Thanks for the replies. The blokes I go for a ride in the mornings seemed to be interested in comparing the rides of some of the pros, but they were necessarily competing. It was more about the ride and less about the time.

When I have ridden classic climbs OS it has been part of longer trips riding most days (French Alps 2011 I rode 21 from 28 days 2100km and 75,000m vert) so rode most of the climbs tempo focusing on enjoying the climbs and didn't download. The few I did ride hard I did post to Strava (Mont Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez) out of curiosity. I hit the interval button for both climbs anyway, but posted on Strava mainly wanting to confirm I had used the correct start and finish points.

I did post all my rides from the USA trip from this year regardless of how I approached them, not sure why the change in behaviour? I don't bother with Strava at all when back home.

Note though that you won't be comparing your times to the pros as most of them don't post on Strava.

I certainly take an interest in how much I suck going up any given climb compared with the pros, using Strava on the iconic cols in France and Italy. There's a small but select band of top pros that do post Strava rides, such as Jeremy Roy, Thibaut Pinot and Laurens ten Dam.

But it doesn't stop me from looking at the scenery, enjoying the company of the people I'm riding with and thinking how lucky I am to be there. If Strava ever got more important than that I'd give it away.

When riding overseas, I'd rather try to find the most scenic routes and enjoy the ride. I may ride some famous climbs, but I will unlikely turn Strava on to record the ride (it's not a training session).

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