Strava, the fitness tracker web site, has released their 2017 heatmap, which provides a visualization of where people (or at least people who use Strava) like to ride and run most often.
Here is where people like to ride bikes at Lehigh:
Note: The color of the lines on the map represent relatively how many activities were recorded on those routes … from black (none) to red (a few) to white (many).
And here is where people like to run at Lehigh:
It is quite interesting, both to look at where people ride and run the most, and how the two activities differ.
In each case, the wide gravel trails (the Backbone, the East Loop, the West Spur, the Connector) get the most use, while bicyclists appear to use the singletrack trails more than runners do.
Of the singletrack trails, the South Loop seems to be the most popular, followed by Creekside, with the Lakeside West trail getting the least activity (ignoring the Cave Trails, which have only been officially open for a short time).
It is fascinating to see where people ride and run, and gratifying to see that all of our trails are being used!
A Favor To Ask
If you’re not yet logging your rides and runs with Strava, please get yourself a free Strava account at strava.com, and record your activities. You can use a GPS cyclocomputer, a fitness watch, or a smartphone app. Even if you use another fitness tracker app, you can easily (and automatically) get your rides into Strava by using a third-party service such as FitnessSyncer or Tapiriik.
Having data such as this demonstrates that people are using our existing trails, and can help make the case for investing in even more places to safely ride and run!
And logging your rides in Strava will also make it easy to participate in the annual National Bike Challenge.