You've Stolen My KOMs on Strava!!!
Discussion
Saw this on Cycling Weekly, some people take Strava far too seriously!
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/stra...
Here's the link to Scotts ride on Strava.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1198470686
Some good comments. Enjoy...
http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/stra...
Here's the link to Scotts ride on Strava.
https://www.strava.com/activities/1198470686
Some good comments. Enjoy...
Poor lamb.
I'll bet he's glad he never had the KOM up Box Hill, or every year he'd have 25,000 riders chasing his time up it in a single day...
Nearly 600,000 attempts at 'Box Hill Middle Zig Zag', and counting.
I'm a sad, no-life, billy-no-mates, who spends far too much time on Strava, but even I find this Brendan's reaction to be a little, well, incomprehensible.
He has hundreds of KOMs, and sounds like he had many more. Many of which are segments of his own creation. Heck, if they mean so much to him that he can't bear to see others take them, perhaps he ought to delete all the ones he created.
I had a clean-out of a bunch of mine a while back. But not because I was upset by someone else 'stealing' them, only they were crap segments really. Inaccurate through woodland and tree cover, because they were too short for GPS to make proper sense of them. Created when I was new to Strava and hadn't worked out how to use the "segment create" feature properly. It cost me a couple of KOMs too. But it's OK, because there's at least one I have that cannot be taken away because the route of the road has been altered by a new housing estate...
...get in!
I'll bet he's glad he never had the KOM up Box Hill, or every year he'd have 25,000 riders chasing his time up it in a single day...
Nearly 600,000 attempts at 'Box Hill Middle Zig Zag', and counting.
I'm a sad, no-life, billy-no-mates, who spends far too much time on Strava, but even I find this Brendan's reaction to be a little, well, incomprehensible.
He has hundreds of KOMs, and sounds like he had many more. Many of which are segments of his own creation. Heck, if they mean so much to him that he can't bear to see others take them, perhaps he ought to delete all the ones he created.
I had a clean-out of a bunch of mine a while back. But not because I was upset by someone else 'stealing' them, only they were crap segments really. Inaccurate through woodland and tree cover, because they were too short for GPS to make proper sense of them. Created when I was new to Strava and hadn't worked out how to use the "segment create" feature properly. It cost me a couple of KOMs too. But it's OK, because there's at least one I have that cannot be taken away because the route of the road has been altered by a new housing estate...
...get in!
idiotgap said:
I enjoyed reading the comments on the strava activity including YJ's comprehensive contribution!
I've been a right saddo Strava-addict at times. But I'm better now! Honest!!!It's all true, though. There were a couple of lads setting up what looked like interesting segments in local woods. I went out and tried to ride them, "stole" their KOM, and they had a tantrum about it, telling me I'd not ridden the segment properly. So I asked where I had gone wrong so I could ride it the right way and all I got was cryptic replies along the lines of "that's for us to know, and for you to find out..."
So I pointed out that if I could cover their segment back in 2013 on a steel road bike, it was probably too close to the adjacent fire roads and when I looked, a whole bunch of 'family fire road' type riders had set times on 'their' segment. But I was the only one getting flagged for it because all the other riders were slower than they were. Anyway, I wished them luck, unflagged my ride, and then they deleted all their comments on my activity feed, blocked me, and deleted the segment.
Not before a couple of friends had joined in the comment thread and begun to wind them up though. In the end an acquaintance of mine re-created 'their' segment with a piss-taking name. Predictably I got the blame for that too!
Getting my KOMs "stolen" has also helped me to meet a few local riders. Get my KOM "nicked" then give the robbing scrote some Kudos, even make a "well done fella" type comment, and because we're riding the same areas anyway one of us invites the other for a ride. I ride regularly now with a couple of people I started chatting to via their activity feeds. No need to get all unnecessary about it - they're only silly digital badges after all.
I've got a couple of extremely embarrassing KOMs too. Either just me on them, or me and a handful of other riders. I wish more people would ride them ones to be honest, as they look a bit daft in the list. I only created them to use up some cool segment names I thought of, too...
Yet a while back I also made it my mission to seek out local 'one horse segments' just to add another name to a few leaderboards. It got my hackles up a little, people making segments designed only to produce a KOM for their "trophy case". Silly things you do when you have too much time on your hands really. I concentrate far more on improving my PRs on longer segments now, like whole XC race laps. A 5 mile segment is a far better test of your overall fitness, I think, because you simply can't fluke a KOM off the back of a hangover and a fair wind.
As a complete aside - since when has Strava started to credit you with a PR on your first attempt at a segment? My son moved house in Reading over the summer, and I took a new route in to drop some stuff off for him this afternoon, and I scored a whole bunch of PRs. Yet when I checked 'my results' there was only one effort for a lot of them - today's effort! I'm sure Strava didn't used to give you anything for your first attempt unless you made the top ten?
bigdom said:
Very funny. I might have to go to Australia; even I could take those records, and I’m no speedster!
It is quite interesting watching other riders on Strava. I've seen a couple of people that I 'follow' go away on holiday, or visit family in their home country, and completely shred through a load of local KOMs. One young lady I follow recently moved up north, and today, on her first commute, she smashed out a load of top ten trophies and I know she's probably got more to give on those segments.
I think that the Strava culture in places like Australia, the US, and the UK is partly to blame though. It's quite likely that in a lot of countries where Strava membership is at far lower levels, the really quick riders really just ride their bikes, and are not on Strava at all. It's why it's meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I've got some road KOMs, but they mean little as I know for a fact that I'm nowhere near "hanging on for dear life trying not to get dropped" standard if I were to be daft enough to try a road race. I've raced MTB XC too, but I've never scored so much as a single point in a winter series, despite having plenty of off-road KOMs locally. I'm under no illusions that I'm the fastest rider around. I'm just the fastest of those who ride these segments regularly, and can be bothered chasing KOMs on them. Me and a friend are usually squabbling over a segment or two but we've not ridden together for a while so the competition element has fallen away. We go after one segment for a month or so, one of us comes out on top, neither one can push the KOM any further, so we find another segment and repeat the process. It helps us both to train that bit harder for MTB races and it's how we met in the first place.
Oh, and here's that segment where I've got 6 seconds over Wouter Sybrandy... https://www.strava.com/segments/3346577 ...
24 attempts between September 2014 and July 2016, then I got bored with it and haven't ridden it since.
yellowjack said:
I've been a right saddo Strava-addict at times. But I'm better now! Honest!!!
Ha!!! 
So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
Kermit power said:
Ha!!!
So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
I'm not so addicted to it that I've got the tech together to auto-upload my rides before I shower and change though! So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
yellowjack said:
Kermit power said:
Ha!!!
So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
I'm not so addicted to it that I've got the tech together to auto-upload my rides before I shower and change though! So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
yellowjack said:
Kermit power said:
Ha!!!
So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
I'm not so addicted to it that I've got the tech together to auto-upload my rides before I shower and change though! So says the man who almost invariably gives me kudos for my morning commutes not just before I've showered and dressed, but before I've even got my bike locked up and made my way to the locker room!!!
yellowjack said:
idiotgap said:
I enjoyed reading the comments on the strava activity including YJ's comprehensive contribution!
I've been a right saddo Strava-addict at times. But I'm better now! Honest!!!It's all true, though. There were a couple of lads setting up what looked like interesting segments in local woods. I went out and tried to ride them, "stole" their KOM, and they had a tantrum about it, telling me I'd not ridden the segment properly. So I asked where I had gone wrong so I could ride it the right way and all I got was cryptic replies along the lines of "that's for us to know, and for you to find out..."
So I pointed out that if I could cover their segment back in 2013 on a steel road bike, it was probably too close to the adjacent fire roads and when I looked, a whole bunch of 'family fire road' type riders had set times on 'their' segment. But I was the only one getting flagged for it because all the other riders were slower than they were. Anyway, I wished them luck, unflagged my ride, and then they deleted all their comments on my activity feed, blocked me, and deleted the segment.
Not before a couple of friends had joined in the comment thread and begun to wind them up though. In the end an acquaintance of mine re-created 'their' segment with a piss-taking name. Predictably I got the blame for that too!
Getting my KOMs "stolen" has also helped me to meet a few local riders. Get my KOM "nicked" then give the robbing scrote some Kudos, even make a "well done fella" type comment, and because we're riding the same areas anyway one of us invites the other for a ride. I ride regularly now with a couple of people I started chatting to via their activity feeds. No need to get all unnecessary about it - they're only silly digital badges after all.
I've got a couple of extremely embarrassing KOMs too. Either just me on them, or me and a handful of other riders. I wish more people would ride them ones to be honest, as they look a bit daft in the list. I only created them to use up some cool segment names I thought of, too...
Yet a while back I also made it my mission to seek out local 'one horse segments' just to add another name to a few leaderboards. It got my hackles up a little, people making segments designed only to produce a KOM for their "trophy case". Silly things you do when you have too much time on your hands really. I concentrate far more on improving my PRs on longer segments now, like whole XC race laps. A 5 mile segment is a far better test of your overall fitness, I think, because you simply can't fluke a KOM off the back of a hangover and a fair wind.
As a complete aside - since when has Strava started to credit you with a PR on your first attempt at a segment? My son moved house in Reading over the summer, and I took a new route in to drop some stuff off for him this afternoon, and I scored a whole bunch of PRs. Yet when I checked 'my results' there was only one effort for a lot of them - today's effort! I'm sure Strava didn't used to give you anything for your first attempt unless you made the top ten?
I use strava all the time and could not care less if someone 'beats' me.
I had a chuckle at this the other day when I saw the screen shots on Twitter. The guy clearly has some issues beyond Strava.
I really like Strava for a number of reasons. It's nice to see what other people do and it's nice to get PRs on segments, but KOMs don't really bother me. I do find a lot of segments are very odd though. So many are pointless with a whole 50m added on to an otherwise identical segment or they're fundamentally ill-conceived. There's a 1km segment near home for me that would be excellent if they had started it 50m earlier so that the end wasn't at a busy roundabout. I don't really fancy seeing how hard I can brake on my TT bike without falling off or hitting a car. Similar segments set up along shared (non-segregated) cycle paths seem a bit silly too. Other segments are far too short with sub-20 second KOM times and the top 20 covered in less than 5 seconds. Keep repeating until a GPS error works in your favour there. A friend set up a 40km time trial segment where it has eventually come down to a group of mates getting lucky against traffic lights to see who can take the KOM. At some point someone will see a favourable delta on their Garmin and a light changing to red and make a poor choice.
I am probably guilty of setting up the odd s
tty segment though. I think I've set up three for various commuting routes across town. They're main routes but haven't had loads of riders. Hence I have the KOM on two of three and share the third with a colleague. Again there's a fair bit of luck with the odd traffic light here and there, plus however many dog walkers you get along the cycle track.
I really like Strava for a number of reasons. It's nice to see what other people do and it's nice to get PRs on segments, but KOMs don't really bother me. I do find a lot of segments are very odd though. So many are pointless with a whole 50m added on to an otherwise identical segment or they're fundamentally ill-conceived. There's a 1km segment near home for me that would be excellent if they had started it 50m earlier so that the end wasn't at a busy roundabout. I don't really fancy seeing how hard I can brake on my TT bike without falling off or hitting a car. Similar segments set up along shared (non-segregated) cycle paths seem a bit silly too. Other segments are far too short with sub-20 second KOM times and the top 20 covered in less than 5 seconds. Keep repeating until a GPS error works in your favour there. A friend set up a 40km time trial segment where it has eventually come down to a group of mates getting lucky against traffic lights to see who can take the KOM. At some point someone will see a favourable delta on their Garmin and a light changing to red and make a poor choice.
I am probably guilty of setting up the odd s
tty segment though. I think I've set up three for various commuting routes across town. They're main routes but haven't had loads of riders. Hence I have the KOM on two of three and share the third with a colleague. Again there's a fair bit of luck with the odd traffic light here and there, plus however many dog walkers you get along the cycle track.Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition, just makes me try harder if my time gets beaten , I guess the problem comes if people cheat , but then that don't bother me either as they are idiots , where's the satisfaction in that ? It's just a great tool for measuring your own fitness levels , I love to see how my times have improved , since I took up cycling a couple of years ago .
The only thing I sometimes find mildly exasperating is that I'll look at my results and be moderately pleased to find myself to be in the top 30% of a segment, only to then go and look at my "people following" list to find that on that, I'm in the bottom 30%!
I need to find some slower people to follow!
I need to find some slower people to follow!
Remembered something being in the papers about this sort of thing a while back.... a bit of hunting around and I think this is the piece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/recreational...
"It's certainly not unknown for mischievous professional cyclists to pull stunts like this. A couple of years ago David Millar was forced to apologise "profusely" to Royal Parks after setting a record- and law-breaking lap of London MAMIL hotspot Richmond Park. He lapped the 6.7 mile circuit in 13 minutes and 35 seconds, at an average pace of around 30mph - the speed limit is 20mph. Asked afterwards if he thought anyone would beat the record, he said: "there aren't many pros that ride around here, are there?""
I can't wait to rub that in his face.
I can't wait to rub that in his face.
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