It happened on an International Women's Day ride: a group of women cyclists had stopped at a cafe in Melbourne's north-east, refuelling midway through their route.
asserted
group → happen → route
Bianca Pickett, a 51-year-old who works in IT, was sitting opposite an 18-year-old woman, Amy*, who gasped as she checked her phone.
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she → work → phone
"Amy said, 'Oh my god, this man has been messaging me on Strava for a couple of weeks; he just said he saw me on the road, and he's going to come and say hi.'"
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he → say → hi
Pickett said.
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Pickett → say → ?
Strava is the most popular fitness app that uses GPS-based activity tracking.
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that → use → tracking
It is also a social networking platform, allowing people to follow and message others, and see each other's running or cycling routes.
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people → allow → routes
Pickett asked Amy for his name, before shuddering; he was well-known for this kind of predatory behaviour.
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he → ask → behaviour
"He ingratiates himself to younger women," Pickett said.
"He tries to isolate them, so he sends them messages, then tries to go on a ride with you, then befriends you.
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he → ingratiate → you
I hate to think what else has happened."
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what → hate → ?
Amy, she said, was "terrified" when he arrived at the cafe.
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he → say → cafe
Pickett reassured her she would handle the situation, and told him it was a women's only ride.
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it → reassure → him
While he begrudgingly left, Pickett said the man continued to follow the women on his bike, all the way back to Melbourne.
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man → leave → Melbourne
"I kept seeing him on corners, and thought, 'what is he doing?'
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he → keep → what
I just wanted an International Women's Day ride that felt safe and lovely for everyone," she said.
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she → want → everyone
Pickett said she and others had complained about the man to various cycling clubs previously, to no avail.
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she → say → avail
But on this occasion, and with a new, female president in charge, he was finally banned from his latest club.
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he → ban → club
"Prior to that several male presidents had been like, 'Oh, he's a good guy, he's always down at crits helping and supporting', so I always got shut down," Pickett said.
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Pickett → help → crits
Some women, she added, were too embarrassed to complain if they had responded to his messages before realising his intent.
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they → add → intent
While grateful that action was finally taken, Pickett is alarmed by instances of men abusing the tracking features of exercise apps to stalk women.
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men → take → women
Apps make it 'easy' to determine someone's location
Pickett has a long list of men she blocked after they attempted to harass or stalk her online.
"Some men will ask questions like 'So what apartment block are you living in? What's your route tomorrow?
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route → make → block
What racing are you doing next?
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you → do → racing
So [basically], 'how do I determine where I can stalk you?'" she said.
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she → determine → you
Pickett argued that some exercise apps make it "easy" to determine someone's location.
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it → argue → location
"If you don't have privacy settings on you can figure out exactly where someone lives,"she said.
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someone → have → settings
"It happens to women all the time".
Karen Bevan, CEO of Full Stop Australia, an organisation which supports people affected by sexual, domestic or family violence, said cyber stalking was an issue developers must take responsibility for.
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developers → happen → responsibility
"Too often, staying safe on these apps depends on people finding and changing settings they may not know exist," she said.
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she → stay → settings
"This puts the burden in the wrong place — the harm comes from design choices and companies are the ones who should fix them.
"
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who → put → them
Platforms need to act first; most privacy settings should be switched on at sign-up, activity start and end points hidden automatically, messages from strangers off unless a user opts-in, and [there should be] quick, meaningful responses to complaints.
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user → need → complaints
In a statement, a Strava spokesperson said the platform takes the safety and privacy of its global community very seriously.
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platform → say → community
Our fully adjustable suite of privacy controls enables people to choose what they share and with whom.
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they → enable → whom
Key protections are on by default, including Messaging set to 'Friends Only', and the first and last 200 metres of activity maps are automatically hidden.
"
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metres → include → maps
We do not tolerate harassment, similar conduct or any other violation of our Community Standards.
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We → tolerate → Standards
Our Trust and Safety team proactively monitors for violations, and carefully reviews any reports made by our community, taking appropriate action as needed.
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team → monitor → action
Women want to run without being tracked
Melburnian Melanie Caple, 38, said the issue was not limited to cycling, either.
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issue → want → cycling
Caple is an app developer, mural artist and long-time runner who revels in the freedom of hitting the track alone.
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who → revel → track
"Running is the one thing that has meant I kind of feel OK in and about the world," she said.
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she → mean → world
Growing up in country Victoria, she moved to London at the age of 20, and said she regularly ran solo without thinking about letting anyone know where she was.
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she → grow → 20
As she has got older, however — and with incidents like Samantha Murphy's alleged murder on a morning run — she has felt more pressure to let her family know where she is, and that she is safe.
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she → get → pressure
With a wry sense of humour, she and her sister often exchange texts before runs with the hashtag #dontgetmurdered, followed by kisses.
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she → exchange → kisses
Caple, however, drew the line at sharing her location while running.
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Caple → draw → location
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia