain bike, road bike or on foot - to the training platform and then share them with like-minded athletes. According to Strava, over three billion activities from all corners of the world have already been recorded. Based on this data, the American social network has now installed an innovative route function that recommends customised training routes to users in real time and sends cyclists on new routes.
Route tool for Strava Summit members only
The route tool in the app now gives users personalised access to this huge pool of data for the first time. Wherever the next training session is planned, Strava suggests three personalised routes that can be filtered according to activity, distance, terrain and topography.
The routing tool also provides the following information about the planned tour:
- Estimated training duration: is determined individually based on the speeds of the athlete's most recent training sessions
- Elevation profile and details of the surface conditions (tarmac, gravel, unknown)
- Strava heatmap - the popularity of the route section
OSM maps as a basis
How does the algorithm behind Strava's route tool work? The training platform uses map synchronisation with Open Street Maps (OSM) to adapt uploaded activities to a global network of paths, roads and trails. This is similar to what Garmin does with its "Round Trip Routing" function. This function, which is used in many Garmin GPS devices calculates a route to follow based on the activities uploaded to Garmin Connect. If you want to use the new route tool, you need a Strava Summit package. The tool is not included in the free version of the Strava app. Strava Summit costs 7.99 euros per month or 59.99 euros per year.
Tried and tested: Light and shade after a week of practical testing
We have been testing Strava's route tool for a week now. The calculation works pleasantly quickly thanks to the smartphone - even if you have tours of around 100 kilometres suggested. What's also exciting is that new route suggestions are constantly popping up, even if you select identical parameters such as distance or topography. This guarantees variety. One of the routes we tested was a 120-kilometre road bike tour, which was very varied on small side roads. From a mountain biker's point of view, however, there are two points of criticism. Firstly, the "activity" can only differentiate between running and cycling, not between road cycling and mountain biking. Secondly, you can only choose between any, tarmac and gravel for the surface condition (called surface in the app). Although the "Gravel" option includes trails, the route description does not provide any information about the length and difficulty of the trail sections included. You can only see how MTB-specific and technically challenging the route really is when you ride it.
You can either follow the route directly via the Strava app - provided you have a good Smartphone holder for the handlebars. Or you can transfer the track to a GPS device. We installed the Strava IQ app on a Garmin Edge, which allows us to transfer the tour from the smartphone to the GPS device with just a few clicks and wirelessly.
