Tech Tuesday: Strava

Hi there! I will tell you right now that I am no technical guru…I used to be, but, well, tech moves so much faster than me nowadays. I am still learning to use Instagram, so if you’re a genius at “the Gram” help a girl out. Anyway, back to Strava.

I use Strava mostly for hiking and walking. If you don’t know me all that well, you may not know that I am training to walk the Camino de Santiago. My original plan was to walk in Fall of 2024, but I may be pushing it back to Spring of ’25, so that I can recover from the Transplant Games and give the Camino all of my focus. I will talk about the Camino in a Travel Post very soon, I promise!

Strava is great because it can show you trails near you (or where you happen to be at the moment) at different skill levels. For hiking right now, I select beginner to intermediate and I love it. I am able to find a trail that I know I can handle and set off. Strava will allow you to download the map beforehand so that you have offline access when off the grid. I have personally used this in the Palo Duro Canyon and it works amazingly well.

Not only does it give you directional guidance, but offers safety features like listing contacts that an emergency message can be sent with your coordinates easily, if needed. (If you’re like me and hike in places without a signal often, I will be talking about Satellite messenger systems soon, too.)

Another great safety feature for those who go on walks near your home, you have the option of not showing your exact starting point on your activity maps. I like this because you’re not showing your followers your address if you share your run map.

You can save your favorite trails, see analytics of the work you did during your workout, and so much more! I will post a video soon of how I use Strava on my rides, walks, and hikes. I really love the way it works together with Rouvy, another app I will share with you soon!

Do you use Strava? What do you love about it?