Psimet2001 

Junior gearing - I don't care about what the thoughts are behind it but it is here.

It doesn't impact as much as what people want to think. I cite Skylar Schneider. She has found her way on to just about every pro woman's podium on junior gearing.

Doge

She/women don't have the speed where it is an issue.

The same Ontario crit where the men are hitting 44mph - the women are not.
~1 oz didn't make that much of a difference when my son swapped his wheels at nationals either, and as he finished by many seconds after and before the other two - nothing with regard to placing
- but it did get him DQ'd.

I'd prefer we not debate about intent, and significance and just have even rules for all those racing in the same event.

furiousferret

The women and 4's in Ontario only hit 43.8.

Ygduf

but that's SoCal where the women have huge biceps and chest hair.

Doge

QOM 40.7 - racing with the men she posted. KOM is 47. If it isn't on Strava...
https://www.strava.com/activities/115920293#2559528016

One of the nice things about cycling is the gears. Coach rarely would race over 85 rpm. I'm told that the average max FTP power rpm is 93. I expect max sprint power is higher. Maybe 110? 45mph in a max allowed junior gear is a wee bit over 150rpm. Down hills - 55mph or so 186 rpm. The point was the rules were different for the same race = not fair, does not really matter if it matters or not. @tetonrider asked, so I responded. And I said a few places - sometimes. I think my numbers - 15 sec in 25 min were pretty conservative.

Doge

Curious, I think you would know.
You max power is at what RPM?
And what is power at 150 RPM?
If you know @ 180 RPM?

Ygduf

How many races see speeds north of 52mph. Or 44mph?

My max power is pretty garbage, but probably occurs ~120rpm.

Regardless, junior gearing is stupid. They do more damage sprinting with their elbows all over than they would with a few more gear inches.

Doge

Crit
44 is a typical local crit. Ontario where I met FF. Wherever Justin Williams is winning.
Any crit with a good run and no incline seems to hit that. Mothballs, Redondo, Torrance, LA CR - shoot - most of them.

RR
The 52 plus - juniors all the time at nats (favoring the spinners) the 15-16s hit that every lap at Blue Mounds in WI. Devils Punch Bowl, Vlee Huis, Boulevard is 50+ and if direction were changed it would be 55+ (cause I'd did that all the time when I lived on the course).

Sometimes it matters little, sometimes it creates the gap.

TT
Santiago TT, the 2008 national TT.

Fondos/Rides - Como! / Tecate Ensenada / Rosarito Ensenada
I had me moose stoker on the back and we'd ride away with our 57X11 generally hitting 60s something on all those. But without the tandems they are all well 50+

Doge

Not max, but to stroke your ego a bit your upper 300s on Palomar for an hour was impressive, and about the highest. Other than Gaimon...

Ygduf

after kids I can do more power and be about 5 minutes slower!

gsteinb

I have to admit that some of these discussions make me interested in Strava. I thought about holding my weight and giving a go at Cadillac Mountain this week to see where I could end up, but it's been way too long a season.

Ygduf

Just recognize it for what it is and it’s fun.

I like having a record of my climb times, and I like to see where I sort out at my peaks.

For the race rides I look at the breaks to see where I gained or lost time relative to the group, and occasionally I can catch a truck draft on a shallow downhill and see how badly the leaderboard “cheated” too.

It’s just another way for me to interact with my performance data that I find motivating. Like everything, it’s value varies wildly from person to person.

People like Matt who are much better racers than strongmen shout it down, people like me who are better strongmen than racers probably find a little solace in being at/near the top of something. If I were just going to and losing races week in and week out without the positive feedback in other areas of cycling I’d be much less willing to continue racing/losing, probably.

globecanvas

+1

It's just social media. People can "cheat," there's all kinds of data noise, and you can have the ride of your life but have it not match the segment because of GPS randomness. If you take it at all seriously as a competition, you will just frustrate yourself.

Doge

The kids have a few segments where they declare the ride had good "truckage". I'm not a fan of the practice primarily as I think it dangerous. I've seen it used in TTs too. There are just some segments (on Interstates) where the traffic blow almost always figures into the speed. Its not "cheating" if everyone is doing it (scope being Strava of course).

tetonrider

+1.

I'm not an expert on Strava, esp compared to some around here, but a couple uses that I like in particular:
* When I travel to a new area, if I'm planning a workout I can look at segments to identify good places to ride and get an idea if a climb is suitable for, say, a 5' interval or a 20' one.
* Strava makes it very easy to see repeats from the same location; this is possible in other software but not as easy. This is helpful when you might want to look at, say, many attempts on Whiteface (@gsteinb), where weather, fitness, weight varied. Are you heavier but generally faster? Leaner and maybe a little less powerful, but faster? Easy to see.
* I sometimes test gear, like a hardtail vs full suspension MTB, or tires. If a new tire/different tread results in a time 3% faster on a segment I've ridden 100s of times, there might be something to it.

I don't get caught up in KOMs and don't follow too many folks (maybe that's something I'm missing), but there are things I find valuable.

Upload via some devices requires no intervention these days, so putting the data there even if one doesn't look at it daily is not a problem.

mattm

C'mon man gimme some credit - I finally joined up, use it daily, and even have a few KOMs!

gsteinb

Hmm. Sorry if I mislead the discussion in any way. Point wasn't using strava but just seeing how my best effort on the climb here stacked up. Like I said, I chose to eat and let the season go.

Ygduf

everybody, even Matt, just wants to talk about strava. We love that ****!

globecanvas

Strava, man...


https://www.strava.com/activities/1198470686


(see comments)

furiousferret

There was a guy about 2 years ago who in a span of two weeks took most of my KOMs. The routes were set in a way it was intentional, so yeah it pissed me off but you can't really say anything. On one, he went through two blind intersections at 30 mph, which is just flat out stupid.

I wasn't the only one, that was just his thing, getting KOM's.

He was hit and killed a year ago, going excessively fast on a section of road he didn't have a KOM on. Its not really something you can bring up without making enemies but many feel Strava is the reason. So yeah, don't take the stuff too seriously.

PepeM

Ttoc6

Bike racing and strava is just like mountaineering or back country skiing. Know your limits and realize there are factors beyond your control that if you don't recognize and respect. You could easily end up dead while nature moves right along.

Doge

I would think it wise for Strava just not to have / list descending KOMs. It could be reflected in the ride, but just tune the software not to allow the segment creation.

As a Strava Stalking dad, kid would get in trouble (equipment fund on hold or something) for any downhill KOMs that involved an intersection - even if "I had all green lights" was the reason given. He bombed/s some local descents because he's a kid and his brain has not developed, so I think KOMs were incidental, but we'd delete them. Both kids were social media searched for college and for junior, we didn't think downhill KOMs were things that should be bragged about.

Doge

Why isn't there a Strava KOM thread in the 33?

topflightpro

Strava was sued several years ago by the family of someone who died going for a downhill KOM or who was hit and killed by a cyclist going for a DH KOM. I thought Strava had opted to eliminate the DH KOMs but apparently not.