Keeping track of how much we use our equipment can be really helpful, both to keep on top of maintenance tasks and to avoid injury.
Strava, amongst its many talents, has a neat feature built in to help you do this which we are going to explain.
Every activity you do in Strava can be linked to a piece of equipment, so the miles you run or ride using an item of kit can be viewed in the “My Gear” part of the phone and web applications.
Bicycle Chains and Running Shoes…
A well looked after bike chain should last between 1,500 and 3,000 miles, according to Cycling UK, before it starts to work poorly and begins to accelerate wear on the rest of your drive train.
Similarly, Map My Run explain that running shoes should last between 300 and 550 miles. Running in old trainers that have lost their cushioning and support can lead to extra muscle fatigue, or injuries such as shin splints or pain in the knees can develop.
A quick check of the phone and web applications can tell you how many miles you have covered using either of these and knowing this will let you plan in their replacement ahead of time. It will also help you record how long a product lasted compared to the previous one you tried.
We are not trying to encourage you to replace your equipment prematurely, and there are conclusive checks that can be done to identify if this is the case. But we think this tool can provide a helpful indication of when a maintenance interval replacement is approaching. Or to inform whether a certain shoe, or chain cleaning procedure, cause the item to last longer or shorter than before.
How to add your equipment to Strava…
Log into your Strava account on a PC (unfortunately new equipment cannot be added on the phone app currently) and click on your profile-picture-menu at the top right of the screen, then select settings.
Next, on the left side menu ¾ of the way down click on My Gear.
In my account you can see two bikes and two pairs of running shoes have been listed and next to each the total mileage completed by each item. Your profile will be blank before you add an item so click on “Add Bike” or “Add Running Shoes” to enter the make and model to begin tracking.
In addition, when you add a bike a sub page is created where you can add a component such as a chain, cassette, or tyre for example.
Finally, for each piece of gear that is added, notes can be made and saved by clicking on the item. This is especially useful for the real geeks who would like to make a note of which chain lube or cleaning procedure was used and on which date if trying to evaluate a new product.
Thanks for reading and I hope this might be of interest to some of you.