Strava Import

Strava Import finds your cycling activities, works out which ones look like Audax rides, and lets you check every choice before anything is added to your tracker. Confident rides are prepared for you, while anything uncertain stays separate for review.

1. Find Your Rides

Open Strava Import from the Rides page or from the Strava Import section in Settings. Choose a year and select "Find my rides". You can use "New search" from the results page whenever you want to check another year.

If your Strava connection has expired, use "Reconnect to Strava". You will be returned to Strava Import after authorising the connection again.

Strava Import start screen with a year selector and Find my rides button

Choose a year, then find the Strava activities you want to review.

Name settings

Most Ride and Gravel Ride activities of at least 30 km appear automatically. If an activity is missing, open "Name settings" and add a word or phrase from its Strava title as a title hint. Title hints only control which activities appear in the review. They do not choose or improve a ride match.

Skip phrases hide new activities whose titles contain those words. Built-in rules already skip common indoor and training activities. Activities already linked to your tracker stay visible so you can check where they were added.

Name settings with optional title hints, skip phrases, and built-in activity rules

Use Name settings to control which Strava activities appear in the review.

Saving Name settings from the results page searches the same year again. Your current selections and edits will be cleared before the refreshed review appears.

2. Review the Results

The results are organised into three lists:

Questions contains choices that need your confirmation. You can answer them one at a time or decide later. They do not stop you from importing rides that are already ready.
Ready rides contains confident matches and other rides that are ready to add. These are selected for you, and you can uncheck any ride you want to leave out.
Other activities shows activities that are not being added and explains why. It also shows activities that are already in your tracker, so it is clear which ride each one belongs to.

Strava Import results with Questions, Ready rides, and Other activities tabs

Move between the three review lists, or start a New search for another year.

Review other activities

Other activities keeps every activity that is not currently selected in one place. Each row explains why it was left out, such as already being in your tracker or not having a confident Audax match. Open an activity to review it, include it manually, or match it to the correct ride.

Other activities list showing why each Strava activity is not selected

Review the reason, then open an activity if you want to include or match it.

How matching works

The activity name is the main signal. The tracker also checks known aliases, the calendar year and date, and whether the recorded distance is plausible when a title is vague. Normal GPS differences are allowed, so a 199 km recording can still match a 200 km ride. Very short activities are not suggested merely because one word overlaps. Sharing a date with a ride in your tracker is not enough to suggest that ride on its own.

Calendar matches only use events from the year in which the activity was recorded. Permanents are not tied to a particular year. If the tracker cannot make a confident choice, it asks you instead of selecting the match automatically.

If the name strongly identifies a ride but the recording covers much less than the planned distance, it appears under Questions. You can add it to that ride, keep it separate, or combine it with another activity.

A long activity with strong Audax clues in its title may appear as "Likely Audax" even when there is no catalogue match. It is prepared as a new ride using the available activity details, so you can review and edit it before importing. This is useful for international events that are not in the Audax Ireland calendar.

Want a detailed technical breakdown? Read our in-depth guide on How Strava Matching Works to learn how title scoring, ambiguity margins, split grouping, and GPX geometry guards operate.

3. Check or Correct a Ride

Questions highlight the one detail that needs your attention. For example, if the activity title suggests that you did not finish, add the finish details or choose to include the ride as shown. You can also decide later and continue with the ready rides.

A Strava Import question asking the rider to confirm finish details

Answer only the question shown, or decide later and continue reviewing.

Open any activity to see its Ride details. The Strava activity is shown alongside what will be added to your tracker, and "View on Strava" opens the original recording for a closer look.

When the tracker asks whether a suggested event or permanent is correct, choose "Use this match" or "No, this is not the right match". If it is wrong, you can choose another event or permanent, add the activity to an existing tracker ride, or create a new ride instead. The existing ride option only appears when a suitable ride is available.

Ready ride details showing the Strava activity and the calendar event it will become

Check the original activity, edit the ride, or change how it will be added.

Change how a ride is added

Open "Change how this is added" when the proposed destination is not what you want. The available actions depend on the activity and the rides already in your tracker.

Ride details with the Change how this is added actions expanded

Expand the menu to choose a different destination or combine recordings.

Combine with another activity joins two or more Strava recordings into one tracker ride.
Choose a different event or permanent replaces the proposed catalogue match.
Add to an existing ride links the activity to a suitable ride that is already in your tracker. This action only appears when a suitable ride is available.
Create a new ride instead creates a separate new tracker ride from this activity instead of using the proposed match.

Use "Edit ride details" to change the name, date, distance, ride type, country, county, elevation, or finish status before importing.

"Leave out of this import" removes it from the current import and returns you to the ride list. It may appear again in a future search. Use a skip phrase in Name settings if you always want new activities with a particular title phrase left out.

If an activity is already linked to the wrong ride, find it under Other activities and choose "Move to another ride". This moves the Strava link but does not delete the original tracker ride.

An already imported Strava activity with the option to move it to another tracker ride

Already linked activities stay visible and can be moved when the original match is wrong.

4. Combine Multiple Recordings

A longer Audax may be recorded as several Strava activities because of an overnight stop or a device restart. If the tracker spots a likely set, it shows a suggestion for you to review. You can also open a ride and choose "Combine with another activity" to pick recordings yourself, including activities from Questions, Ready rides, or Other activities.

Combine Strava activities screen with three related recordings selected

Choose the recordings that belong to the same ride, then review the combined result.

The combine screen shows the selected recordings and their totals. Check the proposed ride name, date, planned distance, finish status, ride type, and location, then choose "Combine activities". The recordings will be imported as one tracker ride, with every Strava activity linked to it.

Combine activities review showing three Strava recordings and one proposed tracker ride

Check the totals, ride details, destination, and final action before making one tracker ride.

Grouping suggestions are only a convenience. If two recordings belong together but no suggestion appears, you can still combine them manually.

5. Import the Rides

Check the selected count at the bottom of the review and choose "Import rides". Before anything is added, the confirmation shows how many tracker rides you selected and how many Strava activities they contain. Choose "Go back" to change the selection, or choose "Import rides" to continue. Unanswered questions and other activities are left alone.

Complete Strava Import confirmation with selected counts and import actions

Check both counts, then go back or import the selected rides.

Each Strava activity can only be linked once, so searching or importing again will not create another copy. When the import finishes, the summary lists what succeeded and flags anything that needs another look. You can then view your rides or start another import. Imported rides take part in award calculations like rides added by hand.

Common Questions

Why is an activity missing?

Check that you searched the correct year, then look under Other activities. If it is still missing, a skip phrase may be hiding it or it may not meet the automatic review rules. Add a title hint in Name settings if you want activities with that title phrase to appear for review.

Can I fix a match after importing?

Yes. Find the activity under Other activities. A single Strava activity linked to the wrong ride can be moved when another suitable tracker ride is available. Several activities already combined on one ride cannot yet be moved individually from this screen.

What if the event is not in the catalogue?

You can still add the activity as a new Audax ride and edit its details. This is useful for international events and rides that are not listed in the Audax Ireland calendar or permanent catalogue.

What if a match seems wrong or unexpected?

If a result looks wrong or unexpected, let us know on the public issue tracker. Include the activity title, date, suggested destination, and what you expected to happen.