Results Are In: Amgen Tour of California Segment Challenges

The Amgen Tour of California Segment Challenges have officially wrapped. The series highlighted four major climbs on the route of the eight stage Tour and challenged riders to log the fastest time or log the most attempts on each segment. Over one thousand Strava riders participated, logging a total of 1179 attempts. This tough series featured one category 3 climb (Coleman Valley Rd.), two category 2 climbs (Bonny Doon and Mt. Diablo), and an Hors Category climb (Mt. Baldy). The top three (male and female) cyclists to record the fastest times on each segment and the top three (male and female) cyclists who recorded the most attempts on each segment were awarded with ATOC and Strava gear. Congrats to all our competitors – we challenged you and you delivered!

Here are some highlights:

• The top three fastest times on the Mt. Diablo Segment clocked in faster than TeamExergy Pro rider Freddie Rodriguez’s time of 22 min, 23 sec. Shout-outs to Kevin Metcalfe, Rob Scheffler, and Scott Bromstead!
• Nearly one third of all the challenge attempts on the Coleman Valley Road Segment were ridden by Norman S. from Santa Rosa, CA. Motivated by riding alongside the Pro Teams and the beauty of the coastal climb, he rode 6-12 reps of the segment each day and managed to log a whopping 50 attempts on the segment. M Silva also logged an incredible 50 attempts on the Mt. Diablo Segment. Kudos to you both.
• The fastest times on the Bonny Doon Segment were recorded by Chris and Cathy F. – great teamwork!

And here are the official results:

Coleman Valley Road Segment

Men’s Fastest Times: Peter N., Collin Clements, and Rusty K.

Women’s Fastest Times: Kym Fant, Ria J L., and Kristin S.

Men’s Most Attempts: Norman S., Bret Staz, and Kevin S.

Women’s Most Attempts: Ria J L., Kristin S., and Kym Fant

Bonny Doon Segment

Men’s Fastest Times: Clark F., Tim Clark, and Andrew Cavaletto

Women’s Fastest Times: Cathy F., Aisha C., and Katie Evans

Men’s Most Attempts: Zach Brown, George Janour, and Brent Carkeet

Women’s Most Attempts: Rachael Brown, Polly F., and Cathy F.

Mt. Diablo Segment

Men’s Fastest Times: Kevin Metcalfe, Rob Scheffler, and Scott Bromstead

Women’s Fastest Times: Kym Fant, Megan Modenos, and Cheryl Shwe

Men’s Most Attempts: M Silva, Deepinder S., and Enrique H.

Women’s Most Attempts: Trish Pacheco, Jeanne Sather, and Kim F.

Mt. Baldy Segment

Men’s Fastest Times: Hunter G., Ben Bostrom, and Mike Prentice

Women’s Fastest Times: Tracy Tilton, Becky S., and Karen J.

Men’s Most Attempts: Douglas Kubler, Eric Elder, and Carlos Glines

Women’s Most Attempts: La Vonna Koester, Susanne L., and Vicki Appel

Congratulations to everyone who participated and a big thank you to Amgen! Stay tuned to see what’s up next.

Updated iPhone Apps Are Here: HR Support, Performance Graphs and Premium Features

We’ve added some new motivational features to the Strava Cycling and Strava Run apps for iPhone, available for you to update or install today.

We’re excited to report that this latest version offers support for ANT+ and Bluetooth LE sensors, including heart rate monitors, power meters, and speed/cadence meters, allowing you to stay on top of every element of your training.  And, Strava Premium members can now enjoy and maximize their favorite Premium features from their iPhone:

• Filtered Leaderboards – Level the playing field and see where you rank among athletes in your own age and weight class
• Detailed Heart Rate Zone Analysis – Dial in to your training and goals with heart rate zone distribution data
• Suffer Score – Determine exactly how hard you’re riding and running and get credit for your intense workouts
• Detailed Power and Pace Analysis – Gauge your effort and maximize the efficiency of your training with pace and power zone distribution data

What’s more, the elevation and performance graphs visible to both Premium members and free users on Strava.com are now accessible from the iPhone.

To get the most out of these features, visit the Wahoo Fitness Store to purchase an ANT+ data sensor.  When viewing your elevation profile, tap the Heart Rate tab and select Learn More to Browse the Store directly from the Strava App.

Upgrade to Strava Premium from your iPhone by going to Account in the App Settings.  As always, you can upgrade to Premium on the web by logging in at www.strava.com and selecting Account from the dropdown menu under your name.

Premium features for Strava Cycling and Strava Run for Android are on their way – stay tuned!

We're Hiring!

Strava’s community of avid athletes is growing fast, and we’re searching for some passionate and talented people to help us keep up!  We’re looking for software engineers, designers, product managers and more who can go the distance.  Please see our Careers page to learn more about all of our openings and the many benefits of working at Strava. Benefits included, but not limited to:

• Prime downtown San Francisco location
• 5 weeks of vacation—happy, balanced employees make a great company
• Strava Innovation Days where great ideas get the attention they deserve
• The firm belief that there is always time for a run, ride, or swim

Strava is at the forefront of an exciting space and we’re just getting started! We’re made up of dedicated, fun-loving individuals unified by our passion for building an awesome product that motivates athletes all over the world.  Join us for the ride!

You've Got Notifications!

Notice anything different on your dashboard? Check out the Notifications tab to read comments from your friends, get updates on new followers, and see who gave you kudos for your epic rides and runs. Plus, you’ll be the first to know when someone bumps you off the top of a leaderboard.

Log in to Strava and see your new notifications ticker next to the Dashboard link telling you how many kudos, comments, and followers are waiting for you. Once you view them, your ticker will reset to zero.

You’ll still be notified of all events via email. However, if you’d like to turn these emails off and rely only on the Notifications tab on your Dashboard, visit Settings from the drop-down menu under your name to customize your preferences. Enjoy!

In California? Join the Amgen Tour of California Segment Challenges!

We’ve teamed up with Amgen Tour of California (ATOC) to bring you a series of Segment Challenges that give you the chance to compare yourself against the world’s best on four iconic climbs of the 2012 Amgen Tour of California.

By joining one or all of the Segment Challenges below, you have the chance to test your mettle on some of the marquee climbs before the pro riders attack the very same segments during the official race in May.  By uploading your rides to Strava before the conclusion of each Segment Challenge, you can compare your performance against the pros, many of whom will be tracking their efforts on Strava throughout the 8-stage, 750-mile race.

The Segment Challenges will cover the following climbs. Riders have up until the day of the official Amgen Tour of California stage starts to clock their best effort

• April 20-May 13: Stage 1 – Join Coleman Valley Road

• April 20-May 14: Stage 2 – Join Bonny Doon

• April 20-May 15: Stage 3 – Join Mt. Diablo

• April 20-May19: Stage 7 – Join Mt. Baldy

Prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers in two categories for both men and women: The fastest time and greatest number of attempts on each segment. In addition, all riders who participate in at least one Segment Challenge will be entered to win a jersey signed by an Amgen Tour of California stage winner.

Good luck riders!

A Few Questions with Jojo Reuland

You’ve probably seen the name Jojo Reuland on the Challenge leaderboards – after leading the pack in the Run Base Mile Blast, she was among the top five women in the GU 100,000 Mile Challenge.  Jojo, a Seattle native, moved to California for college and now works in marketing at The San Francisco Marathon. Fresh off a stellar performance at the Lake Sonoma 50, she sat down with us to shed some light on how she goes about logging all those miles.

When did you start running?

I started running with my dad in high school.  I had always played sports – soccer and volleyball – and my dad was an endurance runner and a hiker.   At first he had to give me incentives – I’d run with him and he would give me prizes – but after a couple of months I realized that I really liked it.  When I went to college I kept running.  It was my escape from campus – I found this little trail behind the school and when I went out there I would see maybe one or two people on my whole run.  My running evolved into half marathons and then marathons and now ultra marathons.

When did you run your first marathon?

I ran my first marathon (the California International Marathon) during my senior year of college. When I signed up I was terrified.  And it was definitely a tough training cycle because I was training all by myself – being in college, not that many people wanted to tackle the whole 26.2 and get up at 5 AM and do a long run.  It definitely gave me mental toughness because when you train on your own, come race day you don’t need your friends there, you’re totally dialed in.  I thought it would be a one time thing, but I loved it and after taking about nine months off from seriously training I decided to run more marathons.  Still, never in my wildest dreams did I think ultra marathons were in my future.

What led you to your first ultra?

I decided to do my first ultra after Seattle last year.  I had tried to qualify for Boston a handful of times and every training cycle went pretty well, but I would get injured or I wouldn’t feel well on race day or I would be so nervous that I would be sick to my stomach.  I think mentally I wasn’t ready for the pressure of really racing and it had taken me away from what I love about running, which is being out there and putting in the distance and zoning out.  So I decided to take a break and just start trail running.  I sent a link (for the North Face Endurance Challenge 50k) to a friend of mine and said I thought it looked fun, and if it ended up being really bad we could just hike it.  We started training completely secretly – we didn’t tell any of our family or friends that we were registered until about two weeks before the race.  It was a completely different way to look at my running and that’s why I did it – to take my head out of it and run by feel.  I crossed the finish line and felt like I wanted to keep going – I wondered how far I could go.  I signed up for my 50 miler probably four or five days later – I didn’t waste a minute.

How did you come up with a training plan?

I didn’t really have a training plan in mind when I signed up for the race.  I started looking online, but I just wasn’t finding anything.  A lot of the training plans didn’t have anything in common – they were all different and the mileage really ranged.  I decided that I was going to run by feel and make my own plan and so I started from scratch, building from my current base and following the marathon standard of not increasing mileage by more than 10% a week.  I certainly have gotten the feedback that I was overtraining and that I was running too many miles, but the way I looked at it I was really enjoying the training process and I loved being out there.  If it had started to feel like too much I would have scaled back, but it didn’t – my legs really adapted and I wanted to be out there.

Any setbacks while you were training?

My last tough run was a 32 miler.  It had been pouring the day before and the trails were a wreck – standing water on most of the switchbacks and the singletrack and so my feet were cold and soggy.  I ran with my friend Aron who lives in East Bay, and the run was actually really fun, but we were very tired by the end.  Somewhere along the way I stepped funny and twisted and hurt my Achilles.  I had one more big week of training after that and I ended up having to cut back my mileage.  It was disappointing not to be able to get out there and be on the trails for that last week of training but I knew that I was ready, and I think the whole training cycle was a success.  I took it one week at a time and every week there seemed to be enough energy in there to do it.  Once I wasn’t focusing on time anymore the mental game totally changed.

What was the hardest part of the race?

Mile 41 or 42 until probably 46, when it was really heating up.  Because I had such a good base in my training, I felt really good up until mile 38, which was the last aid station where I saw my crew.  I had a smile on my face and no muscles were really sore or tight.  When I hit the 40′s the tough course was taking its toll and I was getting tired and none of my fuel was sounding good.  I just kept putting one foot in front of the other to keep moving.  I expected some of that, but I tried to ignore it until race day because it’s inevitable and you can’t do anything to prevent it.  Once I left that last aid station I knew that I could make it, and the last few miles were all right.

Best part?

I find that there’s a sweet spot in the middle of my runs.  I loved miles 11 through 25.  It was just a beautiful section of rolling hills, and at that point my body felt good and I felt like I could run forever.

Would you ever sign up for a 100 miler?

I think so.  During my training cycle a lot of people looked at the mileage I was putting in and said it looked like I was training for a 100 miler.  Right now I think the most important thing is to get my body back to 100% where I’m not injured and I’m back in the place where I was when I was training for the 50, which was really happy and enjoying the whole process.  I think my body will tell me when it’s time instead of my forcing it.  I don’t want to jump too far forward, but 100 is in my future eventually.

Gear Up for May's Run and Ride Challenges

Runners, it’s time to go vertical! You’ve put in your miles, you’ve ramped up your endurance, and now it’s time to build up your strength.

From May 1-31, your goal is to accumulate 10,000 feet in elevation in the Strive for the Summit Challenge. Head for the hills – or the stairs, stadiums, bridges and parking ramps…whatever it takes! Surprises are in store for our most dedicated runners, so channel your inner mountain goat and get ready to climb. Join now!

Cyclists, while some of you are gearing up for the AMGEN Tour of California, put yourself to the physical and hydration test with Nuun’s Twice the Tour Challenge.

From May 1-31, ride twice the distance that Tour riders will race – 1,479 miles total – and earn your challenge Finisher’s badge. Join now!

Epic Rides: The Whiskey Off-Road Giveaway

A 3-day mountain bike celebration that begins with a fat
tire criterium on Friday and finishes with a celebratory pint glass on Sunday, the Whiskey Off-Road is a great way to experience Prescott, AZ.  Thinking of registering? Strava has 5 vouchers for a 50% discount to this year’s event, held from April 27-29. The first 5 people to reply to this post will be the lucky recipients. What are you waiting for?

The Roads Most Traveled

Hungry for a CR or a K/QOM on a hotly contested Strava segment?  Here are some of the segments that Strava athletes have ridden and run the most over the past couple of months:

Popular Among Runners

Melbourne, Australia: The Tan

San Francisco, CA: Crissy Field

Sydney, Australia: Sydney Harbour Bridge

New York, NY: Central Park – North Hill

Cambridge, MA: Charles River: BU Bridge to Harvard Bridge

Popular Among Cyclists

Columbus, OH: Fishinger Road Little Grade

Dampierre En Yvelines, France: Les 17 Tournants

Kiefer, OK: Kiefer Hill

Potomac, MD: Anglers Hill

Portland, OR: Cemetery Passage

Phoenix, AZ: South Mountain

We’ll be holding a Challenge on a popular segment in the coming months, so keep riding and running your favorite routes and stay tuned!  In the meantime you can compete all year round by creating segments in your area – get more info here.

The 2012 Rouge Roubaix: A Louisiana Sufferfest

The 2012 commemorative print by artist Alex Harvie eerily captures the experience of this year’s Rouge Roubaix. When race organizer Mitch Evans arrived at Saturday’s registration he had just finished clearing the last bridge near mile 100; one of several crossings that had been washed out by the previous day’s flash floods. In the parking lot, some riders were swapping out the pedals on their carbon road bikes to accommodate their mountain bike shoes. Trying to strike a balance between speed and durability, riders of the Rouge Roubaix were well aware that Mother Nature would test their endurance and their equipment over the 106 miles of every type of terrain that one can imagine. For an illustration of the course in words, Helena, Alabama rider Scott Thigpen shared an entertaining article that will give you all the gruesome details (horseflies included) here.

Despite the mud and the debris, the wet dirt roads allowed racers to put up some fast times on our two Strava segments: Woodstock Road and Blockhouse Hill. Racers Samantha Stein and Brian Toone (Strava’s 2011 KOM Challenge Winner) won both of the segment challenges and as a result they will each receive one free year of Strava Premium and a full Strava kit. Congratulations to all race participants for weathering through the elements! Thanks to “y’all” for the southern hospitality and keep those wheels up.