Strava has rolled out the Best Efforts feature, previously only available to runners, to its cycling workout profiles.
The Ride version of Best Efforts is available today for Strava Premium subscribers, and will showcase best efforts for distance, elevation gain, climbs, time across intervals, and power. Unfortunately for free users, it's for paid subscribers only, just like Best Efforts for Run. Still, Strava is one of our best fitness apps, and cyclists may find this is another reason to shell out for the premium version.
According to a Strava press release, 77% of active cyclists achieved a Best Effort in 2023, and 33% in February 2024. In the same way as Best Efforts for Run, the Ride version of the feature can be viewed "near the bottom of the athlete’s ‘You’ page on the Strava mobile app".
The feature "synthesizes the cycling data to help the rider contextualize progress and performance" by listing an athlete’s top three efforts in the five categories above. Best Efforts arrived for runners in 2023, and Strava says the feature has been "widely adopted".
Analysis: How does it work?
The easiest way to think of your Best Efforts is as your own list of "high scores" across your cycling history. That means you can always see, for example, your three best 10km ride times, but also know when you've beaten them.
If you're worried about missing out on your best times and stats as the feature has only just been unveiled, Strava says your activity will be retroactively scanned for your best efforts.
While the Best Efforts feature won't be new to runners, you will need some additional tech to get the most out of it as a cyclist. Namely, you'll need a power meter, which is used to measure the strength with which you're pushing on the pedals. These work with your phone to add an additional metric for Strava to track, and are different from things like heart rate or speedometers which are reactive to your motions.
They can even measure how long you spend seated or standing while riding, making them a great tool for triathlon athletes to calculate the drop-off from other exercises.
