Add Additional Tags/Categories (workout/race/etc) to additional Activity Types (Swim, Skiing, Etc)

[dsm1891]

As a user who takes part in events and trains swimming, I would like the ability to change the activity type to workout/race.  So that I can better describe what type of activity it was.

Currently, you can only mark a swim activity with the commute activity type (who is commuting via swimming?!). It would be great if you could describe your activity as doing drills (and hence speed will be significantly slower), or race so I can accurately find it in my timeline/Calander.

[reenuaj]

This is a great one! Adding a tag such as race/milestone gives user the ability to create a personal roadmap highlighting history of sports race/milestones completed. The feature can be called "Personal Sports Hall of Fame”, essentially a chronicle of an individual's achievements in realm of sports.

[somckeever]

I agree - I just did a ski race last night and have spent way too much time trying to find a way to make the "type" a race.  The only option for Cross Country Ski is "Commute".  Come on Strava!  Give us the option to make a cross country skiing activity either a workout or a race.

[podwyer]

So this suggestion of adding “race” or other relevant options under virtual cycling has been knocking around for (literally) years…but still we’re faced with the choice of “commute” as an option under virtual cycling.  🙄

Surely it can’t be that hard to sort this out…

[Mythrendel]

@Soren First, this is not an attack on you. You're just the unlucky team member who has the honor of being assigned to this thread and thus being the focus of the mention tag. My comments below are toward Strava as a whole. I hope you are able to help us push this issue up the chain!

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It's very disappointing to not see any activity on this thread from the Strava team for over a year now, especially given the very significant jump in Strava subscription cost over the past year.

I'm sure I speak for many of those who have commented here as well as those who have voted when I say we need a recent reply on this. Better yet, we need to see some ACTION on the part of Strava to resolve these silly discrepancies.

As mentioned previously, I'm a software developer and I can understand why changing available options could have ripple effects both server-side and client-side across the website and mobile apps. However, I see this as a mistake on Strava's part to not implement properly from the start and now it's the responsibility of the Strava team to resolve any challenges that older data causes. One way to do this might be to apply sensible defaults to older datasets when generating reports for a single user. Such an approach likely avoids having to entirely re-engineer queries or re-process legacy data by providing an on-demand solution.

This is not an impossible problem to solve given any level of focus and priority.

Here's a todo list:

1. REPLY to this thread with an indication of plan.
2. Maybe create a spreadsheet of activity types and options allowed for each and have someone who does that activity type review the available options to ensure that list makes sense and includes everything it should include.
3. Coordinate priority and timeline (and this should not take months or years to complete; it's not that complex... or, if it is, Strava has much bigger problems with the codebase)
4. REPLY to this thread with another update on the progress and the plan
5. Launch the update!
6. Everyone sings happy songs because Strava listened to the people who pay them. Win-win!

I've outlined it like this because we are your PAYING CLIENTS. We are telling you (Strava) that there is something broken with many thousands of activities every single day, and yet, this set of issues gets no attention from the team. At the moment, it feels like we get to pay (increasingly more and more) for the privilege of being ignored.

[mff1075]

Seconded! Would love to be able to mark nordic ski and canoeing both as race activities as well. There's no reason why that checkbox can't be there for all activities, not just running and biking!

[gparlagh]

@Mythrendel,

I would be not so gentle to Strava team members. They are working for, and paid by Strava. They are representing it. And Strava just sh*ts on our head. There is this idea box, and they do not add usable improvements. Its a wild guess that they even follow these threads. They add pickleball... But they even do not care if commuting is inappropriate for most of the activities. It is not a serious coding issue.

Just look at the top ideas... ukrainian language, dark mode. Tells lots about the community as well.

Strava seems to be a bad joke...

[Mythrendel]

@gparlagh A single team member who is in charge of reviewing forums is unlikely to be someone who sets policy at the company. I would not so quickly target such a person. Instead, a little understanding of their position and situation can go a long way toward recruiting them to listen and assist. Will it work? I don't know. They may not even have enough sway to bring focus to this issue. However, I can pretty well guarantee that being rude, hostile, and combative toward them will only dissuade them from even trying.

[RMSouthAfrica]

@gparlagh the team at Strava receive a lot of requests and they do their best to read each and everyone of them. I personally saw some of the suggestions implemented and they do respond when you know who to tag for instance. Never lose heart or be discouraged, they will eventually get to your suggestions and once you have gathered enough kudos, it moves up the rank to be implemented. Let us know as the community how we can support your suggestions. 

[bartvanderwal]

Why is this taking so long!?

Especially since markong an activity as a race is the onpy way to trigger using ‘elapsed time’ instead of ‘moving time’. And swim GPS metrics are notoriously buggy because the watch is underwater. My swims are always way to fast as you assumes I’m teleporting from one point with my wrist appropriately long above the water to the next… 😉

[RoamingNick]

Not sure how many folk commute by swimming (yes, this really is an option) but plenty of folk race… and yet, there’s no option to reflect it as such (yes, really). Good folk of Strava, let’s get it done eh?!

[acyclist]

On the "Event Type" drop down box, there's [Blank], [Workout] and [Race].   On rides such as sportives, group virtual rides, aduax/rando, group rides where the ride is an event without a "winner", the categories in the options drop down doesn't fit.  Same will apply to mass participation running events etc where the taking part is the motivation, not the racing for the win or the highest position.

I want to be able to search my history for where I have done

• Workouts (defined, structured exercise),
• Races (where I have pushed for highest position)
• Events (where I have entered and taken part to be part of the community)
• Blank (misc activities, running to the shops, commuting, catch all)

[Boris46]

I totally agree!

Please add race/workout to e-bike activity

[steve_c]

Adding support for sensible activity types for inline skating (similar to those for running) e.g. "Race", "Workout", and "Street Skate" would be good. Making the website & app consistent in their behaviour would also be useful. On the website I can select "tags" of "Commute" or "Indoor" for inline skating, but don't appear to be able to use both of these for searching (only "Commute"). If I select a Run activity, I get a drop-down box allowing selection of run "type" e.g. "Long Run" *and* I get checkboxes to select certain tags e.g. "Treadmill".

This just needs some thought, because at the moment Strava support for some sports is half-baked.

For inline skating, I would like to see: 
- support for activity type "Race" as a bare minimum ("Workout" and "Street Skate" would be nice)
- support for specifying gear, i.e. what skates I'm skating in
- support for searching inline skating activities by type, or by gear (very much like Run activities)

[cau5el0ve]

I propose adding "Brevet" as a new ride type in Strava. Brevets are long-distance, non-competitive cycling events, distinct from workouts, races, or commutes. Including this category would help cyclists accurately track and categorize their endurance events, fostering better community engagement and data analysis specific to brevet rides.