Strava Group Challenges allow you limitless options to best your friends (or get beaten by them). Create a TrueBike challenge to see how you match up, here’s how.

Strava got a lot of buzz when it announced its new Group Challenges feature early in June. The new feature allows you to craft your own challenge, make the rules, and invite whoever you want (up to 24 athletes) but if you read between the lines, what you get is accountability, camaraderie, and motivation. Right now, Group Challenges for cycling take the form of: the most activity in terms of distance, time, or elevation; or the longest single activity where victory goes to the rider who logs the most activity to win. We know you TrueBikers are a determined and competitive crowd, we thought that maybe you could use a few ideas to get you rolling with Group Challenges.

Getting started with Strava Group Challenges

Group Challenges are part of Strava’s subscription services and can be tried out with a free, 30-day trial. The feature is exclusive to Strava’s mobile apps and can be accessed via “Groups” at the lower right side of your screen. For a more detailed overview of Group Challenges, Strava published this article to answers specific questions.

Create Your TrueBike Group Challenge

This part is pretty intuitive, starting with the big Strava-orange button to “Create a Group Challenge.” If you choose “Most Activity” as the challenge type, you will be presented with three options: Distance, Time, or Elevation (Gain or Loss). Choose one and input your target number. Select “Virtual Ride” for the sport that will count toward your challenge. Set your “Start” and “End” dates, name your challenge, add a description if you like, and hit “Create.”

Ideas for Your TrueBike Group Challenge

1. “Everesting” has recently become more popular than ever and, if climbing 29,032 feet (8849 m) all at once is out of the question due to other obligations, stretch that out over a period of weeks or months.

• Of course it doesn’t have to be Everest, it could be La Marmotte, or a single climb up Alpe d’Huez, Ventoux, Angliru, or Stelvio.

2. Summer races are won in the winter or, “consistency is key” – set a daily or weekly time target and see who sticks to a routine or who’s a “sprint finisher” and crams it all in at the last minute. You can also create a personal challenge by setting a power output minimum for the duration of each ride.

3. RAAM (Race Across America) – similar to Everesting, this big ride makes distance the challenge instead of elevation. Not everyone has two weeks free to take on this challenge so maybe make it a challenge to complete over a longer period of time.

• Just about any celebrated race can become a challenge, from the Spring Classics to the Grand Tours to the Ironman Lanzarote course.

4. Watch for it – Select a movie or series to watch during training and create a timed Group Challenge in which all participants ride for the duration of the program to see who gets the most kms. Drop in trivia questions about the show or movie to win bonus kms (or lose kms for wrong answers).

5. Place bets – Design any type of challenge, everyone chips in a few bucks, and the winner takes all. If participants are based in the same area, make it a get-together to sport the winner dinner or a new piece of equipment.

While there are some compelling arguments for why indoor cycling is awesome, it can sometimes be a lonely pursuit. But it doesn’t have to be because Strava’s Group Challenges make your solo virtual ride into a group activity. Group Challenges can be as spontaneous or as scheduled as you like – they can liven up a suddenly stormy day or give you something to pin your training efforts to. Get creative and invite your friends and/or rivals to take your challenge and finish a little stronger and faster than you were before.