Lock your GPS data against bicycle thieves

There’s a thief out there who wants your bike, and you could be making it very easy for them. Here’s how to lock down your privacy on Strava.

Everyone’s at it these days – recording rides with GPS, either on a smartphone app or better still, on a dedicated device like a Garmin. Sharing your achievements with friends via social networks has become the norm, popularised by sites like MapMyRide. Apart from annoying the people who are jealous that they can’t be arsed to get off the sofa don’t share your enthusiasm, what harm can it do?
More than you think, if recent reports are anything to go by.

Thieves are using sites with GPS data to determine the likely storage locations of expensive bikes.

To guard yourself against this kind of thing, you need to lock down your security settings. The video below shows you a cool feature in Strava which allows you to set up a blind perimeter around specific locations. Your rides will still track as the correct distance, but people won’t see the exact start and end points of your rides. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmCDVVQA2sc
It takes about 30 seconds to do this, so do yourself a favour…

Update

This issue continues to be raised in the national press and I created a more detailed guide to safeguard your Strava data. Why bike thieves are laughing at Strava users.

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