A guy in California (I think) got himself killed because he rode his bike too fast down a hill and ran through a red light or something and ran into moving cars and died. His parents are suing Strava because he apparently was trying to get the speed record for that little section of road at the time.
While I find it interesting to finally be able to compare my rides with other guys who ride bikes, I don't think I'll get that worked up over it, right?
Maybe not.
Yesterday I went out on my first GPS-tracked ride. Before I went out, I looked around on the Strava for a segment that I could ride on to see where I rank in the standings. Turned out the bike path by the library is a segment, and about ten people have times on that stretch. SO I went out there to see how fast I could go on that 1.1 mile stretch.
I tried almost my absolute best (I think, at least, because I was breathing heavy and sucking wind when I was done) on that stretch and when I got home I saw I had the second fastest time, behind a guy named Justin who did it 12 seconds faster and ahead of #3 who was 10 seconds slower than me.
So I'm wondering, did I really try my best? Can I go faster? Does it even matter?
I'm happy that this stretch of bike path is away from car traffic. Indeed, one segment crosses US Route 1 at a point that I know is traffic-light-controlled, so that would mess up any timing if the red light stopped the ride.
I'm happy that my probably best effort is second on that part of the bike path. But I'll probably also try to beat my time and see if I can get to first place in the future.
Meanwhile, I see another piece of road nearby is also a segment with many rider times logged. So I'll probably go over there and see how I stack up.
Maybe this can be the thing I do this year- get as many second place Strava segments as I can.
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