Strava just released a new update that might just save them.
“Might just save them?”
That’s a strange term to use in relation to one of the most popular fitness apps on planet Earth. One that has seen its userbase skyrocket over the past three years.
But I could see the signs.
I could even feel it happening.
The life expectancy of a Strava customer.
No, we’re not talking about how much more likely you are to crash whilst chasing some silly downhill KOM.
I mean your lifespan as a Strava customer. In other words, how long would it be before you’d get bored and just stop using it?
My theory went something like this:
People who are just getting into cycling and developing their fitness from scratch would love the sense of progress they’d get through their first year.
The second year would be even better as they’d be continually be improving and getting PB’s. Who knows, maybe even some top tens or KOM’s?
But then comes the plateau.
Everyone hits a point in time when they’ve already done the fastest time they’re ever going to do, up any given hill.
So where’s your next little dopamine hit gonna come from now, huh? Back to BuzzFeed?
Strava works because it’s a game.
Gamification principles were built right in to Strava from the start. It was the USP that made it take off.
But it’s always needed to expand and develop them, in my view. I blogged about this before, go read “Strava – give us more achievements” if you’re interested.
To kick off 2015, Strava have introduced the concept of annual KOM’s. Read the announcement post on the Strava blog.
It’s a long way off some of the ideas in post I mentioned above, but it’s a fantastic start.
First impressions of actually getting a 2015 KOM?
I went for my first road ride of the year today. My birthday, as it happens.
And I got two 2015 KOM’s.
The longest one was timed at 12:35, but the real KOM holder did it a whole three minutes faster. But that was probably in summer, right?
On a cold greasy day in January, still feeling half full of Christmas indulgence, I’ll settle for that.
If you’ve been watching the leaderboards during the first week in January, nearly every ride is mostly 2015 KOM’s but it’s rapidly settling down and will soon feel like more of a real achievement.
Not only that, it will make genuine all-time KOM’s even more special.
One thing slightly confused me.
When I checked the leaderboard for “this year” for one of the segments, I had the top time, but it was also my second fastest attempt ever, so the achievement given was for the personal second best.
When I checked the Strava blog, I found this graphic illustrates the hierarchy nicely. An all-time personal best (or second or third) beats an annual KOM, even if it was in fact, the annual KOM.
To summarise, I think this is a much needed development and could well help to save Strava from sinking into obscurity as people eventually get bored and leave.
The customer lifespan has been extended.
Just imagine if they did something about silly duplicate/overlapping segments!
No doubt some people will scoff at the new Strava annual KOM’s.
Like fifteen year olds, maybe. They’re guaranteed to get faster and faster over the next 15-20 years, and probably can’t comprehend anything beyong the next 2 weeks anyway. They won’t get it.
But for us, ahem, more mature riders it’s a useful and motivating feature.
We all know a segment or two where the actual KOM was probably achieved during a hurricane, and nobody is ever likely to beat it without extreme (and probably dangerous) meteorological assistance.
For these, the Annual KOM’s might still bring a bit of Kudos your way.
What do you think of the new annual KOM’s?
Let it all out in the comments!
Incidentally, the omnipotent VeloViewer has taken steps towards achievements that are more in line with the sort of thing I was suggesting in the post I linked to above.
For example: Distance awards are calculated and presented like this. There are similar awards for elevation and time (duration of ride).
Strava have a history of taking the best of third party efforts and bringing that functionality in house, to expand their Premium offer. Just think of heat maps, and raceshape.
Hi Alan, happy new year, I’ve not seen you for a while.
I contacted Strava and asked how to opt out of this 2015 KOM fest! Unfortunately I cant.
People can already see their best times this year by drilling down in their own stats. I likened it to giving kids stickers for being the best patient that day, I find it a bit condescending and its littering the early rides with trophies. We will see it settle as the year goes on but there are that many segments now we will still be seeing people getting 2015 KOMs in December because nobody else has uploaded a ride that includes that segment this year. Then it all starts over again.
I’m not a fan to be honest.
Hi Alan
All the best for 2015
Lthink the new annual KOM’s are ok and it’ll add motivation to keep some riders going through the winter and as the Spring arrives and we shed those pounds of (outer layers and Festive excess) we’ll see an improvement in our times throughout the year.
As a cross country and marathon MTB’er the trails can change significantly from one year to the next and make a huge difference in the ability to be ridden at all. This will show a true reflection of who is at the top of the leaderboard.
I have a few rules as to who I give Kudos to and this means early in the year most are getting some acknowledgement for their efforts. Does anybody else have rules for ‘Kudos’ or do you just treat it like ‘like’on FB. Just wondering. I sit on the rollers for 10km as a warm up for strength training and I get Kudos…really?
I think I like the new KOM thing, not that it does matter much, I find myself in the top 25% of the ladder usually and I know my place :) now I just went for a ride this mornign and I collected 80Kom this feels a bit silly !
Hi Alan
Love the blog and enjoy keeping up to date.
Up until now, I have 90% of the time been using Strava to track my commute (3.4 miles each way). Given that I do this 2/3 times a week since April, It has become very difficult to get new PR’s and with my skinny legs, I am not going to beat some of the KOM’s on that route …. well ever – Unless I turn strava on in the car on a day I need it!
Whilst it is a little silly to begin with – this will be great for keeping me interested, particularly heading to summer when going quicker, or even going out on the bike will be more comfortable. However, I do think Strava have a nasty tendency of not realising potential. Some of the suggestions on your other post are great, but strava only seem to do what they want to – not what the customer wants. At this point in my fitness all those monthly Garn Fondo challenges are stupid – I will not be riding 100 miles – I dont have the time generally; and when I do, I have a thousand other things to do. How about some achievements for those trying to get fit, or just stay healthy – something like “Rode 50/100/150 miles in a month”. The pros will scoff at them, but one or two rides and they have achieved it and it only appears once a month – no hardship.
Also, I have just started training to do a triathlon (like your journey, I hit a key age this year- 30 for me – and wanted to prove I am still able to push boundaries and ‘live life’). As such, I am now using the run feature more. Strava seem to have tried a little more with this using a ‘matched runs’ feature so you can compare your efforts round a set route …. why is this feature not on the cycling app? – sure over long distance people go different routes, but this would be awesome for making my commutes more interesting…
shameless plug time – As I say, I am training to do a triathlon, which to motivate me I am doing for charity. Please have a look at the blog, any donations would be awesome, but just increasing viewership amongst friends and followers would be great and hopefully inspire some support (worth a try!):
https://paulhewitttriathlonforhomeforgood.wordpress.com/
Happy cycling
Paul
I don”t get all the brouhaha with yearly KOMs.
As Strava ages it will become more and more difficult to crack the top 10 on decent popular segments. Most sports, tennis, cricket, football, gee whiz even cycling, have yearly competitions. So why not introduce that to Strava?
Seems like a no-brainer. Personally I would always filter segments for year and even month to ascertain my competitiveness given the seasonal racing calendar. Also, if in one year a world tour race used a segment that I train on then without yearly KOMs I’d never stand a chance of getting a top 10 in my time.
Surely those who get their knickers in a tangle about new things, could simply avert their gaze and continue to be true Stravarians riding to ideals not matched by the application they are using.
Ride safe.