Strava question.

[Dogtrousers]

There are some very fast people out there. Recently I was labouring up one of my local hills, maybe 15% with some steeper bits, some easier bits at about 10 km/h or less - the kind of speed where you can't close a gap on pedestrians - when a guy came absolutely flying past, standing on the pedals and really shifting. What's more he maintained that speed until he disappeared over the brow of the hill. And no, he wasn't on an e-bike.

 

[esoxlucius]

Not listening to your own advice then?

Lol, yeah I know what it looks like.

At this moment this whole Strava thing has piqued my interest. It will fade trust me, I know what I'm like. In a couple more months Strava will be a thing of the past to me and it'll just be me and my little basic cycling computer again.

 

[esoxlucius]

How far off the KoM are second and third?
Did they use power meters and HRMs?
You can always flag an other worldly KoM

Well first place is that very dubious ride clocked at 45secs and 34.5kph. Second place is from a guy who did it in a minute dead at 26kph. Incidently, that guy's details showed he did that effort during quite a long ride, and also did a few other KOM's and PB's during that ride, so seems pretty genuine to me, a strong rider. Then there's me at 1 min 30secs at 17kph.

And then there are loads pretty close to me with just the odd second in between them all.

 

[ebikeerwidnes]

Just concentrate on your own data.

This is the only thing to do really

if you look at other people then you might know something about them from the stats

but you have no idea about the wind
whether or not they are drafting behind someone else (possibly a car/lorry)
no idea if it is an ebike (legal - or not legal)
they might even be in a car!

so comparison to your own attempt where all this is known is the only valid comparison

IMO anyway

 

[Dorset Boy]

KoMs achieved without either a power meter or an HRM, with a request to follow user are a regular set of 'is it legit' questions.
If you can see the riders wider info, you get a better idea if it is legit or not.

It does sound like this KoM is dodgy if the scond placed rider is that far back, and is clearly a strong rider.
Fancy posting the link to the segment @esoxlucius ?

​

 

[PaulSB]

I can't quite believe the level of angst over one little Lancashire climb. On Strava myself and a couple of good friends and riding buddies take a vague interest in each other's segment times on proper climbs, not this 60 - 90 second stuff. These are buddies I ride with up to three times a week.

If I get a good time on a climb I'll look in the age group. If I'm top three or ahead of a few well-known local guys I feel a brief satisfaction for a few minutes.

Go and take a look at Whalley Nab, Birdy Brow, The Nick, Waddy Fell etc. These are worth the effort. Don't get obsessed with the tiny stuff.

I once achieved 76 PBs on a single ride. The weather and gods smiled on me. I doubt one of those segments was worth thinking about. There's a lot of total nonsense on Strava.

 

[N0bodyOfTheGoat]

https://mywindsock.com/ is a site I've not used much in recent years, but you used to be able to search for a segment and find the weather conditions for the top ten times.

It's been dead a good 5+ years now, but there used to be a site called something like "segmentninja" that would point out the easier segments and favourable wind assist segments for an area that day.

 

[JonBuoy]

Well first place is that very dubious ride clocked at 45secs and 34.5kph. Second place is from a guy who did it in a minute dead at 26kph. Incidently, that guy's details showed he did that effort during quite a long ride, and also did a few other KOM's and PB's during that ride, so seems pretty genuine to me, a strong rider. Then there's me at 1 min 30secs at 17kph.

And then there are loads pretty close to me with just the odd second in between them all.

After a bit of Strava-stalking: I reckon that the guy in first place rode from Rochdale to his house on the corner of Pennine Road and Douglas Road in Bacup while recording the ride on the Strava app on his Android phone. Then after half an hour he jumped in the car and popped down to town (probably Morrisons) and drove home via the Gladstone Street segment. Then he uploaded the whole ride/shopping trip to Strava.
Not malicious just a bit careless. I've done similar myself.

 

[esoxlucius]

https:/

After a bit of Strava-stalking: I reckon that the guy in first place rode from Rochdale to his house on the corner of Pennine Road and Douglas Road in Bacup while recording the ride on the Strava app on his Android phone. Then after half an hour he jumped in the car and popped down to town (probably Morrisons) and drove home via the Gladstone Street segment. Then he uploaded the whole ride/shopping trip to Strava.
Not malicious just a bit careless. I've done similar myself.

All very plausible lol.

His average speed from the whole journey, some measly 15kph, suggests to me that he could have done the whole ride on an ebike. He tried his best for virtually the whole ride using pedal power alone, until he came up against Gladstone Street where he "flicked the switch". Then once he'd got that out of the way he went back to pedalling!!

Who knows what happened. This thread has shown me that due to the many many variables involved with the whole Strava thing, it is totally impossible to take it seriously or get hung up on data generated by it, for you, or for other riders too.

 

[cougie uk]

Strava has just launched some new features from its acquisition of 'The Breakaway' app. One of them is 'Power Skills' which gives a chart of your best power levels from 15secs to 60 minutes and breaks them into three segments; sprint, attack and climb and ascribes a level to each one (you only get this if you have power meter data). I am at level 8 which is 'world class' for all three (it doesn't say how many levels there are). Whilst I will gladly take the ego boost, I suspect I am not actually world class 😂

My Sprint is apppppparently Semi Pro - at level 6. I can't sprint to save my life. I suspect this is very much bobbins.

 

[Solocle]

There are some very fast people out there. Recently I was labouring up one of my local hills, maybe 15% with some steeper bits, some easier bits at about 10 km/h or less - the kind of speed where you can't close a gap on pedestrians - when a guy came absolutely flying past, standing on the pedals and really shifting. What's more he maintained that speed until he disappeared over the brow of the hill. And no, he wasn't on an e-bike.

I once had a weird chap who was actively blocking me looking to pass him when cycling on the back lane between Yeovil and Sherborne, some lumpy hills. Came to a lump and I dropped the hammer, about 1000W to accelerate past him before he knew what hit him.

Normally I'm not particularly fast up the hills.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

My cafe stops are World Tour Pro level apparently