Thanks for the feedback on Strava’s member survey (Q4 2010)

We just completed our quarterly member survey where we ask users just a couple of questions about their experiences on Strava. Though the survey is intentionally brief, it delivers a wealth of information to all of us on the Strava team. Thank you to all who responded. We really do appreciate you taking the time to share your perspective. Now comes the fun part… reading through all of your feedback and using it to guide our efforts over the coming months. While we can’t promise that every suggestion will be incorporated into Strava, we do read and consider every response.

If you didn’t have a chance to participate in our most recent survey, we’ll do another in March 2011. But, we welcome you to send us any comments, questions or concerns you have at any time. Just email support@strava.com with what’s on your mind.

Congratulations to Thomas Preisler, the winner of the random drawing from among all respondents! He will soon be sporting a Strava Équipe 2011 cycling jersey.

Deck the Halls with Lots of Garmins, Strava Kits and More… Big Savings on Strava Garmin Bundles in the Strava Store!

Looking for a unique gift for a cyclist this Holiday? Strava has some great gift deals on Garmin GPS devices and Strava cycling kits from Panache. We just launched a major revision to the Strava Store making it easier and less expensive for you to give (or get) great cycling gear bundled with the Strava Velo annual subscription. So tell your friends and family, and visit our shop yourself, to check out the following bundle offers.

Garmin Edge 500 + Strava Velo Plan for US$249 – SAVE US$60

This bundle includes the newly released Garmin Edge 500 GPS device and a 12-month premium Strava Velo subscription. Choose between the beautiful blue/black and the sleek silver/black unit. Add a HR strap to your order for just $49 or a cadence sensor and HR strap for just an additional $100. More information about this bundle in the Strava Store.

Garmin Edge 800 + Strava Velo Plan for US$449 – SAVE US$60

The just released Garmin Edge 800 features a color touchscreen and downloadable maps. This bundle also includes a 12-month premium Strava Velo subscription so the user can enjoy their device on Strava for a full year. More information about this bundle in the Strava Store.

Strava Kit from Panache + Strava Velo Plan for US$249 – SAVE US$44

The new Strava Équipe 2011 Cycling Kits are now available for pre-order. Like last year’s kit, these premium jerseys, shorts, socks and arm warmers are designed by Angry Bovine, produced in the US by Panache Cyclewear and manufactured in the EU. You can now purchase the complete kit and a 12-month premium Strava Velo subscription bundle for just US$249, a savings of US$44 off the regular price. You, or the person you are giving the kit to, will receive a gift card from Strava for putting under the tree or giving at the Holiday gathering. And you can look forward to the arrival of the Strava kit in early 2011. More information about the kit in the Strava Store.

All prices include shipping within the USA (international orders add US$20). Strava accepts MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover. CA residents add 9.75% sales tax.

Go for It! Achieve Something on Your Next Ride

Strava gives you the platform to compare and compete using your ride GPS data. It’s fun, it’s motivating and, today we introduced Strava achievement awards — a new way for you to showcase when you have something to talk about.

Strava Achievements

You will see Achievement icons on ride pages that contain segments where you have done especially well. We highlight two kinds of achievements for you. PR achievement awards (trophy cups) indicate efforts on segments which are among your personal best — they compare you to you. Overall achievement awards (medals) showcase efforts on segments in the top 5 of a KOM or QOM leaderboard — they compare you to everyone on Strava who has ridden that segment. Here’s another example of both kinds of achievement awards on a recent ride near Syndey, Australia.

While we hope this encourages you to get out and ride so you can grab some achievement awards, all your past rides have been updated with awards of note as well.

Upcoming Improvements to Strava

As many of you are aware, we’ve been collecting a lot of feedback from the Strava community via surveys, support forums and other channels for several months now. We’ve used your input to refresh the Strava visual interface and improve the user experience. Some of the changes you’ve seen in the past few months are a result of this work, but we have a bigger release planned in the coming week that includes a cleaner, more polished interface, as well as the first of several highly-requested features.

We wanted to give everyone a heads-up that these changes are coming, and to reiterate that we are committed to constantly improving the Strava experience. Your feedback is very important and we want you to know that we are listening. So stay tuned for some big improvements in the coming week — and remember that this is just the beginning. We have great things planned for Strava and are committed to delivering an online experience that matches your passion for cycling.

Strava Segments and Safety

Strava launched in beta just over one year ago with the mission to build a platform to provide fun and motivation for avid cyclists everywhere. Though we are not done yet, we believe we have been successful in delivering on that mission with the functionality we have built in Strava to-date.

One of several features that has set Strava apart from its competitors is the ability for users to create public segments from their rides and thereby show comparisons based on efforts by all users who have ridden (or run, or hiked, etc. ) the segment, including their own subsequent efforts. We provide the platform; users create the segments and provide the rides that result in the comparisons. We get emails from users daily telling us how much they enjoy this function and that it makes Strava something they want to use and keep using.

We now have thousands of public segments in Strava from nearly every US State and from dozens of countries. Strava provides segment creation and publication as a service to its users but the content is user-generated and not edited or monitored by Strava. The basic starting point for using Strava is that safety while riding (or running, or hiking, etc.) is every user’s responsibility – which includes observing all the applicable traffic laws. Recent online discussions concerning the tragic accident on South Park Drive in Berkeley, California have made it clear to us that users would benefit from additional methods to self-regulate their behavior on Strava.

Therefore, with today’s release Strava users have the ability to eliminate comparative rankings on segments where they believe competition would be hazardous. We hope that allowing our users to share their own experience with, and knowledge of, the segments they create and ride will help everyone remember that safety should always be their first priority.

As with all new features on Strava, we are not done. We will undoubtedly refine this, and expect that Strava users everywhere will be vocal in providing suggestions for improvement.