Metrics

If, like me you still use Facebook, then you will have noticed a dark design pattern. The pattern is to hide hyperlinks to stories in the comments, rather than to make it easy to click straight through.

Facebook has convinced content creators and social media monkeys that if they post the hyperlink in comments, rather than directly, it will promote their content and make them more visible.

Rather than encourage me to click through that design pattern encourages me to comment on the clickbait headline, and completely ignore the original post.

This year I have spent 350 hours hiking and walking according to Strava. In contrast I have spent just 44 hours cycling. If I had spent as much time cycling as I did walking then my cycling fitness would be higher than it is at the moment.

Part of me wishes that I had spent more time cycling but another part of me spends less time cycling than walking because finding safe cycling paths is not so easy in a place as densely populated as the Arc Lémanique.

Today I saw a link to Stats Hunters on the Google App so I clicked through on a laptop, once I was sitting at a computer. This is an app that looks at Strava data and gives you a summary of how many activities you’ve done as well as how far you have travelled. 

According to the data this Strava add on can access I have 2753 logged activities with a total distance of 25,l404 kilometres. November 2018 was my best month with 898 kilometres travelled. I think this was kilometres ridden on Zwift if I remember correctly. 

Do you have that TGIF feeling like no one else does? In theory today is the day when people are happy, knowing that the weekend is about to start and they can do the things they love for the next two days. In this context though, that is unlikely. We’re meant to stay home.

This weekend is going to be extra special because the temperature is meant to reach 20°c, i.e. summer temperatures and so people will go out like ants on an applecore by the side of the road. If ever a weekend was likely to see a boom of cases next Friday it’s this one. According to the Swiss government people are good at following the rules but I still see examples of inconsiderate behaviour, both by young and not so young people.

StravistiX for Strava

Stravistix for strava is a Chrome plugin. It allows you to analyse the data from your ride in more detail and with more graphs. In the detailed view you can see heart rate information, speed, power, grade, elevation and  ascent speed. It allows you to see each metric in more depth. It allows you to look at your statistics in detail. You can see what percentage of the ride was flat, uphill or downhill. You can see how fast you were climbing and how your speed varies. [gallery columns=“4” ids=“2707,2708,2709,2710,2711,2712,2713”] This breadth of data is fun to play with. It allows you to see whether you do spend as much time as you thought climbing. It also allows you to see how much of your time was spent static or moving. There is a weather module for wind, temperature, clouds and humidity. This is a nice way of checking whether the wind is favourable to the ride you are thinking of doing that day. What I would like to see next is a log of the weather and especially wind during the ride. It would like to see ground speed in contrast to wind speed. This data should be relatively easy to acquire. Plugins are great because they allow you to do more with the data that you or other people generate. They allow weekend and professional riders to analyse how they are progressing. It also allows riders to compare themselves with others.