Strava is a smart phone application invented by Michael Horvath and Mark Gainey, a pair of friends who were crewmates in college and missed competing with each other after they had moved to different cities. Early in 2009, they realized GPS data had become specific enough to identify climbs based on elevation and distance and that it should be possible to record people’s times and compare them. This is what Strava does. It tracks your movement. It tells you how fast and how far you ride and compares you to the rest of the world.
from “Strava” by Steven Hayward
Why, yes, as a matter of fact, I do own a Fitbit and regularly check my daily progress of steps and calories, as monitored by the little rubber band on my wrist. Why do you ask? Okay, sure, maybe I’m a little obsessed with tracking my mileage and perhaps I’m just a tiny bit competitive with my “Fitbit friends,” but at least I’m nothing like Tim Babcock in Steven Hayward’s story in the Watchlist anthology. Tim, 44 years old and trending toward “morbidly obese,” has just been introduced to the Strava app by his doctor, a pseudo-Olympian who also likes to claim “King of the Mountain” hill-climb victories while biking around Colorado Springs. Tim Babcock’s wife also happens to be into competitive biking, and her route sometimes includes “rest stops” near the doctor’s house. Now, thanks to Strava, Tim can track his wife's movements. I think we all know where this is headed, don’t we? Steven Hayward gradually tightens the suspense in a short story that’s also a cautionary tale about how our fitness trackers can sometimes be hazardous to our health. “Strava” made me look at my Fitbit in a whole new light.
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