Strava Motivation

It's May and I have been training for the past 6 months. I enjoy riding, but after 200+hrs of training on the same roads and memorizing every bump it's nice to get a change. Strava has given me this change. It's fun to upload my rides and see if I have set a KOM or PR. That has given me motivation, but now Strava has increased the amount of challenges they offer.

Last week I saw a Tour of California Diablo Challenge.  The challenge is basically who can ride up Diablo fastest in the three weeks before the Tour of California (3 other climbs in the TOC have similar challenges). To add to it, there are physical awards for the first three places in fastest time & most attempts (both female and male categories). I planned to do it on Wednesday and watched as the times steadily decreased.

For the past two days I have had AP testing all day during school. My mental relief  was knowing that I was going to "race" on Wednesday. I headed out after school today and did the climb. Side Note: they repaved the bottom section which had horrible potholes for the past years. I killed myself on the climb today and finished in third place about a minute behind the leader. I am in the prizes, currently some socks. I think that my time will get knocked out of the money and I look forward to going back and trying to  improve my time. I had a blast riding and Strava was a major part of my motivation. Thank you Strava for sponsoring us.

http://app.strava.com/challenges/amgen-tour-of-california-mt-diablo-2012

- Marcus Smith