Strava introduces messaging - you can now communicate with your friends on the app

As an unsociable type with a publicly-visible Strava profile, I'd absolutely hate this. Hopefully being openly visible doesn't automatically mean open to messages. 

I don't buy the idea that scrotes have been monitoring Strava in order to bikejack expensive bikes, as it seems like a lot of faff and luck for them to coincide even with a very regular rider's route. It would seem a lot easier to set up a fake profile and phish people into joining (say) an SL8 owners' meet-up in a quiet spot near Beddlestead. 

No - as per the article, the setting allow you to receive messages from 'Following,' 'Mutuals' or 'No One' - i.e. at the very least, you have to follow them for them to send you a message.

As an aside, the "Following" option seems odd. That means if you follow them (but they don't follow you back), then they can send you a message (and presumably you could then reply) but you can't initiate a message with them. The latter part of that is fine (they don't follow you, so you can't message them - fair enough) but I'm struggling to see when it would arise that someone who doesn't even follow you wants to message you. 

Also seems slightly odd that there's no "Following or followers" option or indeed anything broader than the above (e.g. membership of Clubs; friends of friends etc). - you can only ever be messaged by people you follow.

Understandably some people might not want to use such an option (as you say, you might have a highly visible profile with lots of followers, but don't want them all to be able to message you) but in other cases having the option might be nice, especially when it comes to groups (e.g. I don't follow everyone in my cycling club, but if someone in the club was organising something I'd be happy for them to be able to message me).  

Surreyrider wrote:

I just wish they'd do the basics well still. There's now no year to date function on the app so I can't see things like rides per week, av distance per week, total rides. 

Sure there is (on iOS anyway). Go to profile --> statistics.

However, while I do welcome the messaging function, I agree that Strava would do better to focus on getting their basic functionality right.

Same on Android.

My mistake! It's moved. I used to access on the menu along the bottom of the app. Thanks.

I've never bothered cancelling my subscription to Veloviewer (from the days before Strava had heatmap). It's useful for the geeky stuff, it basically autopopulates a massive spreadsheet with columns for virtually every metric, so it doesn't take much fiddling to see precisely what you want to see. £10 a year is worth it if you're geeky enough 

As a non-paying Strava member, VeloViewer is great.

If only Garmin would open its api (or whatever it is) and give things like VeloViewer access, I could drop the Strava altogether.

Wait what? This isn't a feature is it? I mean, I use my Strava stalking only for the powers of good (winkling out the e-Bikers on the leaderboards ) but it would be embarassing if people could see you'd clicked on their profile...

On one hand, I'm pretty sure that's not actually a thing.

On the other, Strava's programmers and project managers are pretty awful, so it wouldn't surprise me if something like that slipped through the cracks for a while before they figured it out and fixed it. (Well, actually, the figuring it out and fixing it part definitely would surprise me.)