wphamilton

Is anyone planning on having a go at their favorite short Strava segment tonight? At 11:59:60 the atomic clocks will pause for a second to implement Leap Second. Due to the slowing rotation of the earth. That extra second would come in handy on some of the fast, short segments.

So who's out at midnight tonight hunting KOM's?

bbbean 

That's brilliant! I missed KOM a week ago by 1 second. Wonder which way the wind will be blowing at midnight...

Seattle Forrest

Meh. I'll just stick to editing the files before I upload them...

69chevy

I understand the humor, but the second is inserted at 8pm, not midnight.

The addition of the second would make you slower.

The leap second isn't cause the Earth is slowing, it is because a year is not 365 exact days.

wphamilton

Ah, depends on the time zone.

It confused me at first also - I had to google around to see if we're adding a second to the clock, to the elapsed time, or what. But it's basically waiting an extra second at 12:59:60 UTC. So we DO get an extra second for our Strava run, but only at that precise time.

It's good that you pointed out the time zone, because I'd hate to have misled people into riding at midnight and missing the moment in their local time zone. You are correct, it is at 8pm here on the East Coast. Even better!

That's a different leap, (not to get too techy but here) and maybe even better for Strava although I'm sure they'd correct for it. One second though, that's an opportunity.

cydewaze

Gah! I just tied for 1st place yesterday on a segment (I really did!). That leap second would have put me firmly in first place.

Or in the hospital, since my bike has no lights and I live out in the country.

69chevy

Maybe I should have googled it. Just messing with you anyhow...

wphamilton

's allright, I've got it coming no doubt.

wphamilton

Remember it's 8 pm on the East Coast, not midnight thanks to 69Chevy. So that shouldn't stop you this time!

cydewaze

Good point!!

f4rrest

So 5pm commute time on west coast. Can't wait for the carnage. It's like Y2K all over again.

Zuzus pedals

I'll just wait for the biggest tailwind of the year to date like I always do when KOM hunting. That's the extent of my Strava cheating and I'm pretty crafty at it.

Of course, there are those who have a bag of tricks that would make Felix the Cat jealous. Not counting mere tailwinds, in order of least to greatest cheating, we have:

Clip on some aerobars
Use a TT bike
Draft in a group and go to the front at the end of the segment
Get motor paced
Use "digital EPO" (or actual EPO)
Affix a motor to the bike
Drive the segment
As many of the above as possible

K.Katso

The first 3 aren't really cheating, those are fair game really. So is riding with a tailwind. Almost nobody bags a KOM with a headwind. The group rides kinda suck if you are challenging for it solo, but it is very satisfying to beat someone's group ride time with a solo effort. I do find it funny that people would think using an aerobar or TT bike as cheating though. There are segments in my area named "TT whatever" that are 12-20km in length. This is the kind of thing a TT bike excels at, and was built for. So if people do it on a road bike and complain about getting beat by a TT bike, I can't feel sorry for them. They've brought a knife to a gunfight. It would be the same as if I took my TT bike on a climb and then complained about someone using a superlight road bike.

Driving the segment is pretty easy to spot with no/bad HR/cadence/power data or someone going 30mph into a headwind. I've flagged a few people for Digital EPO too. Unfortunately there isn't a way to flag their profile on Strava with a big label on the page "digital doper." That would be nice.

_ediri

Zuzus pedals

That's the way I see it. So I shouldn't say "cheating," then. More "advantage." It's apparent when there was a group ride, so it's fun to be in the same ballpark as that speed solo. And I know who all the hard core tri guys in my area are and assume they're on TT rigs when they're going fast solo (normally they're about 2 mph faster than I am, give or take a couple of tenths). And I always try to convince myself that I, too, could match their speeds with full-on aero equipment instead of Merckxing it. The only problem with that is they're usually on 50+ mile TT simulation rides and pass over segments en route while I get a flying start and hit each segment as a stand-alone. But it's all just Cat 6 anyway, so how much can it mean? When all is said and done, it's only for personal satisfaction at beating a PR or convincing myself I belong in the same breath as some of the guys who would easily paddle my kiester in a real race!

As for tailwinds, I say it's a sin not to go for it when a huge wind's at your back! It's just plain fun! And it's true - who's going to go for a PR on a segment when there's a headwind? Of course the chances are high every straight shot segment KOM you can find was wind-aided!