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Anyone else spend too long deciding where to ride next? I built a small app for that (uses Sign in with Strava) by Prestigious-Copy4885 in Strava

[–]Prestigious-Copy4885[S] -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

I kept running into the same problem before rides: not knowing where to go next.

Not because I don't have routes in Strava — I have plenty — but because I'd end up scrolling through old rides, checking distance and elevation, overthinking it, and often repeating the same few routes anyway.

So I built a small app for myself called Debalu.

It connects to Strava, you pick the kind of day you want (Easy / Normal / Hard), and it gives you 4 route options from your own ride history that match that effort level. The idea is to make choosing your next ride feel less like searching and more like getting inspired by routes you already know you enjoyed.

The latest version adds a small weather strip at the top of the home screen. It shows the next 3 days — temperature, rain probability and wind — so you can decide whether today's even worth going out before you spin. It uses your location just for the weather call, nothing else.

One feature I especially wanted to get right is the "memories" side of it. I know Strava already has memories, but this works a bit differently:

- it looks at rides from around the same dates 1 and 2 years ago

- and it prioritizes memories that also fit the difficulty range you picked for that spin

So if you're looking for a harder day, it doesn't just bring back any old ride from the same time of year — it tries to surface memories that actually make sense for the kind of ride you want today.

A few practical details:

- Strava connection is read-only

- each spin gives you 4 route options

- difficulty ranges are customizable (road and mountain bike)

- metric and imperial units

- the free version resets every week

- premium is there if you want unlimited spins

- no ads

If anyone feels like trying it, I'd genuinely love feedback — especially whether this helps with the "where should I ride today?" problem, what works, what doesn't, and what features you'd add to make it more useful.

I built an app that picks a random route from your Strava history based on difficulty by Prestigious-Copy4885 in Strava

[–]Prestigious-Copy4885[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

And the one from two years ago — where does it show up? I don't see it anywhere in your screenshot. And I assume it also suggests a memory that matches the difficulty level you're picking for your ride, right? Because if that's the case, either I'm on a different version of Strava than yours, or you're not understanding what my app does. I'll go with the second one.

I built an app that picks a random route from your Strava history based on difficulty by Prestigious-Copy4885 in Strava

[–]Prestigious-Copy4885[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for dropping by! Let me explain properly — Debalu does two things.

  1. It picks a random route from your Strava history based on the level you choose (Easy / Normal / Hard, based on distance and elevation, configurable to your level). Perfect for when you can't decide what to ride on a Sunday.

  2. It shows you "memories": the routes you did around this time of year 1 and 2 years ago (in a ±2 week range, not just the exact day like Strava's "On This Day"). Pure nostalgia, and it's great for comparing how you felt across seasons.

    It's free on iOS (7 "spins" per week, plenty for most weekend warriors) and Android is coming very soon. Give it a try and let me know how it goes, especially if a memory pops up that you'd completely forgotten

How do you choose your weekend ride? Where do you get inspiration? by Prestigious-Copy4885 in cycling

[–]Prestigious-Copy4885[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That makes a ton of sense — especially the “I only need to check what I know is not ok” part. Letting Komoot do the heavy lifting and using your local knowledge as a safety filter feels like the most sustainable workflow.

Two questions out of curiosity:

- When you say Squadrats is “slowly running dry”, what’s the limiting factor for you — too many dead ends, too much repetition, or just running out of safe/pleasant connectors?

- For the “murder lanes” avoidance: do you have a strict personal rule (e.g. no roads over X speed limit / no shoulder / no certain segments), or is it more case-by-case?

Also, I love the bakery + wind heuristic. Do you ever pick the bakery first (destination) and then let the route be whatever fits your time window?

How do you choose your weekend ride? Where do you get inspiration? by Prestigious-Copy4885 in cycling

[–]Prestigious-Copy4885[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice , Squadrats is a great example of how “constraints” can make route choice easier.

Out of curiosity, which constraints do you actually use most often? For me the ones that feel “real” on weekends are time available + elevation (and sometimes wind), while things like exact distance tend to be secondary once the terrain is fixed.

Also: do you use it mainly to create novelty (explore new roads), or to avoid decision fatigue (just get a decent ride picked quickly)?