We did it, fam. We survived one of the worst things a cyclist can face: we couldn’t upload our rides.
On the afternoon of August 14, it began. You checked Strava to see how everyone was doing—no new posts. Then you turned to Strava’s social media. According to a post on X, it “is currently experiencing degraded performance.” No one knew exactly what that meant, but we all knew it was bad.
What was the point of going for your afternoon ride or commuting home from the office? No one would see it.
As I walked home from the train, I went to record my 1-km daily jaunt and then remembered. Crestfallen, I took a deep breath and put my phone away.
The crisis of all crises
I called my old coach. He told me to dig up an old copy of Joe Friel’s training diary and manually log my ride. I hung up and blocked his number. Did he honestly expect me to find a pen and write in my ride that day? And then what, take a photo of my training entry and post it on Instagram? Because that’s the only way people would see. And what about KOMs and QOMs?
For an hour, athletes around the world twiddled their thumbs. The world stood still. We ate chips.
There were whispers of other training platforms—Ride with GPS, Bikemap, Wikiloc. But nobody cared. Because if it’s not on Strava, well, you know the rest.
The moment
But from the darkness came light. Strava returned. People left their houses and put their chips away.
We rode again.
We lived again.
We uploaded again.
Did we learn anything from this? Probably not.
Will we handle it differently if it happens again? Probably not.
Did we come closer as a community? No, we just ate chips and moped.
But we survived. We made it. Ride on, friend. Ride on.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Canadian Cycling Magazine…