Serious Cyclists Should Boycott Strava
We’ve discussed this before. Multi-Use Paths (MUP’s), Rail Trails and Bike Lanes are no place to train or race. Strava refuses to do anything about the fact that they are encouraging both.
In pursuit of King Of the Mountain status (KOM), cyclists, in totally inappropriate places, are endangering pedestrians as well as other cyclists. Rather than slowing when approaching pedestrians, waiting at a distance til it is safe to change lanes to pass, they are shouting and whizzing by at speed. It is only a matter of time until another pedestrian is killed.
I can’t directly tie Strava to them, but there are stories from all over the world of pedestrians being injured by speeding cyclists (not at anywhere near the rate of speeding motorists, but that is a pathetically low bar to set). Cyclists don’t have to be the jackasses motorists have become.
The speed limit on paths, trails and in lanes is 15mph. They are not wide enough to support higher speeds with pedestrians present. Even that is way too high when passing other cyclists or approaching groups of people, dog walkers or kids.
Every time we offend a pedestrian on a path, we risk setting loose yet another bicycle hating motorist to harrass cyclists on the street. Isn’t that what drove you to ride go-nowhere trails in the first place? That admittedly is a bit of victim blaming. I apologize. So is complaining that pedestrians, with every right to be there, are some how getting in our way!
There is a reason racing cyclists must be liscenced and ranked in order to compete. They race on closed courses much wider than multi-use paths. Even then it is only with other freakishly skilled cyclists. If they can’t handle it, you and I can’t.
Now Strava has added an e-bike catagory. Even technically illegally high powered bikes are being pitted against each other at pedestrian peril. Many cheaper bikes, with lesser quality components, are doing 30mph!
NOTE: In the days before we gutted consumer protections, these would have been pulled from the market.
Strava could help. They could remove all segments from pedestrian paths. They would not have to remove miles tracking or personal stats, just the competition and just from these segments They don’t. Whether they mean to or not, they encourage bad behavior.
If these were automobiles, racing on our streets, everyone would be complaining. At least cars have some basic safety equipment and streets have reasonable protections for pedestrians. MUP’s and trails don’t!
Serious cyclists don’t train on trails. They get out on the road. They go out in the country. They aren’t slowed or in anyway annoyed by pedestrians. There aren’t any! Boycott Strava and bad trail etiquette. If we don’t, we may find our peaceful pass time as regulated as our automobiles.