sxevegan

A guy commented on one of my rides that he flagged. He said something like "A cat2 shouldn't need a tailwind to get a KOM." I didn't know there were rules based on categories and wind speeds.

It was a lot of fun when there were just a few segments around town and people would battle it out. I'm not sure why, but it seems less fun now that nearly every decent road in town has multiple segments.

miwoodar

I wish my real watts matched my strava watts. 450 watt FTP, yeah!

cd34

Here's 25 mph tailwind from the NW, courtesy of Hurricane Sandy.

https://app.strava.com/rides/26221433#234868392

Messed up my 5 minute and 10 minute 'max' power, but, was totally worth the struggle into 25mph headwinds to ride that. 52x11t for 35 minutes. Also had a slight mechanical issue where the rear derailleur tension spring broke, so, rather than stop, I diagnosed while riding and watching the chain flap back and forth and eventually get caught on the wrong side of the jockey wheel cage, so I pedaled backwards, got it back on the jockey wheel and pressed on. There was no way I was stopping to fix a mechanical issue and wasting that long, straight road with a perfect tailwind.

bikerjp

Ha, that's cool. I've never even seen a road that straight - well, not on the bike at least. Imagine if you had a sail.

pallen

None of the "gaming" really matters if you actually don't care about who has the KOM. If it bothers you, you obviously care.

I find it to be entertaining enough to keep using it - even knowing all the data isn't perfect.

Terex

If I'd just thought to super glue my Garmin to the part of the roof that blew off last night, I'd have multiple KOM's today. All of the roofing contractors must be out riding today, because no one is calling me back.

atallen223

I like the suggestion that you just use it as a way to record Personal Records. I'll never be KOM of anything substantial, but it doesn't really matter either. It's just fun to challenge myself at certain points on my daily commute.

fly:yes/land:no

is this supposed to be a gotcha? of course i care about the numbers if they are being manipulated. i care that whenever it is really windy, my phone blows up with notifications saying that a kom on a flat segment that i didn't know existed was beat by 3s by one of the gamers. i care that when i look at the kom climb that starts with a stop sign, i have to parse through the performance graphs to see what is real and what isn't. that is lame.

so you wouldn't mind if all of those veloviewer segments in your signature got bombed by dudes on mopeds? how about if we just stocked all of the segments with random data - you wouldn't care? look, i don't care what place i am on a segment. what i DO care about is the fairness of the segment times and the ease of parsing through the crap for realistic results.

miwoodar

The solution is simple - just race yourself. The fastest folks aren't on Strava anyways.

bigbadwullf

Was lame to begin with. I could care less what people 1,000 miles away from me were doing on their ride nor on the same ride as I normally do. Yippee!!
I've got a watch or a cell phone or a cyclometer that can tell me how fast I ride a section....

bikerjp

I'll never be KOM either, but I do kind of like the ranking thing. When 500 people have attempted something I'm in the top 200 that tell's me I'm better than average which is kind of cool. Maybe someday I'll buy the premium subscription because I'd like to know where I fit among just those in my age and weight class.

RedC

This works for me. I have a segment that includes a hill that we regularly climb my PR is number umpteenth until I screen for old fat guys then I'm KOM
A couple of months ago when we were doing the National Bike Challenge on Endomondo a couple of my buddies were really into it and they noticed a guy in Orlando who always posted one mile more than they did. If they rode 29 miles he rode 30, if they rode 50 he rode 51, etc. There are always jerks out there

gregf83 

Many of the KOMs in our area are held by Pros or Cat 1s.

Virten

I wish Strava would include a premium feature where it tracks mileage for bike parts.

bikerjp

It does. I just learned this. And it's free. Go to settings and click gear.

Ultraslide

Strava needs to up their game on the free version before I'd consider paying for premium. The interface is huge and clunky, and there's no easy way to look at historical data comparatively. Social features are at bare minimum. On the flip side, the KOM feature is a fun app when not taken too seriously. Most of the local KOMs have been team efforts, which is still cool because everyone can share the story of getting their man over the hill, or across the flats, fastest.

I'll stick with Garmin and TrainingPeaks for now. If I have a goal ride I'll post it to Strava, maybe a couple times a month.

miwoodar

This comment prompted me to look at the names a little closer for my typical training routes. There are some really good riders on the boards but the depth of field isn't there - the times and wattages quickly tail off.

gregf83 

True, it's not a race and not everyone posts but I appreciate when elite riders share their data. I'm not competitive but it's interesting to see the kind of power top riders put out. It's becoming more common to see racers posting their data from races and training rides.

Virten

Oh man, can't believe I missed that feature! I've been meaning to have this feature so that I can track when I should replace certain parts like the chain. Thanks man.

fly:yes/land:no

+1. that is one of the coolest aspects of strava - being able to see a file from a stage in the giro or the atoc or a tempo ride by a world champion.

waterrockets 

Depends on where you live. A lot of state champs, pros, and national champs from the Austin area are on Strava. A lot of them aren't on Strava, but they don't seem to be avoiding it just because they're fast.

motorthings

you may want to check this out....https://veloviewer.com

aztimm

Thanks for sharing this! I just added my chain and cassette.

bikerjp

That's kind of cool. They are using the word "percentile" wrong, however. If I'm ranked 13/499, I'm well above the 3rd percentile. More like the 96th. My fat arse can go downhill fast

EDIT: playing with this a bit more something's off. It tells me I'm, 45/524 on one particular climb which actually makes me feel pretty good. When I check that segment on Strava I'm 129/524. What the heck? Both show the same time just different ranks.

Ultraslide

Man, that is pretty cool! Thanks!