It all began when cyclist Jen Lorenzana commented on a Strava ride tilted “I Like Big Gears and I Cannot Lie鈥 posted by Vancouver-based聽rider Shane Yorke. The two started bantering back and forth on the social fitness platform, responding with lines from the song,聽with cycling twists.聽鈥淭here was an immediate connection. The comments and the Kudos started pouring in from each of us,鈥 says Yorke.
Jen started following Shane in 2013, when 1,100 miles separated the pair. Soon, the two became Facebook friends and started texting. 鈥淏efore I knew it, I had a ticket booked from YVR to LAX in March 2014,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 landed in LAX and was greeted by the most beautiful cyclist I had ever met. It was like we had known each other for as long as I could remember.鈥澛燗fter 14聽weekly visits, most of which involved bikes, Shane posted a new ride to Strava in 2014聽year: 鈥淛en, will you marry me?鈥
It鈥檚 not the first love story to begin on Strava. After all, the platform is basically a social network for like-minded people. 鈥淪ince it was founded, Strava has connected cyclists, runners, and other athletes in myriad ways,鈥 says marketing manager Larissa Rivers.
Sometimes they fall in love.聽While the company doesn't keep official tabs on how many people meet their significant other through聽the app, its聽press teams get notifications of聽at least one to two new couples per聽year.聽鈥淧ersonally, I hear about people meeting on Strava quite a bit. In fact, I鈥檝e also met a lot of friends on Strava,” says Rivers.
Take Dave and Liisa Bauns. During the summer of 2014, Dave, who lives in聽Pennsylvania, was聽surprised聽to receive a follower request from a cyclist living聽in Australia. After sending kudos and commenting on each other's rides, the two connected on Facebook and Skype.聽“The first time we spoke to each other over Facebook phone, it was about three and a half, four hours. I started having these feelings, and after a month I began thinking, 'I can't say anything. I want to go there!” says Dave.
Liisa felt the connection too, and so Dave planned a visit to Australia for November 2015. Before flying聽across the world, Dave used the GPS tracking on Strava to sketch聽out a marriage proposal. They got hitched聽later that month.聽
Then there's AJ Sura, who聽met her boyfriend, and now business partner, Ted Willard, on Strava. Willard reached out to Sura about a mountain biking date after repeatedly seeing her name as QOM for trail segments in their area.
鈥淣aturally, I was talking to some baggy-short boy mountain bikers, when out of the corner of my eye I spotted this rather tall, fair skinned, racer thin person sharking around in Spandex,鈥 Sura says. That particular ride ended with Willard having an allergic reaction to cactus, but the relationship continued. Four years and many rides later, Willard and Sura now own聽G2 Bike聽in Aliso Viejo, California.聽鈥淲e are a small local bike shop with a big heart,鈥 says Sura.
As for the Yorke鈥檚, they now have a 10-month-old daughter鈥攏amed Caydence. 鈥淲e felt Strava was a boy's name,鈥 says Shane.